Charles Dent

Yes, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So far, we haven’t added any staff. I think we need to give the new management a chance to take a look at the situation and we will work with the current staff to assess the level of difficulty, if you will, and if there is a problem, we will have to deal with it. At this point, there has been no change.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The training that’s offered in Inuvik is pre-apprenticeship training. It’s not the apprenticeship training. That’s to help people get ready to pass the trades entrance exams. The college can certainly take a look at offering that in different places, so I would encourage the Member to continue discussing with the college the use of the facilities in Tuktoyaktuk. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We can have a look at it. Recently there has been a consultation process that we've undergone with people across the North on our strategic plan. I would be interested in seeing, as we go through the data, whether or not any comments came out about that.

I suspect that the theory behind the six-month stipulation is that people come into the program, they have the clothing that they're wearing when they come into the program, and the reason for it happening every six months is that there's an understanding that kids grow out of clothing and people wear clothing out....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are planning to solicit specific comment in certain areas where we have had recommendations for change, particularly from the rentals officer. We are also going to open the door on comments on any area that landlords and tenants care to comment on. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know I have attended a lot of standing committee meetings in that building and held public hearings in that building. It is a great old building, but we are not sure whether a change in ownership would change the fire marshal’s position. So we’ll have to take a look at it. It could certainly be a part of the process we embark on, on Monday, to take a look at that issue.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The graduation rate in the early '90s was 25 percent. So they do lag, but they are improving. You have to keep the kids in school to get the graduates. What are we doing? There is certainly a challenge to get kids to complete school. I think one of the biggest deciding factors as to whether or not young people are successful in school is family support. If kids aren’t being supported to get up in the morning and get out the door with breakfast in their stomachs, if they’re not supported, if school isn’t seen as important by the family, then it’s a real challenge to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes. I misspoke; I meant to say the Bureau of Statistics and not the Audit Bureau does the surveys.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Part of that is $84,000 which was an elimination of the wage subsidies to diamond manufacturing employers. This was a program that was in place for some time but was sunsetted. The other is an internal reallocation of salary funding of $94,000. We transferred funding from apprenticeship to fund an existing career development officer position because we were able to get funding for the apprenticeship position through the Labour Market Development Agreement. So we are basically using federal money to fund a position. That’s why we have moved our money out.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We have two apprenticeship officers in Yellowknife and the career development officers in the office help out with apprentices as well, but I can’t tell you how many apprentices are registered in Yellowknife. Again, that’s information I’d have to get for the Member. We have 300 apprentices registered in the Northwest Territories right now. I expect that most of them are registered in Yellowknife, but the exact number, I can’t tell you.