Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’d just like to thank the Minister and the department for reinstating the funding under the housing for staff. I know it was supposed to be taken out of the budget for this year, but I know through the business planning process we asked the Minister to reinstate that. I would just like to thank the Minister and department for doing that. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I just wanted to ask the Minister if this included the forming of the housing board in Tsiigehtchic. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that the Beaufort-Delta could actually lose positions in the next school year. Given that it already cuts costs per student in the Sahtu and Deh Cho regions, will the Minister ensure that no positions will be cut in the Beaufort-Delta next school year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The point is that Beaufort-Delta schools need better funding. We need to make sure they can expand and improve the courses available through e-learning.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Education Minister has been talking about reforming our school system and we are sure it can be improved. We also need to fully support education councils that are making positive changes to help their students.

They have a very good example of this in the Beaufort-Delta. The education council has successfully grown and improved its e-learning program. The schools are using the…(inaudible)…on-line platform and the telehealth system to broadcast courses from Inuvik to three smaller schools. After sorting out the best systems, video and audio quality is now very clear...

Mr. Speaker, I’m aware that funding is based on enrollment, but we need to ensure that it’s based on the needs of the communities.

Will the Minister commit to expand funding for the Beaufort-Delta Education Council for their e-learning program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is Education Week. It’s very important that we give the Education councils the resources that they need to provide a quality education to our students.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment how much funding is currently provided to the Beaufort-Delta Education Council for the e-learning program and how much is projected over the next couple of years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’d just like to commend Cabinet, through this budget for 2013-2014, for taking the recommendations that came from committees. Whether it was Social Programs or EDI, Cabinet has taken a lot of advice from the committees during their business planning process. Also, Cabinet has taken recommendations from committees like the rural and remote communities. I’m hopeful we can implement more in our next budget and create more opportunities for communities.

In the communities, especially the smaller communities, there are a lot of challenges in services. I think that, working...

Can the Minister explain where we are going to be losing the seven positions in the Beaufort-Delta Education Council?