Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With an increasing number of professionals and tradespeople reaching the age of retirement, there has been a great demand for skilled workers and tradespeople in the North and, in fact, throughout the world. The Government of the Northwest Territories offers one of the best apprenticeship programs in the country and the number of students enrolling in these programs has reached a record high.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to recognize Hay River’s recipients of the apprenticeship and occupations honour roll and top mark awards for 2009-2010. The following students have...

That’s all the questions I had on that for now. I’m not happy with the answers, I’m not satisfied with them. I think the government is making a mistake by reducing the funding to these worthwhile projects, one in Fort Smith and the one in Hay River. Like I said, I’m not satisfied with the response, but I will pursue it at another time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The funding required to continue to operate these alternative schools, the argument could be made for a critical number of staff and a critical level of resources, the same kind of argument that we made when we passed the motion the other day that Mr. Yakeleya brought forward when he talks about the number of students in grades 10, 11, 12 in the small communities. There comes a point that even with a small number of students, you do need a certain level of staff and resources in order to make the program work.

Mr. Chairman, what was the reaction of the DEAs when and if the consultation took...

Mr. Chairman, between the program in Fort Smith and in Hay River, the two larger communities in the South Slave, and with the South Slave Divisional Education Council, between the reductions to the two schools it’s a total of $428,000. Where is that money being re-profiled to? What’s the department doing with the money that they are not going to be putting into this program? Thank you.

That’s okay. I can ask the Minister these questions on the floor of the House tomorrow. They’re about the alternative schooling in Hay River. I can do it then, if we’re past that point in the budget. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee wishes to continue with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment main estimates.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Mr. Chairman, we put these local governing authorities in place in the community level, thinking that they will provide us good feedback on what is an effective way to expend ECE dollars to get the best results for the students. I would like to ask the Minister: has there been an analysis done showing what the impact is going to be of these reductions in the funding, especially when you consider that if these students do not get these credits that they need to conclude their high school diplomas, that they will probably be coming back into the system at some point to either have upgrading or...

Will there be any impact on the staffing level at the alternative school? Will this decrease of $200,000 impact their resources or their staffing in the next school year? Thank you.

As part of the consideration for reworking the funding of the alternative schools, what kind of consideration was given to the results that have been achieved? I understand that the students who attend the alternative schooling are ones who would not normally be attending the regular high school and this is a means of ensuring that those who may have dropped out who need credits, who need to learn in a different way, who need to achieve their high school diploma outside of that regular attendance at school Monday to Friday. Were the results taken into consideration when looking at the revised...