Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Just with the School of Community Government, I was contacted by one of my remote communities. They have to, I think, pay their own way to attend a lot of these training functions. Particularly to Yellowknife it gets quite expensive. I guess the issue here is, they probably do it already, but can they do more training in the regions and the communities just to reduce the cost of those almost like fly-in communities?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I guess I would ask if the department would consider, during their next campaign, to involve local chapters of MADD and SADD for drunk driving awareness. Thank you.

I am certainly pleased to hear the department’s support for organizations such as MADD and SADD. Specifically, does he know what other types of supports they have for the individuals and organizations? Most specifically, the RCMP assisted them last year by providing them their vehicles and flashing lights. Are there any other in-kind supports that the department has?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize Chief Minnie Letcher. Welcome to the gallery and I hope you enjoy the proceedings here. Mahsi.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. These line items are unusual in the fact that they are exactly all the same in the actual and revised estimates as well. I’m just wondering: is that because these programs are fully subscribed?

It sounds like the Minister is aware of the issues in the small communities, because their funding is always tight and the Minister has heard that from many members, too, in the communities. It is about the amount of money it takes to travel out of the communities to get to Yellowknife. It sounds like he’s willing to move some of the training closer to the communities, especially about governance and management. In the small communities there is a high turnover of people that manage the communities, so they find themselves training more. Like I said, it’s quite expensive.

This gas tax funding...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Finally a government document that references Highway No. 7. All kidding aside, Mr. Chairman, of course I have been using my favorite two words trying to get resolution over getting Highway No. 7 reconstructed and I know that it is very, very expensive. In the capital planning that we approved last fall, we are certainly making strides towards it and I just want to highlight it once again so we can keep paying attention to it. It is part of the Deh Cho Trail, the loop that goes from BC and all the way around to the Alberta border close to Hay River. It makes...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. When it comes to income support with the federal Minister’s recent announcement about increasing the amount of insurable hours, has the department done an assessment yet? It will affect the income support of people if it’s harder for people to get on, something like that.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to advise that when it comes to junior kindergarten in the communities, I have had constituents that are very supportive of it and it is something that we need in the communities, especially small communities, because the stats for progress in writing and reading is so low. In fact, it is so low that the department actually cancelled those Alberta achievement tests, but that is another story.

I certainly support junior kindergarten. I think that will give our younger preschool children a leg up as they enter our schooling system. It’s too bad someone already...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Once again, I cannot be supporting a motion that’s including additional dollars to the budget. I know the mover of the motion originally said in the motion to reallocate, but it also says an additional $2 million, so I can’t support the motion with that. We’ve got a bigger fight coming ahead of us. We’ve still got a $30 million reduction in the next fiscal year. All Members are aware that because of the late new information on deductions and taxes that we were going with the printed budget as we speak, and that further reductions will be coming next year. My...