Tom Beaulieu

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Lands. I would like to ask the Minister if he can briefly explain the equity lease. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I have no further questions for the Minister. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the policy of the land portion of the policy, it will go a long way to helping people to apply for programs and come closer and closer each year to trying to bring core need down to a national level of 12 per cent. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my next question is what is not here. Under this section, early childhood development in schools, there was a schedule to do the planning study actually this current fiscal year, according to the capital plan for Kaw Tay Whee school. The Minister did respond to me, and it sounded just like there is a shift and that the actual planning study was going to occur in 2018-2019, during questions in the House. I am wondering if I could just get that clarified: exactly when is the planning studies scheduled to be completed? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I realize that they have moved onto Phase 2 of the school, but I am wondering if the high school is operating, or if the students have been relocated to another community. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Minister if the Lutselk'e Dene school renovation is on schedule to be completed this fall. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this program is not for what the Minister thinks it is for. We know. We negotiated this. We know exactly why we negotiated this. We negotiated this money, $3 million, and we asked for a lot more than that. We dealt with the Minister of Finance, and we negotiated this money to address the low employment rates in small communities.

I have asked the Minister now 16 questions. I am trying to find out what happened. How did this shift occur? All the Minister is telling me is that there is an economic downturn, we are trying to help this; this is very clear. We...

I am going to try for the third time here: did the Minister consult with someone else before he made the decision to take this money and put it outside the small communities? This was clearly a small community fund. This was clearly for small communities. This is clearly understood by this side of the House, that this was for small communities. Did the Minister consult with anyone else on his side of the House before making a decision to move this money out of small communities into the regional centres?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I said in my Member's statement, this is a major disappointment to watch 10 years of our work go down the drain with one decision.

I'd like to ask the Minister: who made the decision to change the communities that this program was intended for? This program was intended to address the small communities; not the regional centres, the small communities. The regional centres have other ways of getting employment, obviously. Who made the decision to go outside the small communities with the Small Community Employment Support Program? Thank you.

I'm wondering if the Minister could tell me who was consulted prior to making this decision.