Tom Beaulieu

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, just to be clear, I'd like to ask the Minister if the Small Community Employment Support Program budget of $3 million that was added to the $1.2 million now supports all communities except Yellowknife. Thank you.

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in 2007, when I became MLA, one of my first and biggest issues was employment in small communities.

Mr. Speaker, the 16th Assembly made a decision to address issues on employment rates in small communities

Programs like the Community Access Road Program, programs that supported traditional economies, were enhanced. The budgets were tripled, Mr. Speaker. Programs such as single window service and small communities' employment were created.

With these initiatives, employment rates continued to increase gradually to a point where the average is nearly 50 per cent...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the integration of health authorities into SAM, is this the last integration for the Department of Health and Social Services authorities? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my questions would be for the next section, so I can wait.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I want to talk a bit about what's not here. Earlier we did talk a bit about some of the long-term care beds that are in this capital plan that we'll be rolling out over the next couple of years, the beds in Hay River and Inuvik. There are also some facilities in some of the communities, the small communities, communities that have maybe 400 to 600 people. One that comes to mind, of course, is Fort Resolution. Fort Resolution has the Great Elders' Facility. The Great Elders' Facility can actually accommodate four individuals living right in the main...

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.

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to recognize Darrell Beaulieu, a constituent of mine from Ndilo. It is partly his fault that I am here today. Thank you.