Wendy Bisaro

Mr. Chair, I have another question with regard to these heritage funds and the culture funds. They are on pages 19 and 20. I would like to know from the Minister how these funds are administered. Are they called cultural funds? If they are just cultural funds, are they administered through the department or is there a group somewhat like the Arts Council that administers the funds and doles them out? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to ask a question with regard to the Early Childhood Development Program. Earlier in the budget when we were talking about the early childhood development and the money that we are spending in the budget, there was a $50,000 amount mentioned for Aurora College for the Early Childhood Development Certification Program. I know we have one now but it’s not a program which, I gather, provides certification which is recognized across Canada once people are done with that diploma. Could I get an explanation from the Minister on two things? What was the $50,000...

This means the department has to work with those education councils, authorities and boards to come up with a funding formula that ensures success for NWT students. I have the following question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment: Will you revise our approach to inclusive schooling to ensure all of our students can achieve success?

Mr. Chair, thanks to the Minister. That’s good to hear. Could I know how much is earmarked for the Mine Training Society in this next budget year and can I be pointed to which line item it’s under? Thank you.

Mr. Chair, thanks to the Minister. No, I don’t need that. We have that information. I just wanted to know that it’s basically being used for the same programs this year as it was for last year.

I’d like to go back to… I started to talk about heritage and the requests from the various heritage organizations to the Minister. I didn’t really understand in the budget where cultural contributions show up. If I could get that clarified, that would be helpful. Thank you.

Thank you to Mr. Devitt for that information. Just one last question. This is almost $150 million that we are allocating to our education authorities. We turn this money over to them, and I think the Minister’s referenced it a bit previously, but what do we ask of the authorities to have them justify to the department that they’re spending the money the way we think they should be spending it?

Just to comment, I appreciate that the Minister understands where I’m coming from. But if he’s looking for sort of what the groups are looking for, I would reference him to the letter which came on the Mine Heritage Society letterhead, signed by seven or nine, I think, different heritage groups within the NWT. There were a couple of requests in there which, if he’s looking for inspiration, could provide some. I’m not looking for further information than what’s here. That’s all.

To the Minister, if some of this staffing is being paid for by CanNor money, what happens in two or three years’ time when the CanNor money is gone? Will we still have adult literacy staffing in our learning centres in our communities? Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, I see that we went from… If I look at the revised mains to the main estimates, there is not very much of a difference there. Basically, from 2012-13 to 2013-14 we have a difference of $1.4 million minus $1.25 million, $0.15 million, so really the new money in 2013-14 for early childhood is minimal. Am I correct in that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to ask a question with regard to the numbers on this page. We see funded positions from ‘12-13 and ‘13-14 go down 23 positions. My first question would be do we have a corresponding reduction in student enrolments. Thank you.