Robert Hawkins

Is the Minister able to put on the record how many students have been diagnosed through using telehealth so, again, we can appropriately spend the right inclusive money on the students that need it most? Rather than just targeting based on estimates, I’m really a believer that the money should follow the student, and regardless of where that student is going to, so whatever institution, to me, matters little. Quite frankly, it’s a matter about ensuring that appropriate funding is there for that student and the institution being able to facilitate regular instruction in a proper instructional...

Is it fair to assume that the money is broken out on best guess based on, I’ll say, the experience and situation of these types of schools, that there is need but it hasn’t been technically diagnosed? In other words, we have students we know that are there but they haven’t been formally diagnosed under some type of, we’ll call it, structure or professional basis. Is that a fair observation or understanding of what, in a small form, the deputy minister is trying to say? They’re providing money based on that best assessment?

Mr. Chair, I am going to cut myself off because I don’t have a motion to move it in this one. In all fairness, we can’t be talking about the 2015-16 budget because it’s not fair or relevant, so I will leave it at that. Thank you.

So would the Minister be correct by saying that it’s based on a pupil ratio? Is that what he’s saying? It’s calculated down to for every student you have you get $10, so if you have more students, you get more money, less students, you get less. What type of figure do they use for their calculation? Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I appreciate that detail. Is there money in this particular budget to do a planning study for the longer term of the government of the stand-alone Aurora College campus in Yellowknife? If there is, how much? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to focus some of my area of concern around inclusive schooling funding. I’m not sure if anyone else has covered this particular area, but I’m just going to ask a few basic questions before we get into the detail of where we’re going. Although we have the global number of $26.5 million for inclusive schooling funding, maybe if the Minister could break out, not only just for Members but the public, how that money is broken out by school district. So let’s put on the record how many school districts and how that money is spread out across the districts. Thank you.

That also includes the taxation revenue, of course?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a pleasure to talk today, of course, and I’m here to talk about the stabilization fund once again.

Our government builds its budget around the best guess estimates provided by the federal government, and for lack of better terms, it is a best guess. Those revenues that they predict for our territorial government are what they think they see are coming forward after last year’s estimates. But what do we do when it’s wrong? When the SS GNWT doesn’t get the cheque it was promised, what do we do then?

Over the years I have seen a number of budgets built and it certainly...

Perhaps the Minister can explain why the South Slave Divisional Education Council would be funded more than, for example, a Yellowknife school, if it’s based on freight and costs, because, of course, we all know that the costs of operating there is cheaper than it is in Yellowknife and they have fewer teachers by the number, 15 compared to the Yellowknife school district, yet they receive more money. Maybe we can get some clarity on that.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A few months ago I had asked the department if they had done some type of analysis on their grants and the cost of them and the sense of opportunity costs. I don’t ever recall receiving any type of feedback on that initiative. I can go through the further detail of that if that doesn’t jog enough of their memory to what my issue was to the Minister or the staff.