Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Lafferty.
I was just looking at the list and I’m not sure if it’s all 33 communities, but I do have quite a list here. It does capture early childhood, disabilities, district education, friendship centre, daycare society, nursery, library committee, and playschool and so forth. But I need to find out if it does capture all 33 communities, and if not, why not, and those types of questions. But this is all based on proposals that we receive from the communities. That’s what we have to date, the 2011-2012 actual numbers that we’re using, proposals that we receive, so I can provide that information to the Members. It is detail from the communities.
Just for clarification, this contribution here is open for all organizations that provide healthy children initiatives in the communities, so I’m assuming with it capped at $2.1 million it’s pretty well on a first-come, first-served basis.
That’s correct. It’s open to anybody that wants to deal with the preventive measurement, the early children’s initiative and so forth, in the 33 communities that we service, so it is open to them.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Committee, we’re combining 10-18, 19 and 20. Education, Culture and Employment, activity summary, education and culture, grants and contributions, grants, total grants, $52,000, contributions, total contributions, $168.801 million, total grants and contributions, $168.853 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Page 8-21, Education, Culture and Employment, information item, education and culture, active positions. Any questions?
Agreed.
Being none, 8-23, Education, Culture and Employment, activity summary, advanced education, operations expenditure summary, $48.727 million. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to follow up a little bit on the adult learning and basic education programs, and I have got some information from the Minister recently which I appreciated. Can the Minister summarize what the plans are for this year with the CanNor dollars? Is that a matching funding? Is that something we match or are we able to use those dollars exclusively on their own for this ALBE initiative?
Great. Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. The announcement came from the federal government directly to Aurora College, for Aurora College to deliver or enhance the ALBE. It’s specifically for ALBE programming, so they made it clear from the federal perspective. What we currently provide funding to ALBE is above and beyond that, so we are, as a department, working again closely with the college. There has to be a planning process to expend those funds through the college, so even though it’s their funding, we, as a department, still continue to work with them. This is an area that has been earmarked for the college to deliver ALBE through CanNor. That’s the information that we have, and again, the fund is flowed through to the college and we continue to work with them.
Thanks to the Minister for that information. I know we have done a pretty extensive review ourselves of ALBE through our program review office, and I know, I think maybe the Auditor General may have commented as well. One of the things that is clear is that we spend a lot of money on this, a lot of money on ALBE, and I have to say, I was a little bit surprised when I found out we’re getting a whole bunch more money from CanNor for this. It’s not something I would ever turn down, of course. I’m happy to see it. But one of the issues was we didn’t know what we were achieving with those dollars. Maybe we knew we weren’t achieving what we wanted to with those dollars, so the really big question is what we do with them and so on. This is within GNWT rather than Aurora College, although Aurora College is probably part of it. Where are we at with that? I believe there have been some moves to put in some evaluation programs. Can I just get an update on that? Are they in place, are we starting to measure objectively what we’re getting out of our rather large expenditures on ALBE, and will the CanNor dollars be subject to that sort of evaluation and monitoring as well?
I realize that part of the review process was based on certain criteria, whether it be evaluating and so forth. This CanNor funding up to $9 million, I believe, over the two years to expand the programming in our territory and increase employment opportunities for the North. Of course, I’m happy that we received funding, as well, and any new funding that’s available to us, even though we’ve done our comprehensive review of our adult basic learning education. But at the same time, we have to keep in mind that there are a lot of opportunities out there where we need to utilize and expand our campuses. When I say campuses, that means learning centres throughout the Northwest Territories. The Sahtu, and now Deh Cho and Beaufort-Delta are coming on stream as well. We have to prepare these individuals, which we may not have had in the past except for the three diamond mines, and we’ve seen the results of that. We’ve seen so many people that went through the ALBE program, whether it be heavy equipment operators, apprentices and so forth.
We’ve seen some success, so this is an area that we want to capture as part of that up to $9 million that’s been handed over to the college. We want to be involved along the way. We realize that we’ve done our own homework and so that’s an area that we will continue to work, of course, with the federal government and with the college itself.
There is an accountability framework for training of adults, the Auditor General’s recommendation. We take this very seriously. That’s nearing completion and will be ready for discussion with our educational partners. As you know, we have to work with the school boards and the college and so forth. We’re hoping that it will be ready for implementation in 2013-2014. Obviously, there will be some integration with the CanNor, with the college, but we need to work it out with them. We need to work side by side. That’s the information that I currently have right now.
I appreciate those comments. I’m glad to hear about the accountability framework that’s going to be in place. Let’s see, I did ask for one thing that I didn’t get and I can’t remember now what it was. Is there a matching requirement for the dollars? That’s the last one. Thank you.
Mr. Chair, I completely forgot about that part. It’s federal funding. No, it’s not a matching funding with GNWT or the college. It’s just the funding that flows directly to the college to deliver or enhance the ALBE program that they currently have over a two-year period. Mahsi.
Mr. Chair, Aurora College obviously is the major player in delivering this. Are there other partners in the delivery of the ALBE? Does the department itself play a role or are there other partners? Thank you.
Mr. Chair, there are other, whether they be the ASETS through the federal government, going to Aboriginal communities or leadership. There is a Labour Market Agreement that we have that train in those areas. ALBE covers a lot of areas. It is very generic even at the mine site. They provide training.
I keep on referring to training, but it is ALBE upgrades. That’s what is happening at the mine site and various areas in the Northwest Territories that deliver that. Community learning centres, friendship centres and other agencies are involved. Yes, there are more than just our department or the college that delivers ALBE. Mahsi.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Moving on with questions I have Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to ask a couple of questions about ALBE as well. I noted from the Minister’s opening remarks that he said the department will action recommendations from the Adult Literacy and Basic Education review. I wondered if the Minister could elaborate on what recommendations will be acted on and what programs will be changed. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. When I talk about the recommendations, ALBE review recommendations, again, we have to work with our Aboriginal partners. Obviously, the college plays a big role as well. When we talk about community deliverance, we talk about the Literacy Council. They have been actively involved. We have seen great success in that area. Not only that, but there’s been five adult educators that have been added to Aurora College community learning centres, even through CanNor, so we are beginning to see results.
Again, accountability framework is part of the recommendations that will be before us in this House, but what I was referring to was the recommendation that came out of that and we are proceeding with that through our partnerships in delivering that. Mahsi.
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.
Mr. Chair, obviously we would like to see a longer term commitment from the feds. Right now it is only a two-year funding. Usually it is a five-year investment, so we will be knocking at their door, even building our relationship with the CanNor department. If the fund is depleting, then that’s an area that we need to start planning now, re-evaluating even before the two-year time span is up. How has it been? Is it working well? How can we reinvest in those areas? We do have some time to re-evaluate our stance at that point in time. At the same time, we are working with Aboriginal governments, as well, because they do have some funds. We have some funds. How can we match if that’s the case? We are just thinking long term. If it’s working well within the next two years, obviously we would like to see that continue. I would like to see the federal government continue their investment in this area. Mahsi.
Mr. Chair, thanks to the Minister. I wanted to ask, within this section there are two funds which I don’t know whether or not it’s included here. One of them is the Mine Training Society and the other one is Skills Canada. I can’t find, within this section, where either of those organizations’ contributions are listed. Can I get some clarification? Thank you.
Mr. Chair, even though it’s not listed on here, we are contributing to both societies. Skills Canada, we contribute I believe $80,000 on an annual basis and we continue to do that. They have other sources of revenue, funding that is coming from other agencies, as well, or industries in partnership, so it goes beyond our $80,000. Even with Mine Training Society, I believe we contributed funds for them to continue while we work with the federal government to talk about the long-term strategy. We talk about pan-territorial approach as well. The Member is correct; it may not be highlighted specifically, but we are contributing to both societies. Mahsi.
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, I’m trying to get the detailed information from my staff, but I don’t have it here with me. I can provide that to the Members.
Over the years, we have contributed. We are true partners along with ITI and other departments towards this Mine Training Society. We will provide the breakdown to Members. Mahsi.
Mr. Chair, to where these contributions would show up in the budget? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. For that we’ll go to Mr. Devitt.
Mr. Chair, I don’t have that information with me.
Thank you, Mr. Devitt. Minister Lafferty.
Mr. Chair, we will have to find out where exactly it’s based at. I know for sure that we are contributing, but we will find out which category it’s on and we’ll provide that to the Members. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Ms. Bisaro.
Mr. Chair, I appreciate that commitment and I look forward to seeing the information.
My last question here has to do with a statement in the Minister’s remarks. It had to do with the Aurora College housing. We are closing down the unit. There are savings realized by PWS from closing the existing units. It then says that the savings from PWS will be used to fund a portion of the department’s main estimates. I found that very confusing. Could I get an explanation of what is going on here? Are we transferring money from PWS to Education or what? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. For that we’ll go to Mr. Devitt.
Mr. Chair, the offset is in savings in Public Works. There is no transfer of funding, but there are savings from closing units, because the savings are in the fact the units won’t have to be maintained by Public Works once they’re closed. Thank you.
Thanks. So I guess I have to read the sentence and ask for an explanation because I don’t understand. The Minister’s remarks said savings realized by PWS from closing the existing units will be used to fund $469,000 of the $898,000 increase to the department’s main estimates. Is that maybe referencing PWS as opposed to ECE? Thank you.
That’s correct. The maintenance of the units is budgeted in Public Works. So that’s where the savings are realized. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m done.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Committee, we do have another person on this page for questioning. However, we’re going to take a short break and return on page 10-23 after the break. Thank you.
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I’d like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we’re on page 10-23 and continuing on with questions we have Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’ll focus my questions on the management and program support that negotiates, and monitoring training and employment provisions in the socio-economic agreements. What’s allocated here is just over $2 million. I’d like to ask the Minister how that funding is distributed throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. For that we’ll go to Mr. Devitt.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The management and program support is the regional offices or ECE service centres and as well as headquarters management, the director’s office is budgeted under the $2.041 million budget.
Thank you. In light of some of the recent studies in regard to the skilled workforce and some industry not meeting the standards for not having a skilled workforce that are outlined in the socio-economic agreements, would the Minister, through the management and program support, look at seeking more funding to address this concern so that we get more of the skilled workforce for residents of the Northwest Territories to get trained so that they can actually enter into some of these jobs in the industry, but also be meeting some of the standards that we set out in these socio-economic agreements. Right now I feel that the funding that’s allocated to these regional offices isn’t able to meet those requirements. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Through the SEMA agreement, Socio-Economic Monitoring Agreement, there are certain targets in place and with the three diamond mines there are some negotiations that are underway with the potential industries that are coming on board. We have been behind a bit on the target itself. So through time we’ve developed an MOU to work with the three diamond mines. I can refer to the three diamond mines because we’ve been working actively with them and in 2008 we signed on. We’ve made some progress in that area where there’s been some training programs. The Mine Training Society that we work closely with and also Aboriginal organizations. We have funding available, as well, through the Labour Market Agreement and the Labour Market Development Agreement. Federal funding flowed through the GNWT into the communities. There is also an ASETS training program that is available through Aboriginal organizations via the federal government. There is money available, it’s just that we need to integrate and coordinate with various organizations that are out there because we need to get ready for Beaufort-Delta, Deh Cho, and also Sahtu. Those are a lot of activities happening there. There will be in the Beaufort-Delta. We want to have a trained workforce. That is an area that I’ve instructed my department to work closely with those organization groups. Mine Training Society is the one firm that we need to be prepared. We want to capture the target percentage. At this point it’s very difficult to achieve, let’s say, within the next couple of years, but on the long-term basis we want to achieve that.
I’m thinking it’s the management support offices that negotiate with industry here, so, obviously, somewhere something is happening that there’s not enough dollars or not enough marketing or promotion to get our skilled labour force to get educated and get the training that they need.
These regional offices, I imagine they probably report to headquarters, but does the standing committee or SCEDI get reports from the regional offices on how dollars are being spent, and if they are being spent in the appropriate areas such as training, or is it just an office to fund an office for staff and forms but no dollars allocated for training?
That $2.041 million is strictly geared towards the PYs in the regions. That’s an area we will continue to monitor through our department. With the training, that is additional funding that we provide through our Education, Culture and Employment department on to the Aboriginal groups or agencies or those firms that are willing to work with us to initiate a training program, such as HEO or underground training, such as the Mine Training Society. We are actively partners in those areas and we have the funding to provide that. The Mine Training Society has the funding to provide that as well. We’ve been successful to date in those areas. We feel that we need to do more. We need to prepare for those three regions that I highlighted earlier. Not only that but there is Fortune Minerals and others that are coming on stream. The $2.41 million is strictly for PYs in the regions.
