Thank you, Mr. Chair. The amount that we have referenced in terms of reductions, the $600,000, is specifically directed at the administrative functions for the education authorities, so it is not to come from classroom supports and resources in that area. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister Haener. Ms. Green.
Okay. I think those are all my questions for now, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Any further questions from committee? Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to go back to the $150 million. Can the Minister clarify: is it $150 million that they are giving the school boards, or is it $147 million? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is over $150 million that we allocate throughout the territories to all the education authorities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Okay. Thank you. I see a reduction, though, in mains here of $2.3 million and $1 millionandsomechange from schools in inclusive schooling here, so why are we seeing a reduction? Why is this? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses. Thank you. Mr. Lovely.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. This perhaps isn't the best page to look at when we are understanding what we provide to the education authorities in a school year. Page 49 of the document illustrates what it is exactly that we are providing, and that is $151,769,000 for the 201718 school year. This does not include the component that was committed for the additional funding for junior kindergarten that was announced at the beginning of this session. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Mr. Lovely, for your answer. Maybe, when we are providing these business plans and mains, we could actually put all the information where it should be so we are all together. That would be a recommendation. Can we get the Minister to commit to making that recommendation to clarify these books? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is just how the mains are structured. They have always been like this. We would have to work with the Department of Finance if we want to make those kinds of changes.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for providing that answer. Will he make the commitment to work with the Minister of Finance or his colleague to make these changes so that it is more clear? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, sure, we can meet with the Minister and have those discussions. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will just leave that one alone now, and hopefully we will get some information back better next time so we can make better decisions or questions, I guess. In regards to the program support teacher, are we going to see program support teachers in all the schools, or is it going to be regionalized and numbered? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Our commitment under the ministerial directive is that we are going to see a program support teacher in all of the schools. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for his answer. Now, I am just going to be a little bit thick here. I just want to make sure I get this right. My seven schools in the Nahendeh riding will all, each, get program support teachers in their schools, to get that clarified? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, that is the plan. As you've seen in some of the EDI results at the presentation this afternoon, in some of our smallest communities we are seeing some concerns, and we want to address those concerns. The plan is to get a program support teacher in every community. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I hate to belabour the point, but talking about plans and actually doing are two different things, so I am a little concerned that, if we are planning to do something, we are not actually going to do it. I am hoping that I am hearing the Minister correctly and that we are going to proceed that way. Another question I do have, on to another thing, is that health, wellness, and school support is going up just over $1 million. Is this part of the inclusive schooling, is this part of the PTS teachers, or is there something else with this area? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned, we were looking at putting that support team together of five jobs. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, so that is what that was. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that answer. So just to clarify, that is the $1 million we were talking about, inclusive schooling. I thank the Minister for that information. In regard to culture and heritage, I notice a reduction of $1.2 million. Could the Minister please elaborate on why we have this huge reduction in this area? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We did have an MOU with the Government of Nunavut, that we were storing a lot of their artifacts over at our museum. Since then, they have taken out all of their artifacts and they are in the process, I think, of moving it down to Winnipeg, so that is that MOU that does not exist anymore. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that clarification. I'd just like to go on page 35, and I see Healthy Children Initiatives, there's no money in. Has that sunsetted? I guess that was the first question. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That line item, there is money that was reallocated to the daycares, I believe. I'll go to my deputy minister for a little more clarification.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Deputy Minister Haener.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. When we implemented the changed rates for early childhood programs in October we re-profiled the different elements that make up those rates. One of them used to be called the Healthy Children Initiative, so those funds have merely been shifted from this initiative into the early childhood rates. So they're just being re-categorized. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister Haener. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister and Ms. Haener for her answer. So just to clarify again, this Healthy Children's Initiative, all it was is the money has moved up and that's where it was before in the development of this mains? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Assistant deputy minister of corporate services, Mr. Lovely.
What we have is the Healthy Children Initiative, the Early Childhood Intervention Program, and the Early Childhood Program had undergone a number of changes this past July and were implemented in October. So what ended up happening is that $1,055,000 was reallocated into the Early Childhood Program and the Early Childhood Intervention Program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That will be all the questions I have at this point in time. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Any further questions from committee? I see no further questions or comments from committee. Please return to page 34, Education, Culture and Employment, education and culture operations, expenditure summary, total activity, $203,195,000. Does committee agree? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Sorry, I thought we were going through this page-by-page, so I did have one question about -- it's on page 35 and it's about Support to Northern Performers. Back in 2015-16 there was $185,000 in that budget for it; now it's down to $101,000. Can someone from the department explain what happened? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Just a reminder to committee: we're looking at pages 34, with information found on page 35 to 38. With that, we go to Mr. Lovely.
