Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, we couldn't do the amendments, because they were printed in December and the decision was made in January. The process of when there were internal reallocations does have to go through a process and have an FMB submission. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Nothing further from Mr. McNeely. Next, I have Mr. Nakimayak on the list, to carry over from yesterday. Mr. Nakimayak.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just on page 42, and we're looking at the healthy food for children and youth. I just have a question. I know we're getting into income security later on. I'm looking at the funding for healthy food for children and youth. I know recently the Department of ECE is giving cash to income security recipients and clients. I'm wondering if that's going to have an uptake on the breakfast program and the food for children and youth such as breakfast programs around the territory, and if that's going to have an effect. I'm just wondering if the department is going to have any forward-thinking issues to mitigate that once that becomes a possible issue across the territory, mainly in smaller communities where there are a lot of income security clients? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's something we need to monitor. With the income assistance, we fund families for their most basic needs. As I mentioned yesterday, we fund breakfast, lunch, and snack programs throughout the Northwest Territories that do have an impact on our students. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Nothing further from Mr. Nakimayak. Next on my list is Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, what I'm wondering is: I follow now the explanation that the assistance deputy minister has given about where the money is being reallocated, and it's enrolment-based and so on. Is this page, page 41 of the main estimates, going to be changed to reflect the reality of the reallocation that the ADM talked about? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Not the main estimates that we're going through right now, but it will be revised in the next 2019-2020 Main Estimates. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in terms of creating a record on this commitment, is Hansard the only thing that we have to rely on in order to capture this commitment? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. I will address that to the Minister of Finance. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my apologies to committee. I know that there were a lot of concerns about this particular issue. As far as I was concerned, it was quite straight-forward, but I didn't know that. Recognizing that the committee had a number of questions, I had sent a letter off. I'm not sure if the chair of standing committee has it yet, but I do have the letter here. I'm not sure how we want to deal with this. This gives a fairly good explanation in writing as to issue that the folks from ECE are talking about. Hopefully, this will help clarify some of that, so Hansard wouldn't be the only record. You would have it. This would be the record you would have of it here.
I think it's fairly straight-forward and it explains it, in my opinion, fairly well. I think it's gone off to the clerk of the committee, but I don't think committee has an opportunity to see it yet.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you, thank you to the Finance Minister for that. Just to complete the record in Hansard, I see the letter isn't long. Could the Finance Minister just read it into the record so that we can put this issue to bed? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister McLeod.
If it means putting this issue to bed, I will be more than happy to read the letter; it's not very long, if that's okay with the Chair and the Minister and the Premier and the public at large.
I see heads nodding, so, Minister McLeod, please proceed with reading the letter into the record.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the letter is addressed to Mr. Tom Beaulieu, chairman of the standing committee and priorities in planning, 2018-2019 Main Estimates. As was noted in my letter of January 29, 2018, $881,000 was approved to be reallocated to the inclusion of junior kindergarten enrolments in determining inclusive schooling funding. This amount is included in the $154.9 million in the education authority contributions described on page 42 and 43 of the 2018-2019 Main Estimates.
As I am sure the Members can appreciate, estimates of enrolments are used for inclusion in the budgeting process from the previous year. Recently it was determined that enrolments had dropped by 1.9 per cent. What the FMB has directed is, rather than lapse the funding and returning it to general revenue, Education, Culture and Employment are to re-direct that funding to inclusive schooling. Should enrolments increase unexpectedly for 2018-2019, the department would seek supplementary funding as appropriate. Other financial commitments identified as part of our agreement will be included as part of the supplementary appropriations number 1 for 2018-2019. I trust this provides the needed clarification. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'd like to thank the Finance Minister for clarifying. I feel like there was another nugget of information in there that we didn't have before. From my point of view, I am completely satisfied that we now understand the money, where it came from, where it's going, and that it will be in place in the next budget. I'd like to thank the Finance Minister for that.
With that, Mr. Chair, I have some other unrelated questions on this page. Is now the right time to ask those?
Since this issue has been settled and I was going to allow him to speak to this particular issue twice, I'd like it if we could move on from this issue, but I will allow your remaining time to discuss this final issue before I call the page. Ms. Green.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there are some reports that are important to schools and educational authorities which we have not yet seen and which were promised to us prior to this time in the business planning process. I'll start with, first of all, the Yellowknife School Space Study. A draft of that report was completed in the fall and we were told to expect to see that study in January. We're now told we won't see it until April. I'm wondering what the delay is in sharing this information even on a confidential basis with committee. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That specific study, there's more than just the Department of Education, Culture and Employment that's involved. There's also the Department of Infrastructure and the Department of Finance. Collectively, we're working on the joint response to that space study here in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I recognize that this space study is a multi-department undertaking, but that was always the case. The report was promised to us before January and we're not seeing it until April. I'm going to ask again: what is the delay in sharing this report with committee, even on a confidential basis? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned, there are three departments that are working. I can't tell the Department of Finance or the Department of Infrastructure how to do their jobs. We're also working with the education authorities and making sure that they're up to date on this study. Once this study is complete and we do get a response, I'm sure that we can share that with committee after going through the formal process, and bring that back to Cabinet, as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I see I'm not going to get a specific answer at this point. I will register that we shouldn't be the last to know. It makes absolutely no sense that we're not going to know about this until after the deadline for getting a capital funding project application in. Related to this and still an outstanding issue is the actual plan for early childhood development with money provided by Canada. We know that action plan is complete. There is some to-ing and fro-ing around when it's going to sign off. Are we looking at the same kind of a delay in making this information available to the committee as we've just experienced with the homecare? Meaning that there was a huge gap between finding out this money was available and then having it announced publicly today by the Minister of Health and the MP. So when exactly are we going to get this plan? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Because it is a bilateral agreement with the Government of Canada, we do have to respect our working relationships with them. Any input or influx of funding that we get towards early childhood development is great for us in the Northwest Territories; and I did mention and commit that, once we do get the agreement signed, that we would be willing to come and brief standing committee on the steps moving forward and the action plan. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Mr. Chair, I'm wholly unsatisfied with the fact that this committee is playing second fiddle to another order of government. We need the information. We've asked for it. The money seems to be in the budget for this, and yet we have not seen the plan. It's total unacceptable. The plan needs to be shared with the committee, even on a confidential basis, as soon as possible. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Would the Minister like to respond in the remaining 10 seconds?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll take the Member's comments, and I'll bring it to Cabinet for further discussion. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Next, Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister and the department and the Finance Minister for clearing up that inclusive schooling issue. So I really appreciate that. My comments are just in regard to a couple of other things in the budget, here. One, we're talking about a new stream for graduation; there are three or four or five streams. What is happening with this? It's not on this page? Okay. Thank you, that answers that question. Do you know what page that would be on? I guess I'll go back to the Minister on that one, then, because this says early childhood and school services, so I'm trying to figure out where that is. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister, would you please, perhaps, direct us as to where the appropriate section is to discuss this issue?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My apologies. I thought it was in a section later, but in regards to High School Pathways, it is an initiative that we're moving forward with our education renewal. We have had consultations with the education authorities. My apologies to the Member for telling him it was on a different page. The High School Pathways, we're looking at five different streams, as mentioned. That won't be implemented in the school system until the 2019-2020 academic year. So that gives us a full year to do the consultations, meet with our partners, our stakeholders, our education authorities, to get that information out to families and parents. In the presentation that we did give to committee, we did hear all the concerns and recommendations on this one. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
I thank the Minister, and I don't take any offence at it, because I'm good trying to find things in here. So I greatly appreciate it, and I appreciate that information. So I guess we're going through a process here, and I'm just trying to understand: we've already put money into the system, correct? So are we going to see the plan at some point in time, after the consultation during this fiscal year? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we will share that with standing committee and all Members. This one, we want to make sure that we do give consultation throughout the Northwest Territories, as it will have an impact on our students and our teachers. So, thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we will.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that. I know the department is doing some good work on that. I just wanted to make sure we get it communicated properly and everybody is on-stream with it. So this next question, here, is just regarding Northern Youth Abroad. I know that there's a contribution agreement with the Department of Education and the Department Municipal and Community Affairs. Is it in this area here? Because it shows a blank here, but it might be somewhere else. So can the Minister confirm if it's in this section or if it's in another section? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is in this section, our contributions to Northern Youth Abroad. We do fund them on an ongoing basis in terms of when they request the funding -- application-based, I guess you could say -- and our discussions with them. So it is in this area. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
