R.J. Simpson

Thank you. I appreciate where the Member is coming from. In our modern world, everyone has cellphones. Everyone uses the Internet. It has become sort of a necessity of life. It has been recognized as such by multiple organizations. We do allow clients to use phones and the internet in the Income Assistance office. In this budget, though, we aren't contemplating adding a phone or Internet allowance. There has been some work done on that. Just looking at a basic phone plan and a basic Internet plan on your phone, we are pushing, I think, an additional $2 million or so is what it would cost...

Thank you. Our government has not accessed that, to date. Thank you.

Thank you. The team does get out to communities. It does engage with students from all over the territory, in person; well, rather it engages with the principals and the teachers in person, by phone, over video chat. It's not just based in Yellowknife. What I'm saying is they don't do regular scheduled visits; it's not like, the third Wednesday of every month, they're in this community. The team doesn't work like that. It's referral-based, and these referrals are for assistance with students who have the highest needs in the territory. You know, a lot of students have needs. There is always a...

Correct, thank you.

Thank you, and I appreciate the Member bringing this up. I know he has always been a strong advocate for the museum and all it does. As many of the Members know, the museum is getting on in age right now. I did a tour of there not long ago. There are sections of it where there are dehumidifiers that have to be emptied nightly by security guards. The space is an issue. The Prince of Wales Heritage Centre serves a central agency function for the GNWT, storing many of its archives, so we have a lot to store. In addition to all of the cultural treasures that we have in the territory, there are...

Thank you. I'm guessing we bought something big. If you give me a moment, I might be able to find out what that was. What that is, is a reallocation of funds from fees and payments to contract services, and those contract services are used to pay for the itinerant team, which is child and youth counsellors who travel to different communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to, with the chair's indulgence, bring in Mr. Saturnino for these next two sections. Mr. MacDonald may take his leave into the witness room, I guess.

Thank you. I don't have a breakdown in front of me of the distribution of these funds, but that's definitely something we can get to Member. We might be able to get it by the end of the day. I know we have people watching and working furiously and sending us emails. We can get that done, and hopefully, I'll be able to have an answer for you later on. Thank you.

Thank you. I agree. I want to make sure that we have the resources available to do that. Everyone knows what our fiscal situation is. Everyone knows how much is being committed to new initiatives. What the report of the auditor general says, and what the priorities of this Assembly say, and what the mandate of this government says is all the same thing essentially. It's mandating us to do what we do. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment is supposed to be increasing educational outcomes. It's supposed to be increasing early developmental index scores. Those are the things that we...

Thank you. Just to be clear, the fund is distributed on a needs basis, basically first come, first served. It's not allocated per region, say a quarter or a fifth to each region. It's just first come, first served and needs. The funds that aren't allocated, they do not get spent, basically; they go back to the general coffers, just like any other budget line that is not fully spent. Thank you.