R.J. Simpson

Thank you. I would like to hand that to my deputy minister if you don't mind.

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. Just one moment if you don't mind, Madam Chair? My apologies.

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.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My first set of questions from the Member for Hay River South. It's a big day for me. The total amount budgeted in the previous main estimates was $1.072 million, and that's for the Trades and Occupations Wage Subsidy Program. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. We have a number of programs that we are undertaking. I might as well just hand it over to my deputy minister, I think. She's very involved with this one, and she might get a more detailed answer. Thank you.

Thank you. Our budget is going to continue to be our budget. Then there is this supplementary funding coming from the federal government. In the long term, like the previous Member stated, we do have to consider this. Is there a need for these 173 positions? If there is, why aren't they being funded from within the department? Why isn't that part of our funding formula? These are big conversations we have to have.

Some of the schools I have been to have an amazingly high amount of Jordan's Principle workers there, whether they are support assistants or teachers. You talk to the teachers in...

Thank you. The Member was talking about synergies between a polytechnic university and the museum. I haven't really put much thought into that, but I think that would be an avenue, perhaps, to pursue, especially in terms of capital funding. You know, the federal government or other entities might be more open to supporting a museum project if it does have that association, given that there is also a research component, as well. The territorial archeologist is in that facility, as well.

I just want to temper everyone's expectations here, that this would not be a cheap build. We have a lot of...

Thank you. I appreciate what the Member is saying. It would be nice if we had the resources to send the team out to the regions on a regular basis, but the fact is, they just don't have the time. We don't have enough people. This is intended to augment what's already going on in the community, not to replace that. It's not the only service that these students would be getting. It's valuable. For the students who need it, it's very, very valuable for the students, the parents, and the teachers. I would love to do what the Member is asking and get them out into the different communities on a...