But the fact is, that’s not a straight line funding formula. He has one for the communities, and then he has one for the regional centres, and he’s got ones for Yellowknife. By the way, you have a large funding formula for the communities – which I support because it’s important – and I certainly say the fact is the problem is he’s taking from the large centre of Yellowknife to fund them. He should be asking for money.

By the way, on that note, has the Justice Minister ever had the courage to come to committee or the Assembly, for that matter, and ask for the proper money and funding to fund JK...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a lot of places to start with today, and by golly, I think I’m going to give the Education Minister the pleasure of my questions today.

May I remind the Education Minister that in Yellowknife the education boards are administrative boards and not advisory boards. Now, in the capital, the YK school boards raise approximately 20 percent of their funding from their tax base.

Perhaps the Minister can explain the funding formula in this situation where YK schools raise part of their own money to educate our students and the difference between the other schools that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, before we begin today, I too support early childhood education opportunities in every single one of our communities. I also support the immediate need of those 10 communities that desperately need this opportunity. However, we have an Education Minister who would rather wield divisional politics amongst urban versus rural communities. This Minister should be building bridges, not finding ways to burn them down.

I demand the Minister to immediately show this Assembly any degree of opposition of support against any small community when they need their early childhood...

See, Mr. Speaker, you’re so correct, because this is such a frustrating issue. I happen to look at all of them, and they all look the same because they all give the same answers: nothing.

The Education Minister is the one I’m, frankly, pointing at right now. Thank you for pointing that out. Frankly, has the Education Minister ever had the courage to come to the committee or the Assembly to ask for money to properly fund this program from the start, because I don’t know how he’s going to do more with less money.

Let me thank Robin Hood over there for that answer. I want to know from the Minister, is he in a position to fund all Yellowknife school boards at 100 percent, because it’s unfair that in Yellowknife the citizens are double taxed. For the education of anybody following this issue, you pay through your property tax and then that money can go to the school boards where it doesn’t apply elsewhere in the Northwest Territories. The citizens of Yellowknife are being double taxed on this issue. Is he prepared to fund them properly, 100 percent?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rose my hand to do the same thing Mr. Bromley just did, but certainly it’s worth noting once again. I’d like to, as well, recognize Weledeh constituent John McFadden, citizen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t believe Mrs. Groenewegen respectfully has a point of order. I think it was more of a statement, as she just said here a second ago. The reality here is I’m asking the Minister about their office and their ability to do their responsibilities that fall within them.

No problem, Mr. Speaker. It’s a Member’s privilege to ask a question when they choose to. It’s a Minister’s responsibility to be available for the question when the question is asked, so don’t make it my fault.

My last question, of course, to the Minister is: What are we going to do about this particular situation that he’s not coming to work? What type of responsibility, being available to Members so we can ask questions that are important to the constituency? I’d like to understand what will be done. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, on page 32 and 33 of the House of Commons Procedures and Practices it says that in terms of ministerial responsibilities, Ministers have both the individual and collective responsibilities to the House, and as such, Ministers are expected to take responsibility and defend their decisions and all Cabinet decisions.

My question for Minister R.C. McLeod is: How does he reasonably expect to do this if he’s, as he stated earlier, not in the House, travelling on personal business?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As always, it gives me great pleasure to acknowledge and welcome NWT’s favorite son – and we all know who that is – Mr. Anthony W.J. Whitford. There he is. He attends hearings quite often.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to acknowledge Ms. Lydia Bardak. She’s the executive director of the John Howard Society. As I understand it, right on the side here we have Hannah Allen. She’s a Page for this session and she’s from Yellowknife Centre.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, the last person I’d like to acknowledge in the gallery here today is Zoe Ignacio-Pacunayen. She’s my constituency...