Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Minister keeps on talking to us about $13 million as a surplus. Now, all of a sudden, we have to wait actually until later on. My question, though, is: if a district education authority has the ability to come up with a plan to utilize the surplus that actually will enhance the education for our youth, can they use that money without getting it clawed back? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that answer. Unfortunately, I'm asking the questions today, so I am not going to wait until tomorrow or until the future. I am asking about other courses, the expanding of the program right now that exists. Have you looked at that opportunity? Could you make a commitment to get the department to look, at least, that opportunity for expanding it to other courses, just not the peer courses? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. So not only are we asking them to go out there and promote the daycares, but you are supposed to help this part-time position, so we are just loading up on this individual here, to do more work. Can the Minister explain that rationale? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I am not asking her for a commitment, but I am asking her to make sure that she has her staff there, the superintendent of schools, ECE, and a couple of other people there, to hear the concerns from people about the upgrading needed. Can she commit to having at least a couple of those people available to be part of the tour?

Thank you. I appreciate the Minister's passion from that, but when I talked to the board, the former board that is no longer out there, it wasn't the college. It was the department that told them, "You have to cut, and here's where you have to cut."

You have your opinion, and we have another opinion from other people. My concern is: how do we know that this system is going to work this time? The old system didn't work, and we have a college that has $32 million and has no real plan. Did we just give them a contribution agreement because it is what we gave them in the past? What are we doing to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. What is the difference between the Sahtu and the Beaufort-Delta? They all have a full-time position, and I am assuming that they get the support from their staff, as well. Why is it a difference of only a half-time position for the Deh Cho? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and again, I would like to thank the Minister for the information provided here today. At the end of the day, though, we want to help our students who are graduating. This is my understanding: students attending access programs at Aurora College are able to access student financial assistance. This is counted against the maximum allowable semesters limit under SFA. Can the Minister explain why this is, and has ECE considered not counting these access programs against the student's maximum allowable limit of SFA? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My understanding, they're not autonomous right now. They're part of the department. We've hired somebody. How does the budget work? How does their budget work? Do they just come to you with a number and say, "We want $32 million," and you guys go out and give a contribution agreement? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I will be real quick with the question. Previously, I have had a community approach a smaller community asking to get it, you know, to expand there, but what I am understanding is now we have to wait until we get these other 20 before we move ahead? Is this my understanding? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I am looking more specifically at the small communities in the Nahendeh, so again, could the Minister tell us: could existing schools be used to deliver upgrading where there is no community learning centre available?