Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and thank you, colleagues. This past year, she won an award from the Provincial Rowing Association for her commitment to this sport.

This year, she will be moving to Victoria, BC, to try out for the national team. I would like all my colleagues to give her a big round of applause and wish her all the best of luck. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the last couple of weeks, we have been asking questions of the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about the proposed cuts to the education and social work programs. Today I will be asking some questions on behalf of the students of the education program. Mr. Speaker, when looking at the cuts, can the Minister advise this House: did the college consider looking at reducing administration costs first to save some program funding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for his answer. I am just going to leave this part because we could spend the next 20 minutes on it and still not get it come out to an answer that satisfies me. I am going to go to small community employment. This program saw an increase of $3 million so, to the $339,000 that was presently used by the program, was that fully utilized this past fiscal year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and I thank the Minister for his answer. Again, I am going back to the question. It is the funding ratio of 12:1, so you are depending on your school. If you have 20 students, you are not going to get an extra junior kindergarten teacher because, according to the ratio, we are at 16:1, now we are at 12:1, so they should only get the two teachers in that school. If I understand this correctly, there will not be a junior kindergarten teacher brought into Wrigley if they have 20 students? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee defer further consideration of the activity, labour development and standards under the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Main Estimates 20172018 on page 44 at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this past weekend, I had the pleasure of returning home to attend and help out the Connie Loutit Memorial Soccer Tournament.

Mr. Speaker, Ms. Loutit was a secretary at the Bompas School, and the manager of their family plumbing company. She was very active in the community, whether it was sports, school, or community events that improved youths' lives. Her and her husband have two daughters who love soccer, and she could be seen at every game. She was very supportive, did a lot of fundraising and chaperoning through her life. To keep her memory alive, the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for his answer. So with this evidence-based decision making, what was the timeframe? Was it a year, two years, five years, or the length of this program that was from it starting to being where we are today?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister and the deputy minister for their answers. Now, that just opened up a whole bunch more questions. When we talk about the pupil-teacher ratio of 12:1, this is a territories ratio; this is not a school ratio. Correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Minister's commitment. I am hoping it is within the six months that we have heard from himself and his staff. I am going to turn to another set of questioning here. It is regarding the increase in funding for the TEP and social work program. This money is coming from SFA; correct? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee defer further consideration of the activity education and culture under the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Main Estimates 2017-2018 on page 34 at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.