Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education. Just a follow-up on my Member’s statement.
I have been asking for a new school in Trout Lake for the past 10 years and the Minister said he’s in Cabinet Thursday. Will he raise that as well? When will the education priority of small communities be heard? We need new schools and new gymnasiums in the small communities. When will the government be doing that?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We are clearly hearing the Members, especially from the small communities. That’s part of the reason why we’re developing this whole Education Renewal Innovation because part of the pillars will be focused on small communities and also the formula funding for the small communities, so it will capture that as we move forward as long-term objectives.
Today we are following the capital planning process, and every single time there are capital projects going forward we’ve been stressing for the small communities. Those are badly needed and we’ve been developing some planning studies, business case scenarios and with this budget going forward, 2014-15, as part of the capital planning process we will be investing approximately $95,000 towards the Charles Tetcho School in Trout Lake in the planning study.
Those are just some of the discussions we’ve been having, now we’re putting them into action and from there the outcome will be to move forward on major capital projects. Mahsi.
Thank you very much. During the Minister’s visit to Trout Lake we showed him how small the school was, we showed him it’s full to capacity and now we have junior kindergarten, which is a new additional factor that has to be addressed. Are there enough resources to do an adequate planning study in the community of Trout Lake and its needs? Thank you.
Mahsi. With respect to the major capital retrofits, we need to have a planning study done, so this is part of the process. Based on the needs of the community, the size of the school, how it’s structured as we move forward, what kind of school would the community be entitled to, the square footage and the classroom sizes, so those are the discussions that we need to have with the regional school board. We are moving forward on this. Planning studies will be on the way.
I know that when it comes to replacing health facilities, we’ve got standard plans for type B, C facilities, et cetera. Is that something similar the Minister of Education and his department is working on, template schools for our small communities, because I think what will really help is moving forward. Yes, we’re doing planning studies, but we also need, I think, Class D estimates. We need to know the ballpark figure we’re working with so we can get it accelerated in our capital planning processes because these schools need replacing right away.
As of today, part of the capital planning process, we have to work very closely with the Department of Public Works and Services, because there are set criteria that we have to follow with any major infrastructure, not only schools but other major infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. They have to follow the criteria.
Again, we have been told over and over to think outside the box, focus on small communities. That is exactly what we’re pursuing. Part of the action plan with the education renewal and innovation is that we’re going to be developing plans of action focusing on the needs of the small communities. Yes, we are moving towards that.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much. I’m pleased to hear the Minister say those words. The time for building the large schools are over. We’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars in all our regional centres and I believe it’s time to start concentrating on our small communities, get those done. The costs are not in the hundreds of millions. It will probably be – I can’t even estimate – probably about $2 million or $3 million for a school in a small community.
I’d like to ask the Minister, can he start the initial planning, get some Class D estimates, and share it with myself and my colleagues that need new schools in their communities?
We will compile that information on the process of the capital planning. Every year we go through this and there are set criteria. The planning process is on the way and we will be sharing that information with the Member. There is going to be engagement through the education renewal and innovation with the community and with the DEAs, and I’ll definitely be seeking input from the Member as well.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
