Jackson Lafferty

Mr. Chair, this decision process falls under me through various venues from the board chair, the president, my deputy, associates, and those individuals are involved with the capital planning process. At the end of the day, it goes back to me as advice coming from all angles. The decision is made by me as Minister responsible for the college. The capital infrastructure, there is a process in play. That same process we follow on a constant basis every year. We do follow that and we’re talking about a 60, 80, 90 million dollar building and we have to think creatively how we can pursue that. As...

I was just asking my director, since he’s been 30-plus years. It is assessed on an annual basis but I don’t think there have been any major changes. That’s the whole reason why we’re doing the education renewal under my leadership, we want to see positive impacts in the communities based on their needs. Those are discussions we will be having over the year.

Mr. Chair, I completely forgot about that part. It’s federal funding. No, it’s not a matching funding with GNWT or the college. It’s just the funding that flows directly to the college to deliver or enhance the ALBE program that they currently have over a two-year period. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Bob McLeod will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to speak at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Conference in Toronto and meetings with federal Ministers in Toronto and Ottawa. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. The early childhood development, as it states here, there are certain programs under that. But I will have to get my deputy to elaborate more because there is detailed information respecting whether it be the division and the budget cycle itself. I have to get my director to explain or elaborate a little bit more.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. It does capture some of those comments that the Member is referring to, whether it be fuel costs going up and food costs going up. So we’ve been monitoring that. If there is an increase in those areas, then obviously there is an increase in our budget as well. We will continue to monitor it. If there needs to be changes to the budget, then we will be before standing committee to reflect those high costs of living.

In 2007, again, we have increased our funding based on communities’ needs and high cost of living and so forth. We continue to do that. Based on the outcome of this...

We are not filtering the process through the college to me as Minister responsible. If there is a request, I usually get a heads-up from the college, the board chair. We would have these communications. Our staff would work on a plan from there. We have constant contacts between my department, my role as the Minister responsible for the college, and the board chair.

The board chair was just reappointed, so we have a positive working relationship. We are going to continue that. Anything that’s addressed by the Board of Governors is addressed with me as well. I make the decision, so it’s not my...

The funding that we provide to the schools is based on enrolment. Not only that, but there is indexing in pricing, whether it be the salary of those qualified people in the education system. Also, the operation costs. As you know, every year there is an increase in costs. Those are some of the areas that does capture. I’ll get my director to maybe elaborate about the process itself of enrolment and so forth, because he’s actively involved in this area.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. The announcement came from the federal government directly to Aurora College, for Aurora College to deliver or enhance the ALBE. It’s specifically for ALBE programming, so they made it clear from the federal perspective. What we currently provide funding to ALBE is above and beyond that, so we are, as a department, working again closely with the college. There has to be a planning process to expend those funds through the college, so even though it’s their funding, we, as a department, still continue to work with them. This is an area that has been earmarked for the college...

We can provide that. We have a lot of information. We have done our research, our homework, even across the Northwest Territories, how much the individuals are making. It does vary from region to region and the most isolated communities versus the larger centres, so we can provide it as an information package to the Members for their review.