Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Over the years this has been one of the targeted initiatives, and we’re on budget.

Again, with a process of 20 years from the date of the last major renovation in 1999, the Moose Kerr School will be up to be identified as either a renovation or a replacement. So that discussion will be happening. Part of the discussion that the Member was alluding to was will there be a physical fitness area or even a trace area, a shop. Those are discussions that need to happen with the school boards, as well, because we have to work with architecture and schematic designs and so forth and working very closely with PWS.

So those types of discussions, which we’re hearing today, will be part...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Again, the $290 million is over a five-year period. The DOT, yes, there’s a substantial amount there. Obviously, there’s a major road infrastructure that’s happening. We all know that. There’s a federal contribution as well. So we are putting in a lot more than what’s before us now, $6.5 million. We’ll make it work. Those are the investments going into the communities, and again, we have to plan for next year as well. Next year we obviously want to go after even more funding if at all possible. So those are just some of the discussions that we will have with the Peer Review...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. This is what is before us, $6.5 million of new money that we’re moving forward on. Again, I have to remind that we spent well over $290 million over the last five years throughout the Northwest Territories and our overall education system, educational infrastructure, so we should be proud of the investment that we’ve undertaken in the communities, and we’ll continue to push that forward with the $6.5 million this year, and next year it could be a different number. We have to work with the Peer Review Committee as it goes through the overall capital infrastructure. At the end...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. What the Member has brought up are a lot of points that obviously have been brought to our attention as well. Due to the fact we are investing just over $6.5 million in capital projects, there may not be much out of a $125 million budget, but at the same time we spend well over $290 million over a five-year period when it comes to schools and different educational assets in the Northwest Territories.

Yes, we need to focus on the small communities, as the Member alluded to, small community schools. We’ve done that. There is Lutselk’e school, there is Charles Tetcho School...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The detailed stats I don’t have in front of me, but I can provide that to the Member. We have been closely monitoring the stats that have been coming in, whether it be nationally or even our own Northwest Territories jurisdiction. We’re coming out with some solutions to deal with those matters as we move forward with the federal government as well. So those are some of the programming that we need to put more emphasis on to deal with those individuals at the community level. Mahsi.

I agree with the Member that there should be equal deliverance of programs to the three main campuses and also the 23 community learning centres across the Northwest Territories out of 33 communities. Those are some of the areas that I have captured with the board chair and also the president. We meet on a frequent basis, highlighting the needs of the communities based on the needs assessments that we are currently developing through Skills for Success. We are at the preliminary stages, but we are currently re-evaluating our program deliverance and working, again, very closely with the college...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This is an area that Aurora College has been exploring, the Board of Governors, for some time now. They are currently in the process of developing a long-term plan, a five-year plan on how they can deal with the community deliverance of certain programming. So we are, as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, also working very closely with the college as part of their overall goals and objectives of what kinds of programs will be delivered, whether it is Inuvik, Fort Smith or Yellowknife and the surrounding communities. So those are some areas we are...

We’re fully aware of all of these different stats and the calculation that has been changed by the federal government. It is a federal government administered program, the EI, so I will provide the facts that the Member is alluding to.

Mahsi. The Member is asking for more detailed information and I can certainly provide the breakdown of the stats. Again, I don’t have the breakdown of the stats in front of me, but I can assure the Member that the Canada Job Fund is an area that we’ve negotiated with the federal government to deal with those individuals at the community level where there’s high unemployment at the community level. Not only that, there’s also a Labour Market Development Agreement where we’re currently negotiating with the federal government to provide more flexibility for those individuals that are on EI as...