Jane Groenewegen

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. When we departed yesterday from this Chamber, we were considering Municipal and Community Affairs, activity summary, public safety, operations expenditure summary, and page 6-17. I’ll ask the Minister if he would like to bring witnesses into the Chamber.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister McLeod.

Is committee agreed?

I’ll recognize Ms. Young.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d just, finally, like to ask the Minister, if he does get any push back from any of the people that need to be consulted with or there are any people that don’t necessarily agree with where we are going with this and he requires any other political support from the Members of this House, if he does get push back towards this idea, will he agree to inform us so that we can be fully aware of that?

Thank you, Ms. Young. Mr. Dolynny, your time has expired. I can put you on the list again if you like, but I’m going to go next to Mr. Bromley.

The Minister has indicated he didn’t hear of this before, and perhaps I should have drawn this to his attention in a less public way, but I understand this has been a situation that has been ongoing for volunteers and coaches who are teachers for some time now, so I thought perhaps there would have been other incidents like this raised.

I want to reiterate that I’m not finding any fault. Teachers don’t like to complain, and this teacher is not finding any fault with the people who are his superiors. What he is saying, and what I’m saying, is that we need a more flexible policy. I’d like to ask...

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister McLeod.

The only games that are covered by the Human Resource Manual for approved leave are that associated with Arctic Winter Games, Canada Winter Games or national level championships. There is no leave for work as a teacher in our community with a group of youth outside the school setting. This is further compounded by the messages in the media that you hear about the importance of volunteering and giving back to the youth in our community.

Youth are a very high priority of this government, and I don’t think we should distinguish between school sports and community sports. I don’t think that money...

Mr. Williams.