Julie Green

The Minister has given me another and/or answer. He said that the results of the social work program review will possibly figure into what happens to the program there. For the second time, I'm asking: how is the Minister approaching the results of the foundational review and the Social Work Program review with respect to the future of this program? Does it have a future?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the foundational review and/or the review of the Social Work Program recommends that the program be continued or expanded into a degree program, is the Minister willing to reverse his decision to phase the program out? Thank you.

When the Minister gets the report, can the Minister request the report? What does he plan to do with it?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, about a year ago, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment announced that the Social Work Program and the Teacher Education Program offered at Aurora College would be phased out. He said that he made the decision on the basis of low graduation rates from both programs. When I questioned him at the time, he was unsure why the rates were so low or what barriers students faced in completing the programs. The lingering question is whether the Minister was willing to invest any effort into improving the programs before axing them.

Mr. Speaker, Aurora College...

Thank you for your responses. Nothing further.

I wonder if the Minister could tell us what the ratio of funding is for early childhood development initiatives, ages birth to three, versus the funding available for school?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is a more general question about how organizations that have contribution agreements are accountable for their spending to the government: can the Minister just give us an idea of how that happens? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I have great hope that JK is going to improve student readiness for school and ultimately their success. I am sure the Minister does, too. How is the development of students in JK going to be evaluated and when? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for putting me back on the list. Mr. Chair, I note that on page 5, $181,000 is allocated to AVENS. I wonder if the witnesses could tell us what the specific use of this money will be? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to reflect on the debate we had a year ago about the introduction of junior kindergarten. Much of the discussion at that time concerned funding, but I also talked about the impact junior kindergarten would have on existing early childhood development programs. I was concerned that parents would have fewer choices for their four-year-olds. In fact, a year later, that is the case here in Yellowknife. I'm also concerned that pouring resources into JK has diminished what's available for children up to three years old.

Mr. Speaker, the introduction of junior...