Julie Green

We are talking about people who are self-employed, so I do not see how the Charter concerns relate there. I would ask the Minister, when he is looking at how to plug the loophole of finding out who is employed, that he include the people who are self-employed?

Another sort of antiquated portion of this problem is that remittances are forwarded by cheque in the mail; two things which will disappear in our lifetime, Mr. Speaker. We need to tighten up the time frames and methods on these payments. I am told that a change in regulations would make that happen. Will the Minister commit to looking at...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Justice regarding maintenance enforcement. As I pointed out in my statement, the thinly resourced maintenance enforcement office must now go sleuthing around to find deadbeat and sometimes abusive spouses, often relying on tips from the very women who need to stay away for their own safety. Yet, as soon as a new hire is made, a flare goes up for the tax office.

I refuse to believe that this information can't be passed on to the maintenance enforcement office. Will the Minister commit to assign staff from his department to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, can the Minister say whether the department is contemplating further reductions in the Aurora College grant beyond the program reductions that have been announced up to this point? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let me put it more simply. If I'm a grade 3 teacher, and my hours are reduced by 100, and I'm a high school teacher and my hours are reduced by 50, then what kind of compensation or incentive or other acknowledgment will I receive that, in fact, my hours have not been reduced by a total of 100 or near 100? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that was the answer that we got when we asked about that in September, so I'm wondering if there is some kind of a goal to get this work finished now that it's six months on and the same activity is taking place? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, when was the last time the allowances were increased to reflect inflation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am switching gears now to Aurora College. As we know, the Minister and the board have made a number of cuts to programming. Will there be additional cuts in administration, leasing, and other related college expenses that come as a result of the program cuts? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My next question has to do with the number of hours that are required of students to prepare for departmental exams, particularly in grade 12. How will the reduced instructional hours be implemented so that students still have enough preparation to succeed on their departmental exams? Will it be a different number of hours as YCS has suggested, or will it still be the 100 hours?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the only difference between the September 20th business plan and now is that there are some reductions. Maybe the Minister could specify reductions to the educational authority? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Does it also represent an increase in the value of income assistance itself? Can the Minister confirm that income assistance allowances are indexed to the CPI? Thank you.