Tom Beaulieu

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about employment in small communities. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment has two programs that I will speak of. Firstly, Mr. Speaker, is the Income Support Program. This program is designed to provide income to families mostly in areas where there are very few jobs. This program is needed but should not be a way of life.

The second program I wish to speak of is a Small Community Employment Support Program. The budget for this program is limited but should be...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I wonder if the Minister could commit to having that discussion with the federal government. On the community learning centres, as we know, and in the small communities, the community learning centre, it's an active place, many people benefit from that. There is, as I've always indicated, low employment in the communities and it would be nice to be able to support adult students that are trying to upgrade their skills to make themselves more employable. I would ask the Minister if he could commit to having that discussion with the federal government to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Along the same lines, in the 20-year assessment there is a capital item, the community learning centre. There's a 2018-2019 in the 20-year assessment within the next five-year capital plan time. In Ndilo there is a community learning centre scheduled in the 20-year assessment for 2018-2019. I was wondering if the Minister could give me a schedule update on the community learning centre for Ndilo.

I have nothing further. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I'm going to talk about what's not here today on the Capital Plan listed on page 11, and that is the Capital Plan to construct a gymnasium and a couple of classes for the K’alemi Dene School in Ndilo. Mr. Chairman, my understanding is that the numbers at which the school becomes eligible for its own gymnasium is 125 students. I see that there's been some departure from that in the past, but I didn't know what the full capacity of some of these schools were at the time the gymnasiums were built.

The bottom line is that K’alemi Dene there is currently 117...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister work with other Ministers in Cabinet to utilize other government programs. I spoke of other government programs that can, I guess, create employment in the small communities. So can the Minister commit to the House to working with other Ministers in order to look at all the employment possibilities at the small communities? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, some programs that are being delivered sometimes comes with some pre-requisites that individuals would at the end of the training have to have full-time jobs, and in our small communities there's no full-time jobs available for the most part. I'd like to ask the Minister if he could review the Small Communities Employment Support Program to remove any barriers that may prevent the program from being easily accessed.

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize two pages from Detah: Joseph Charlo-Lafferty and Brianna Nitsiza. Also, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to also recognize Mary Rose Sundberg, also from Detah, that's our interpreter today. Marci cho.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the response from the Minister. I think that there is certainly a lot of discussion at the federal level about wanting to develop a system, like a homecare system that will support individuals in the long run. I think these projects educating our adults and so on are something that is going to be positive. It would be programs that could be run out of there that could assist the communities.

It could defer costs in the future, social costs in the future to our government. I appreciate the Minister's willingness to have those discussions. If...

Mr. Speaker, our mandate is not incumbent upon money from the federal government as far as the Aging in Place goes. I'd like to ask the Minister if there has been any budgetary discussions pertaining to a program that will allow seniors to age in place?