Thank you Mr. Speaker. This situation was brought to my attention about a month ago. Since then, I have instructed my officials to work with the divisional board to work out something for those students who might want to take second year teacher training. This year, our budget was $2.7 million for a teacher education program, and an addition $1.4 million was provided by the department for student financial support. Out of that, we had 97 full-time students and 305 part-time students. In particular, there were no cuts this year in the Keewatin, as was announced on the radio. In fact, the department's contribution to the Keewatin teacher training was enhanced by $100,000 for this year. It went from $166,000 to $266,000. An additional $300,000, or three quarters of the department's budget for education leave benefit for classroom assistants studying to be teachers, is dedicated to students in the Keewatin Region.

Since the department has no more resources to take on additional trainees, I have asked the department to find ways in which we will be able to take those students who want to enrol in the teacher training program. As yet, the department has not come back to me with a detailed work plan, which they are working on with the divisional board, for the Keewatin area. Thank you.