Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member was expressing some concern about the length of time that some apprentices seem to take to graduate, and are we exerting enough effort to try to have the apprentice graduate within a four year period, which might be a normal period for graduation. We do have apprenticeship offices, and officers, in each one of the regions, and I would say that, yes, we do make a great deal of effort trying to make sure that each student that enters the Apprenticeship Program, is indeed successful. We carry out visits to the employer, and make counselling sessions with the apprentice himself. We monitor the work of the apprentice, and the program with the employer,

and with the apprentice themselves, and again, we are very patient in terms of trying to get the apprentice to complete the program. I do not have the statistics on the number of people, or how long they take to actually go through their Apprenticeship Program, but our success rates overall are very high. The people entering the program actually complete it, and we are in the area of 75 to 85 percent, so the answer is, yes, it does take longer in some cases, and it is because we deliberately set out to help people complete their programs. Thank you.

Thank you. General comments. Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I do not want to prolong debate, but, the question I was asking was, if the Minister can determine that the prescribed timeframe for the Apprenticeship Program that is being abused by apprentices.

The concern that I have is, if an apprentice decides to take seven years to complete a four year program, and because the government does not guarantee a job to an apprentice, the chances are that he is holding up the opportunity for another individual in the north to get trained. I just feel that I would like this area to be looked at again. I am not going to dwell on success rates, because I know that we have a good success rate, but whenever there are large projects that are in the north, and developed in the north, we still have to bring in southern imports to do the work.

So, I think that we have to be readily prepared for this type of construction, or whatever, if we consider giving assurance that our Apprenticeship Program is being used effectively for the dollars that we are spending. In respect to the leadership program, I would just like to make a suggestion to the Minister, I know that he gets the concerns of why one student gets Student Financial Assistance taking the same courses as another individual, who may be getting extra dollars because of the leadership program.

I think that a way to solve that maybe not to totally and entirely wipe out the program, but he may want to get a commitment from the student that he is addressing under the Northern Leaders Program. They may want to be a participant, ensuring that we get a commitment like we do with student loans, that they are willing to address the land claims final agreements wherever they may be, that they are willing to work in that area for a certain timeframe.

That is specifically the purpose of the program, it was for individuals of leadership potential to be able to address these areas, and that may be one way to ensure that we are making use of these individuals that we are supporting, to go through the leadership program.

I do not feel that eliminating the program is a good way to address it, to ensure that equity is in the system. All I am saying is that I recognize it did have shortfalls, but I think that we should take another look at it, and possibly address the shortfalls to make sure that we have an effective program to encourage leaders. This enables them to get an education, come back, and be able to address implementation of the claims, wherever they may be, instead of us bringing in, again, southern export expertise to be able to address that.

Those are basically my comments, Mr. Chairman, with respect to the other comments that the Minister has made. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other general comments? Is it the wish of the committee that we go into detail?

Agreed.

Agreed. Thank you. We will deal with page 18-13. Directorate, total O & M of $3.168 million.

Agreed.

Agreed. Mr. Koe.

Under which division does the salaries of regional staff come under, this one, or divisional board staff?

I believe that is under schools, on 18-14, and we will get to that particular section. Directorate, any other specific questions? Directorate, a total of $3.168 million. Agreed?

Agreed.

Thank you. Advanced education, total O & M of $22.684. Are we agreed?

Agreed.

Agreed. Thank you. Schools, total O & M $126.649 million. Mr. Koe.

The question on this one in terms of the Beaufort Delta Divisional Board, I do not know what they are called, it used to be superintendents, is that still the same term? Supervisor of schools? What is the appropriate title of the boss?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, the person in charge of the board is the Director.

Thank you. Mr. Koe.

The Director of the Delta Divisional Board, the former director, was, I think put on sick leave, or was on sick leave, and I am wondering what is the status of the former director? Is he still on salary, or what is his current status?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

I will have Mr. Gerein answer that.

Thank you. Mr. Gerein.

Mr. Chairman, the former director has been reassigned to duties within the Department of Education. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Koe.