Thank you, Madam Speaker. I didn't say I had a monopoly, I had suggested I wouldn't want other students to stay away from home as long as I did, and I think there are others who did.
Madam Speaker, there are a number of factors that are important when you review the whole matter of the closure of Akaitcho Hall, and the whole matter of the transfer of Sir John. The increasing number of community secondary schools has meant that the number of students coming to Yellowknife for their high school education is decreasing each year. In our anticipation, for instance, for September of 1994, it's expected to be about 50 students who will be continuing their high school education in Yellowknife. In other words, we are not asking those students who already began their high school program here to move out of Yellowknife. These students presently can be accommodated more effectively and at less cost through home boarding. The Executive Council has given approval for closure effective June 30. We are treating our staff, under the workforce adjustment program, as fairly as we can. Those, in my view, are some of the factors.
The other issue is there is a cost factor if you review it. The resulting savings are 26 PYs at a cost of $2.7 million in salaries and O and M costs. There are other potential savings and utility costs, but I am not sure about those. Generally speaking, those are the factors we had to consider. There will be an ongoing decline in the total number of students as these students graduate and as we improve community secondary programs.