Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess it is always a bit dangerous for our Minister of Education to get too involved in this debate, but I do have some comments I want to make, some plaudits to offer the Minister before I raise my concerns. I want to say, generally, that I think this is the key department mainly because of Nunavut, from the point of view of my constituents. I think we have always said if Nunavut has to be run by people from the good city of Yellowknife, or even worse people from southern Canada, then we are going to turn around very quickly in April 1999 and say why did we do this? Nunavut is to bring government closer to home and to involve northern people as never before in their government. I think the Minister of Education has the most critical portfolio for the next decade, if it hasn't been critical up until now. It is the most important.
This is a very imperfect list, but there are some good things that have happened. I am sure I may miss some. I think that the day care policy is now being seriously reviewed and can only be improved. I am pleased with the profile that has been given to this long neglected issue by this department since it has taken over the responsibility. I want to note that the location of an officer in the region has been of tremendous assistance, not just to my constituents but to others. I want to note that as progress. There's a lot of interest in the new policy and I think a lot of good advice has already been given to the department.
I think the changes in the teacher education program to basically make what has already worked in the Baffin region apply to other regions is great. We are going to see the impact soon. This is the best way of dealing with the issue of aboriginal culture and languages in our schools, to get trained aboriginal people from our communities in those schools as role models and teaching whatever is being taught with sensitivity and preferably in the aboriginal language, where it is a priority in that community. I think good progress has been made already. The results in the Keewatin are astonishing. If we can clone that process in other regions it will have an untold positive impact.
The commitment to grade extensions is a good one. I know the Minister has suffered some criticism about closing Akaitcho Hall and about some of the other problems that have resulted with grade extensions, but I'm confident it's the right way to go. It, too, will produce dividends. It is already producing dividends. Without appearing to be biased towards the Baffin, I think the Baffin has led the way in this area. We now see success in communities like Igloolik, Pangnirtung, Pond Inlet and even now Sanikiluaq. It is the way to go. It has worked in the Baffin and it will work in other places. There will be some hiccoughs, but it is the way to go. I congratulate the department for squeezing the necessary funds out of the miserly Minister of Finance to make this continue to happen because I know it is difficult to get new money these days.
The Minister has achieved an historic first in actually engineering a bussing policy. I congratulate him for that. It is something that has been tried by others before and has failed. Now, having given him some praise -- I don't want to give him too much praise -- I want to say that he did the politically smart thing and passed the buck on to the divisional boards. I noticed that but I congratulate him because at least there is a policy in place to deal with this area where demands will never cease. I think it is good that some money has been allocated and it is obviously an issue in many communities.
First of all, I'm very concerned about the apparent federal cutbacks in skills training in the Northwest Territories and Canada and I want to ask the Minister a little about that, perhaps when we get to that area of his budget. I'm specifically wondering where the federal money has gone. Has it been reallocated or has it been snatched? I would like to have the benefit of the Minister's understanding of that.
Secondly, I would like to say that the investing in people program looks great. It is in tune with national trends and is in tune with what has apparently worked successfully in New Brunswick. But my concern is this, I don't think we're going to see any results from this new initiative this coming fiscal year. Training for Nunavut, especially, was required to happen yesterday. I'm not sure that the delay in getting the investing in people program going -- which is necessary, I understand, to get a new program designed -- coupled with apparent reductions in overall core funding for Arctic College, is going to lead to progress in the coming fiscal year for education through the college for those other than the K to 12 population.
I would like to say that, in my experience, K to 12 has always been the sexy side of Education. It has always been an area that has been the subject of attention in committee of the whole. It's very important, of course, but it is often that K to 12 get the lion's share of funding and attention and we fail to support the equally important, if not more important, college, post-secondary and adult training responsibilities that we have.
I realize, Mr. Chairman, that the college is reorganizing. There is preoccupation now with new legislation. There are going to be two boards and all of this has to be done by July. I understand that. I also understand the amalgamation of the Science Institute is preoccupying people in the Minister's department who are dealing with Arctic College. These are important initiatives and they have to be done. But I'm wondering if this is only going to be a year for reorganization or whether the college can keep moving and can be there, ready and waiting to respond to the increasing pressures to train people for Nunavut.
So I will have some questions for the Minister about that. Specifically, I would like to ask him about -- and maybe this will be my closing comment, Mr. Chairman -- the Standing Committee on Finance recommendation of February 24, 1994 -- and I think it was approved by the committee of the whole -- that the department provide a detailed report on the anticipated impact on programs of the reduced 1994-95 budget allocation to the college. The committee further recommended that the report be provided prior to the department's main estimates being considered in committee of the whole.
I'm not aware, Mr. Chairman, whether that information has yet been provided to the committee or the House. I would like to ask the Minister if that information can be provided. I would also like to ask if it is a fair criticism to say that the college budget seems to be reduced. Comparing the mains from the previous year to this year, it looks like a reduction. If this is true -- and it may not be true -- it seems ironic that with land claims being implemented with the Gwich'in and the Sahtu, with the pressures of development in the Mackenzie Valley in the western Arctic with mining prospects and other development pressures in which northerners want to participate and with Nunavut coming, that this is the very year when it seems that overall global funding to the college is declining. When you add the hit of the federal reduction in skills training, it looks even more serious. I know this is something beyond the Minister's direct control, but that is a strong concern I would like to mention here and ask a response on.
I'll just mention a couple of other issues relating to the college, Mr. Chairman, and I think I can bring them up at the appropriate time. One is student housing, particularly married student housing. There is a critical need and I know it is a capital issue but it can be an O and M issue if the department is willing to look at leasing or making other arrangements to make this housing available to our most mature students. These are the people who succeed. They have been out of school, had a few children, perhaps have been in the work place, but they are ready to go back to school. They have stability through their families and there is a huge waiting list at Nunatta Campus for this kind of housing. I suspect it is true of other campuses, but I don't really know for sure. I suspect it is a problem in Inuvik, Cambridge Bay and perhaps even Thebacha. I think it is a critical issue that has to be dealt with.
The other issue I would like to mention is nursing training. I know the department and the college have made a good start with the program that is up and running now in Yellowknife. I wish to commend the department for that. I would like to see what we have been able to do with educators duplicated in the health professions, beginning with nursing. My big concern is, even though there was a high degree of interest in nursing and the nursing professions identified in the survey that was conducted before this program was established from students in the Baffin, Keewatin and Kitikmeot regions, they don't have access to that program unless they go to Yellowknife. I think our experience over the years has been, it doesn't work very well to expect people to travel that far from home and family to access this program. So, I am going to want to ask the Minister about that issue and what plans are in place to give the other regions of the territories access to this very important program.
Those are a couple of issues that I want to explore as we go into the details, Mr. Chairman. I wonder, in closing, if I could ask the Minister to comment on this global issue of funding to the college and to tell this committee whether we will get a detailed report on the anticipated impact on programs of what appears to be reduced funding to the college before we finally deal with this budget. Thank you.