Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's confirmation of his commitment that no decisions have been made or will be made on the future of these residences, but I must ask the Minister if it's true that the new formula that will be in place for funding the student residences in the regions substantially reduces the amounts available for funding student residences to the extent that the boards are concluding that they will, in effect, be forced to lay off Inuit staff and substantially downsize, if not close, these residences due to this funding formula change. Thank you.

Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That may be the case in certain instances, but I do want to say to the honourable Member, the boards were advised approximately 18 to 20 months ago that we would be moving to ensure the development of community high school programs, which allowed them to recognize that part of the planning process, included this reduction of services in the regions. The fact is, the advance notice was given. The problem is that some of the boards do not wish to relinquish any of the resources that are available. If they're not prepared to do that, they're not prepared to look at any other options. The possibilities are there for the colleges to be part of the buildings; the possibilities are there that there would be reduced accommodations available, rather than having the larger centres, that it be smaller centres; that's the kind of stuff that we have to look at. The problem is that the boards -- and I know that the director of the Baffin Divisional Board of Education is being quite adamant and difficult about trying to look at the options available to her and, as such, is not prepared to consider any options.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister has agreed that the effect of the new formula that has been imposed on the boards for the coming year is, in fact, that funding is less than adequate to support the existing level of services, having in the same breath assured this House, that no decisions will be made until the study is complete and all options have been considered. I would like to ask the Minister, since he committed that no decisions will be taken -- which I assume to mean that there will be no drastic changes in the operation of these residences -- to Members of this Assembly this past fall, isn't the responsible course for him to take to preserve the existing level of funding to those student residences, to not cause disruption and anxiety and possible lay-off of staff until, as he said this fall, the study is complete, all options can be considered in consultation with the boards of education and Members of this Assembly? Isn't that the responsible approach to take, rather than saying nothing will be done but cutting the funds through the back door? Thank you.

Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The responsible thing is for me to make it very clear and be honest to my colleagues in this Assembly, and to those who are responsible for managing educational programs, about the financial situation that we're in. We cannot continue to offer the kinds of resources that are presently available. The fact is that in one particular residence, there are 19 staff members and 15 students. Now I don't know how in the world the honourable Member can rise in this House and say that there should be more staff members than there are students. I would have thought that the honourable Member would be encouraging me to invest more money in the students and to appropriately identify those resources for other programs that will encourage better programming for students, and that's what we're trying to do. In the process itself -- and the honourable Member may say that there's a reduction in the commitment; and, yes, but it has to do with how we invest the resources. We're taking it away from pure infrastructure, pure staffing to that of investing in the students themselves. The question is how do we do it. That is the question that needs to be answered. Our intention is that if there's a need for us to maintain some of the residences, we will do it; but it will not be at the kinds of expenditures that we're presently making on staffing because we have to spend the money on the students.

Thank you, Mr. Nerysoo. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Pudlat.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The new rent scale, in some cases, some of your constituents' rents will decrease. There will be a spread in the rent scale from 6.4 per cent to a maximum of 30 per cent. That includes power, fuel, water and sewer, so that no tenant in social housing would pay more than 30 per cent of the rent.

Yes, the Member is correct that tenants are also encouraged to get into home ownership, especially if they have a higher income and they can afford operation and maintenance of a home owner unit. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Morin. Item 6, oral questions. Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Personnel. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Personnel if she could provide to this House a copy of the special leave criteria used for civil servants. Thank you.

Madam Premier.

Mr. Speaker, yes, I can.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Mrs. Marie-Jewell, supplementary.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It has been brought to my attention by one of my constituents that three constituents had applied for special leave, and two were approved and one was denied, all for the same purpose. I would like to ask the Minister of Personnel if it would be possible to review this special request, considering that there seem to be some inconsistencies, particularly on the approval and denial of these particular special leave requests. Thank you.

Madam Premier. Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that falls under the Financial Management Board Secretariat. If I can get further details from the Member, I would be glad to look into the situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Mr. Pollard, are you taking this as notice, then?

Mr. Speaker, if I were to take it as notice, I would have to report back to the House. In these kinds of instances, with personnel involved, I usually deal with the Member directly. If that is acceptable, that is the way I would suggest, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pollard. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about his commitment to work with divisional boards of education in Nunavut, in planning education in Nunavut. I'm aware that on January 6, 1995, Mr. Nerysoo wrote the chairperson of the Nunavut Education Planning Committee, Mr. Joe Attagutaluk to express concerns about the focus of the Nunavut Education Planning Committee and to inform that group that his representatives would no longer sit as members of that education planning committee. I would like to ask the Minister why that action was taken. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Nerysoo.