Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The decision in the strategy is quite clear, that it is our intention to move from regional residences to high school programming in the communities. That was the direction that the honourable Member, in fact during his tenure as Minister, laid out the groundwork for. This is no different, Mr. Speaker, than his decision, when he was Minister, of closing the residences in Fort McPherson, Fort Good Hope, Bompas Hall in Fort Simpson and Grandin College. The fact is, the direction of high school programs in the communities is the reflection of the foundation he left. What we're doing is following up on the direction that he laid.
The point he is raising is an important one. The point is, we needed a draft formula with which we could conduct discussions with the boards. It also needed to have the comments of the boards. I can advise the honourable Member that the three remaining large residences have seen their enrolments decrease, and the economic factors are such that
the average costs of fully operating the large residences right now is $75,000 per year per student.
Now, the honourable Member knows that while I wish to move the students back to their home communities, I will not do it at the risk of programs. He raised the point as an issue in our visit to Iqaluit: the problem of matriculation programming in the communities. That is all part of the consideration and I'm not prepared to make a final decision now. The fact is, the boards don't give the lay-off notices; it works through the government and at this particular time we have issued no lay-off notices to anyone.