Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, governments across Canada are facing the challenge of providing adequate levels of service in the face of declining revenues. In order to provide appropriate levels of service while living within our means, territorial and provincial Ministers responsible for education are developing new partnerships and finding new ways to share resources and expertise in areas of common concern. I would like to inform you of some of the initiatives in which the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and I are involved.
The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, is working to improve the transfer of credits among universities and colleges for the first two years of undergraduate studies. Right now, the colleges in the Northwest Territories have course transfer arrangements with specific universities in southern Canada.
By improving the transfer of credits among all universities, NWT students will be able to complete their degrees at universities of their choice, rather than only at those institutions with which the colleges have special arrangements. The Council of Ministers would like to see the new arrangements in place by September 1, 1995, and they must be implemented no later than September 1st of the following year.
Mr. Speaker, many Canadians are concerned with federal budget reductions and the implications for post-secondary institutions. The Government of Canada, in announcing the new Canada social transfer, advised of its intention to reduce spending in the social envelope of health, education and social assistance by $7 billion, in addition to capping expenditure growth.
This means that increased access to colleges, the assistance we provide to post-secondary students, and our plans to change social assistance from passive to active, will have to occur within a framework of shrinking financial resources.
To meet this challenge, Education, Culture and Employment will review the student financial assistance program in the new fiscal year to increase its access for adult learners and to bring its annual 10 per cent expenditure growth within financially sustainable levels. I expect the department to bring recommendations for this overhaul to the Legislative Assembly at the same time as the 1996-97 budget, with changes implemented in September 1997. The territorial government will also need to review its funding levels to the colleges. We have reached the point where we must reduce spending and increase our efficiency and effectiveness in order to live within our means, just as every other jurisdiction in Canada has had to do.
Mr. Speaker, I am extremely pleased to advise this House that the Consortium of Western Ministers Responsible for Education is making considerable progress on a joint initiative to develop common curricula. Within the year, and possibly as early as this September, we expect to reach agreement on a common curriculum for mathematics for kindergarten to grade 8 and work is proceeding on the curriculum for grades 9 to 12.
Plans continue for the school achievement indicators program testing in science this spring, and for the first national report on education to be released this fall.
These are some of the initiatives I am pursuing with my colleagues at the national level. They are designed to improve the achievement and outcomes of our systems, as well as overall efficiency, effectiveness and excellence.
Mr. Speaker, a good deal of hard work will be needed to achieve these goals. We will also need the commitment of legislatures across this country to invest in our most important resources -- our students and our constituents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.