Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have just a few general comments. I know that in speaking to people about the new Education Act, most of the comments that I've received along the way are that it's about time and that an update was needed. So I think most people welcome the fact that we've gotten this process under way.
One problem I have, Mr. Chairman, is that I'm meeting tomorrow with the two school boards in Yellowknife to discuss the revised act, so my comments may not reflect all of the concerns that I may wish to bring forward. I may, in future, have to seek consent to make more comments.
In any case, Mr. Chairman, while in Yellowknife, most people see this as an important step -- updating the act -- it isn't seen as providing a lot of change. In Yellowknife, this new act doesn't significantly increase the authority or the autonomy of the boards. I n fact, the act appears to bring regional boards, in many ways, up to the level of authority and autonomy that Yellowknife currently enjoys. I guess that is one concern that I have heard, that since, especially in Yellowknife, we pay a significant portion of the cost of operating our school system, we should have even more autonomy than other boards.
Mr. Chairman, the one way to address this would perhaps be to talk about the issue of fairness and equity. This is something not in the current act, but perhaps we should start talking about eliminating the difference between what Yellowknifers pay in education tax and that paid by others in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Chairman, the residents of Yellowknife pay more than 70 per cent of all education taxes collected in the Northwest Territories, and I would submit that it is not fair that there is such a significant difference between what is collected in Yellowknife and in other regions.
To put this on a personal scale, in Yellowknife I have a modestly-sized house of about 1,400 square feet. On that, I pay school taxes of $1,500 a year. Now, Mr. Chairman, other Members of this House, say a Cabinet Minister who lives in Rankin Inlet or Cambridge Bay probably pays on their house no more than $150 a year in school taxes, even though -- since our salaries are tabled in this House -- we know they make more money than I do. I would question the fairness.
I can make the same arguments about communities such as Hay River, Fort Smith, lqaluit or Inuvik. The point is, Mr. Chairman, there isn't fairness and equity when it comes to the financing of school programs in the Northwest Territories. I think that is something that has to be addressed. I know there is a review under way right now of the financing of not just the school system, but municipalities, and whether or not property taxes are the correct way to do that. I would hope that as part of the evaluation, that we've directed the consultants to examine the situation in Newfoundland. In Newfoundland, the school systems are financed through personal taxes, currently. They quit charging a school tax and have made a conscious decision to increase personal taxes to pay for the school system.
To Yellowknifers, Mr. Chairman, this is one of the major issues that concerns them, the fact that we have to pay so much for the school system when it's not the case in other places, even tax-based municipalities.
The other issue I would like to comment on, Mr. Chairman, is some concerns have been expressed to me as to whether or not the act, even in its revised and reprinted form, meets the requirements of section 23 of our Constitution. The concerns have been expressed by L'Association des Parents Francophones de Yellowknife. I would like to thank the Minister for meeting with their representatives, as late as this afternoon, to hear their concerns and see if there is some way to address them. I still am not sure of the outcome of this meeting but I'm sure, in the spirit of cooperation, we have a much better chance of resolving all of our concerns in an amicable way. I hope that is what we can do.
Mr. Chairman, another area that I would like to make some general comments on is that of inclusive schooling. As expressed in the Standing Committee on Legislation's report, I have some concerns with this funding, and I would like to endorse recommendation 2 of the standing committee's report. As I have pointed out, Mr. Chairman, during consideration of the budget, I think all of us in this House welcomed the extra money that was found for this year for inclusive schooling, but while we added $1.5 million to the special needs funding, we cut $3.5 million over the course of the school year from regular grants. The question is are we robbing Peter to pay Paul? The point being, if we cut regular grants too deeply, the boards won't be able to follow through in providing the services to the special needs students who need to be included. If the class size goes through the roof -- by the way, Mr. Chairman, I am not indicating that that has happened yet; I am just pointing out that that is a concern we have to watch for -- even the additional resources provided for students in inclusive schooling won't be adequate because the initial resources they are to supplement will have been stretched too thin. It is an area we are going to have to watch very closely and be very concerned about.
Mr. Chairman, as I mentioned earlier, I will be meeting tomorrow with representatives of the school board, so at this point in time, I don't know if Yellowknife Catholic schools are satisfied with the amendments regarding religious programs made at the committee stage. Just for the record, I want to say that I strongly support their right to offer Catholic-based education and will be interested in hearing their comments tomorrow.
Mr. Chairman, I have some other comments to make, but they relate more specifically to individual sections; for instance, AIDS Yellowknife has expressed concern about some of the sections and I would like to bring forward some of those concerns as we go through the document, but I will wait until we get to the clause-by-clause in order to deal with that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.