I just want to correct a few remarks made by the honourable Member. First, we had a long discussion about the issue of the powers of the Minister. The irony is that there is less responsibility and power in the hands of the Minister as a result of this legislation than was in the previous legislation. We support that. A lot of it deals with the words that are included in the legislation. I hope, as we have our consultations with the communities, that we can clarify those understandings or misunderstandings that the communities might have. It is not my intention and, as a result, of the good dialogue with the Standing Committee on Legislation and its Members, we are not interested in taking away responsibilities and powers from our district education authorities or divisions. The more or less responsibility I have as a Minister in the daily affairs of managing the operations of schools and educational programs for our children and allow

the communities to be part of that, the better it is for the students and for the parents. It gives us an opportunity to concentrate on those areas the Member has pointed out that need additional work; that is, ensuring that the standards, criteria and guidelines allow us to be competitive in the quality of educational programs. I just wanted to make certain that that was clear and I appreciate the comments by the honourable Member.