Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker my question is addressed to the Minister Responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Mr. Speaker, on May 8, in Committee of the Whole I requested or I brought to the attention of the Minister the conditions of the portable buildings that were being used for schools in Tuktoyaktuk.

I asked the Minister, at that time, if he could address the deplorable condition of those buildings and in response, Mr. Speaker, he said that, this is from the Hansard from the 8th, "Our information is that the building has been somewhat upgraded and was not in a condemned state. We will have to check into that and if it is then deal with that situation."

Mr. Speaker, since that time, I believe it was May 13th, I received a Session Briefing Note from the Minister, which I thank him for and in there he says that according to the school staff, the school staff note the quality of the building was minor problems with the facility and school staff note that quality and fix and finishes on cabinet and doors is not good, repairs have since been made.

My question, Mr. Speaker, to the Minister is why did his department, on July 26th, 10 days before school was to start, advise the principal of Mangilaluk School that these two portable buildings were condemned? I would llike to ask the Minister why did he condemn a perfectly good building that just needed minor repairs.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not aware that it was the department's decision that the building would be condemned. If, in fact, the building is condemned it would have been by someone external such as a Fire Marshall, or a building inspector. That is not something that the department could determine.

Mr. Speaker the Beaufort Divisional Education Council had spent $116,000 to upgrade these two buildings and had approached the department to request funds in the amount of $40,000 of the $80,000 that was foreseen as necessary to bring the buildings up to standard. Shortly after we got that request at the department, the Board itself contacted the department and said that they had decided they did not want to proceed with the proposed renovations to the buildings.

I am not sure why the Board decided to stop with those repairs but it was a Board decision. Thank you Mr. Speaker.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, according to the information I received the Principal stated that on July 26th she was advised the building was condemned and she was to move the school classrooms from those buildings into Mangilaluk School building, which is only built to hold kindergarten to grade nine. She was advised that she would have to find space for these other three classrooms in that building, because the portables were condemned.

I asked the principal as to who condemned the building but she could not confirm that, but, the fact of the matter is, Mr. Speaker, that at the present time Mangilaluk School, designed for kindergarten to grade nine, is, in fact, being used to hold students up to grade twelve. It is causing a serious overcrowding in the classrooms, as well as, other problems mixing high school students with lower grade students.

Now, my question to the Minister is, is it the responsibility of the Department of Education and him, in particular, as Minister, to ensure that communities have the proper facilities to supply and teachers to supply education service and properly teach the children?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ultimately it is the responsibility of this government and my ministry to ensure that education needs of students across the territories can be met. We work in partnership with the local education authorities, the divisional education councils - what we used to call the divisional boards of education. As I said, the decision not to continue with the repairs to the portable classrooms was made by the divisional education council.

I do not know the reasons for their decision. I should point out that the Mangilaluk school is built to hold 330 students and, at this point in time, it is at eighty-two percent utilization, so the member is right. It is getting to a point where it is in need of an addition, and it is in our capital plan to see that addition in Tuk within the next couple of years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.