Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is absolutely right, that we need to have a real priority on adult education in the Northwest Territories. I think that that priority has been demonstrated in the past couple of years with the $8 million that was put into the investing in people program across the Northwest Territories. I sincerely regret that the federal government has chosen not to renew that initiative with us.

I can assure the Member that I am sympathetic. I know, for instance, that 40 per cent of all of Arctic College students are adult students who are taking basic education courses in their home community. And I know that we do have a problem. We have only 35 communities which have base-funded adult educator positions. I am committed to working with the Standing Committee on Social Programs to discuss approaches to see whether or not we can find, within the budget, a way to manoeuvre some funding into a program like investing in people -- obviously, we won't have the same sort of resources to put forward there without the federal participation -- and to talk about adult education.

But as the Member knows, at the end of the day, the budget is calling a lot of the shots for us. It becomes very difficult for me to stand here and make a commitment to provide increased services in areas across the Northwest Territories. I will certainly do what we can and I'm willing to work with all Members to try and improve what we can offer to adults in need of this basic service. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.