Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow Mr. Todd will introduce the last budget of this government before division. Over the past two budget cycles, because of the deficit reduction strategies, many areas of government have been reduced, eliminated or asked to hold the line on forced growth. The Department of Education falls into the latter category. Over the past several weeks, I have met with many teachers, parents and the Iqaluit Education Council. The theme that continues to be brought forward is the adage that our teachers have to do more with less. Some of the areas that need to be addressed include: lack of funding at

the board level to hire extra staff to help alleviate the increased student enrolments and larger class size, the state of the curricula used and the lack of financial resources for the boards of education to implement new programs or to continue the programs now in place. Although the government has involvement with the western Canada protocol allowing teachers access to resources, in many cases the funding allocated to the school boards impedes our teachers' access to those materials.

Mr. Speaker, funding shortfalls severely impact the quality of education programs. The current level of funding given to the boards of education by the Department of Education for both staffing and critical programs is not adequate and must be increased significantly to meet current needs. Fiscal restraint is the reality at this time. However, I feel that it should not be to the detriment of our children's education. Mr. Speaker, later today I will be asking the Minister of Education for more information on this area. Thank you.