Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, have a lot of concerns in regard to education and especially in the area where we see a very large increase in special needs students and cuts that have taken place, especially in regard to the teacher/student ratio. There has to be more emphasis put on the special needs concerns in communities, for example, in McPherson they calculate the special need's team that is there which supports and assists some 36 students from kindergarten to grade 10. I believe that is a high enough figure that there has to be additional resources put into those schools where they do see a real increase, especially in the number of special needs students. It is more than that. It comes down to the cuts that have taken place within this government in the last couple years in which, again, in the case of McPherson, they are looking at being cut one and a half positions 1998-99. It works out to some 9 and a half teacher positions for students from kindergarten to grade 12, which adds up to approximately 210 students. I believe that is inadequate in regard to the number of teachers and the number of student ratio in the classes that they have to commit to. There have been motions put forth from the Beaufort Delta Leaders' meetings which ask for an in-depth study and review of the old education system and the quality of education that is being delivered in the Inuvik region. Those motions have been passed time and time again. Yet, nothing has been done to look at the quality of education that we are delivering and also what are we setting our students up for in regard to grade 9 students whom we are finding through different tests that they have a grade 5 education. There has to be something done to not allow this to continue to set up students for failure when they move on to post secondary education or into the trades. We have to also find the resources within ourselves which are the biggest question that the government states, which is there is no more money. We have to find the resources now to deal with this problem and not allow it to continue to carry on to the position where we find ourselves. In the case of McPherson and Aklavik, the communities I represent there are a high turnover of teachers because of the stress that they find themselves under dealing with this additional problems in regard to special needs students and the cuts that have taken place in regard to a number of teacher/student ratios. There has to be more of an adequate way of assisting students, and especially the ones with special needs, to cope with the learning curve that they find themselves in because of their health or medical problems. We have to also address this in light of not only the education, but health as a health issue. There has to be more resources put into the health care field and assist the individual student who has a special need's problem and to work alongside with the special needs teachers, and the community to address this issue.

We cannot basically continue to say, well, we are going to give the teachers a little more training or allow them a few more courses on how to deal with special need's students. The problem with special needs in the classroom is effecting all students, not just the students that have a problem. It is effecting behavioural problems in the classrooms. It is effecting the day-to-day operation of students who get frustrated and basically drop out of school. We have to look at education as an overall concern and not just piecemeal it together. I still do support the Beaufort Delta leaders' motion to call for an in-depth review in regard to the quality of education that is presently being delivered to the Inuvik region. There also has to be more time spent to assist teachers coping with problems they have come across. In the case of a meeting that I held in McPherson with the education council along with the assistant Deputy Minister, Pauline Gordon, we heard of the number of problems that they see and that all comes back to the whole area of more resources and more dollars to assist in a community. The community has tried their utmost to try to find special needs teachers, tutors, and what not within the community through funds like pathways dollars that the government gives to the bands from Indian Affairs. Those funds are being used to hire tutors in the classroom, and income support money to find individuals who are willing to assist the teachers by filling in wherever possible. It has come to such a state now that it is a crisis and that we do have to deal with it. I do not believe we can use the excuse, we do not have any more money. We seem to find money whenever it comes to large projects, P3 Initiatives, we are able to find money in regard to diamond evaluation, sorting facilities, the purchase of some $50 million for diamonds. I do not know where the $50 million was going to come from, but I believe the Minister of Finance seemed to have ways of finding large pots of money whenever it is appropriate to do things. At this time I would like to ask the Minister of Finance what is being done to ensure that the major concern with a large teacher turnover in the Northwest Territories and also the problems that we find with the whole area of special needs in our communities are addressed and it is addressed effectively and efficiently and also as soon as possible. I do not believe we can allow ourselves to wait until next fall to deal with this problem because I believe with a number of turnovers and the number of teachers that are leaving, that we are going to have a bigger crisis next year when it comes to dealing with this problem all over again. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.