Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At the outset I would like to indicate that I may have a few problems with the way education is being implemented. However, my main problem that I see today is not the fact that things are being implemented but the fact that we simply do not have enough dollars within the education system for the Minister and his staff to work with. Similar to Mr. Picco earlier, I do not buy the argument that we just finished the budget process and that nothing can be done. Every year, Mr. Chairman, there are supplementary appropriations, supplementary appropriations, as I understand, to deal with problems that arise, unexpected things or perhaps a shift in priorities. We all know that during the budget process you cannot add money to areas. All you can do is cut. In this instance we knew that we did not want to cut from education, so there is nothing that we could have done. We had to wait until after the budget process in order to try to put more money into education.

Another thing I wanted to touch on, Mr. Chairman, is the adult education that we are currently providing in the Northwest Territories. We do have the worst education rates in Canada. Many of our adults cannot read or write and many are semi-literate. These people are of working age and many will be of working age for many years, and they will not be of retirement age for many years. I simply cannot accept that we have to let these people continue living like that when we can invest some dollars to ensure that their problem is alleviated.

Some statistics indicate that, from the GNWT's own reports, 45 percent of the new jobs that will be created in the next decade will require 16 years of education, Mr. Chairman. Sixteen years! What are we doing to our people when a good many of them have dropped out at grade 9 or less, because another fact here, the population of Northwest Territories in 1994, with less than grade 9, 27 percent of our population? Grade 9 to grade 12 without a secondary certificate was a further 19 percent. This, in total, with less than grade 12 is 46 percent, which is almost half of our population. We know that in the next decade half of the jobs that are created will require 16 years of education. The NWT graduation rate is 25 percent, and the national average is 68 percent. This is almost one-third of the national average. The graduation rate of aboriginal people is abominable. The Inuit graduate at a 12 percent rate, the Dene graduate at 16 percent rate, and the Metis graduate at 20 percent rate. Mr. Chairman, just to go a little bit further, we also know that 93 percent of university graduates and 76 percent of grade 12 graduates in the NWT are employed, while those people with grade 8 or less, only 32 percent of them are employed. I do not really want to go into a great big bunch of statistics, Mr. Chairman, but I do have to indicate that we have quite a few communities that have some form of adult education. However, only approximately 35 communities have permanent educators. I would safely say that every community has a problem with adult basic education, so that this certainly has to be improved upon. I would urge the government to look at this and to put into place some type of a plan that looks at all the different areas and to set some goals. This is what we are going to do here. This is what we are doing in this community, this community. Not everybody wants to go and get grade 12 or go to college that is granted. A lot of people will be satisfied just to learn how to write their name and to improve the way that they live simply because they know how to read and write at a basic level. Those types of people, of course, many of them are happy to do other types of work, labour or whatever. Many of them, of course, would want to work on the land, trapping or fishing but for those people who wish to go on to a greater education, they should not be denied. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.