Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think it is an important point, that we want to make sure that students in the high school can effectively move from the high school into work or into post-secondary education, depending on their interests and the directions they are able to go in, and those where they have an interest.

As the Member points out, the 16-26-36 programs were put in place for a specific purpose. It helps students gain skills so they can travel into the workforce, as opposed to into post-secondary education. We still have the other courses available as well, for students who wish to move into the post-secondary field.

That being said, Mr. Chairman, we have undertaken a number of steps to take a look at the materials that are in our high school program, specifically in the area of the math program, where there has been some question about whether the elements in our math course effectively prepares students for the trades entrance exam, for example.

We are currently talking with our colleagues in other western Canada jurisdictions who we work with for the development of curriculum. We are currently talking specifically about developing a stream which is related to apprenticeship so that we can work in more specific math for that purpose.

The other point I would just make, Mr. Chairman, with respect to this area is as the Member points out, we do have several programs that are intended to link high school students to potential future work areas. The Schools North Apprenticeship Program the Member spoke of is one of those. It is an area that the divisional educational council in these areas is putting a particular emphasis on, and clearly we are going to need to be working with the students in that program, if they do not have the skills to make sure that they do have the adequate math skills to challenge the apprenticeship entrance exams at the end of that work.

If I could just briefly speak to the issue of...I believe the Member referred to it as social passing. As I believe we have said during our budget review process, the process inside a school of passing a student where the student sits...what class a student sits in is one issue. The second issue is whether the student is doing the same work as everybody else in the classroom. I will confirm for the Member that students do their studies at the level that they are performing at. That may be different than some of the other students in their classroom, but we try to keep them with their peers. However, if they are doing work at a different level, whether it be lower or higher, they may well be doing that in that classroom. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.