Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We also have additional funding of $1.9 million that is used in school cultural development. In addition, we have $800,000 that goes to aboriginal language communities to administer and to develop. We do have an aboriginal language strategy that is in the process of being developed in conjunction with the aboriginal communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Item 6, oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me exactly how a community can get funding similar to the construction of the French school built in Yellowknife, so that communities can access block funding of a similar nature so they can also construct cultural-based classrooms? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to go back to my remarks earlier that we provide approximately $4.5 million in the promotion of language in the Territories, and it is done through various means. Some of it is through the schools; some of it goes directly to the language communities. That is the availability that we have to look at. Much of this funding for the Ecole Allain St. Cyr was provided by the federal government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services stated, she has been very outspoken about the government getting on with it. I must say I agree that she has been. Interestingly, the Minister will make a formal reply to the Minister's Forum on Health and Social Services in June. My question is why wait until June to make a reply when budget planning is underway at this time? Should that report not be used now in the budget planning cycle to make the necessary changes? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the report was only put out in print a very short while ago. I think I have the press release, and we released the first printed copy of it within the last two weeks. Since then, I have written a covering letter to many stakeholders. We have not yet had an opportunity to see this document and have sent it out to them as well, because whatever we do as a department, we are going to have to do in conjunction with stakeholders and also with MLAs.

I think we need the time to analyze not just the recommendations in here, but many others that have been made before that. It is part of our strategic planning and setting priorities of this government. I will be meeting with the Social Programs Committee later on this week. We have met already in Fort Providence with the Members. We do need time to set those directions and priorities, and we do want input from key stakeholders, not the least of which are my fellow MLAs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 6, oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister said that she sent a covering letter to the stakeholders. In fact, we are taking the report that came from stakeholders, the people of the Territories and, once again, going back out there to say if in fact the report is something that they have either said or agree with before any action is taken. Is that the case? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, l do not believe there will be any formal process per se for receiving feedback, but of course our department is always interested in the feedback of stakeholders. I think everyone agrees that there is a fair amount of concern in the communities about moving the program and the answers and solutions closer to the communities. We always welcome feedback. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 6, oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the budget planning to be brought into this House in June, will the Minister inform us if there will be any changes as a result of this report that will come in as part of that budget, or will that happen in preparation for the budget following that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister for Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe that my previous indication was that I would be tabling a formal response to the Minister's Forum on Health and Social Services in April. An interesting dynamic of the forum report that Members may not be aware of, an interesting part of the forum's mandate was to make recommendations to sustain and improve the Northwest Territories' health and social services system without increasing expenditures.

In response to the Member's question about the timing of this so that increased or additional or different spending could be included in the budget process, at this point I am not certain there will be increased spending. It will be more looking at which areas we plan to focus on and focus our resources in. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 6, oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am glad the Minister clarified that because spring, while it might be April here, is usually June back in Inuvik. Can the Minister inform me if there will be potential changes because the former response to the report is separate from planning for the budget cycle? Will there be possible changes in this upcoming budget cycle? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the timing issue with respect to the budget planning is something that I have not given a lot of thought to yet. I would hope that there is a certain amount of time there that would allow us some flexibility to reallocate and reprofile. A lot of the money from the department does go to the boards, and certainly there would be opportunity for the boards to redirect funding that they receive from this government. I would not say that there would be a need for us to be too strict about what would happen once the money gets to the board level. Thank you.

Merci beaucoup, Madame Groenewegen. Thank you very much, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Steen.