Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I do not argue that we have a very generous Student Financial Assistance program. No question it is the most generous one in Canada. I think we do a pretty good job of supporting students who want to get into post-secondary education.
In information the department has provided to the committee, they told us that 500 people a year are moving to the Northwest Territories to take highly skilled technical jobs because our population cannot fill those jobs. In the meantime, we have hundreds, thousands of people in the Northwest Territories on income support because they do not have the tools, the skills and the training to take those jobs. We have an opportunity here. We have young people that are in the system that are learners right now. We have an opportunity to encourage them to keep going. It may take a little bit more money than what we had counted on, but this is an investment.
The Minister talks about the pressure that is going to be on the system because of increased graduation rates. That, Mr. Chairman, is a good news story. That is the sort of pressure that we want to hear about. That sort of forced growth is welcome. That kind of forced growth is the kind that we must be able to find the support for.
However, I have trouble understanding why we cannot take a bit of a risk on this one. After all, the department lapsed $800,000 plus last year in post-secondary student services. We do not know what the outtake is going to be. Obviously, we cannot predict within a million dollars or close to a million dollars what it is going to be already. I say let us take the chance. Let us find a way to move on with this and take the chance. If the department has to come back for supplementary funding, then let us deal with it at that time, but let us deal with it as a good news story, one that deserves some support.
Mr. Chairman, since the Minister has not indicated that he is not prepared to agree to that yet, I would like to present a motion.