Thank you, Mr. Chairman. $1.4 million. Is that from all education contributions, or is that from the department? Will divisional education councils contribute on top of that?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We pay the whole cost. There is no cost over and above the $1.4 million to the boards. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is that a change in approach? I had believed that the intention was that the money would be included in the formula of funds handed over to the DECs, and there would be expectation that they would pay for time as they used it on the network.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. We have not moved to that yet. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Dent.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. When is it then the intention then to go out to a user-pay system? In other words, to basically have the DECs that are taking advantage of the system paying for their portion and the department paying whatever portion it keeps as a residual user.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We need to get the experience of the system and see where it stabilizes before we can move into a formula system, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Dent.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. I have some concern about the Digital Communications Network and whether or not it will in fact deliver the value that was once promised to this government. I would hope that there would be an assessment that will be done by the department and report back to our committee. Just on the value for money that they see in receiving from the Digital Communications Network over the course of the next year as they get into testing it out with the number of programs being developed with their agreement from Calgary.

If I can, because I am running out of time, Mr. Chairman I would like to move to an issue under the activity description. The department also talks about the need to strengthen departmental accountability and improve their reporting framework. I think that this is something that the Members of the committee were very anxious to see an improvement in the reporting framework and in accountability, setting benchmarks and achieving them.

I would note that in the business plan, we saw some definite targets. I think that is important to see. Targets like the improvement in the graduation rate of four percent per year. I think that is an allowable target. Or talking about improvement in the reduction of student unemployment or youth unemployment figures of five percent. I think these are the two targets that I remember from the business plan.

However, one important target I do not think we have seen set specifically is the goal to reach a representative population in the teacher force within a certain number of years. I would again like to question the Minister as to whether he is prepared to publicly commit to a date by which he and his department will strive to achieve the goal of a representative work force. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Certainly the issue of targets was discussed with the standing committee. In our business plans, the standing committee did point out that they wish to have this addressed on a better basis. So we are well aware of this area of concern and to look at targets.

I believe I stated at the time that if we are going to look at setting targets, we must be realistic. We have to take certain areas and perimeters into consideration of how and are the targets achievable.

With regard to the teacher levels, to try and reach a 50 percent or a representative work force in the teacher education program...basically, what is being said in the goal is that we will have 50 percent aboriginal teachers in our schools by the year 2003.

Last night, I did some calculations on this, Mr. Chairman. I discussed it again with my officials this morning. There is certainly a good objective here that we strive for and we will continue to strive for that objective. That has been set. Can it be achieved? If it cannot be achieved that particular year, what year can it be achieved? That is a big question, because we have to take into consideration, where we will get the graduates to move into the system. If today, for example, I believe our figure may be around 23 percent. Then it means that we will have to increase our teaching force by approximately 200 hundred aboriginal teachers. Can that be done in the next three years through the teacher education program? That is a very high objective, Mr. Chairman.

I need more time before I can commit to say that it will be in place by 2003. Not to diminish the goal that we are concentrating on, and to ensure that we continue to address the need to achieve that goal. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. The Chair recognizes Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. I have a number of questions on this particular activity. I would like to start with the Digital Communications Network.

Mr. Chairman, from the very start, I had some significant concerns dating back to the 13th Assembly with the Digital Communications Network that it would not be able to handle the load, that it was already undersized by the time that it was finished. The feedback I had heard was that in fact what we were doing in a lot of cases was just helping NorthwesTel upgrade a lot of their old equipment and infrastructure, and then paying a significant premium, as the Minister indicated.

One of the things the Minister indicated is in terms of bandwidth and capacity, that some of the systems we have make it too much to carry. Can the Minister indicate, are the DECs on Peoplesoft? If they are not on Peoplesoft, does that have anything to do with the capability of the system to handle the amount of bandwidth requirements for this program? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Ootes.

Yes, the DECs are on Peoplesoft. We just cannot speak upon the fact that it clogs the system. We just do not know.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Chairman, could I ask the Minister to repeat the last part? I did not catch the last part of his comments.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Ootes.

The DECs are on Peoplesoft, but I cannot speak about whether the usage of that is contributing to clogging problems on the system. I do not know.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Miltenberger.