Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I too have a lot of concerns in this area, especially in the area of the ABE program and literacy in our communities. We find that the money that we save in our communities for the ABE program is not sufficient in most cases. We just have part-time positions. We do not have the resources to do justice to the number of adults in our communities that need these programs to assist them to get on with their lives, so that they can have good jobs and good opportunities in our communities with the economics that we have.
Yet, Mr. Speaker, there is definitely a difference of programs being delivered, especially in the small communities in relation to the larger centres. I, for one, feel that this government has to be fair in how these dollars are allocated. In most cases, these positions should be full-time and that there is no reason that we should continue these part-time obligations, where we are dealing with funds which are not planned for any long-term opportunities for people to plan for themselves and also for their children. So that they know that they will be able to take a course, not just depending on one year at a time, but realizing that the funds we do get will be there to assist the whole community, from adults, to teenagers, to children who are coming up who may want to take programs and services in our home communities.
Mr. Speaker, I feel that the Department of Education has to put more resources into this important initiative to improve the basic adult education program and the literacy numbers we have in our communities. We have to, somehow, focus on improving those numbers so that they do come down to a reasonable number.
I mentioned in my comments, in the last number of days, where in my riding we have, in some cases in communities up to almost 40 percent of the people, above the age of 15, who are considered illiterate and do not have anything more than a grade 9 education.
In order to take advantage of the number of jobs that we see coming, especially in the Beaufort Delta, somewhere in the area of 1500 to 1600 jobs, we need trained and educated people, regardless of their age group. This program, I see, is very important, especially in adult basic education and improving our literacy. Thank you.
-- Applause