Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That is the next phase of the program that we want to institute. Also, there has been mention of having a chat room where students can contact each other and leave a message. That is also one that we want to work on. Thank you.

Mr. Bell.

Thank you. I think those would be really good initiatives. I know the department is working quickly here with the new system. There will undoubtedly be some wrinkles, but I would just like to urge him to stick with it here and iron these things out, so that the kids who are going to school in the fall will get to school without too much delay, and too many complications. It is a stressful time for students who have come back and have been looking for employment. The longer it takes for you to find a job, the more you start to count the days and the amount of money that you have to save, and wonder exactly how you will make it through the next semester. Certainly, if there have been complaints to the department or to the MLAs, I hope they will take them seriously and take into consideration that students are under a lot of pressure, and work hard to take care of their complaints.

Mr. Minister.

Yes, the Member is correct. It is a stressful time when students are trying to find work, and do work. They do not have a lot of time available. We certainly are cognizant of that, and our staff are working extremely hard on this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Next on the list, I have Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this time I would like to move a committee motion. Mr. Chairman, I move this committee recommends that the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment immediately direct the development and implementation of a strategy to increase literacy levels in every community in the Northwest Territories; and further, that the goal of the strategy be to achieve literacy levels of at least 85 percent of the population over the age of 15 in every community by the year 2003. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

There is no reference in this motion to 2003. Mr. Roland. Could you read your motion in for the record?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I apologize for that, I was given the wrong committee motion.

-- Laughter

The motion is in order. To the motion. Question has been called. All those in favour? All those against? The motion is carried.

-- Applause

We were dealing with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, advanced education and careers, page 9-11, total operation expense, $63,531,000.

Advanced education and careers, grants and contributions, grants, $9,120,000. Agreed?

Contributions, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as noted in my opening remarks, the government has agreed to reinstitute funding for the Community Skills for Work Program for the current fiscal year in the amount of $650,000. Therefore,

I MOVE that the amount of $650,000 be added to the 2000-2001 main estimates of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, under the activity advanced education and careers, grants and contributions, contributions, under the item, Community Skills for Work Program on page 9-14.

Mr. Ootes, your motion is being distributed. The motion is in order. To the motion. Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. Dent.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the Minister for bringing that motion forward and for restoring some of the money that we wanted to see in that program. It is still unfortunate that it is not the $1,000,000 we had last year, but this is certainly better than nothing that was there a short while ago.

To hear that it has gone into the base is a significant improvement.

-- Applause

I appreciate the commitment that was made, because this is in fact base funding and will be there for some time.

One question I have is that because this program was always funded on an ongoing basis or annual basis, a number of groups who had projects that were completed had sent applications into the department for more funding, only to have them rejected because the program had been sunsetted.

The question for the Minister is will those groups now have to reapply for the funding? Will there be a new call for projects to be funded? Or will the department look at those applications that they already have received this fiscal year, and consider them for being funded under this program?

Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, there will be a new call. We expect that those who put in their applications previously will resubmit. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Dent.

Thank you. Will the department undertake to, very quickly, and in writing, let the groups that did apply for continued funding know they will have to reapply?

Mr. Ootes.

Thank you. Yes, certainly. We will do that immediately.