Thank you, Mr. Cleveland. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. More general comments? Do you want to respond to that, Mr. Minister?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will say a few words and then perhaps I can ask Mr. Cleveland to address it as well. There is certainly a need with the number of programs out there for schools to work closely with the parents and students to ensure that the streams that are available are clearly understood and what the implication to those are.

As well, Mr. Cleveland just mentioned that they are examining and looking at the IOP, which the Member made reference to. Perhaps I could ask Mr. Cleveland to expand on that.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Cleveland.

Thank you, Mr. Cleveland. At this time, the Chair would like to recognize a couple of visitors in the gallery. Welcome to the Assembly. Mr. Dent.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask some questions about the Income Support Program, particularly the part of the program relating to disabled people. I know that the Minister, in his opening comments, mentioned that the allowance for persons with a disability is being increased. I was wondering if the Minister could tell me how does this change make the Income Support Program compare to something like the Alberta program, Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped? Is there a way to compare it in terms of total dollars that are provided to individuals who are supported?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Minister.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, I did receive some work by the department in that area. I must say that I find it difficult to make comparisons on this, Mr. Chairman, to relate directly what we offer versus what Alberta offers. We did survey the other jurisdictions as well.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the Minister's opening comments, he told us that he will increase the disability allowance from $175 a month to $225 a month. I know previously when I talked to people who have been disabled, they have made it sound like the difference between what they could receive living in the Northwest Territories and what they could receive if they were living in Alberta was much more than $50.

What I am really asking is have we in effect caught up to what is being provided in Alberta? Or would the Minister characterize this more as moving as much as could be afforded within the budget?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Minister.

I had an opportunity, Mr. Chairman, to allocate some funding into this area. I felt that it was a priority area to address. We need to remember that we had a disability conference several weeks ago. As well, the Council for Disabled Persons in the Northwest Territories prepared a report. That particular report was discussed at the recent conference. Both Minister Groenewegen and I are awaiting some reports from the recent conference so we can address further areas, in terms of how we as a government can support in a further way the disabled persons of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Minister had advised the standing committee that they were looking at a potential savings of $1 million in the Income Support Program this year, largely because of the improvement in the economy. I know the committee asked that the Minister, rather than just saving the money, reinvest this money back into the program. We are very pleased that the Minister agreed to do that by increasing the food allowance to the tune of $500,000 and to supporting disabled people to the tune of an extra $200,000.

However, I can tell you I would certainly like to see the balance of that saving reinvested in this program. I suspect we have not gone far enough, in particular on the side of those who have a disability.

I would encourage the Minister to re-examine that issue. Take a look at how we compare with, in particular, the Alberta program, Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped, then just try and relate that to the northern cost of living. I think Northerners deserve at least the same level of support of what you can find in the province south of us.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member makes some good comments in what the government should be looking at. I should state that when we looked at our possible saving in the area of income support, we did reinvest the amounts that were referenced. There was a question at the time with regard to the $300,000. I should state that we have two other programs that we were addressing, which in some ways affect the persons with disabilities area.

One is the Literacy Strategy, where we have invested money specifically for persons with disabilities. The other program was study grants for individuals that allows a $5,000 grant for individuals who require assistance in terms of equipment or personal assistance.

We will certainly look at the area of other jurisdictions, such as Alberta for example, how and what level of support is provided there. We did already. It was difficult to make the comparison completely because of the differences in programs. We will certainly relook that, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am certainly appreciative of the Minister and the department having put the money that they have into this program and in the other areas of the program as well. However, I still think we need to make sure that we are supporting our disabled residents adequately. I think a comparison to Alberta would be worthwhile and we would hope that we would follow through after making that comparison.

In another area, Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask about student financial assistance. This relates to the committee's report. We expressed some concern about the grandfathering issue. I would just like to draw to the attention of the Members here if you look at page 9-13, which contains some of the detail from page 9-11, the top line under student grants, you will see that we have gone from main estimates of $9.1 million for grants last year, to $8.4 million in this main estimate. We did not spend all that we had expected we would spend in the current year. On page 9-12 under student financial assistance, there is a drop from the 2000-2001 revised estimates to the 2001-2002 main estimates of some $219,000 for student financial assistance, most of which is going to loans officers' salaries. Due to the increased number of loans as opposed to grants, I understand that is one of the reasons we are seeing the change from $9.1 million to $8.4 million. It is a change from a majority of grants to more loans.

I would like to point out that we have taken program money here and turned it into salaries.