Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are many people in the gallery and I wanted to recognize some of my constituents, and maybe take the opportunity to introduce several others as well. First of all, a gentleman who has moved into my constituency -- I am not sure of what other Yellowknife constituency he was in before, but he is a very well-known Yellowknifer -- Ed Jeske. I would also like to recognize Esther Braden, who is one of my constituents; Larry Elkin, the chair of the Stanton Regional Hospital Board; and my wife, Marg Baille. Also, they are not constituents, but I would like to recognize my deputy minister, Penny Ballantyne; Gordon Stewart, the chair of the NWT Power Corporation; and Larry Pirka, the chair of the Yellowknife Catholic School Board No. 2. Welcome to the gallery.

-- Applause

Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize two people, Barb Hood, the executive director of the NWT Seniors' Society, and my mother Esther. Thank you.

-- Applause

Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize all seniors with us today, especially Agnes Williams, who is a constituent of mine. As well, I would like to recognize Brita Tay, from Victoria, B.C. who is the mother of my deputy minister of Finance's secretary. Thank you.

-- Applause

Are there any other recognitions of visitors in the gallery? The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize two important ladies, Nora Lennie from Tulita and Helen Grube from Tuktoyaktuk. Also, I would like to recognize Charles Overvold, the deputy minister of Aboriginal Affairs.

-- Applause

Thank you. Are there any further recognitions of visitors in the gallery? I would like to say thank you to everyone who has attended the Assembly today. Just a reminder that we are going to take a short break here to entertain a reception in the Great Hall, to which you are all invited. I would like to say that I wish you would come more often. It sounds like the House of Commons here with all of the clapping. Now we shall take a short break.

-- Break

The House will come back to order after a short break. Item 6, oral questions. Item 7, written questions. The Chair recognizes the honourable Member for the Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

I seek unanimous consent to go back to item 6, oral questions.

Thank you. The honourable member is seeking unanimous consent to return to item 6, oral questions. Are there any nays? I did hear a nay. The Chair heard a nay. The Chair will again ask, are there any nays? There are no nays. Then we shall return to item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As indicated earlier, my question today will be for the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment and it relates to the Memorandum of Understanding signed by our Premier and the NWTTA in January 2000.

Specifically, I am referring to the clause that says:

"It is recognized that the approval of the planned legislative changes will result in an incremental increase in education funding of approximately $4.6 million in the 2000-2001 year."

Mr. Speaker, the last presentation I received from the department suggested that we only spent $2.8 million in that year for incremental funding for those two things; student support and PTR. I am wondering why? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the time the discussion took place, the funding and the PTR, it was pointed out that we would lower the figures according to what is set out on a territory-wide basis. Additionally, we would include areas for forced growth. That is where the difference comes from, between $4.6 million and $2.8 million, I believe. Thank you.

Merci, Mr. Ootes. Supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am a little confused. I am wondering if we are supposed to tell our constituents and the public that we did not spend half the money that we were going to spend on student support and PTR because there was some forced growth that did not happen. Is that really what the Minister would have us tell our constituents? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it did happen. The figures were based on the previous year. We always use the previous year's figures and, as the Member knows, we just put $1.3 million back into the PTR system to address that issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, I will acknowledge that we put some more money into PTR that originally indicated going forward, but that does not address the situation of underfunding in previous years.

I am wondering why we would set the bar so low that we could hop over it on one leg, Mr. Speaker? We did meet the legislative requirements, but clearly we knew that we could do much better. Why did we not? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.