Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In relation to the mine, my understanding is that the Miramar Giant company still plans to continue mining until some time later this year, when the plans are that mining at that property will stop for good and then we can go into a reclamation process. I am wondering, at this stage, are there any specific moves that the GNWT has in relation to the complete stoppage of work at Giant Mine later this year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that the arrangement between Miramar Giant Mine Limited and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs expires at the end of December this year. At that time, Miramar Giant Mine Limited has the option of either negotiating an extension -- and determining what the terms of that extension might be is something between them and DIAND -- or simply saying no, we do not intend to continue mining from that site anymore.

I have spoken to the manager and he has told me that they have not yet firmly made up their mind exactly what they will do. Until we know that, it is very difficult for us to do more than simply continue to monitor what they and DIAND are doing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the Minister of Education and it is with regard to the class size in our schools. Mr. Speaker, I have a letter from a concerned parent whose child attends the Range Lake North School, who is saying that next year's class size could be up to about 30 students per class. Most of the classrooms at the Range Lake North School are built for 24 students, not 31, suggesting possible problems regarding safety. My question to the Minister is, what is the department's responsibility in making sure that there are not too many kids in the classrooms? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I should take a moment to explain the process of funding that we provide to education boards. We fund the district education councils throughout the Northwest Territories and the two DEAs in Yellowknife, the district education authorities, the board, in other words. We do that on a pupil-teacher ratio. The boards themselves decide how to allocate that within the school system and create the classes. The principals of the schools then make up the class sizes. If there is a safety concern within a class and it is overcrowded, then of course we will look at that issue. I have a concern about this. This is an issue that Ms. Lee is bringing forward, and we will certainly look at seeing if there is an issue here with regard to safety. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ootes. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am aware of the basic principles behind the way school boards are funded. My question is how much room does the department and Minister have to make sure that class size or the money is spent in general, corresponding ways as it was meant to be? For example, special...

Thank you, Ms. Lee, we have the question. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We as a department provide a block funding to the various organizations. We expect the money that we provide will be allocated into the areas. We have an accountability framework through the budget process to ensure that it is applied in the fashion in which the money is meant to be used. If we take the Yellowknife school boards, there is an overall PTR that they report back to us. That is our area of control, Mr. Speaker. The school boards themselves decide on the allocation per classes. I believe in Yellowknife, for example, the two boards are averaging 16 to one. That is a blended rate with the money they get from us and from the city. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ootes. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am well aware of the fact that the boards get the block funding and they make decisions on what they are going to do with that. That is fine with me. The board is entitled to independent decision-making. My question is at what point does the department intervene? Theoretically, is it possible for a school board to decide to have 50 kids in one classroom and one in another, and have a blended average of 25 or something? When do we step in? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think we have to recognize that these are responsible individuals administering the various programs in the school system. There may be cases, and there are cases, where classrooms are larger, but there are also cases where classrooms are much smaller. We have to leave that autonomy to the school boards to take.

Of course, if it gets totally out of hand and you have a classroom with 50 people in it, if there are concerns with safety and other reasons, naturally we would express a concern about that. However, we do have to leave some judgment of that to the school boards to administer. In the case of Yellowknife, they are independently elected boards. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that we have to care about the class size before it gets to a safety question. My information is that most classes at Range Lake will be more than 30 students per class. Could the Minister make a commitment to look at the class size and take some action where needed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the enrolment figures in the Yellowknife, in the YK No. 1 district, I believe it is 80 percent of the school capacity. In the Catholic school board, I believe it is 90 percent. There is a lot of room for movement of students to other schools. We cannot just take that one incident, if we have one classroom overcrowded in isolation. We have to look at the fact that the board has the ability to reallocate students to other possible schools or to other classrooms. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as more and more northern nurses enrol in nursing education here through Aurora College and also in southern institutions, there may very well come a time in the near future where, for practicums and mentorships and certain types of training, it may be that we would reach a capacity, given the small size of our institutions.

Certainly where we do have a contract with the Capital Health Authority, and whereby northern patients are quite often referred to southern institutions, it may well be possible to approach them with the idea of absorbing and working with graduates who would ultimately return to the North.

One of the risks to us in that is that nurses may receive practical training at southern hospitals and find that they really like it there, which may lead to a placement in the future. Certainly it is an interesting concept and it can be explored. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.