Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I too would like to rise today to speak about the funding for student support services. I am also heartened by the government's response in the budget, making sure we have achieved the level targeted for student support services in subsequent years a full year early. This was the approach recommended by the committees of this House and I am pleased the government heard our request and acted.

So next year, Mr. Speaker, we will spend the average spent by other jurisdictions in Canada on student support services. Yes, we have done well, but we can and we should do better. We keep hearing stories about the challenges faced in the classroom. We hear that we have a higher number of students with special needs than the average across Canada.

As Mrs. Groenewegen has just said, we have a large number of students who have severe problems in the classroom and require extensive support. We also know we have a higher number of students at different grade levels in one classroom because of the problems they face. With the number of small schools in the Northwest Territories, we probably have more multi-age grouping classes than is average across Canada.

Our kids right now do not have good enough access to assessment for the challenges they face. Mr. Speaker, I know this is true in Yellowknife, so it must be even more of a challenge to get a proper assessment done in a smaller community. I know I have been called by constituents because their child cannot be assessed. Recently, a constituent told me she and her family had to spend $4,000 to take their child south because they had waited and waited and waited for an assessment, and it did not appear to ever be getting done.

Mr. Speaker, if we have more challenges in the classroom than the average, we cannot be satisfied with achieving the level of funding that just matches the Canadian average. We must set the bar higher. We must not be satisfied that we have achieved the level of funding for student support services set in legislation a year early.

Mr. Speaker, let us commit to continuing to increase the funding each and every year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause