Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I'd like to say that I appreciate the committee's comments on the early childhood development program. Like the committee, I believe very strongly that it's important that we provide this kind of programming for the youngest people in the North. The early years are the most important and we have with this type of programming a real opportunity to significantly impact their future. So it was quite troubling to me that we were going to have to reach the end of the funding for this programming and I must say that I, with the committee, agree that this is an area that we should be looking for. If we can find extra funds this would be one of my priority areas in which to put it.

Now, the Member asked how much we were going to be cutting. It works out to about $1.3 million in reductions from our department. This is on top of what the Department of Health and Social Services cut. They also had money under the early childhood development framework for action. I think in total the monies were approximately $3 million between the two departments.

In terms of what, in fact, is being cut from Education, Culture and Employment, we're losing contributions to the healthy children initiative. The funding for that is dropping from over $3 million to $2.2 million in this budget that we're proposing. We're losing some of the money in programs that included programs like the language nests, which did involve typically elders working with younger children to help them gain literacy skills and also help develop aboriginal language skills.

There were a number of areas, but when I say they were carrying on with $4.4 million in expenditures we still have, as part of the department, a responsibility for some expenditures. So we have had to reduce the amount that was in the framework for action, but we still will have almost $1.7 million in early childhood programs which go towards day care spaces and provide, for instance, an increase for Aurora College for the early childhood education certificate program, which is a transfer from contract delivery last year. It also includes, as I said earlier, $2.2 million in healthy children initiative funding.

So that funding isn't disappearing completely, but it has had to be reduced significantly with this cut. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.