Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm just trying to get assurances from the Minister that the training will help develop our northern youth and our northern communities, especially to just prepare ourselves for the planned impacts. I believe the Minister made reference to ASEP, the aboriginal skills employment partnerships program. I would just like to ask the Minister that.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, that's one of the programs that I was mentioning. I understand the proposal is very close to its final stage in draft form and almost ready for submission. One of the big advantages of that kind of training proposal is that the industry partners with their involvement make sure that the training is targeted specifically at the jobs that are going to be available and they commit to taking on the people who have been trained through that program. So we know we're training people for the jobs that will be available. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Chairman, no further questions at this time. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. General comments. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wasn't expecting to come back to the line-up so soon, but I'm pleased to have the opportunity. I have some questions to the Minister on his opening statement. The first one is to do with the early childhood development. Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee on Social Programs made quite a lengthy comment about the positions that committee members have on this issue. I think it's not always the case that Members from small communities and larger communities agree on an issue so solidly, and this was definitely one where all Members in the committee were able to present evidence that we see in our respective constituencies where these programs are having a difference and it's really providing a positive impact to our young children. I know that in my riding of Range Lake and at Range Lake North School there were various literacy initiatives and other things that were happening in the school where teachers have gone out of their way to comment to me that it's one of the best things that they've seen come along. Some of them have been teaching young children, kindergarten children for over 30 years. They cannot say enough about all the good things this is doing in terms of giving an early start to the children and helping them read and helping them get into the social setting and school setting.

I think that when we discuss the motion and when we discuss the specific section of the budget we will have more opportunity to elaborate on this, but in the meantime I would like to ask for the Minister, on page 2 of his opening statement he stated that the department plans to spend $4.4 million on early childhood development activities, but in the next paragraph he mentions that the three-year early childhood development initiative ends at the end of this month. I'd like to know if the Minister could state for the record how much money is being cut in that second paragraph and what are the things that he's able to do with the money that he is keeping on the budget and what precise things are being cut out or that at least the Minister is proposing to cut out of his budget this year. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

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.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could I ask the Minister whether this reduction in his budget would decrease the funding that has in the past gone to the NWT Literacy Council, who has benefited from getting money from the GNWT as well as some of the federal programs to introduce a lot of literacy initiatives, and ones that have made some headway. I don't know if they will have a direct impact there, but I would like to have confirmation on that from the Minister.

Another comment that I want to add, which I think is important, is that what he has been hearing about this program is that in the last years that this has been in place, it has made very huge progress. A three year is a critical time and any program that begins takes that much time to get going and get started. The unfortunate thing with this is that when the program infrastructure got put into place and got implemented and started seeing some results that we are basically, in large part because of the reduction, not complete elimination but a reduction, we are really cutting the legs from under some of these very successful initiatives. So I wanted to make that point and then go back to the question about what kind of direct impact this might have for the NWT Literacy Council if any. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, to answer the Member's first question, there is still $251,000 for the Literacy Council to maintain their program. Where that money is coming from is federal monies that we are going to be flowing through to them to allow their programming to continue. The federal contribution is carrying on for another two years. So even though the territorial money is sunsetted after three years, we did have some federal money for the same source of programs.

The Member had asked about what sorts of things had been cut. I had mentioned the language nests, the family learning kits, the childhood family resource centres. Those sorts of areas are the ones that are going to feel the impact of this cut. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ms. Lee.

Thank you. I think the family learning kits is one of the things that a local school teacher has given me as anecdotal evidence of something that is quite simple, but quite effective. It is something that she really thought that we should continue doing. I really think that there is power within this Assembly to see how we could save this, although I know that this is supposed to expire in a week.

Mr. Chairman, I have a supplementary question on the funding cuts for the NWT Literacy Council. Could the Minister tell us as to what the NWT Literacy Council would have received in combination with the federal funding had the GNWT contribution not been cut this year as a result of this reduction? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

I can't say exactly, because there wasn't an agreement that goes beyond this year for funding. For instance, last year, the family learning kits which were done in collaboration with the NWT Literacy Council, there was $76,000 in funding. That is one of the areas that is being cut. We have still got the $251,000 that is still going to be going to them. We are going to have to discuss with them how that is being spent, but it is not an easy number to come up with because the amount that the Literacy Council got each year was not the same. So there wasn't a set amount that was going; it always depended on how things were negotiated. I would like to say to the Member that, as I have said, I share her concern about cuts to this area, and I would just like to assure her and all Members that I will continue to work with my Cabinet colleagues to see if there is any way that we can find any extra funds that this would be the first area of priority for me to see a reinvestment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Next I have Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be as brief as I can. I want to centralize my discussions on a small component of the Minister's statement in the career development and maximizing northern employment. I will readdress this in the response he provided me in the Oral Question 10-15(2) in part by employment opportunities. In paragraph three, he said in September of 2003 the Government of the Northwest Territories organized labour groups to begin discussions about the construction of the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline. It speaks a bit about a meeting with the northern pipeline projects, Alberta Building Trades Council and the Christian Labour Association of Canada. In follow-up to that, I had received another letter from the NWT Federation of Labour, which replied to my question to the Minister, and it makes reference to the fact that given the past experience of the Northwest Territories' pipeline construction and it points out the Canol project Painted Mountain in Norman Wells, and it seems to me that they understand some of their misgivings. Although we support the development of future pipeline development, we also want to talk in the context of the pipeline construction and the role that the unions play. We talked about the United Association is a craft union representing welders, plumbers, pipefitters, the International Union of Operating Engineers, representing equipment operators, labourers, the International Union of North America represents skilled pipeline labourers, the Teamsters represents equipment haulers, and a number of others. I am curious to know, in terms of investment in maximizing northern employment, that the Minister has taken a more concerted effort to identify -- and again I am going to phrase it in the context of my earliest question -- how we have influence over the union politics. It concerns me, Mr. Chairman, that our past experience doesn't give us too much clout in the context of the overall picture.

I think I raised the point yesterday to the Minister of RWED that we really have to move away from socioeconomic agreements, going to more covenant agreements that would give legal binding to any kind of agreement. So I am going to ask the Minister if he has worked with those specific unions identified and tried to advance training opportunities in the context of maximizing northern employment. That would be my first question to the Minister. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Allen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Subsequent to the Member's question in the House and my response to him that he has referred to, I heard from the Federation of Labour and they offered to meet with me to discuss this issue. I have accepted that offer and indicated to them that I am prepared to meet to carry on these discussions. I am purely confident that unions will understand that northerners expect to see significant northern involvement in employment in the construction of pipelines in the North, and I think it is incumbent on us, through the Minister of RWED, to negotiate a good agreement that involves benefits, including employment. Then we will have to make sure that we all work together, the companies, the unions and the government to make sure that we have northerners trained and ready to take on the odd jobs in the pipeline and the oil and gas sector as those jobs come up. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the Minister because I think he gave an overview of what the level of expectations are along the valley. I think the important point I want to make in my final comments, Mr. Chairman, is that I think we need to take a more proactive role, and talk to not only the unions, but also the private sector, and try to develop a strategic plan that would ensure that we do begin to train the employables on actual pipeline construction sites so they will be prepared from a skill level to participate in the actual project. I believe it is not harmful.

If I may go back, even though we have a greater percentage of our northerners as skilled pipeline labourers, that would be beneficial to our territory. I am trying to define exactly whereabouts would be the best areas we could concentrate on this at the earliest possible level in trying to ascertain training opportunities for our northerners. I believe there are two areas that we have an opportunity to concentrate on, and they are the International Union of Operating Engineers who represent the equipment operators, and the Labourers International Union of North America who represents skilled pipeline labourers. So I am just curious to know, and certainly would support the notion that we should be concentrating on those two specific union groups to put into effect some

kind of training program at the earliest possible date. With that, I am going to ask the Minister, through you, Mr. Chair, if he would address that key question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Allen. Mr. Dent.