Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will get the information as to how sales have changed since we put our restriction on overproof sales. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and they have to do with the issue of day care, as well. Mr. Speaker, we have invested

millions of dollars in the college in Fort Smith; we've invested millions of dollars in capital in the student residences there, and wouldn't it be a shame now if childcare became the obstacle to northern students accessing the college programs for their educational needs? Mr. Speaker, there's a lot of post-secondary education institutions out there, and I don't think we can be turning any students away. I don't think we can be sending them down to Alberta or British Columbia or other places to get their education, after we've invested this kind of money. We want to keep them here in the North. So surely, given already how much we're in for in our college program, we could do something creative in terms of the needs. A lot of students are young people. A lot of them have young families. That is a trend and that is a given in this day and age. They are not all single people.

Mr. Speaker, what I'd like to know is, is there any space in the college where our government could possibly consider giving the students that added benefit of day care service on site, on campus? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The day care is currently operating in college-owned space on campus.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well that's interesting. So perhaps the Minister could tell us exactly what is the impediment to the continuation of the operation of the day care centre? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I understand it, the current operator is unable to continue the operation with the level of subsidies that are provided. That's the complaint, is that they say they need bigger operating grants in order to continue.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister have a dollar amount in terms of what it would take, whether it be a cash injection or some form of support? How much are we talking about to keep this day care operational? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I understand it, and I want to be careful -- I'm not sure how much I should talk publicly about one operator -- but as I understand it, they would need a significant contribution one time, but also it would have to be an ongoing increase in the rates that are provided, and we're talking about in the tens of thousands of dollars that the operators are currently needing to see. The problem we'd have is that we would have to then make that sort of funding available to other operators equitably across the Territories. So at this point, we haven't had the money. We've been looking at this program when we were in the business planning process. We had figured that we were going to see the federal government follow through on their promise to provide us with funding that we would be able to put into the program so we could increase the subsidies to the operators, increase the subsidies to parents, and improve on access to training. We had intended to invest in all those areas and had the plans in place, but we have not seen the money that we had counted on. That's what we were looking forward to.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, well, obviously, the clock is running out on this particular operation. Would the Minister commit to speaking with the operator, or having people in his department attend at the facility in Fort Smith, so that he can have related to him a firsthand version of the issues and the story, and, I guess, an assessment of the service that we're losing? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have met with the operator. I have talked to the operator on the phone very recently. I am aware of the situation and circumstances there, and we are in a situation where we have a program, we offer support to people who want to start a day care, and we say here is the level of support that will be offered if you run this program. If people are running the program, that's what they have to expect that they're going to get. I would dearly love to have more money to put into that program, and we'll be continuing to fight for more money for the programming, but, at this point, we have a program where the conditions were set out, and that's the level of support that we're prepared to offer. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess we could analyze why this particular operator and this facility has fallen into difficulty, but, Mr.

Speaker, I notice, as I read the annual report of the BDIC, that there's BDF funding that goes to all kinds of businesses in the North, what I would say are fairly mature, competent businesses, that haven't filed their corporate income tax returns for the last three years, and BDF gives them $25,000 to get their house in order. What about the BDF for a little bit of support? Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I assume that if a day care is a business, that it could apply to the BDF. I'm sorry; that's outside my portfolio, so I can't answer the question.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are also with the day care closing. Mr. Speaker, my information is that there is a plan for a new day care centre that could replace this, but I don't believe that this is in the works. My understanding is that this operator has to close because she has an outstanding bill with Revenue Canada for source deductions, and if she could only make that payment, she could possibly have it open to Christmas and alleviate this urgency. I would like to know from the Minister why he would not consider helping this centre out in the interim, until there is a new facility open because, from talking to people from Smith that happen to be here in town, my understanding is that the alternative day care facilities are quite non-existent. So I'm just not comfortable that the Minister has any other plans for these kids who will have no day care to go to as of next Monday. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.