Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I'm not sure that the Member is accurate on the numbers. I believe that the average amount that we provide to education councils across the Northwest Territories is about $9,000 per student. The amount of money is not in the hundreds, it is in the thousands.

The amount of money that is provided to education boards across the Territories was cut significantly as a result of federal cuts to our transfer payments in the mid to late 1990s. As a result, our pupil-teacher ratio went from, at that time, to just under 14 pupils to one teacher, to over 18 pupils per teacher. We have, over the past four, five, six years, put significant money back into the system, but it hasn't been enough to get us to that level of funding. We are now funding the system at close to 16 to one, in terms of pupils to teachers.

We haven't taken inflation into account. No department in government has been able to take inflation into account, because of the amount of money that we have been getting from the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

I will double check on those numbers. Maybe I was given the wrong numbers. Another question I have is the Beaufort-Delta Divisional Education Council serves eight communities over a wide geographical area. Is that factored into the formula and would the Minister commit to looking into this matter?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In fact, the formula is adjusted by the distance between communities, the size of the population in a region and the size of the schools. An education council that has more small schools receives a higher proportion of funding per student than one that has larger schools. Yes, that sort of thing is factored into the formula. The formula is adjusted every year, or adjustments are considered every year, as the senior administrators in the department get together to discuss the formula. It is adjusted every year and it is certainly something that I discuss with the board chairs on a regular basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. McLeod. Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise with a question to the Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Michael McLeod. On February 5th, I wrote the Minister a letter in regard to the lack of a section in our Motor Vehicle Act, which refers to tail lights and licence plates being obstruction free.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister replied on February 17th, with a letter saying that two sections cover it. I won't go into detail about the sections, recognizing the time, but the problem is, it is not descriptive enough. Would the Minister be willing to look into this problem in making our Motor Vehicle Act descriptive so that it clearly says tail lights and licence plates should not be obstructed at any time? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will commit to raising the issue with the RCMP and the municipal bylaw officers, in having a discussion around this whole issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

I'm sorry, Mr. Speaker, I didn't hear his response, but I will just assume he said yes. I will ask one more question just to be sure.

Mr. Speaker, in Nova Scotia, they clearly emphasize visibility of tail lights. Mr. Speaker, our legislation of the Motor Vehicle Act is very descriptive of not less than 300 meters, not less than 60 meters, within 60 meters, I mean. There are so many sections within this act that are very, very clear. Would the Minister be willing to engage in this problem to clarify this, therefore, safety is truly an issue being addressed here? Would he be willing to look into this problem a little further? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is already legislation that prohibits the operator of a motor vehicle; they are required to keep their licence plates and lights clear of dirt and obstructions. I have made the commitment to talk about enforcement with the RCMP and municipal officers. We have no plan to do a publicity campaign on this issue. We can discuss this issue further, like the Member suggests. However, at this point we do not have any plans for new legislation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate what the Minister is saying in referring to a section called 126 in the Motor Vehicles Act, which basically says that the enforcement officer can pull a vehicle over at any time, if it appears to be unsafe to the driver or the public.

Mr. Speaker, we go on clearly identifying very specific issues in our act. Section 142 talks about obstruction of view by snow. If we were to modify 142, by adding subsection (c), by saying "licence plates must be clear as well as taillights," that would add the extra surety. Therefore, it is a clear judgment call on the municipal enforcement, the RCMP enforcement, or whatever enforcement agency. Would the Minister look into the situation and address that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will take a look at it; we will talk about enforcement with the RCMP and municipal officers, as indicated. This is a difficult piece of legislation to enforce or really look at and provide severe penalties or change it around.

We have to realize that the climate we live in, in a lot of cases, a lot of communities don't have paved streets, and they have a lot of snowfall. It is a difficult one. I will commit to having discussion around it. However, that is as far as I can commit at this point.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for my Minister...my Minister...the Minister of Justice, Minister Dent.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of questions for Minister Dent. The information I have is, Mr. Speaker, with respect to transportation costs from the communities in the South Slave region to Hay River versus the transportation costs from those communities to Yellowknife. The Minister referred to the cost of road travel versus airplane travel. His own department provided me with numbers. The Department of Justice provided me with numbers, Mr. Speaker, which would indicate that the RCMP plane is more costly in every instance from South Slave communities than it is to go by road from those same communities to Hay River. From every single community, the RCMP plane to go to Yellowknife is more costly than driving to Hay River. I would be happy to share these numbers with the Minister, but could he please respond to that? He said that there could be incremental costs, there could be incremental savings, but he is confident of the numbers. I am not confident of the numbers, Mr. Speaker. Could he please respond to those costs? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps we could meet to compare numbers later, but I have what I believe to be a copy of what was provided to the Member in terms of the information. It may not be a copy, but the same numbers. They show me the exact opposite of what the Member has just said, so perhaps we need to get together and compare these numbers and how to interpret them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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