Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Your final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The things that I'm afraid of is that we're the guinea pig in the front line of this massive project that would only, as far as I could see it, benefit the company. They're doing a fine job, but the Minister has other obligations and that I don't want to see $200 million desperately needed housing money going down the drain because this Minister and this government refuses to do the necessary due diligence. So I'd like to ask the Minister, Mr. Speaker, and I'd like to know if he's so confident about this project and if he's so committed to the needs of people who need social housing, why would he not get somebody to look at this project and see how they compare to other comparable products?

Thank you for your question, Ms. Lee. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are basically working to ensure that we are putting housing on the ground with the dollars we can afford. I think the Member is basically not really revealing the facts. We are not paying any company $200 million. The $200 million investment that the federal government and ourselves is going to make is get these units after the pipeline is concluded, move them into the communities where there's a cost associated with that, have the individual communities do the conversion and the dollars will remain in the Northwest Territories for those communities and our northern economy; $150 million will be there. We're not buying these off of any company. We're basically negotiating with the pipeline company to ensure us that we have access to these units once the pipeline is concluded at no cost. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Honourable Charles Dent, Minister of Education, and it's to do with the student financial assistance. I'd like to ask the Minister how the department comes up with the figures for student financial assistance, because a student that's going to school in Montreal or Toronto, Edmonton, would get the same amount as a student going to school in Yellowknife or Inuvik. So I'd like to ask him how they come up with the figures and are these reviewed every year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The amounts are looked at on a regular basis. It's not a formal review every year. There hasn't been a formal review of the amounts since I think the year 2000 when we had a commission that did a study and made some recommendations that the government-of-the-day acted on. This year, for instance, we will be increasing the amount of support for tuition; we'll be increasing the amount of support for books. So it is an area of support that the department looks to whenever we can make the argument successfully for new funds that we add to the program. The cost of going to school in a high cost centre like Toronto is probably even higher than it is in Inuvik, believe it or not, and the Member is right, though, that we have not reflected the cost of living throughout the various areas that a student might be attending school. It is the same amount all across Canada. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I'll thank the Minister for that response. He mentioned a full-blown review hadn't been done since 2000. Would the Minister commit to doing a review and finding out how much it's costing nowadays? Like, the tuition and that, the government does a good job, as far as I'm concerned, in helping with the tuition and the books and everything. My question is regarding the allowance that these students get. So would the Minister commit to doing another review of the assistance plan? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not prepared to commit to a full-blown committee to go out and conduct hearings to hear what people think we should be doing with student financial assistance. I'd rather put the money into the program if we could afford that kind of thing. What I will commit to is the Member has raised a good point and that is that we should make sure we are encouraging people to attend our northern college. We have a real investment in the northern campuses and we need to make sure that we are supporting people to go there. I have already directed the department that over the course of the next year, that we take a look at whether or not it wouldn't make sense to ensure that the levels of support do, in fact, encourage northerners to attend the northern college where we offer the programs. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the intent of the program, from my understanding, was to help with a lot of single students going to school. The Minister was up in Inuvik with us attending the convocation of Aurora College. I think he noticed that there was a lot of graduates there who were raising families. Is the size of families and the extra support they have to pay factored into the figures the department comes up with? That's why I say we need to have another review. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on the needs assessed loans, the answer is yes. On the regular grants, no, the size of the family isn't always factored in. Again, the Member has raised a good point and it is an area that I have also suggested that we need to take a look at ensuring, particularly for northern students, that we are encouraging those students to attend the college. I think we do need to recognize the higher cost for single parents. I have already asked that we take a look at doing that. I don't think we need a full-blown commission to do it. I think we have enough expertise within the department and within our colleagues at the college to help us understand that needs to happen, and that's the direction that I have provided. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my last round of oral questions, I heard the Minister of ECE reference that there was some old federal commitments for cash for childcare. I am wondering if the Minister could elaborate on that and let me know exactly how much cash we are talking about here. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The amount of money we are proposing to include in the supplementary appropriation is based on the contribution we got from the federal government last year and that is some $940,000. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like the Minister to provide a breakdown of how that $940,000 is going to be spent on childcare initiatives. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department is proposing that we put $200,000 of that money into the Language Nest Program. That program was started as a three-year pilot project and when we brought it forward three years ago, we proposed that the funding would decrease over time because we believed that the operators would find economies of scale and there wouldn't need to be as much training each year and the cost would go down. As it's turned out, almost all of the operators are using the funding to pay salaries. So the reduction, which is about $200,000 this year, is something that would impact on the delivery of the program. So we are proposing for this year to put $200,000 of that money into the program to bring it up to its former level.

We are proposing that there be a $500,000 program of grants to existing operators to help them with minor capital, whether that's safety improvements or for toys or other needs for the programs to help them improve the program delivery. We are going to take $240,000 and use that for training for operators of licensed day care operations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.