Agreed. Thank you. Information item, Mr. Braden.

Madam Chair, on page 8-39, I would like to pursue a little bit more detail. Madam Chair, the information presented on this page details the funding that is provided to the one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine different education authorities plus the Western Arctic Leadership Program in Fort Smith. It details the number of funded positions.

Madam Chair, we note that our allocated positions for this current year are 1,051 jobs among those authorities and that is increasing to 1,077. That's 26 new positions. The information for each agency or council or authority is before us in terms of where they are going, but I was wondering if the Minister could give us any kind of comment about what is driving these increases in staff. I am wondering if there is a trend here. Are we seeing more positions created for administration or classroom assistants or specialties? Just what is the driver here for the 26 new positions that we're funding, Madam Chair? Which, by the way, are adding $12 million onto the allocation here.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The driver for the increase in the number of teachers is the reduction of the PTR that we are proposing to accomplish by bringing in physical activity and trades training.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Braden,

Thank you. What is the capacity of the labour force, Madam Chair, to enable us to hire, to recruit these new positions? Is the availability of teachers or qualified people relatively in our favour? How are we doing on the staffing side in general, Madam Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There are always areas in which there are challenges to find teachers. Sometimes to find the right match between a teacher and a community is a challenge. In general, there are more applicants to teach in the Northwest Territories each year than there are positions.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know in working on aspects of recruiting staff in the small communities, Madam Chair, the more isolated communities, one chronic challenge has been housing and supplying good quality housing that teachers can afford and that suits their needs. I was wondering, Madam Chair, if the Minister could advise if this was still one of the barriers that we're experiencing in small communities when it comes to recruiting and retaining teaching staff, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There is no question that housing is a challenge, in particular in our smaller communities, for GNWT staff, teachers included. Over the past couple of years, I have worked with our partners, the DECs and the NWTTA, to make sure that on their websites and when they are

talking to potential hires that they are making people aware of the kind of housing that will be available and what the costs are. We are finding that, while there are still challenges, we are finding that there are fewer shocks and less surprise when people arrive in our communities.

There are sometimes significant challenges. We had one or two communities this fall where there was quite a bit of work that the DEC had to undertake to make sure that housing was available. Through ECE and the Housing Corporation, we were able to resolve that, but it does remain a challenge.

One of the things I have asked DECs to do as early as possible when they know they are going to have new staff come in, is identify areas where there is a problem so that I can work with the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation to see if there isn't some way we can ensure that some market housing is available in a community where it might be needed.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. I have a question on this page. I am going to ask Mr. Pokiak if he would take the chair, please.

Thank you. Next I have Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With respect to the Western Arctic Leadership Program, I wanted to ask the Minister a few questions about that. I see there is a $275,000 line item in there for that program. I would like to ask the Minister how students are selected for the Western Arctic Leadership Program. Is the $275,000 their entire budget? Is it offset by contributions from other sources? How many students does this program serve? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't believe, or I wouldn't expect, that the $275,000 is the entire budget for the Western Arctic Leadership Program. I don't have it with me what other funds they might be getting. I know in the past they used to get funding from one of the oil companies. As well, I know they undertake a significant amount of fundraising. In terms of how students are selected, this is a non-profit organization, a registered society. The board will be responsible for choosing the students who attend that program.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, $275,000 going into this program from public money, not that it's not a worthwhile program, but one would think that the process for applying or referring students would be a little more transparent that that. Is the Minister saying the department has no role whatsoever or schools in selecting or suggesting participants for the Western Arctic Leadership Program? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The department has taken a look at the process and have felt on previous reviews that the process was reasonable and balanced. So the manner in which students are selected has been reviewed, but the department is not active in the review of each potential student. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. How many students are enrolled in the Western Arctic Leadership Program in a given year?