Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think part of the problem is, with the town...Let's focus on Hay River. Part of the problem with Hay River is they're refusing to take the capital out of the water and sewer program. They still have a budget line that is dedicated to capital. If they took that out and put it under capital, the dollars would balance out. Mr. Speaker, we make special consideration for a number of communities when we looked at the budget and there's a variable component to this when we start looking at trucked water and the distance that they have to haul. Fort McPherson is in that situation, Hay River's in that situation. Behchoko, for example, has two water plants. We have to take that under consideration. We made allowance for those things, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister, for the particular activity of water/sewer services in Hay River, is there an escalation clause that is built into the New Deal arrangement? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, we have a formula that is brought into place that looks at standard costs of operating a facility, and there is also a portion that's dedicated or calculated as part of the variable costs or flexible costs. The water and sewer program is not

reviewed in terms of an escalator cost. It's reviewed, I think, every three years and that's what we've done. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the Minister has the authority to do so, I would like to ask him, would he consider with his department bringing a proposal to Cabinet that would allow this $200,000 reduction to be phased in over a five-year period? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, the notice for the new budgets were brought forward at the AGM last year. Communities were given notification. The people from all over the Territories, the leadership, the councils, were there. Everybody was aware that there were new formulas out there. Everybody was made aware that there were new reviews going on with the different streams of funding. I think there was adequate notice provided. We've also provided it in the MACA update. I don't see anywhere where it would be required that we give a phased-in approach. Every community has received more money. In some cases, some communities have doubled their money. In the case of Hay River, they've practically doubled their budget in the last four years. I don't see why we would have to phase it in. There really is no hardship case here, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that whether YK 1 were to lease a school to YCS or not, it would improve the opportunities for education in Yellowknife if they were to consolidate one school. So that's the first point that I've been trying to make, is that whether YK 1 should consider consolidating schools in any case. I think that one of their schools should be shut. That would allow them to flow the extra money that they're spending now on duplicated administration to important programs that they may have to offer kids, whether it's immersion, cultural programs. There would be an opportunity for more support for students with special needs, or perhaps enrichment programming. So right now they're spending money keeping a school open and that's all it's doing is paying to keep that school open rather than actually being used to improve education for kids. So that's the first thing that I've said in my letter, is that they need to consider closing a school in order to improve education in the system for kids in Yellowknife. If that school is then closed, why not lease it during the construction period to the other school system so that they can place their kids in there? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, obviously the possibility of any closure of a school is very emotional and hard on the children and we heard a lot about that and I would like to pose further questions on that. But another question that I want to follow up on at this time is there are lots of questions that were raised in the meeting about the utilization rates that ECE is proposing. The parents feel that ECE's counting a lot of public areas that are essential for delivery of programs as one that needs to be filled or that Catholic school uses. For example, one of their schools has the Four Plus Program that should be counted, or that St. Joe's portables are not being counted. So could the Minister explain more about how ECE counts the utilization rate? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The same standards are used across the Northwest Territories as are applied to YK 1 and YCS. For instance, the program like the Four Plus is not counted in the utilization rate at Weledeh. So that is not included. If they have children in a program there like that, it is not counted as students using space in that school. So that doesn't count in the rate. We are using the same rates across the Territories. For instance, when we are increasing the numbers of or decreasing the pupil-teacher ratio with the funding we have added this year for physical activity or trades, we don't think that is going to increase the need for extra classrooms. That is specialized space, so it doesn't cause a situation where there is going to be a shortage of classrooms.

YK 1 doesn't disagree that they have the equivalent of over 400 vacant seats using an 85 percent occupancy rate. The Government of the Northwest Territories Education, Culture and Employment says that schools shouldn't operate over approximately 85 percent full. Using that number, YK 1 still has in excess of 400 spaces available, the equivalent of a 22-person classroom of 20 classrooms. So there is a lot of flexibility that is in the system right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. A short supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the YK 1 parents continue to feel that the Minister wrote this letter because he is under pressure from the other school board to do so and that there is not an upside for YK 1 in doing that. They want to know why the two boards cannot be asked to come to an agreement and why the Minister is making the suggestions. I would like to know how he would answer to that. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For a number of years now, we have been working -- the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and I -- with both YCS and YK 1 to try and facilitate some kind of discussion or agreement on how we could resolve the space issues in Yellowknife. There was the facilities committee which provided me with the report. Following that, I had a facilitator come in to work with just the two boards. After that, I tried to work with the two boards. I have not been successful at negotiating any resolution to this. The situation now is that, this fall, we have a construction project that needs to get started. We need some resolution and some finality. What I have proposed is a method that I see that we can move forward during the process of construction. It is not as if this is going to satisfy YCS. It is not getting them any additional space at the end of the day. That has always been their concern. We are not offering to increase space. Our government has said that we are looking at Yellowknife as one community. Until the whole community is at 85 percent occupancy in the schools, we are not going to build another school. So we are not increasing the amount of space. What we are doing, though, is saying that there is a lot of room for realignment of space. Because of the amount of space that is out there, there should be no reason for us to pay an increased cost to rent space for YCS students during the construction, or to have to pay for the increased cost of administering students in several different locations. We think that, since the Government of the Northwest Territories paid for the facilities, during the construction project we should be able to take advantage of all of the facilities that are here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think there were lots of questions from parents who are very concerned about the changes and disruption that would incur for the students should an entire school be transferred. They couldn't understand why in order to address one school's needs, everybody else has to be disrupted. If there was -- and I say a big "if" because this is an ongoing question -- what measures would be expected to be taken to minimize disruption on all parties? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.