Thank you, Minister. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to direct my questions today to the Minister of Justice, the Hon. Jackson Lafferty. I’d like to ask the Minister: when a school has a capacity of 500 students and you’ve got 255 enrolled, is that facility considered underutilized and subject to closure?

The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question on the education part, on the schools — that particular issue is all under Education. The funding we provide to the board is based on the actual number of enrolments in the fall, so it is based on the number of students in schools. Mahsi.

Mr.

Speaker. I

think the Minister

misunderstood my question. It was on the facility itself. A facility of 500 with an enrolment of 255: is that facility considered underutilized and subject to closure?

Mr.

Speaker, in those

types of situations, we work with the boards, the local DEAs and also the regional boards on finding solutions to increase the student enrolment. Also, we look at other options within the school: how it could be utilized within the educational system. That’s one area we’ve highlighted in the past, and we continue to do so within the educational system. Mahsi.

A facility is underutilized by a wide margin. Is that justification for closing that facility?

We’re talking about generic school operations. We do have schools in all 33 communities. If the enrolment is down, like I said, we continue to work with the community and stress to them that enrolment is going down; we work with the parents, the school boards and the community. Usually they come back and give us options of how we can work within our means, within our system.

The Member is asking if we close down facilities if the enrolment is low. Mr. Speaker, we’re in an education factor where we have all of these students we must support to have further education. The well-being of those students, and to get them educated — that’s one of the priorities of Education, Culture and Employment. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr.

Lafferty. Final

supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got to hand it to the Minister: he sized that thing where I want it to go. I thought that was pretty crafty of you, and I give you good marks for that. I think he knows where I was leading: I

was leading to

comparing it to the Arctic Tern facility. So bravo!

Mr. Speaker, I couldn’t lead into my next question, so I’m going to ask the Minister my last question. We still have some time here, so I have time to try and craft up some more, to see if I can get him to not sidestep my question. I’m coming to the question.

I’d like to ask the Minister if these budget reductions are being implemented without this particular budget receiving third reading yet.

Mr. Speaker, we will get into further deliberations this evening. We can certainly highlight what we’re going to propose to the Regular Members, and then we will decide on that from there, as Legislative Assembly Members. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just as a follow-up to Mr. Krutko’s comments on poverty, I’d like to question the Minister of ECE on the CPI, for community increase. The food costs are so high in the community the people cannot afford it. Would the Minister of ECE consider redoing the Income Support payments using actual community costs?

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mr. Speaker, Education, Culture and Employment has recognized the high cost of living in the communities, especially those communities without road access, and especially with respect to the Member’s riding. We have identified that.

Due to that fact, Mr. Speaker, we have made some changes within our Income Support program. We did increase, based on the communities’ needs. We have initiated that. We’ve made that initiative. Mahsi.

Can the Minister ensure an increased role of the department staff to ensure career development counselling is provided to my communities to increase employability?

Mr. Speaker, we do have career development officers in the communities and also in the regions. We will continue to work with those small communities that may not have them. They may have half-time positions along with an income security officer. So we’ll continue to provide those services and programs at the community level, and we will continue to enhance those programs.

With respect to the positions, we’ll certainly work towards that area too. Mahsi.

Can the Minister commit to working with other Ministers to ensure that the people who otherwise would remain on income support be given the tools to access renewable resources?

Mr. Speaker, nowadays we heavily depend on partnerships with the communities. Also, we as the Cabinet and as Ministers work closely together. Certainly, I’ll continue to do that along with the Members. I’d like to continue working with them to see how we can improve in areas of programming services into communities. Certainly. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr.

Lafferty. Final

supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister commit to travelling to Nunakput to see these issues first-hand with me? An open invitation to you.

Mr. Speaker, certainly, I’ll accept that invitation to visit the Nunakput area along with the other communities I’ve committed to visit — all 33 communities. That’s one of our goals as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, and Justice as well. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr.

Lafferty. The

honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Mr. Speaker, maximizing northern employment is obviously an important aspect of this government. We want to train Northerners for northern jobs.

I understand, based on conversations with some of my constituents and others, that enrolment levels at Aurora College for the nursing program are dropping to the point where, next year, we’re only predicting seven nurse graduates.

Given that the health system relies on these northern nurse graduates to fill positions both in Stanton and other communities throughout the Northwest Territories, what is being done by Aurora College — my question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment — to increase enrolment in the nursing program, to ensure we have an adequate supply of nurses coming out of that program for northern work? Northern jobs — Northerners doing northern work.