I said it was one last question, but I have one more following that answer. If it’s a school that only goes to, say, grade 8 or grade 9, I’m curious to know what kind of trades programming is going to be delivered to those students.

The light bulb just went on. I’m done.

Thank you. Next on my list I have Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m wondering what proportion of the $6-point-something million that’s being added to the Early Childhood program is in this, and where those dollars have been allocated.

Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. We’ve added $1 million back into the $6.5 million to offset the Language Nest program. In addition to that, the team of regional consultants is to be enhanced by 1.5 positions. So it’s focused on the early childhood, the Language Nest program.

I think that’s partially answered my next question, and that’s whether this was integrated with the Official Languages Division. As we know, the highest potential for learning language is in the early years of life.

Yes, that’s part of the move, to highlight the Early Childhood, the language barrier — enhancing that area and also the sunset of the Language Nest funding. It’s offsetting that million dollars to continue with the Language Nest program. So part of that is the language. Mahsi.

Yes. Thank you for that. So let’s see. As I understand it now, the Early Childhood has been bumped up one and a half million. We’ve lost a million in languages through a sunsetting. So

we’ve got a net change of plus half a million to those two programs. Is that correct?

Deputy Minister Daniels.

I’m wondering, if the schools really have the potential to demonstrate a lot of our efficiencies and values to students — and I’m thinking particularly in the area of energy…. When there are particular energy-efficiency opportunities or renewable-energy opportunities — when they’re profiled in the schools, made use of in the schools — they can also play an educational role.

I’ve tried to get this sort of thing in, but I found the department is quite reluctant to change the look of its schools and this sort of thing. I’m wondering if there’s been some rethinking on that, and whether this is an opportunity that, given our priorities, the department might be pursuing in this particular program, Education and Culture?

I’m just wondering if the Member’s referring to within a school or is it the school as a whole. We are working with PWS on the new building structures with our future schools. Most of them, of course, will be energy efficiency.

So those are taken into consideration. I think the Member might be referring to the current status we’re at now; energy efficiency is taken into consideration. I do believe some schools have taken those into consideration as well, with the windows and so forth. Certainly, we are taking those into consideration from the schools’ perspective. Mahsi.

Thanks to the Minister for those remarks. I was also thinking of programming and along the lines of things that were highlighted — literacy and ecology and sort of a new approach that’s required.

When we do have renewable-energy systems and energy-efficient systems in our schools, it’s an opportunity to bring that into the programming. It can apply to math and literature and social studies. You know, it’s obviously tied to all of these things. It’s an opportunity. So I guess I’m just encouraging, if that hasn’t been done explicitly, that some thought be given to that. I see that as fundamental to the long-term well-being of our territory.

Mr. Chair, we’ll certainly take that into consideration. I believe we started a process where…. I do believe it’s a social studies area. They’ve developed a new textbook reflecting on the North. Many pictures in the actual textbook are from the North itself. It does reflect the northern artifacts, the northern climate; the climate change is also part of that. Certainly, we’ll take the Member’s concern and suggestion into consideration, just to enhance our program. We’re always looking for improvements in our program delivery. Mahsi.

I appreciate that. By way of a more explicit example, Sir John Franklin High School has an array of solar photovoltaics that have the monitoring in the classroom, and this sort of thing, so our youth can get hands-on experience, rather than just sort of thinking about it academically or something. They can actually have real experience they can take into their own homes, and so on. I think the Minister’s…. I appreciate his remarks here.

Certainly, I think we’re on the path with modern technology. I think we’re getting to more of an energy efficiency. Just having the example of Sir John Franklin, we can certainly utilize a similar project in other schools as well. Mahsi.

We’re on page 8-17. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the issues I raised is better coordination through Early Childhood services. I was wondering what the Minister is doing in the sense of providing early childhood services, such as speech pathology. We do other things as well. Also, I was raising the issue of coordinating these a little better. We have inclusive schooling and we have language problems associated here, but I’m talking about early education — kids around the age of four and whatnot. I was wondering what is provided right now, and how he coordinates them.

Minister of Education.

Mahsi, Mr.

Chair. This

was one of my areas of concern when I was a Regular Member. It certainly is one of the focuses where we have the speech pathologist and the language specialist in the schools, visiting those small, isolated communities especially. We do have visitation schedules for those skilled professions visiting schools, but I do believe that there is always room for improvement. So certainly, that’s one area that has been highlighted, as the Member indicated.

We do work with Social Services and also the RCMP and different organizations, aboriginal organizations as well. So we do what we can to have an open communication dialogue with the

schools especially — the administration, the school boards. We’ll continue with that service in that regard.

I’m aware of a couple of community service organizations that run Early Childhood programs here. One good example would be the toy lending library; and then, of course, we have the Four Plus programs that are running throughout. I’m just wondering how they’re coordinated throughout to ensure we’re providing consistent programming and to ensure these program providers have both the skills and competencies to be able to do this job.

The issue for me, really, is…. Are we also using our resources wisely? I often wonder if somebody took the time just to bring a few of these groups under one umbrella, we’d probably get a bigger bang for the buck. As everybody’s trying to pull back funding and finding new ways to fund things with less money — trying to get more out of it with less of a buck — I see this as an area that requires better coordination. With that said, I just wondered what the Minister thought of that proposal in that regard, so they work a little tighter together.