Thank you, Mr. Minister. Next on the list I have Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’d also like to reference the community learning centres. It’s good to see these being established in the small communities. I think they are important and require our support. However, the sorts of things I hear are often that they’re not taken full advantage of because of housing problems with the teachers. I’m wondering, has that been considered? Is it being considered, at the same time that we’re putting in this valuable infrastructure, that we’re actually putting in the additional infrastructure that’s needed to make sure they’re made good use of? Or would the teachers actually be local residents and we wouldn’t have that sort of concern? So what can the Minister tell me that looks after that concern? Thank you.

Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Through Refocusing Government, one of the issues we’re looking at is housing for staff in the communities. Some funds have been identified to help move that particular initiative forward. As well, when it comes to local staff, that would be an ideal circumstance if there was qualified, trained residents in the community where there was a learning centre that could be employed at the learning centre. Thank you.

I agree those are the key questions. Has that investigation been done at the same time that we’re deciding which communities to put the learning centres into? Have we determined whether the teaching staff are available locally, and if not, will they need to be brought into the communities, and if so, what are we doing to ensure that housing is on site and we’re making

good use of those facilities in that investment? Thank you.

Deputy minister of Education, Mr. Daniels.

That’s it for now, Mr. Chair. I’d appreciate those questions being asked, as the Minister has mentioned, in the future and some analysis included would be good routine. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Next on the list I have Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I did want to ask a question with regard to the projected expenditure for the Case Management Administration System, the CMAS enhancements. It seems to me in my short time here we seem to be not constantly but often putting money into CMAS and into the system. I note that this expenditure is only specified for one year and I wondered if I could get an explanation from the Minister whether or not the proposed enhancements are going to be enough to upgrade the system to the needs of ECE and whether or not we’re going to be looking at further expenditures in future years. Thank you.

Deputy minister of Education, Mr. Daniels.

I guess, then, if we’re looking at continued enhancements in future years as we go forward and then there’s nothing listed in the capital plan, does that mean, then, that these future enhancements are going to come out of operations and maintenance funding or are we expecting capital expenditures in future years and if so, why aren’t they here in the budget? Thank you.

Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The funding for these types of

projects are allocated through the Informatics Policy Committee of deputies that has a $5 million budget and the CMAS will make its application through that structure. Thank you.

I understand the process. Departments will apply to get some of this $5 million funding, but that means, then, that the capital expense for IT is never shown until the current year or until the year that is being considered for a budget. Is that correct? Thank you.

. It depends on the project.

Okay. I’m not quite sure how to take that one, but I guess I would encourage the Minister to have, as much as possible, a capital budget reflect ongoing capital expenditures for a project such as CMAS. If there’s going to be capital expenditures in future years, I would encourage the budget to show that. Thank you.

We appreciate the Member’s comments and we’ll make note of that good advice. Thank you.

Thank you. Next on the list I have Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just had a few comments and questions that I wanted to add to the debate this afternoon with ECE and I think I’ll start off with following up on my colleague Mr. Abernethy’s questions.

I’ve been here for six years and every year we go through the capital budget it’s the same thing, we ask about Aurora College in Yellowknife and when exactly we’re going to get a stand-alone campus. That college is now a degree granting institution with the four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing and it’s stuck in a high-rise building in inadequate space. From my understanding, I believe we need to be looking long-term and we need to be looking at a stand-alone campus and eventually even a university, a degree granting institution here. Whether it ends up in Yellowknife, that’s open for debate, but if we’re going to build a campus here, obviously this would be the first choice.

Every year it’s the same, you know, we’re in a lease, we’re this, there’s a planning study, we’re looking at it and nobody seems to want to take it on. That lease expires in 2012 and I would want to ensure that the government is doing everything in its power to try to earmark some capital dollars. There’s going to be a requirement for some serious capital dollars here to build a campus and get out of that lease that we’re currently in. It’s inadequate space. I think we could offer more programs and more services to the residents of the Northwest Territories if we had a stand-alone facility.

So I want to, I guess, start off by asking the Minister if the department is serious about...I know he talked

about a planning study, but is it going to end up in the capital plan sometime in the near future, hopefully before 2012 when we’ll have to consider a new lease at that time? Thank you.

Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As I indicated to the Member for Great Slave, there’s a facilities study being done and it will be complete by this coming spring, at which time there will be an assessment of all the facility requirements as it pertains to Education, Culture and Employment for the city. One of the big pieces being reviewed is going to be the Yellowknife Campus and how it should be accommodated for going forward. Thank you.

I certainly look forward to that and hopefully at some point in time, like I said, some serious capital dollars are going to have to be earmarked for a stand-alone campus facility here in Yellowknife. You know, we’ll have to ratchet that up and get the government’s commitment to at least consider that before 2012 when that lease is up. So I guess we’ll stay tuned to that.

The other issue that I wanted to bring up today is Sissons School in Yellowknife. It’s in need of a major retrofit. It, like some other projects, has fallen off the government’s capital plan and I just want to ask the Minister where exactly is Sissons School in the grand scheme of things and when might we expect it to appear on a capital plan? Thank you.