On page 10-21, information item, Education, Culture and Employment, education and culture. Agreed?

We’re on page 10-22, advanced education. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I did have a couple of questions here. As I alluded to in my general comments, recognizing the cost of living and the need for community-based expertise to address things like cost of living but also some of our environmental priorities, the need for local economic development, the need for technological and administrative expertise in our communities, I’m wondering if the department has finally responded to the Standing Committee on Social Program’s persistent recommendation that Aurora College programs be developed for sustainable community administrators and renewable energy technologists. Can the Minister tell me where we’re at on that? Thank you.

Minister of Education.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I do believe my department has met with the Aurora College on what the Member is referring to. Of course, we need to discuss further on what other programs are out there. I know the Member is passionate about the non-renewable resource area and the program that he has suggested in the past. Those are the discussions that we continue to have with the college. The college will likely come back to our department and identify different programming, enhancing their programs, compared to what other jurisdictions are offering. So, yes, those are the ongoing discussions we are having with the college. Mahsi.

I appreciate that that discussion has started, but I have some of the same frustrations as others, that I really think this department should be giving direction and I don’t think it’s suitable to be waiting for these things. We’ve been calling for these for years now. Time is passing by, as everybody knows. On that basis, I would like to propose a motion, Mr. Chair, if I may go ahead.

Mr. Bromley. You have a motion. Go ahead.

Mr. Bromley, your motion is in order. To the motion.

Question is being called.

---Carried

Next on the list, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On page 10-23, apprenticeship and occupations, I just want to ask the Minister if there’s an expansion in the program. There is a couple hundred thousand dollars added to from the revised amount. There’s a real need in the small communities for apprenticeships. My feeling is that all tradesmen in small communities should be given an apprentice to create all kinds of economic possibilities in small communities, whether it be Public Works, NWT Housing Corporation through the housing authorities and whatnot. I know in my communities we have tradesmen that don’t have apprentices right now, and we have tradesmen that do have apprentices, but I think that there’s a great amount of economic spinoff for small communities and so on when there are tradesmen working in the community, especially when it’s very difficult in small communities to get any work done on your own housing unit and so on. And the whole philosophy of the Housing Corporation, once you become a homeowner, that you should, if you can afford it and if you have the income, be able to maintain your own unit, or at this point, even if individuals in communities had the money to maintain their units, especially in fly-in communities or communities that are serviced by barge, for the most part, like Lutselk’e. Even in Fort Resolution, you have to go to Hay River to get a journeyman to come in and service your furnace if there’s no one available in the community, or carpentry work and things like that. I guess I just wanted to know if there’s an expansion in the program that we’ll be seeing more apprentices in the small communities.

Minister of Education.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the answer is yes, we are expanding our Trades Apprenticeship Program. We’ve invested several hundred thousand. Let’s say $200,000 for the additional support for our apprenticeships and through our Labour Market we’ve identified another $400,000 in that area. Throughout the department we do have approximately a million in that figure that supports the apprenticeship and the trades sector.

The new funding that’s been identified is focusing on the women and aboriginal people in the

communities for the Northwest Territories; so strictly focusing in that area. Also, we are, Mr. Chair, reviewing a program as a pilot project where we’re potentially having apprenticeship preparation for aboriginal persons programming similar to the ones in Alberta, if we can deliver that model in the Northwest Territories and other models that we can certainly utilize that we can have individuals benefit from it.

Mr. Chairman, yes, the answer will be we are making changes and providing more opportunities for those small, isolated communities. Mahsi.

Mr. Chairman, thanks to Minister Lafferty for that response. I think that is going in the right direction. I hope to see a couple of apprentices in Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e as a result.

In the activity of career and employment development, there is a good increase again in that activity. I am wondering if it is all focussed in on career centres and, in other words, in either the regional centres or Yellowknife or is there going to be opportunities for career and employment development in the small communities. As opposed to just yes, I would like to know what some of the new opportunities are for in that activity area. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, yes. Throughout the career and employment development, we have added a new initiative, as the Members are aware. Smaller community summer employment supports, that certainly will go a long way in small, isolated communities for providing employment to the youth. We do have regional representatives and also at the community level that deal with career counselling. We provide funding to the schools as well, provide that to the community outreach workers and then career officers and so forth.

Mr. Chairman, we can provide more of the detailed breakdown of the actual amount of the main estimates, $1.8 million, if the Member wants that. We do have the information that we can provide. It is just that we don’t have that here in front of us. Mahsi.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the Minister. As opposed to at this point I actually thought about what the strategy is for the government. This breakdown, my feeling is that in the area of career and employment development that the government, I think, has an obligation to maybe look at the areas of the greatest amount of unemployment and not using unemployment statistics, of course, because those are only if you ever get to the position where you can draw employment insurance. I am wondering if the government would look at employment rates in the small communities. I know that the employment rates are fairly high in the regional centres and where I know that the last statistics that I have for

employment rates are in the 40 percent employment rate. It really is the real telling figure of what is happening in the small communities, especially I am finding that there is just no work in small aboriginal communities. People are always scrambling for income to pay their expenses and so on. I am wondering if the government is using employment rates as some form of strategic position in order to focus their efforts on career development and employment development. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, we gather as many stats as we possibly can to develop case arguments with the federal government, because they are our partners as well. We just signed off a Labour Market Agreement just recently that deals with the youth, with those individuals that are ineligible for EI and training aspect and those individuals that do fall through the cracks. It is a training program in dollars that we have a joint force with the federal government. It is approximately $1.4 million on an annual basis for up to 2014. That is just an area that will certainly benefit the communities.

With the facts and the stats that the Member is referring to about the employment in the community, the stats, we have fully utilized that with the federal government. We continue to use that information within our department, as well, to develop a strategic plan on a going forward basis. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Next on my list is Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Actually, I was looking at the conclusion of this page to go back to page 10-17, but I was looking to complete this page first.

Education, Culture and Employment, operations expenditure summary, advanced education, $43.816 million.