Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just by hearing the Minister’s comments I think the government has a heart. Today is happy Valentine’s Day, so I think they have a heart.
I want to take the opportunity, also, to wish my sweetheart a happy Valentine’s Day, while I have the floor.
Mr. Speaker, certainly, when you look at situations like this, this is the reality of some of the smaller schools and some of the quality of education that students have to do Monday to Friday, day in and day out. That’s what we’re up against. We have larger centres and this does not impact them. There’s the critical mass there. Certainly teachers are well aware of this. They know the hard work that they do in the small communities. They know the resources they have to use and be available and they try their best. Certainly when they finish a university degree in teaching they want to do their best for their students. When their resources are not there, they do what they can do. By having the
Minister listen and by having the government listen, maybe we can help the teachers and the students.
Teachers know the work that they have to do in the small communities. Sometimes they get overwhelmed that they have to satisfy the teachers and the school, the parents and the children. What I’m saying, Mr. Speaker, is that this motion will greatly improve the quality of programming we want in our small communities. It’s a small step to a bigger picture by having, hopefully one day, the same access of programming in the larger centres. We don’t know when that’s going to happen, because we just have the critical mass. You know it and I know it. But we’ve got to help our students one step at a time to get there. They do come from smaller communities into larger centres -- I do hear them -- because there are no more opportunities. Fine. But there’s also the students that miss home, miss family and miss the culture. It’s hard on them also, because you don’t know if their grandparents are going to be around long or something’s going to happen to their family. They are looking at those types of things when families are being sent out.
Mr. Speaker, I want to say that if the Minister could direct his staff to look at an investment like this. I heard it on the radio this morning from one of the guest speakers saying that if we were to invest in some of our communities and programs and especially within our youth, that it will pay off in the long run. This motion is saying it’s doable to help with this government here. I want to ask this government here to see if it can do it within the life of this government here, to give this direction to the staff.
I just want to thank the Members for allowing me to bring this forward and to support the young kids here and ask this government to have a heart, especially on today’s date here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
