Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Just in this year’s capital budget you do have a planning study for Trout Lake and their need for a replacement school. That’s how I’ve been approaching the community. The community has always said they want their own stand-alone school and they certainly do want to see renovations there. In fact, kudos to the community of Trout Lake, one of the fastest growing communities in the Northwest Territories. Many young families are moving back and that has resulted in many children now. They’ve actually got 20 in the school right now and those numbers are only going to increase in future years.
So just in terms of the planning study instructions, what direction would the department be going as they initiate their planning studies? And the same thing, too, that Mr. Bromley asked, okay, you’ve got a planning study, but the fear is that it will be shelved. I think a planning study is the assuredness of this government to move ahead with a project and I, too, want to see booked expenditures in future years for capital projects such as this.
So maybe the Minister can explain a little bit about how the planning studies and then how the capital actually gets on the books a bit there. I’ve used almost every leverage working on committees,
Ministers, working with colleagues to try and make this a priority of the House and I believe that we’re getting there and getting a planning study is certainly something that the community is looking forward to, working with the department about just how they see the future of their school.
So just those few comments. Maybe the Minister can fill us in and then I can certainly relay this on to the community of Trout Lake. Thank you.