Thank you, Ms. Allison. Continuing on with general comments on ECE, I have Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will keep my comments fairly brief. I think most Members have taken on the issues that concern me.

I guess one of the biggest issues that I see right off the hop is, like other Members have indicated, it is one of the biggest operating budgets but yet it is probably well in the bottom half of the capital budget. My concerns would be the fact that we have to keep upgrading schools. We have to keep upgrading those facilities. I see a couple of retrofits on them but not a lot of big projects. I know we have done a couple of big projects in the regional centres, but it just seems that we are not… We are given kind of multiple years here; we should be looking at more of a phased-in approach and having more projects on the go, I would think, for that size of department.

My concerns are as well with Junior Kindergarten. I think we are getting indications already before the budgets are even being implemented that the money is not enough that’s being put there. We are going to see demands from communities that the retrofits are going to be way more expensive than we originally estimated. You’re doing a lot of communities; you’re implementing this in all the communities, so it will be a bigger budget. I think we have underestimated the cost that it is going to take to fit these young children into our school system. I think we should reassess that sooner than later so that we actually have an indication of what it is going to cost to put these youth into the school system.

I guess it is concerning, again, the stuff that’s not in there. The troubling issue is always a concern, I think, from this side of the floor, that we have a school that is in a community hall that we continue to put money into and why aren’t we building a school there as opposed to just upgrading a community hall.

The other thing that’s not in here, and I know we are waiting for a court case, but I think the government has stepped aside from its responsibilities with the French schools in the fact that it says, well, we’re just going to wait for a court case, which is not necessarily a proactive approach. We know that there is going to be some costs associated with this; we need to be putting some money into it. I’ve made Member’s statements to this effect, that to have a French community versus a non-French community fighting amongst each other or having to argue about the cost of these facilities, upgrades and the court case is part of the government’s responsibility. They are the ones that created it because they want to fight the system. I think there should be some money that we are starting to put away, but then again I see us find lots of money real quick if we need it. I am concerned that we’re not putting anything in for the French schools. We know there is a court case coming, but we also know that we lost the first one. So that’s just my opening comments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Our overall goal as a department is obviously to look after our schools throughout the Northwest Territories, the 49 schools. Some are very much deteriorating and some are fairly new. Now our overall emphasis is to focus on those schools that are badly in need, whether it be a renovation or a retrofit. So we will continue to push that forward during the capital planning process on an annual basis.

Over the years, obviously, the Members have supported us at that level, so we’ll continue to push that forward.

The $400,000 for the JK, that’s just some of the upgrades that we needed to do, the 23 schools that we’ve initiated, and the Member is asking that we should reassess. Obviously, with any new initiative, there will obviously be some analysis or assessment that will be embarked on. So, this is an area that we will be closely monitoring. Other communities may require some infrastructure upgrade to meet the demands of the delivery of JK programming.

French school, yes, it is before the courts, as you know. To put the funds in place, as the Member indicated, until the court decision comes down, that’s when the decision will be made and that’s when we’ll know the actual costs. Right now we wouldn’t know the overall costs of if there’s going to be a renovation or gymnasium or other infrastructure that’s required. Once it’s settled through courts, then we’ll decide to move forward on the actual expenditure on how much it will cost us. So at this point, we’re just waiting for a court

decision on these two schools, one in Hay River and also in Yellowknife as well. Mahsi.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Continuing on with general comments for Education, Culture and Employment, I have Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess, once again, our second largest department budget-wise, operations is relegated to 2 percent for the third year in a row of our capital budget, 2 percent. This despite repeated and ongoing requests of MLAs to help set the priorities, the Finance Minister mentioned, year after year, to put more capital dollars into this department to reflect our regard for education as the number one priority and capital being an important part of that.

Sissons, of course, in Yellowknife, I heard the Minister just say our approach is to focus on schools that badly need it. Well, good grief; Sissons has needed it since my first year as a politician. It has been raised every year and nothing is happening. Our kids continue to go school there. Our Commission scolaire francophone Territories du Nord-Quest turned it down. We wouldn’t take that; we wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. And who can blame them? It’s an embarrassment, and again, we’re sending our kids there. So, 2 percent of the capital budget is hardly worth spending any time on here.

The courts have said we’ve got to provide these things, and we’re going back and arguing about that, but I mean, at some level we will have to do that. Once again, it’s not reflected in the budget. I know the department’s working on this and perhaps they’ve identified a school or two, but presumably there would be a capital budget requirement for that. So again, it’s another department that will likely have more added later that we’re not hearing about.

So the ECE budget, capital budget, $5.8 million NWT-wide, not a dollar, not a single loonie to be spent on schools, school infrastructure, in Yellowknife and Hay River, 60 percent of our children.

The Aurora College we know remains. I was fortunate to join my colleagues from committee on a tour not so long ago, and I have to say, we missed it, each of us missed half the tour because we couldn’t fit in the space where the discussion was going on. Talk about sardines. Yet no mention, no discussion. Yeah, sardines. Sardines in a can, and every one of the people we saw said that, of course, and pointed out how they couldn’t turn around. I have to say, I agree that there’s very little cultural investment other than the dollars going towards the replacement of a generator at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Museum. Again, a third year in a row, a 2 percent capital budget and long-standing issues not being resolved.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. This is what is before us, $6.5 million of new money that we’re moving forward on. Again, I have to remind that we spent well over $290 million over the last five years throughout the Northwest Territories and our overall education system, educational infrastructure, so we should be proud of the investment that we’ve undertaken in the communities, and we’ll continue to push that forward with the $6.5 million this year, and next year it could be a different number. We have to work with the Peer Review Committee as it goes through the overall capital infrastructure. At the end of the day, the decision lies there. We put so many projects in the hopper so at the end of the day they’ll provide us with $6.5 million, so that’s what we’re moving forward on.

When we talk about J.H. Sissons and other schools that need renovation, obviously there is a meeting that is happening with YK 1 and with the public, but at the same time, we have to keep in mind the reality, even in Yellowknife and the three school boards, the enrolment that we have in the overall school system, some as low as 30, 35 percent. This is a very serious issue that we all need to work together towards to come up with a solution, We as the department are trying to work with the school boards to identify those areas and have a plan of action, so we’re just waiting to hear from the school board. I believe there is a meeting that’s coming up. We want to move forward on that and we want to capture and deal with those low percentiles with enrolment.

Aurora College campus has been in discussion for a number of years, and the Member has alluded to that. We’re fully aware of that too. That is another one that at times goes in our overall capital infrastructure hopper, but at the end of the day it’s not approved. It’s an $80 million budget that it has to be earmarked and, as you know, it’s $125 million territorial-wide, and $80 million to put that part of the process, I think, would be a difficult task to move that forward. At the same time, my department has always been pushing that forward and we will continue to do so. We’re fully aware of the situation at the Aurora College campus here in Yellowknife. Then again, there are three campuses. Why couldn’t we maximize our program delivery in other campuses that we have? Those are ongoing discussions we are currently having with the Board of Governors and we want to make those changes.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Continuing on with general comments, I have Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My comments are very similar to those of my colleagues and for good reason. I think we are all concerned about the

amount of dollars that is in this section of the capital budget for this department. It is almost 25 percent of our operations budget, and yet, as has been stated, it’s less than 2.5 percent of the capital for this particular department. There is only one major project in this $6.4 million that the Minister just mentioned, and that’s renovations to the Lutselk'e Dene School. The other school projects are relatively minimal. There’s no reference in documents that we’ve seen to date to any major school projects over the next three years from ’15-16 up to ’17-18. There are no major school projects in there.

As has been mentioned, there is no indication from the department that there is any financial planning taking place to deal with the court decision regarding French schools, and I think that this is a symptom, to me, of what we seem to do as a government, that the government says, well, yeah, we know we’re going to have a problem, but we’re going to wait until we actually know for sure that there’s a problem and then we’ll start planning. That puts any kind of school project or expansion to the French schools either in Hay River or in Yellowknife, that puts it back at least five years. If I remember the decision of the court, I think it was supposed to be completed in 2015. Well, we’re pretty much there and I don’t see anything in this capital plan that indicates to me that the department is planning and is putting money aside to do renovations to the French schools as we’ve been ordered. I know we’re relying on the appeal, but when the appeal comes due and we’re told that we were supposed to comply with the decision that was made over a year ago now, where are we going to be? No money.

I’m a little concerned about the reference to Junior Kindergarten renos, and there are renovations identified in here, minor capital upgrades to support the addition of Junior Kindergarten in existing schools. Well, it’s in ’15-16 and the program started in ’14-15, so we’re doing upgrades to schools after the fact so we’re going to have programs running at least for one year in schools, Junior Kindergarten programs that are running in presumably substandard facilities, so I’m struggling with that. I know there are some renovations that are happening this year, but we’re obviously doing renovations to JK classrooms for the next two years as the program unfolds, and that seems to be putting the cart before the horse to me.

I sympathize and empathize with Mr. Menicoche’s position with regard to the Trout Lake school. We’re going to make renovations to an existing community facility to try and make a school space bigger in Trout Lake. It’s been some 15 or 20 years, I guess, since the school burnt down, but I don’t understand why, in that time, we could not have trucked a school portable from Yellowknife. Goodness knows, there’s a number of them that

have been around that have been surplused. We could have trucked a portable to Trout Lake and they would have had a stand-alone school easily 10 years ago. It’s still something that concerns me. The Minister keeps saying that this is a temporary fix to the Charles Tetcho School, but where in the ECE long-term plan is a stand-alone school for Trout Lake? It’s going to be somewhere around $10 million, I imagine, to build a stand-alone school. We could certainly get a portable there for less than $10 million, I would think. I’m having big difficulty in understanding why Trout Lake is struggling to school their kids in a community centre.

I have to reiterate the concerns about the Aurora College campus in Yellowknife. I have to echo the comments of Members who have spoken already. It’s definitely something which is required, and again, I don’t see it anywhere in the department, certainly far the short-term plan. It may be in the 10- or 20-year long-term plan, but we need to have a facility planned for an awful lot sooner than 10 years down the road. It has been discussed for at least five years and there is yet to be any kind of a decent plan to try and get a facility where Aurora College students attending programs in Yellowknife can have an optimum learning environment. It just isn’t there right now.

I have a couple of specific questions. Maybe I will ask them here and then all the questions are out on the floor. The item for safe schools, minor capital upgrades to support lockdown procedures, I would question the Minister or staff to tell me what that is. Basically give me an explanation of what it is we are doing that is a capital upgrade to support lockdown procedures. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Yes, the budget has been talked about this afternoon, the $6.5 million that is there before us and we are working with it. Once it’s approved by this Assembly, we will move along with renovating those schools as highlighted.

Costs to the French schools that the Member alluded to is not there yet. We have some figures that were brought to our attention, but that figure could change once the court decision happens. So, we are currently waiting for that to happen so we can prepare ourselves as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Not only that, but working with PWS, because it has to be a coordinated approach, and working with the school board as well.

The JK renovations, we’ve been working very closely with the 23 schools where we are delivering JK programming. There are some areas that needed some minor facelifts, upgrades, that we are dealing with in our department. This 2015-16 is earmarked for $400,000 just to capture some

upgrades that need to happen that we may not have funds identified within our department, almost half a million.

The Trout Lake school, I am fully aware of that. The committee requested a stand-alone school. We are currently doing renovations to Charles Tetcho School that would capture some of the spacing required at this time, today. When we talk about a stand-alone school, there is a process in place. Obviously it won’t happen next year, but there has to be a planning phase where a planning study needs to happen. That is part of our long-term plan, as I indicated in this House. We are moving forward on that and we will be engaging the committee leadership to hear their input as well. We’ve heard their input and now we need to engage with them even further.

Aurora College has been brought up as well. We are currently working with the college, the Board of Governors, on short-term and long-term plans. The main campuses, the 23 campuses, how can we best utilize the space that is required as well.

The safe schools, obviously there is a PA system that needs to be upgraded as part of the budget that has been highlighted. Part of that will be the lockdown, as the Member alluded to. That will be the PA upgrade in cases where there are issues at the community school level, so it is announced within the school system. Not all schools have a PA system. There has to be some sort of mechanism. Mr. Chair, those are some investments that we want to do into some of the schools that may not have the PA system or those that are outdated, to upgrade them as well. Mahsi.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Ms. Bisaro, you have a few minutes left on the clock.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. One thing I forgot to mention is this department, which is about 25 percent of our total operations budget, has $6.5 million in capital expenditures and the Department of Transportation – and I don’t know what percentage of our operations budget – has $112 million. So we seem to have a far larger priority on roads than it is on the education of our young people, in my mind.

I just wanted to say to the Minister that the Minister recognizes with the French schools that there’s a problem. He says he knows it’s coming. I heard him say earlier that he wants to move or the department wants to move forward, but what I heard is we know there’s a problem, we want to move forward but we have to wait and so we can’t do anything in the meantime. I just see that as a huge lack of planning.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. I didn’t sense a question there, but I will allow the Minister to have one final word. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Again, the $290 million is over a five-year period. The DOT, yes, there’s a substantial amount there. Obviously, there’s a major road infrastructure that’s happening. We all know that. There’s a federal contribution as well. So we are putting in a lot more than what’s before us now, $6.5 million. We’ll make it work. Those are the investments going into the communities, and again, we have to plan for next year as well. Next year we obviously want to go after even more funding if at all possible. So those are just some of the discussions that we will have with the Peer Review Committee that has been established for a number of years now.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. We are continuing on with general comments. I have two more Members who want to speak. I know it’s late in the day. I have Mr. Blake and Mr. Nadli. I will go to Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was speaking to capital. I was going to commend the department, both Education and Public Works. They did a good job on a bunch of renovations to the school in Tsiigehtchic, mostly the gymnasium, and also in Fort McPherson preparing for Junior Kindergarten. There were some renovations to a washroom there. The school is very pleased with that.

Yet in Aklavik there were some renovations two years back but the community is wondering why there are no plans for a new school. This school is going on 50 years here. It’s not adequate to provide the proper programs and resources we can offer in today’s age. I know we are scheduled for a major retrofit or replacement in 2019. I would like to know if the department is planning to replace the old school. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Based on, obviously, the capital planning cycle, Moose Kerr School is identified for renovations or replacement in approximately 2019, as the Member has indicated. It’s based on the year of the school, whether it was the year it was built or the year it was retrofitted and 20 years from the date of the last major renovation. So we’re at that point. In 2019 we want to seriously look at Moose Kerr School in the Member’s riding. Thank you.

It kind of makes me wonder a lot of times. Referring to the school in Inuvik, we built a nice building there. Yet we didn’t add on other programs that could be provided. For example, shop. Looking at schools down south, they have a nice section there, three-bay garage and they can offer automotives in high school. Yet we build a $100 million new school that doesn’t have facilities like that. Those are the kind of programs I’m thinking of. We want our students to grow up, take on trades and be mechanics and welders, yet we

don’t have those simple programs offered in our schools today. That’s why I want to know if the Minister will ensure the school will be replaced in 2019.

Again, with a process of 20 years from the date of the last major renovation in 1999, the Moose Kerr School will be up to be identified as either a renovation or a replacement. So that discussion will be happening. Part of the discussion that the Member was alluding to was will there be a physical fitness area or even a trace area, a shop. Those are discussions that need to happen with the school boards, as well, because we have to work with architecture and schematic designs and so forth and working very closely with PWS.

So those types of discussions, which we’re hearing today, will be part of our ongoing discussions as we move towards 2019, whether it will be a renovation or replacement of Moose Kerr School. Mahsi.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Last on my list for general comments I have Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’ll try to keep my comments as brief as I can. The department, of course, is the second largest in this budget and we’re seeing schools and, at the same time, languages and also training and income support initiatives. So, overall, I think the main concern that I express is the status of some initiatives. In particular the Junior Kindergarten initiative, perhaps if you could maybe term it JK versus Aboriginal Head Start program. I understand that that’s going forward, but I understand there have been some concerns in terms of how it is that that program would go ahead. I look forward to trying to understand the status of how that’s going and how those two initiatives could work together.

The other matter that I wanted to highlight is the JK and the Aboriginal Head Start initiative are likely one of a few steps that could be made in terms of trying to clear the disparity between how our students in the small communities perform in terms of their achievements versus students from the larger centres. That too is something that I’d like to perhaps see if there are any advancements being made to try to make the situation better so students in smaller communities could fare well in terms of their achievement tests.

In terms of languages, we all know that the language use is declining. The greater question is: Well, what are we doing now to address it? I mean, a common question more likely asked and I’d like to understand how it is the department is going to advance language initiatives.

Last but not least, I know a part of the language initiative is to support NCS and CKLB. I know CKLB, at this point, has downgraded their services,

staff have been cut back in terms of working at the station and the programming has been affected. How is this department, through the Minister, been trying to remedy that matter and get CKLB back on the air? I’d like to know that too.

There are some communities that are trying to make advances towards working in the forest industry, and I think through Education, Culture and Employment training is an element that I think is key, and I’d like to know how this department will work in that area to help communities prepare their workers to be involved with forest initiatives.

Those are just some brief comments and some questions that I wanted to ask. Mahsi.