Thank you, committee. Page 10-13, activity summary, corporate management, operations expenditure summary, $11.544 million. Mr. Bromley.

Mr. Chair, I don’t have any questions on this page, but I am going to say that I appreciate the reorganization. It seems to have been done here. Frankly, I can’t think of what it was like before, but I have to say that these sections in this division seem quite logical for me and a good response to the Auditor General’s general report and the folks of many of these comments. It

certainly is in line with that which I do understand, so I appreciate that being done here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I will approach that as a comment. Moving on with questions on this page, I have Mr. Menicoche, followed by Ms. Bisaro.

Mr. Chair, under corporate management, of course they have the responsibility of finance and capital planning. I know that this is our operation and maintenance budget, but schools in our small communities ought to be a priority. I’m pleased that we finished building the big schools in the big communities. I really feel that it’s time to turn our attention while we can before there’s another issue in a larger community. Let’s try to get some of these older schools in the smaller communities built and those that don’t have any, like I’ve been making a case for Trout Lake. It is more of a comment at this point. I may raise it again in the next section under Education and Culture. This is just in terms of finance and capital planning. Perhaps I can just ask the Minister what his thoughts are on strategy for small schools as we move forward here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister Lafferty.

Mr. Chair, the Member has raised this issue on numerous occasions. It is one of the priorities of this department because we are going through some changes. Education renewal innovation was one of the pillars that are focusing on small community schools. Just as a reminder, Members have reiterated and focused on small communities. That is one of the drives within our pillars. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Just in terms of capital planning, I know that we review that in the fall time, so what is the time frame of continuing to press forward with the capital planning for small schools like Trout Lake? Thank you.

Mr. Chair, obviously there is a process we have to go through with the capital planning process later this year and going through some various stages, at the approval stages. We, as a department, will push for those schools in the Northwest Territories, those that are really urgently needed for a retrofit or renovation or replacement. Based on the criteria that have been highlighted through the process, we have to follow the guidelines. Obviously, the Member’s riding of small communities, they have reiterated that, so we will be doing our part as a department to push that forward in the small communities initiative. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. On this page activity, we have Ms. Bisaro.

Sorry I didn’t hear you, Mr. Chairman. It’s tough to hear over here. I want to

echo Mr. Bromley’s comments about the reorganization. I think that has been a good thing. I presume that the Education Renewal Initiative work is being done under corporate management, and I just would like to know what section of corporate management the ERI comes under. I am presuming it’s planning, research and evaluation, but if I could get a bit of an explanation on that. How has that been funded, the whole work that has been done on the ERI? Has that been funded from within, or is there money in this budget earmarked specifically for ERI in the ‘14-15 year? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. The whole education renewal innovation is a big project that we are undertaking at this point. We are developing action plans towards that by later this summer. It is an internal reallocation to push this forward and obviously we are going to have to come back to the Legislative Assembly, depending on cost factor, once the action plans develop. I will get the deputy to maybe elaborate more on detail. Mahsi.

Ms. Eggenhofer.

Thank you, Ms. Eggenhofer. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So the action plan should be out in May. I thought I heard that there would not be any money in the ‘14-15 budget for the ERI Action Plan. Is that correct? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. Part of the process is, obviously, to develop the action plan and put it towards the next main estimates for the upcoming year. There are a couple of areas that we should be able to move forward on, but the overall theme of the action plan, once it has developed the cost factor, then we need to put it into the mains and I guess we will request our approval from there from the Legislative Assembly. That’s the process that we’re going through. Mahsi.

So if there are some things that are going to be able to be moved forward on, they are going to be funded from within. Is that correct? I’m asking if there is new money in this budget for the ERI. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. For that response, we will go to Deputy Minister Eggenhofer.

Mr. Chairman, so I just thought I heard the deputy minister say this current budget year for these two projects. Could I get clarification on that? I was asking about ‘14-15. Is this $1.1 million coming out of ‘13-14 or ‘14-15? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.

Mr. Chair, those two particular programs are from the 2013-14 budget.