Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education. Just a follow-up on my Member’s statement.

I have been asking for a new school in Trout Lake for the past 10 years and the Minister said he’s in Cabinet Thursday. Will he raise that as well? When will the education priority of small communities be heard? We need new schools and new gymnasiums in the small communities. When will the government be doing that?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We are clearly hearing the Members, especially from the small communities. That’s part of the reason why we’re developing this whole Education Renewal Innovation because part of the pillars will be focused on small communities and also the formula funding for the small communities, so it will capture that as we move forward as long-term objectives.

Today we are following the capital planning process, and every single time there are capital projects going forward we’ve been stressing for the small communities. Those are badly needed and we’ve been developing some planning studies, business case scenarios and with this budget going forward, 2014-15, as part of the capital planning process we will be investing approximately $95,000 towards the Charles Tetcho School in Trout Lake in the planning study.

Those are just some of the discussions we’ve been having, now we’re putting them into action and from there the outcome will be to move forward on major capital projects. Mahsi.

Thank you very much. During the Minister’s visit to Trout Lake we showed him how small the school was, we showed him it’s full to capacity and now we have junior kindergarten, which is a new additional factor that has to be addressed. Are there enough resources to do an adequate planning study in the community of Trout Lake and its needs? Thank you.

Mahsi. With respect to the major capital retrofits, we need to have a planning study done, so this is part of the process. Based on the needs of the community, the size of the school, how it’s structured as we move forward, what kind of school would the community be entitled to, the square footage and the classroom sizes, so those are the discussions that we need to have with the regional school board. We are moving forward on this. Planning studies will be on the way.

I know that when it comes to replacing health facilities, we’ve got standard plans for type B, C facilities, et cetera. Is that something similar the Minister of Education and his department is working on, template schools for our small communities, because I think what will really help is moving forward. Yes, we’re doing planning studies, but we also need, I think, Class D estimates. We need to know the ballpark figure we’re working with so we can get it accelerated in our capital planning processes because these schools need replacing right away.

As of today, part of the capital planning process, we have to work very closely with the Department of Public Works and Services, because there are set criteria that we have to follow with any major infrastructure, not only schools but other major infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. They have to follow the criteria.

Again, we have been told over and over to think outside the box, focus on small communities. That is exactly what we’re pursuing. Part of the action plan with the education renewal and innovation is that we’re going to be developing plans of action focusing on the needs of the small communities. Yes, we are moving towards that.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much. I’m pleased to hear the Minister say those words. The time for building the large schools are over. We’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars in all our regional centres and I believe it’s time to start concentrating on our small communities, get those done. The costs are not in the hundreds of millions. It will probably be – I can’t even estimate – probably about $2 million or $3 million for a school in a small community.

I’d like to ask the Minister, can he start the initial planning, get some Class D estimates, and share it with myself and my colleagues that need new schools in their communities?

We will compile that information on the process of the capital planning. Every year we go through this and there are set criteria. The planning process is on the way and we will be sharing that information with the Member. There is going to be engagement through the education renewal and innovation with the community and with the DEAs, and I’ll definitely be seeking input from the Member as well.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are in follow up to my statement earlier today on poverty traps and directed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Yesterday and today I think I made it clear that our social safety net has some pretty serious poverty traps in it, but I would like to give the Minister a chance to demonstrate differently. We track people on income support more than anyone else in the NWT. We know month by month what is in their bank account.

Will the Minister tell us how many people our system has helped rise out of poverty in the last year or any year?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I think I see another written question coming. The Member is asking for detailed information. I don’t have the actual numbers of how many people we track on the detailed information that’s required, verification and so forth, to confirm that there’s going to be a payment. But we must keep in mind that income support is a last resort as a subsidy program to the community members. We do what we can to help the most vulnerable in the communities. As I stated yesterday, as well, that part of the labour market, we have to improve and encourage those individuals to fill those potential job opportunities. We are doing what we can to provide the productive choices training on-the-job program. The funding is available, so we have to encourage those individuals. My department continues to do that and will continue to relay that message on to the communities.

I can assure the Minister that I do track that information and we have the poorest 20 percent of people in this jurisdiction in the country and it’s not improving. I appreciate that we do what we can, the Minister does what he can, but what I’m suggesting here is ways that we can do more with less.

As I mentioned, Nutrition North does food basket surveys on what it costs to feed a family of four in our communities. Their data shows that the amount provided by income support is only half of what is needed. Maintaining our focus on the most critical element underserved here – that’s children – how does the Minister expect children to succeed in school when their parents cannot afford to feed them?

Income support is not the only avenue that we provide funding to the most vulnerable that the Member is referring to. We work closely with the Department of Health and

Social Services, the Wellness Program. There are all these different subsidy programs that are out there. Income support is just one area that we subsidize the most vulnerable. Yes, we need to prepare our community members and Northwest Territories residents, especially the young ones, for them to enter the education field and eventually graduate and to come back and be a part of the northern workforce. Those are the overall goals and objectives of this government, the wellness of our people, the most educated. This is what we do. Part of the Labour Market Development Agreement, we provide those subsidies. Income support is another venue, SFA and the child services as well. Those are just some of the areas that we continue to provide services.

To the Minister, we’ve heard all about this amazing and costly maze of support, ineffective supports, that we have out there. We’re trying to move on here.

There are additional supports available to people in poverty, such as the GST rebate and the child tax credit. Despite their intent to help, our system takes that money away from families. I very much doubt that the money we save from chasing after these meagre funds even covers the cost of the government workers chasing after them.

How can the Minister justify clawing back payments that are meant to alleviate poverty when people are already struggling just to buy food?

Again, it is a last resort venue that we have as the income support division. It’s not a money-making machine. We’re there to assist those most vulnerable individuals in the communities. Just as an example, I can use the Sahtu region as an example where there’s a very hot economy that’s happening there. There is all this different training that’s been developed and job creation. Based on that, people are getting off income support. That’s the whole objective of this government. We need to push that forward.

Canada’s job grant that’s coming down from the federal government, we’re fully on board with the changes that are coming down. That is a decision that we’ve made and we’re going forward as the territorial government working with the federal government. Along with the Department of Health and Social Services and my department and ITI, we’re going to move forward on this.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not totally sure the Minister has been hearing my description of poverty traps. This guy is stuck at home with children and when he tries to work a little bit, it gets clawed back and he’s even worse off. When the Minister or myself make an extra $1,000, we pay income tax. We are not living in poverty, so

we contribute about $400 of that back to society, and I think we would agree, all of us, that that’s money well spent. But when someone on income support makes an extra $1,000, they only get to keep $150.

How can the Minister or any government official possibly justify an 85 percent effective tax rate on income for people who are trying to get out of poverty when the most well paid people in the NWT only pay 40 percent?

I, too, would like to encourage those individuals to enter the workforce, and all of us here, 19 of us, fully support that. We want individuals to be successful in the Northwest Territories, throughout Canada, internationally, so we have to provide them the tools. Part of the tools that we’re providing them is productive choices within our income support division, and part of the productive choices is putting them on on-the-job training and preparing them for resume writing. All these different tools that we are providing them are there for individuals such as what Mr. Bromley is referring to as part of the clientele. There is also a $1,200 exemption that individuals can qualify for within the income support division.

We do have a subsidy program for those most vulnerable. We will continue to support that. It is key that we have to support those individuals that are in the system to make them a success in their lives. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. The Minister undertook an educational renewal and innovation engagement process with our people in the Northwest Territories. The comprehensive review of the education, we looked at operating in the Northwest Territories. We know things need to be changed and improved. We’ve got to think differently. There is a multi-year plan how to make these changes in the North.

I want to ask the Minister in regards to the Education Renewal and Innovation Action Plan that was scheduled to be coming out at the end of February 2014. Is the plan ready for us to review on this side of the House? Today is March 5th .