Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I rise once again to advocate for the new stand-alone school for the community of Trout Lake. Currently, the department is assessing the facilities and even leaning towards renovations. This is not acceptable to the community.

I’m pleased that during the Nahendeh tour in December of 2014, our Premier and the Minister of Transportation were able to see that one room schoolhouse in the current community centre. A little partition was put up last year, but I’m sure that the Ministers will concur that this is still like the one room schoolhouses that some of our parents went to, instead of a modern school.

The chief and leadership of Trout Lake always advocated strongly that to develop and prepare our youth for the future, they need a strong educational foundation. That can only be done with a new stand-alone school that has adequate teaching space and modern teaching aids for the many grade levels that are taught there. The elders even noticed this, and they tell me it is distracting when they have to teach multi grades when you have kindergarten to Grade 9 in the same room.

Our Statistics Bureau tells us that Trout Lake’s growth rate, therefore more students, is more than 6 percent a year for the past 10 years. I believe by the next school year the school will be at maximum capacity, so the Department of Education must act now that the future of the educational needs of Trout Lake will be addressed.

Our government has spent a lot of money building superschools and expensive improvements in larger centres. It is time we start focusing on small communities. They need stand-alone schools with all the modern teaching aides. These schools are too small for their student populations. I have pointed out time and time again of how this affects the ability of the students to learn and the ability of the teachers to teach effectively.

I call on the Education Minister to adjust the capital plan. The last one I saw calls for a new school in Trout Lake to begin in 2018-19. We simply must move this project up on our priority list.

I look to the support of this Cabinet to address the need for a new school for Trout Lake in this year’s capital planning process. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.