Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions today for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I’d like to ask the Minister some questions about junior kindergarten.

Last fall the government, in its wisdom, chose to put a stop to the implementation of junior kindergarten in the NWT.

Schools that were offering junior kindergarten in the 2014-15 school year were advised that they could cease offering that program if they advised the Department of Education prior to a December 14, 2014, deadline. There was a piece in our local paper a number of weeks ago, which talked about those schools that had chosen to withdraw.

I would like to know from the Minister if he could advise the House what was the result of his offer to the schools and to the district education authorities to continue or withdraw from junior kindergarten programming. Thank you.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When the decision came down by the government in this House on October 30th not to

proceed with the second and third phase, the 23 communities that were in the process of delivering junior kindergarten, we reached out to them and they provided a written response by the end of last year in December. There were some communities that decided to opt out. Out of 23, there are 19 communities that decided to continue with junior

kindergarten, a majority of JK deliverance in the community for this year and also next year. Next year will be around 18 junior kindergartens being delivered in the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.

Thanks to the Minister. The Minister, the House knows, Members know, and I think the public knows that there’s now a review underway for junior kindergarten. The results are not likely to be known, I don’t imagine, before the election occurs.

I’d like to know what plans does Education, Culture and Employment have with regard to junior kindergarten for the 2015-16 year. Will it go beyond the 18 communities that the Minister just mentioned? Thank you.

Mahsi. We are currently, as the Member indicated, reviewing the overall JK, junior kindergarten deliverance for next year. The communities that provided written to opt out of junior kindergarten have been verified and next year the plan is to have 18 junior kindergartens to be delivered as part of the process. That’s where it stands. We go by what’s been written to our department by the DEAs and the DECs. Mahsi.

So, he said there are 18 that are going to continue next year. So that means there will be no additional junior kindergarten programs started in the school year for ’15-16. So given that, and given, as well, that the education authority budgets were reduced in the 2014-15 fiscal year, my belief is that the department has all the money that is needed to run junior kindergarten in school year ’15-16. If it’s 18, they actually have more because we’ve gone from 23 or 22 down to 18.

So, can education authorities expect any further contribution reductions for junior kindergarten implementation in their school year ’15-16? Thank you.

Mahsi. When the decision was made October 30th , the decision was

that we’ll continue to deliver junior kindergarten this year and next year on the phase one approach with the existing funding that was allocated in working with the school boards. So that will continue, the decision that was made by this government. So that’s the process that we’ll continue to follow for next year. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to ask the question again. The education authorities were scheduled to be reduced, some of them were scheduled to be reduced three years running. The first year’s reductions have already taken place.

Will there be reductions to education authorities in the second year when there is no increase in the program offerings for junior kindergarten?

Mahsi. It is approximately $1.8 million to deliver junior kindergarten, and with the downsize to 19 and 18 there’s a small reduction that’s going back to the school boards. I must reiterate that the October 30th decision that was made by this House uses an existing fund that we’ve allocated. So, we’ll continue to go with that process, as well, for next year. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity to ask yet another question. I’ll have a question for one of the Ministers of this particular government. With that, I’ll decide. In all honesty, I have questions for the Minister of Transportation. I happen to be looking at the statement of claim made in the Ontario Superior Court about the plaintiff against Deepak International.

We don’t talk particularly about affairs before the courts due to the sub judice matter, but what’s particularly interesting of the situation is when I asked the Minister of ITI the other day about the cutting of diamonds and when these things are happening, nothing has happened for the last two years since this company struck a deal in the Northwest Territories. Now, that’s a business decision to do business or not, but it’s got me thinking, has this company been making lease payments to the Department of Transportation regarding their lease on the airport property? Because if they owe over $615,000 to some finance company, have they been making payments to the Northwest Territories, and if they have not, how long have they been in arrears and for how much? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Business between the government and the proprietors out at Airport Road is a relationship that probably shouldn’t be brought to the floor of the Legislative Assembly. I will check on that information and can advise the Member as to what the results of that are. Thank you.

I can somewhat appreciate the last answer, but if this company is in arrears to the Government of the Northwest Territories, answers are owed to the people of the Northwest Territories.

Can the Minister speak to what arrears are outstanding? If there are any, can he explain for how long and how much? Thank you.

I cannot confirm here whether or not the company that the Member refers

to has lease arrears with the Department of Transportation. Thank you.

Setting that aside, if a company owes money, if they owe arrears to the Government of the Northwest Territories, I need to appreciate how long we sit on this lack of payments. If there are any, we don’t know. I should be fair about that, we just don’t seem to know. There was no answer on that one way or another, so it’s not clear. But how long do we sit in a process of arrears before the Government of the Northwest Territories takes action? So I’d like to know what the policy is on that, because if somebody isn’t making lease payments, then we should be asking ourselves, when do we take action to ensure we protect the people’s interest? I’m referring to the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Usually it’s not an issue; people pay their leases. If a company was to fall into arrears, then as soon as the department identifies that as an arrears problem, then we would contact the company immediately and start taking action to recover our lease payments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Presently in Ontario Superior Court a $615,000 claim is being made against this particular company. I’m worried about the Northwest Territories’ particular interest, recognizing that this is approximately one-third of the value of the two buildings which were purchased and I’d hate to see the Northwest Territories lose its position on these growing bills.

So, my question again to the Minister, if he can clarify this, or certainly help me out and help everybody out on this, what is the policy that we allow arrears? For how long and how large can we allow arrears to build up before the Government of the Northwest Territories takes action for the people of the Northwest Territories to protect our interest? That’s what should really matter. Thank you.

If it was viewed by the government that lease payments were not being made, then it becomes a problem lease. Then any of the departments would then go to the Finance department and have the Finance department’s collection division deal with it. So as soon as it’s identified as a problem lease, we would then move the file to Finance for collections.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to speak to a personal circumstance. I had a

summer student one year that was overpaid by accident by the machinery of government. The fact is, it was just a small accident and it wasn’t even a lot of money, but what was interesting is the collection agency was sent immediately. They sent the leg breakers there to pursue this over what was really a very small amount of money.

I’m trying to get to the understanding of what the policy is. Is this Minister able to speak to the size and volume of the policy that could be at risk here? I’m asking the Minister of Transportation how large and how long can someone be in arrears before the Government of the Northwest Territories takes any action on someone who hasn’t been making their payments.

As I indicated, as soon as it’s identified that this is a problem lease, having issues with collecting lease payments, then any department, Transportation in this case, would then have the Department of Finance start collection procedures. As immediately as it’s identified as a problem we would then go for collections.