Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Mr. Bromley.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess the significant thing to me is that the starting place, the amount per student doesn’t change each year. So they start over again with a clean slate. So I appreciate that explanation. I think I’m getting there. I’m starting to get there, I think, according to the Minister’s staff.

I just had a question on the education renewal. I heard in a response yesterday that the education renewal includes a number of initiatives, which are one or two-year pilots, and I heard that many education renewal initiatives are one or two-year pilots. Can I get an idea of what those pilots are? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Lafferty

Mahsi, Madam Chair. Part of the pilots that I referred to before, there are a couple of initiatives that we’re undertaking. Elders in school and also resiliency programming. We wanted to test pilot that into some of the small, isolated communities. One of them, obviously, is Ndilo, and supporting self- regulation programming through specialized equipment.

So those are just a couple of initiatives that are on the go. I’m sure there will be others as well. As we’ve done in the past with the family resource initiative that we’ve undertaken and building on that, working on health and social services, those are just of some of the areas that we’ve initiated with our department. There’s also e-learning through the Beaufort-Delta. We’ve expanded that into other communities, as well, based on the success of the Beaufort-Delta. Now we’re expanding to other isolated communities as well. Mahsi.

Thanks to the Minister for those examples. I assume we would be seeing an evaluation of those. Unlike the junior kindergarten pilots, we would actually see an evaluation of those before deciding to make them operational. Thank you.

Mahsi. Most definitely. There will be evaluations. We’re currently in the process of developing MEA accountability on monitoring, evaluating and accountability on all initiatives that are before us because we want to monitor them and we want to evaluate them because we’re accountable to deliver that. So of those initiatives, there will be evaluation processes as well. Mahsi.

Thank you to the Minister for that. I’ll look forward to those. I’d like to just move to Aurora College now. That’s a big figure there, adult and post-secondary education, $37 million. I know $33 million or $34 million is for Aurora College.

I’m trying to understand how it is that Aurora College has now developed an ongoing and running surplus of $9 million. I’m trying to read the annual reports. It looks like they’ve overspent in a number of years. As an arm’s length they get granted more money and then go and spend all of that and it builds up as surplus and now it’s running at about $9 million. Am I understanding correctly how that process occurs at in fact Aurora College? Because their annual report says it’s running about a $9 million surplus. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Lovely.

That’s good. Thank you. Just how they got there, was I right in that interpretation? They’ve been overspending and then being granted extra to cover that. I’d appreciate any understanding on how they get there, and for that matter, where is the final accounting for the capital so that I can understand exactly what’s going on here? Thank you.

I’ll look forward to that information and I understand now that the actual surplus is about $1 million right now. So I’d appreciate that information.

Just related to Aurora College programs and some of the issues that had come up before, the housing for people who live in Yellowknife, students that choose to go to Aurora College is not supported at all, unlike people who live outside of Yellowknife, and yet they are still giving up their life as income earners to attend college. I know the Minister is aware of this issue. Is there any contemplation on a policy to address this deep concern to students who happen to reside in Yellowknife? They may not even be from Yellowknife originally but when they decide to go to school they are, and yet they are treated as if their housing is taken care of even if they’re in an apartment or whatever that requires rent, and they have to give up employment to attend the school, college.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Lafferty.

Madam Chair, this obviously has been brought up in this House as well. I did raise that issue with the Board of Governors. It is their policy that they have in place. They are developing their strategic plan as we speak, this 2015. I did reiterate that this is of key importance that we need to deal with and it has been brought to their attention again. It is before the Board of Governors to decide if they are going to make some changes to their existing policy to deal with student housing.

I appreciate the Minister’s response and I appreciate him bringing this up with the board of Aurora College.

Just my last point on this page, how is child support made available for students at the college, be they from elsewhere or from Yellowknife? I often hear that that is an issue and I’m wondering what supports there are for students with children that are going to Aurora College at the Yellowknife campus, and I assume it would be the same policy elsewhere.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Heide.

Thank you, Mr. Heide. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Madam Chair. What is the Minister’s understanding in terms of this being an issue for students? Are they having problems accessing that support or are things, according to the department’s experience, sailing along smoothly with that aspect?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. Again, it has been brought up, because I’ve visited the campuses as well when I met with the president and the board chair. Some of the students raised that issue. It is an ongoing challenge for some students, so we’re doing what we can to subsidize them through my department, continue to subsidize them. But we’re fully aware of it, and any of those challenges that come to our attention we expedite the process, having our staff meet with the college president to identify it is an issue that we need to deal with. I wouldn’t say it’s smooth sailing at this point. There are always challenges coming up within my department, but we’re working with the college on these matters on a continuous basis.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Education and culture, operations expenditure summary, $244.200 million.

Education and culture, grants, contributions and transfers, total grants and contributions, $209.153 million. Ms. Bisaro.