Thanks, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for that and for his response. It seems to me then that the department hasn't formally responded to these two proposals but anticipates taking those into consideration in developing an action plan for Skills 4 Success. Is that the case? Is the Minister actually going to respond formally in writing to these two proposals that have been submitted to the Department? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do have our staff that are working with both College nordique and Dechinta. We will respond with a formal response to their proposals. This is the first time we have had a comprehensive report as such, the labour market needs assessment report that came out. To make sure that we do it right and that we do get our resources in the areas that need to be done, we have to get that action plan done first. That way we can have our program services reflect that. We will respond with the formal response to both institutions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. I will ask the Minister to add more clarity to that. You are not quite answering the question as I see it. I am looking for a time frame or a date, Mr. Minister.

We could give a formal response, but it is simply going to be saying what we are here today as the action plan. We have to get that done first. We could give a formal response this week, early next week. We still want to work with all our stakeholders when we are developing this action plan and making sure it is reflective of the comprehensive report. That will be the next steps. Yes, we will get a formal response out this week or early next week.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I do appreciate your efforts at chairing this meeting. I appreciate the response from the Minister. Why I am raising this is that I have had representatives from both Dechinta and College nordique contact me in an effort to try to find out the status of these submissions. That is why I am pressuring the Minister to find out what is going on with the proposals. I understand he has now committed to getting back to them within a week or so and that is great. If the response is that those proposals will be considered in the context of developing an action plan, that is fine. These things have been outstanding for a while now. I think we should make more of an effort to respond to them in a timely fashion. I think that is what I have heard from the Minister. Once again, I do appreciate your effort at chairing the meeting. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Yes. I appreciate that. As I mentioned, our staff is always in contact with both College nordique and Dechinta. I believe our representative has spoken with them in the last two weeks. Any information like that… I appreciate that Members are bringing this to the table. We want to support our partners. We appreciate the work that both institutions do. There are some areas that need to be considered as well. That is the legislation that needs to be done. We also have to make sure that we are doing the things that were asked for. There was a motion in the House in the 17thLegislative Assembly that we are looking at working on. There are a lot of things that have to come into place. As I mentioned, our representatives did meet with the organizations in the last two weeks. We are keeping in touch. It is not like we are not talking to these organizations, which I hope people don't think we are doing because that is what we are doing. Just to let everybody know that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly. Questions? Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am just wondering if we can get some distinction on, under grants, page 67, labour market agreement for persons with disabilities. There seems to be a significant reduction from $198,000 to this year's proposed $69,000. Further down, under the contributions heading, similarly, we have labour market agreement for persons with disabilities, contributions previous year was $802,000. This year's proposed $281,000. If we can get some explanation around those two areas that would be much appreciated. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We did give somewhat of an explanation yesterday. We will go back to my assistant deputy minister, Mr. Olin Lovely, to get into a little bit more detail. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to confirm, the $1.25 million that we are referring to, was that federal transfer funding that we are not receiving this year? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Minister.

Yes, that is correct. We are receiving $600,000 though.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Nothing further. Questions? Education, Culture and Employment, labour development and standards, operations expenditure summary along with detail in 67. Total activity: $49,718,000. Agreed?

Page 68. Education, Culture and Employment, labour development and standards, active positions, information item. Questions?

Agreed. Education, Culture and Employment, students loan fund, information item on page 69. Questions. Agreed. I would say none. Page 70. Education, Culture and Employment, education authorities programs and services, information item. Questions? Mr. Thompson and Mr. O'Reilly.