I just wanted to ask the Minister some questions about those numbers on capacity. This is of course the Ecole St. Joseph School which is in my riding of Kam Lake, and the school board is reporting 522 students for 90 per cent capacity for the 2016-2017 enrolment year. The Minister's quoted some other numbers. Can he explain the difference between the school board's numbers and the Minister's numbers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The numbers that I have stated that the school in question is at 79 per cent, so we'll have to follow up with the superintendent and have our staff speak with the superintendent to make sure which numbers are correct. The numbers before me are 79, and if we are at 90 per cent and we are over utilization capacity, then we'll have to speak with the school board. As I said, we have two schools here in Yellowknife under the Catholic School Board System where one -- if it is stated in a newspaper at over capacity, then we're going to have to come up with the unique ways as the other school that I noted is only at 58 per cent, so there's a good chance of utilizing the other school to offset those numbers.

I appreciate the Minister will do some research into this. I think the bigger issue here is with the roll out of junior kindergarten, it seems that many of the school boards, both in YK1 or YCS, are feeling additional pressures, and I would like to ask the Minister if the department will be providing additional resources above and beyond what they currently receive to accommodate these new students and these new resource pressures on our schools.

That's exactly what we're doing with this survey. As I mentioned in this House during this session. We also got a motion that as passed earlier in the week supporting the roll outs of a junior kindergarten and making sure that those surveys that addressed the concerns that are brought forward will be meeting the needs of the school, and we're having our engagements with the schools and the communities to ensure that they have the resources needed to implement junior kindergarten.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Now, I wasn't sitting in this House on the last Assembly, but I did pay attention. I feel like some deja vu. The last time this was attempted, surveys were sent out, consultations were done, and a plan was still adopted that left many schools outside of the ability to provide exactly what the school board is looking for, which again, Mr. Speaker, is providing best resources and the best schools for our kids which is exactly what we and the department agrees with and what the resolution puts forward, but to get to there we need a clear and costed plan and resources committed to this. So will the Minister commit to providing that costed plan to this side of the House and to school boards that takes into account this gap in resources that the schools are asking for? Thank you.

The gap in resources, I'd like to hear if it is anything specific. We've been out engaging, we've been hearing the responses that needed to be met. We've addressed those needs and the concerns, but for the gaps I'd like the Member to let me know where they are rather than some of the projected numbers where I actually have some of the actual numbers in front of me. We're still putting that plan together as the motion said earlier this week. So in two days, I don’t think I could get a plan together from what the motion said, but we will have that in time for implementation in 2017-2018.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I spoke about the Jean Marie and their willingness to become more energy efficient. I applaud them for doing this great initiative. Mr. Speaker, I was a little surprised to find out that communities can only generate 20 per cent of their own energy power from solar panels and stuff like that. This is a good step towards our mandate, but we need to do more especially for the smaller communities. We need to help them become more energy efficient and the cost of living can go down. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation please provide this House, does the corporation have a policy that states it's only 20 per cent? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for NWT Power Corp.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I can advise that there is in fact a 20 per cent cap. This was developed as part of the NWT's solar strategy and it was imposed for technical reasons to ensure the electricity remains reliable. More than 20 per cent solar makes the system unstable. Now, in Colville Lake it is about 20 percent, but that was only after some very expensive batteries and sophisticated load control were installed at the power plant. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, during the presentation this week we heard from the Power Corporation and Colville Lake was promoted as, you know, a good model out there and we're leading the world at it.

So, Mr. Speaker, is the corporation willing to work with the smaller communities to increase this so that -- or come up with the strategies that they can increase this strategy?

Yes, certainly, Mr. Speaker, as the Energy Strategy rolls out we'll certainly be looking at options. As I said, the 20 per cent figure is just to ensure reliability in the system. As mentioned, you can go above that but it becomes incredibly expensive and involves very substantial subsidies. Thank you.

Again, I talked about the public meeting we had in Colville Lake being presented there as the ideal model out there. Is the Minister able to work with the corporation or direct the corporation to come up with a better storage operation that can be used in these smaller communities?

Certainly as the Energy Strategy unfolds we are going to be looking at new technologies. We are, in the corporation, always interested in looking at newer technologies that are more energy efficient and so on, but for now this 20 per cent cap was imposed for reasons of efficiency and safety.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. When he talks about this 20 per cent for solar energy, is that just the cap for solar energy or is it for geothermal, wind, hydro or whatever the community is able to generate electricity? So could the Minister please explain that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question and --

---Laughter

-- logic would tell me that we would have to have a cap on 20 per cent on non-traditional sources of power, because the whole point of limiting it to 20 per cent was to allow there to be efficiency within the diesel system. So I imagine that 20 per cent cap would apply to all non-diesel sources of power.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Mr. Speaker, my first question is: through the Take a Kid Trapping program we have seen projects such as diverse as canoe building and caribou hunts. My question is how broadly is the Take a Kid program applied? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

This is a great program and I do know from experience that schools all across the NWT take advantage of this program. It was designed to introduce NWT youth to traditional lifestyle practices for hunting and trapping, fishing, outdoor survival and canoe-making as the Member has alluded to. It's also very good for their instructors or their teachers as well, because that introduces them to some of the traditional lifestyle that we practice up here, so it's a valuable program and it has tremendous uptake across the Northwest Territories.

I appreciate the response, and I see it working very well in my region. Mr. Speaker, my second question to the Minister is how are participants required to demonstrate the funding that is used for its intended purpose and report on the results of programming?

Each Take a Kid Trapping project, they're required to submit a report with financial statement included. All of the individual project reports are then rolled into the annual Take a Kid Trapping Report.