Thank you, Deputy Minister Haener. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am sorry to belabour this point, but what I am talking about here is communicating the policy direction. The policy direction we are going to go despite lamenting low attendance and low achievement rates is to cut instructional hours, and here is why. That is the kind of detail that parents want. I think they appreciate that there is another level of decision-making at the school that will decide how to implement this policy direction, but they want to hear the policy direction from the department. They don't want to hear it from me, and they don't want to hear it from the media. They feel like their best source of information is directly from the agency or the department that is responsible for implementation.

I feel like there is a real re-think that needs to be done here about who the audiences are for the department's messages, and to think about getting as close to the people most directly affected as possible. That is not to put this onto the school boards, but to talk directly to parents and students. I would like to think that, while the efforts are ongoing, they may also take a new and productive direction. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do have good partnerships with the education authorities. They also play a role in these pilots and the work that is being done. They are the front line to the parents. They are the ones that see the parents most of the time with the boards, as well as the superintendent and the principals. That would be the best way to get that information out, is to have our school boards and educational authorities getting that information out to the parents. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Moses. Ms. Green.

Yes, I am going to try one more time. The government has made a policy decision here on instructional hours, to pilot the reduction in instructional hours. It is the government's responsibility to communicate with parents, not through any intermediary who is tasked with implementing this, but to tell parents and students what the rationale is for this policy, what the benefits are, what consideration was made to alternatives, and so on and so forth. It is not up to the school boards to do that. They are following instructions. Eighty per cent of the Yellowknife school board budgets come from the government, so it is not like they are free actors here. They have to follow the direction given to them by the department.

What I am asking for is a re-think where the department communicates with their primary stakeholders, who are parents and students, rather than asking that work be done by the educational authorities and school boards. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are an education system. There are a lot of partners at the table. It is specifically around instructional hours. We have the NWT Teachers' Association, educational authorities, ourselves, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. If the Member is wanting us to do another information blitz, getting out there and letting the public know, again, we would have to do that in cooperation with our partners that came to an agreement on the instructional hour times. We want to get that information out there, but we also want to make sure that we protect and give the best opportunities for teachers to take care of their health and their wellness so that they can provide the right amount of education to our students. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Moses. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am not aware that there was ever a blitz, let alone a follow-up blitz. I think that the government could do a better job of communicating the information about instructional hours with parents, and I encourage them to take the earliest opportunity to do that. Thank you. Those are all my questions.

Thank you, Ms. Green. To the comment, Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned, we did use media. We got the information on our website. The department did a technical media briefing. We also sent technical packages out to all MLAs regarding the information on the agreement that was made. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I want to follow up with the sorts of questions that my colleague from Yellowknife Centre had, because this is a communications problem again. It's not just a communications problem with the public. It's a communications problem with MLAs.

The MOU was signed off as part of the negotiation process. I get that. Some people have said that the reason it was done that way was to avoid having to pay teachers more, and to set an example for other negotiations that are going on. That's the kind of a deal. I don't -- whether that is true or not, you folks can laugh -- it was on the radio earlier this week. Maybe you don't listen to the radio anymore. In any event, people are talking about that in this way.

The MOU is signed. Then, there is a technical briefing for the media. The MLAs still haven't been told about this. Now, we've got a bill before us to actually change the instructional hours without a lot of evidenced-based decision-making that I can see that is going on here.

Yes, our instructional hours are higher than some other jurisdictions, but are we still going to have Alberta recognition? The Minister said in the House when he was asked, "I'll have to get back to you, and I'll have to check to see that." Two days later, the same Minister gets up and says that he had a meeting with the Minister of Education of Alberta, and that things seem to be okay. I didn't quite get it. The communications around this with the Regular MLAs have been confusing at best, and we've got a bill now before us without any evidence of whether this is going to be a good move or not.

Look, teachers, they work very hard, and hats off to these guys. They deserve everything they can get, but when they're at the negotiation table trying to get a deal that they can sell to their membership, that's the only kind of concession that they can get from this government, that is what they are going to go for. Hats off for them in getting that.

The way that this has been communicated to Regular MLAs, let alone the public, has been a disaster. What is the Minister going to do about this? We haven't even had a technical briefing around this yet. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry, I'm getting worked up because the other side doesn't seem to think that there is a problem, as usual. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. I must remind Members of being respectful for one another, and there is still time allowed, Mr. O'Reilly. If you want to ask a question pertaining to communication, you still have time.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I did have a question at the end. I asked the Minister: when are we going to get a technical briefing on the instructional hours, and some actual evidence that this is a good move? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to thank the honourable Member for recognizing that our teachers are overworked, averaging 52 hours a week. Research has shown that when teachers have the opportunity to have prep time and prepare for their courses, that students get a quality education, they have enough time to provide quality education, and this was something that came out of a legally binding agreement, collective agreement, between the Teachers' Association and the Government of the Northwest Territories.

If the Member would like, the honourable Members would like, we can resend the package that we did send them. Our office is looking to set up a meeting with the Standing Committee on Social Development to look at giving that briefing to Members, but this was a collective agreement, and I just want to let the Members know that, and it's something that's going to enhance the quality of education and quality teaching that teachers provide. Plus, it also gives them the opportunity for professional development.

So there was research done behind it, and we're not just throwing things out there just because we think it's the right thing to do. We work with our teachers and the NWT Teachers' Association. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to be clear, this wasn't about money at all; this was something that was collectively agreed upon between the NWT Teachers' Association and the GNWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So just in case anybody misunderstands, I fully support collective bargaining; it's the right thing to do, and as long as both sides can reach an agreement, that's fantastic. It would be helpful, though, if the Regular MLAs were once in a while actually informed about what's going on with collective bargaining, but that's perhaps a bigger issue.

So the Minister is going to offer a technical briefing; great. Can he tell us, though, the instructional hours for high school students, has this been discussed in detail with Alberta and will our high school students, under the reduced instructional hours, still be fully recognized as having an equivalent degree as students in Alberta? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

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

Thank you. We have had officials speaking with Alberta officials, but I also mentioned that Alberta has taken a different model as well and being flexible in the way they teach their hours, as I had answered questions in the House I think to the Member for Nahendeh when he was asking the questions earlier this week. As I mentioned, these plans aren't going to be divulged until the end of March for each school, and we can ensure that we give the supports to the principals and the teachers as they're developing these plans. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So as I understand it, it's still under discussion, then, with the Government of Alberta; is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.