Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, I would like to congratulate the Department and Health and Social Services for working towards the new child and youth mental health workers. I think it is very important. In my riding, it has been a huge concern. Just in the past year, we have had a number of sad incidents and some tragic ones. I have got to thank the departments for working together for that, and I know, from talking with the people in my riding, they are very supportive of this direction of people working together on that.
I would also like to thank the department for continuing to expand the Distance Learning Program. It has a huge impact upon some of my smaller communities, and some of these small communities actually want to start looking at extending their schooling to kindergarten to grade 12, and so here is an opportunity with the extended learning education that we will be able to help them meet that goal. So I thank the department for that. I know, in some of the smaller communities, I have heard that a lot. They want to keep their children in the communities, and so I praise the department for doing that positive step on there.
As we have heard through some of my colleagues here, we talked about junior kindergarten and the funding. It is a concern for me that, again, it is funding as according to the formula. Again, it is not fully funded, but it is funded according to the formula, and that needs to be educated or brought out to the people so people are aware of that. The education formula is a formula. We do not fund any programs completely. It is from my understanding and looking at things, it is based on a formula. That needs to be educated, and that is how we need to be sending the message out to people. It is not fully funded, but it is funded according to the formula.
The career and education advisors, that is a huge concern for me. We are removing the counsellors, and I fully support that idea, but now you are putting these positions, three into Inuvik and three into Yellowknife. They are travelling, and yes, they are a team, but again, it's the face-to-face. It's the knowing the people and the students and understanding where it's going. When we talk about careers, we are starting at a younger age. It is just not grade 10, 11, and 12, because once they get to that point, you know, going into grade 10, they have already got a career. They already know where they are going. We need to make sure that we provide the proper system and education and support that the students need, and that is starting in grade 5, even in kindergarten, helping them get prepared.
Somebody talked about the five systems of education, the five streams that we are looking at. That there is a concern for me, especially if we are not educating the public about what it is, but it is not just about post-secondary. It is about trades. It is about educating the parents and also the students of where they need to go. I am confused with the three streams we have right now, or the two streams depending on what school you are talking about. I understand the department is trying to work on this, but we need to educate people. People need to understand the direction we are going with this.
You have probably heard me say this numerous times. I talk about the social work program and also the TEP program. We are doing a foundational review. I appreciate the department is doing that, and I am hoping that some good results will come from it. Again, we are putting a nail in a coffin when we don't do an intake. When we don't have an intake, that means our students are starting to look at going elsewhere.
The department does a great job in preparing or supporting the students existing right now. I have no qualms about that. I say that the department is helping the people who are in the program and they are trying to get where they need to go. It is not about the help that we are challenging or questioning. It is about providing this service.
According to your Skills4Success, the top 20 jobs in demand, elementary school teachers and kindergarten teachers, 777 positions from 2015 to 2030. That is your result. That is what you are telling us. Now you are saying this department, this program is going to be removed from the college. That kind of goes against exactly what you are trying to say. One says, "here it is." The other side, "we are cutting it."
That is a huge concern for me. If there is something wrong with the program, then we need to fix the program. We can't be sending people always down south. In talking with the students, whether it is in the social work program or the TEP program, they go to school in the North because that is where their support system is. Going down South, I have talked with a number of social work students out there, and they are going, "Man, oh man, we don't have the support system we have up North." It is just not the department, but it is the family and the extended family. The department needs to understand that and needs to look at it. I seriously believe that is what we need to be looking at to improve on.
Small community employment fund, again, the department is talking about trades, the importance -- not trades, but training. I agree, totally support that. However, there is a catch here. It is about putting people to work. It is about how people right now need the economy to get some food on the table so they don't have to go on income support. They want to work on it. This is what I have been trying to say.
Yes, it is great that we do a portion of it for training, but the other portion is we need to put people to work. If we put people to work, they are going to feel better about themselves. If they are feeling better about themselves, they are going to advance and get better. Then their family environment is going to be better. I understand the department and what they are trying to do. I think it is a good vision. At the same time, we need to put people to work. We need to put people on the ground doing jobs. The struggle may be that the department is really good at developing the skills we need to do it, the training that we need to do it. Maybe we take part of that money and put it to ITI, who then does job creation. Right now, people want jobs, especially in the small communities. People don't understand a $10,000 or $15,000 job has a huge impact on their life. We need to promote that. We need to encourage that.
This is where I am coming from. We need to look at what is good for the small communities, as well. It is just not where the vision and the mandate from the government is. We need to look at what the small communities need. Sometimes, it is not the training. Sometimes, it is about giving them a paycheque and giving them a job. In saying all that, I have to give credit to your staff. The regional staff do an amazing job. They work well with the communities and they try to achieve. Every time I have talked to my communities about things, they have talked highly of the ECE staff, the Divisional Board of Education. The department is doing a good job regionally implementing your actions.
I would also like to thank the department finally, before my time is up. It is about social assistance and reducing the cost of living for seniors. That is probably one of the biggest challenges I have right now: trying to explain to seniors, "You make too much money, so you can't get subsidy." They are going, "I can't afford to live where I am if I don't work. If I don't work, I can't provide food on the table. If I work and provide food on the table, I can't access the department's funding to get the fuel subsidy."
When you talk to some of these elders about this situation, they are getting really frustrated. They are saying we -- I say "we." I am not blaming the department. We as government don't seem to care about them. They go, "We have an appeal process, but why? It is not going to work for us." It has a huge impact on them. It is really frustrating to hear their stories. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Those are my opening comments, with 22 seconds left.