Thank you, Deputy Minister Guy. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you. I am aware of that. I just wanted to clear it up in Hansard for anyone who is looking at the budget document and trying to follow that conversation. My questions are about, I guess, corporate management. There was talk in the questions from the Member for Yellowknife North about training opportunities and what the department is doing in terms of addressing this deficit, I guess, of skilled workers, such as a journeyman, that we have. I know there was talk about the Minister said we are looking at breaking up contracts, so that smaller organizations can perhaps get in on them. Talking about training locals when there are projects, but there doesn't seem to be anything concrete here. I know that Education has Skills 4 Success, and it is hard to really tell from those documents what exactly is happening on the ground. From the Minister's answers, it sounds like things are sort of happening ad hoc, but there doesn't seem to be a real training plan.

One of the things that is really holding the territory back is the lack of journeymen. It is the lack of skilled labourers. You know, we can build a road to the mines and we can open up new mines. The same people who aren't working today won't be working at that new mine, and that is really the problem. That is where the resources go. It is the people who, you know, need to live in housing or earn income assistance because they don't have those skills to take those jobs. I will always remember the Premier said in one of his first speeches: there are more than enough jobs in the Northwest Territories for everyone. The problem is that the people from the territories often aren't filling those.

I have to disagree a bit with my colleague from Yellowknife North, who said that this is a bit outside the department, training. I think the department should be very heavily involved with training. I think that we need to start breaking down some of these walls between education, between housing, between infrastructure, and come up with an actual plan to move this territory ahead in terms of training. Otherwise, we are just going to be spinning our wheels for years to come.

What does the department have in terms of a comprehensive, written plan that they can show the committee, so that they can prove that they are taking this seriously? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will start, and maybe the deputy will want to add something. You know, as I clearly said, we are working with industry players on all these things, especially these larger projects moving forward. ECE is the trainer of the Northwest Territories. That is their position. That is where those questions should go, but with saying that, we work very closely. We are not spinning our wheels. We work very closely with the Minister and her department on how we can implement training opportunities and all these projects.

It is at front of mind with all the communities when these projects come to their regions. It is no different than the Tuktoyaktuk to Inuvik Highway or the Canyon Creek project. Even, as I said, to lead a project with the Bear River Bridge, Mount Gaudet has already approached us even right, like, within a matter of a couple of days of the announcement of that money. So we are working closely with them to help figure out a way they can capitalize at a local level on these opportunities.

A big role of that is how ECE is involved in these projects with us. We work closely with them. I don't know if there has to be a comprehensive plan altogether, as the Member says. ECE is mandated to implement training across the Northwest Territories, but we do recognize the fact that there are benefits that can be brought to these communities and the residents of the Northwest Territories through our projects. It is not something that we sleight of hand. It is something that we take very seriously and work closely with the Minister in her department. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you. I guess my issue is that, if there is not a plan, all we have is what we hear. I can't really quantify the things that have been said. There are no goals that we are trying to reach. They are all one-offs. You know, I was at the mining symposium in Hay River a couple of months ago and KFN, the former chief of KFN was there, and he said that, for the Hay River Bridge, which is being reconstructed on KFN traditional territory, there were no training opportunities available for their members. Perhaps sometimes there are, but sometimes there aren't, and that is part of the problem.

Again, this is one of those things that I have been bringing up at every business plan and every budget debate since I have been here. I think that it is something that the department really needs to start looking into, otherwise we are going to be stuck in the same place forever. The cost of our social services is going up. Our revenues are down. You know, we are facing some real economic troubles ahead. Unless we take this seriously, the future isn't looking very bright. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Nothing further.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Schumann, did you want to comment on that?

I don't want to get into a big debate about it, but I think the Member should save his questions for the Department of Education when they get to it. I know that, as I have said, we work closely with them. There is cross-departmental stuff around these things. We have our own apprenticeship program within our department. We have our settlement maintainer positions. There are a number of things that we do around training, but I think his specific question is around: what are we doing about training people around some of these larger projects? As I have said, we work closely with the Department of ECE on this matter. I think there have been some great success stories out there, and we will continue to do so and work with the Minister and her department. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Going back to the local community roads. Further to that, I just got a little side tracked on the capital aspect of it. I have now seen the budget shown to me by one of our honourable colleagues here, so I am okay with the responses. The question on the winter road: I'm asking if this money can be used for a winter road. Could it be used, like, for example, today I spoke of a possible winter road from here to Lutselk'e. Could this type of money be used for a road that links a community to, say, Yellowknife? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we would entertain that application around that basis. One thing I want to point out: that is a very limited amount that we have in the community access program, $1.508 million. I can tell you that goes awfully quickly. It is an application-based, first come, first served, but the Member is correct that that money could be accessed in that manner if a community wishes to apply for it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That is good news, but I do agree with the Minister that this would probably consume the entire budget with one project. I know that this is what is the mains and our opportunity to discuss the increase in this budget, would it be in that business planning time? I realize that. Still, going along the lines that my request to have a winter road constructed would be a part of capital, so I didn't make the link that it could be a part of O and M. I am wondering if the Minister sees, if that $1.48 million was fully subscribed, if the Minister would be able to, working with the FMB, increase that budget for the coming year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As, you know, the Finance Minister is going to be the last person up in front of the committee, but with our limited resources that we have right now I suspect, if I took an application in FMB to increase this community access program funding, I would have a tough time doing it. I would support the Member if he would -- well, it is a little bit late now, I guess, but the next Assembly, if they need to see more money put on this, we are going to have to work through the business planning to try to increase that. If I remember correctly, I think we have already topped it up $500,000 since a previous year or two ago, but this money does go quickly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, that is something to work on for me. It has increased quite a bit. I do appreciate that the department has been serious about looking at putting more money into this area because, maybe four or five years ago, it was $300,000, so it has grown quite a bit. It has become something that the communities really find a good program for short-term employment, even training the equipment operators and so on, so it is a very good program. I think that, in the future, the Assembly or the department could look at increasing that amount, maybe even doubling that amount to allow for larger projects which are not real capital projects because they melt at some time during the year, so it's not real infrastructure. I would just close by saying that I look forward to maybe the Minister having discussion with FMB, even if it's something that could be put off to the next budget cycle but something that would be considered in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Comment noted. Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to add to the community access program, we know how successful it is. I am sure, as you can tell by the Member before me, it is underfunded. Like he mentioned, it creates a lot of employment in our small communities. Even before Christmas, I was told there is really not much funding left, which is a shame because there are a lot of good projects coming out. You know, most communities tend to wait until the actual season that they want to start the work, a lot of portage trails that people are cutting out, bypass roads. We really appreciate the increase, but it's pretty clear, even to $2 million, increase it to $2 million, that would make a big difference for the communities. As you can tell, if you look at the new year here, starting January 1^st, you could probably tell the funds were already almost used up, so it's a clear indicator that we need to increase those funds. Will the Minister and the department look at the rough time of each year when this pot of money runs out? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. All I can say as a comment to that is we can have a look at it through the next business planning process, but we don't know who the next government or the next Minister is. The one thing I do want to say about this fund, though, is it has been successful. We have been spending. There are a lot of good projects out there, helping these communities. I have always brought up, every time we talk with Members about this pot of money, that somehow let's find a way to marry it with the small employment fund that we have increased significantly for the small communities in the Northwest Territories. Between those two pots of money, I think we have done good things to help employment in the smaller communities across the Northwest Territories. There are always fiscal pressures on all governments, and, going forward, as I said, that will be up to the 19^th Legislative Assembly, if we can increase the community access program again. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am glad the Minister mentioned that because that is one thing we are trying to do, is combine the small employment fund with the community access fund, which would have gone a lot further, I believe. Right now, the way this fund is being managed, I know it's outside his department, so I will not go there right now. I think it would have gone a lot further if we did combine those two pots of money for the community access. It would have brought the fund up to way more than double what it is now. I think that is something for the transition committee to possibly suggest, that they double this fund. Would the Minister agree? Thank you, Mr. Chair.