Mahsi, Madam Chair. Committee wishes to deal with Tabled Document 286-19(2), Main Estimates 2021-2022, Departments of Education, Culture and Employment and Executive and Indigenous Affairs. Marsi cho, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. We will take a short recess and resume with the first item.

---SHORT RECESS

I will call committee back to order. Committee, we have agreed to continue on with Education, Culture and Employment, for labour development and advanced education on page 52, with information items from page 53 to 63. Minister, do you have witnesses?

Yes, I do.

Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, could you please introduce your witnesses for the record?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Back by popular demand, we have Deputy Minister Rita Mueller and assistant deputy minister of Corporate Services, Sam Shannon. Thank you.

Okay. Marsi cho, Madam Chair. I am just going to turn your attention to page 54 on small community employment. It's not so much the numbers. I just have some questions about this line item. If I could just ask the Minister to explain what exactly these funds are for, we will start there. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The small community employment fund is a pot of money that the communities or employers and communities can apply for to create or subsidize jobs in centres outside of Yellowknife. It is very flexible, an easy application process and is just a way to help get people working in small communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That is good to know, that there is some consideration, a pot of money, to get work going in small communities. Like I said, every dollar here matters. My next question is: is this pot of money, what's the word, being fully subscribed? Like where are we sitting? Is it undersubscribed? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.

Thank you. Perhaps Mr. Shannon has details on the exact numbers.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Shannon.

Thank you, Mr. Shannon. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Yes. My last question for this line item is: can the Minister give us a breakdown by region? I ask that just to make sure that there is some fair sharing throughout the regions and the territories for our small communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.

Thank you. I can ask the deputy minister to provide that, and we can also give breakdowns by community as well as the number of jobs created in each community by this one. I will ask my deputy minister for some more information. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Deputy Minister Mueller.

Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I thought I was done there, but yes, I will look forward to seeing that information. In hearing this, it sounds like this is a really important program, and it does create jobs right at the grass-roots level. Are there any talks to increasing this fund to try to up those numbers for jobs in small communities? Marsi cho.

Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.

Thank you. I always talk about increasing it, but there is nothing on the books right now. I do think that it is one of the programs that going forward we need to look at and consider how we can use it to target employment in the small communities because that has been a tough nut to crack, and I know that this has proven successful at that. It is definitely on my radar. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you. My other one, I have questions about Skills Canada. There is a line item here. It has not really changed. It's $70,000. I am looking at this for the explanation in this line item. It says that it's for priorities related to adult career and employment. It does not seem like that much of a number, so can I get an idea from the Minister of how well this pot of money is subscribed? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.

Thank you. I believe this is a contribution to Skills Canada for them to hold the Skills NWT events throughout the territory. I believe that, recently, they've been confined to Yellowknife, but I'm interested in seeing how we can expand that reach. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That's good to know. I think, for something like this to promote trades, to promote skilled labour, that sort of stuff, it can't be just confined to Yellowknife. I think that's something that needs to be looked at, to get it out to up in the Beaufort, up in the South Slave, Sahtu, Deh Cho. Just getting it out there, because we need to get these skills promoted at the smaller-community level, as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Yes, and I agree. It's a third party, and they also receive funding from other sources, as well. I see the value in having the regional competitions. You can see that, when we have the regional competitions, it does bring more people from outside of the capital to the territorial competition. They can show off their skills, and it allows them to get exposure. I agree that this is something I will definitely look into, and have been, actually. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you. I'm just going to move along here. I have one last question about the literacy funding. This one, here, it has kind of fluctuated a little bit, but I just wanted to know a little bit more about this program. Where is it being delivered, and what type of programs are delivered under this funding pot? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.

Thank you. I'd like to ask the deputy minister to respond.

Thank you. Deputy Minister Mueller.

Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

A quick comment and then I have one more other question. It is important, I think, adult education, learning, literacy. Learning is a lifelong process, and I think it's good to see this line item in here. I'm hoping that it's being used for what it's meant for. I did have a question on page 57. It's kind of a number question, and I was curious about this because I didn't quite make sense of it. The student loan fund here, there's a line item here labelled "Northern Bonus." Can the Minister just explain what exactly that line item is and just describe to the House because I don't understand what that is. Thank you.

Thank you, Member, Minister.

Thank you. The Northern Bonus is a program whereby we provide an incentive for people to move back to the North, and it helps them pay down their student loan. I can ask Mr. Shannon for some more detail. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Shannon.

Thank you, Mr. Shannon. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

That's a good explanation. I just wasn't sure, but I appreciate that. I have nothing further at this time. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Member for Monfwi.

Masi, Madam Chair. Just on Small Community Employment Support, as well. Mr. Norn did touch on a few of them, so it has been answered. I'm looking forward to additional information that is going to be delivered to us on the regions and the communities. The funding was $5 million back in 2019, and now it's hovering just over $4 million. There has been an increase in funding, as well. With the last Assembly, actually, probably all outlying community MLAs pushed for it, and I think there's a high value for this. It creates employment in the communities. We've just heard on the numbers. Obviously, we would like to see more of that. The last time, it was a supplementary that it was brought in. Would the Minister be in consideration of bringing a supplementary on this particular subject area to increase the funding? Because I'll be supportive of that, and I think other Members, well, they have their own perspective. There has been a lot of support in this area, so I'm just wondering whether there's an appetite to do that, Madam Chair. Masi.

Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.

Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Member stated, the increase that is seen in 2019-2020 was the result of negotiations between Cabinet at that point and Regular Members. There was a one-year increase. While I would love to be able to say I'm bringing something forward, we had to craft this budget based on all of the needs and wants across all departments. This is what we landed on. I would love to have, really, everything in ECE see a budget increase. The fact is that these are the main estimates, and there is not a plan to bring forward a supplementary appropriation for this item. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Monfwi.

Masi, Madam Chair. Obviously, the Minister is listening carefully to what our issues are or challenges, and this is an opportunity for us to have more positive news instead of decreasing numbers from 700 to 400 in actual employment in the communities. In fact, we should be aiming for higher, so I think this is an area where we can do that. I am certainly hoping that the Minister will seriously consider it as we move forward, because the whole COVID thing is still with us. It is very challenging for students to return home from school. I have kids in college, as well. These are some of the challenges that they're faced with, especially in small, remote communities. Not every community hires GNWT students, so this is creating more opportunity at an isolated-community level. I would like for our Minister to seriously consider it. Madam Chair, that was just a comment to the Minister on that.

Skills Canada, there hasn't really been much increase over the years; $70,000 has been that earmark number for quite some time, now. When you look at Skills Canada, there are quite a few very successful individuals who have gone through the process. Just speaking from my experience, my kid has been involved in that, and he's now a journeyman ticket holder, an electrician. In fact, he got the highest mark. If it wasn't for Skills Canada, would we have seen those success stories? I'm not sure, but I'm thinking down the road, the next five, 10 years. Since Skills Canada has been very successful to date, in my eyes, anyways, has there been a contemplation of possibly increasing the funding, Madam Chair, from $70,000 to, it would be nice if we could get double that, but I'm just wondering if the Minister is considering that down the road. Masi.

Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.

Thank you. I appreciate the Member's comments. This is a great way to promote trades, get people involved in trades, and the Member is right to brag. I think his son was not just number one; he was number one in the territory. It was a big accomplishment, and I commend him for that. Skills Canada does get additional funding. To that point, I think that we talk about how can we promote trades, and maybe this is a way. I am happy to have those conversations with the department and with Skills Canada to see if perhaps we can expand it so it has more of a regional reach again, as well. I think that might be useful, also. Given that it is a relatively small contribution, I am happy to have those discussions with the department and the organization. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Monfwi.

Masi, Madam Chair. I am glad that the Minister is interested in, I guess he can call it a gateway to empowering the regions, the communities. That was my next line of questions: how can we reach out to the communities, the most isolated communities where we are lacking journeymen plumbers and oil-burner mechanics for those homes? Madam Chair, the Minister has already committed to looking into this, so I just want to say thank you to the Minister for committing to that, and I am looking forward to a positive outcome. That's just a comment, Madam Chair. Masi.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. I will take that as a comment. Are there any further questions? Seeing none, please turn to page 53. Education, Culture and Employment, labour development and advanced education, operations expenditure summary, 2021-2022 Main Estimates, $54,518,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, Members. Please return now to the departmental summary on page 29. Minister.

Thank you. I just wanted to clarify that we provide Skills Canada $70,000 a year in this line item, but they also access another $85,000 a year from the GNWT, as well, through our labour market programs, so I just wanted to put that on the record. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. All right. We are on page 29. Education, Culture and Employment, operations expenditures, 2021-2022 Main Estimates, $353,599,000. Mr. Norn.