Thank you, and yes, I'm the one who -- I'll often been saying that, you know, schools are the only place that some students actually get a good meal. And, you know, when I was growing up, there was no food in schools and I was amazed as I took over this portfolio and toured schools just how much food there is. I mean, there's fresh fruit, there's eggs, there's sandwiches. Students can, for the most part, you know, get something to eat whenever they need to so it really is an amazing program. There are third party funders who also contribute to this. Schools do fundraising, and they receive donations towards these programs. So this isn't the only money that is going towards this. But, you know, I -- I'm not going to say I'm opposed to seeing an increase here. As I -- I'm not opposed to seeing an increase in many areas. But in this budget, there isn't one, but, you know, given the comments of the Member, I will continue to look at ways to try and increase this number. Thank you.
Debates of March 2nd, 2022
This is page numbers 3665 - 3710 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was know.
Topics
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
Katrina Nokleby Great Slave
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I appreciate the Minister willing to look at it. And I guess the reason I would ask that, and maybe we can look at more of a formal sort of -- not too onerous of an evaluation because I think often teachers end up picking up a lot of the slack themselves when they see students in need and often spend a lot of their own money back in their classrooms not only for supplies but also for food or, you know, if there are field trip fees, things like that, I know that teachers will often pay for that out-of-pocket, and perhaps that's a hidden expense to teachers that the department isn't quite aware of. So I would appreciate, yeah, just seeing some analysis of that. Thank you.
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
R.J. Simpson Hay River North
Sure. I can say what sort of analysis we can provide, and I have seen some -- I've seen, you know, the cost of a meal in Yellowknife versus the cost of a meal in Tuk, and so there is some of that analysis out there. And these are really run by the education bodies themselves. So it them who decide how to do it but nonetheless we do provide the significant -- a significant portion of the funding. So I will see what we can dig up to share with the Member. Thank you.
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thanks very much, Madam Chair. I just want to turn to education renewal initiative, just found in a couple places. I'll start on page 49 in the program detail.
So in 2021-2022, we had budgeted $2.7 million but didn't seem to spend anything. Can someone tell me what happened and why the amount -- yeah, why don't we just start with that. Thanks.
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
R.J. Simpson Hay River North
Thank you. I'll ask the deputy minister to answer it. If we get really into the numbers, then Mr. Shannon will take over. Thank you.
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
Macdonald
Thank you, Madam Chair, and I'll definitely try to stay away from those numbers. In this instance, the funding was diverted back to school contributions so ultimately it was determined that that would be best served by providing that funding back to education bodies as part of their annual funding. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Okay, thanks. So was that related to COVID stuff, or -- because and then when I see 2022-2023, there's only a million dollars, which is higher I guess than 2021-2022 but I'm just trying to make some sense of the whole line and the yo-yo. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
R.J. Simpson Hay River North
Thank you. So ERI has funded different projects at different times. And the way that the ERI money was found, I think is the reason that there might be some ups and some downs there. It is related to this contribution to schools, and the -- we have to approximate that amount. And so we were to approximate amount -- an amount that would be slightly higher than what the schools would end up receiving, and that little gap there is what we would traditionally use for ERI. So it was money that was already appropriated to the education system and we would use it to sort of fund some of these innovative ideas to help advance the education system. And so, you know, in different years, those numbers were different and we did what we could with it. And from there, we have grown successful projects that have then gone on to, you know, be funded on their own. Things like northern distance learning and a number of other projects, so. Thank you.
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3679
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3680
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Yeah, okay. As I seem to recall, ERI came about even before I was an MLA, about 2013 or 2014, and there's lots of great ideas in there and it was a collaborative effort. The problem was that it was never really followed through, and we went off on some crazy diversions. We had JK, and the schools weren't getting funded for it and had to fight to get that sorted out. Then there was, you know, STIP and just kind of a whole series of other crisis that sort of came along where I think if we have really focused more on ERI throughout all of this, that maybe we would be in a better place. But that's just more of a comment.
But when I turn the page over on 50 and I look at the contributions for ERI, again it's a yo-yo here, Madam Chair. And, you know 2020-2021, $163,000. Then 240 last year, nothing was spent. And now for 2022-2023, nothing is budgeted. So what's going on with the contributions line now? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3680
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3680
R.J. Simpson Hay River North
Thank you, Madam Chair. And so all of those initiatives that the Member mentioned, those actually all came from ERI. So one of the criticisms of it was that there was -- we were trying do too many things. There was too many actions. And so those were paired down and the current action plan that we have is a response to the OAG's audit as well as a response to our own ERI evaluation. It is a reflection of the fact that we needed to try and focus our efforts. And so that is actually the -- you know, the final two-year action plan of the ERI initiative. Perhaps I can get Mr. Shannon to talk a bit about the numbers that the Member was mentioning. Thank you.
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3680
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3680
Shannon
Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Minister alluded to in his previous response in regards to the program detail, there was in the revised estimates the money that was originally targeted for ERI was moved back into the school contributions. So that's where you see the 2021-2022 going from $240,000 to the revised of zero. In 2022-2023, there are no contemplated contributions to education bodies for the education renewal money. That $1.01 million is for -- targeted for the departmental budget to continue rolling out the specific actions that are remaining under that funding. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3680
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3680
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Okay, thanks, Madam Chair. If I wasn't confused before, now I really am. It's kind of like two pots of money floating around here. One that the department has and then other money that's being pushed out to the boards. And I just don't really see or understand, I guess, how they're connected. But, yeah, I'm not sure what else I can say.
Does the department sort of ever do a report on where we are at with regard to the ERI? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3680
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3680
R.J. Simpson Hay River North
Thank you. Yes, when I took over this portfolio, the department had just finished a report on the ERI initiatives. It coincided with a report from the Office of the Auditor General, and as a result, we developed a -- that action plan that I mentioned earlier. So that is the last report on ERI. I believe it's been shared with standing committee. It's quite extensive. So I can leave it at that. Thank you.