Thank you. Thank you, Minister, and thank you to the witnesses for appearing before us.

Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the chamber.

Okay, committee, we will now move on to the next department but before we do, we'll take a short recess and give the translator a chance to rest. Thank you.

---SHORT RECESS

Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 275-20(1), 2025-2026 Main Estimates. We will now consider the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Does the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment wish to bring in witnesses into the House?

Yes, please, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Does committee agree? Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the chambers.

Okay, would the Minister please introduce her witnesses.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to my left is Jamie Fulford, deputy minister of Education, Culture and Employment. And to my right is Terri-Lynn Locke-Setter who is the assistant deputy minister of corporate services.

Thank you. Welcome.

Committee has agreed to forego general comments. Does the committee agree to proceed to the detail contained in the tabled documents? Committee, agreed?

Thank you. Committee, we will defer the department summary and review of the estimates by activity summary beginning with corporate management starting on page 36 with information items on page 38. Are there any questions? Okay, I got a Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I assume this is as good a place as any to be asking business plan related questions; can I confirm that?

Go to the Minister.

Sure, Mr. Chair, whatever works best for you.

Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The first thing I'd like to ask about is just, you know, I see some new targets in the business plan, and I want to say first and foremost that I am happy to see those targets. I think that was one of my comments last year is that I felt, you know, we had to actually articulate what we were trying to achieve.

One thing I want to ask about, I mean, the targets are still quite vague. For post-secondary, it just says we want to increase them; it doesn't say how much, so it's -- the target is an increased, but it isn't a target, again, and in some cases, you know, the target is maintain or increase students. So I get to ask kind of an overarching plan, I mean, do we have -- can the Minister describe to me what the plan is for workforce development particularly related to the mandate commitment of growing and enhancing the northern workforce. What is the plan, because the business plan is a bit vague about it. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the plan includes not just, you know, one avenue or one item. It includes many different -- like, a suite of supports for residents, and that's everything from, you know, our wage subsidies and supports for employers so that people can do on the job training. That also includes our wage subsidy, for example, for apprentices and creating additional pathways for people to access things like apprenticeship. It includes things, for example, like our transition to the BC curriculum in order to ensure that students are supported to get to a level of wanting and being able to achieve post-secondary as well. I would say there's also pieces of that within ITI and some of the work that is being done on that side which I'm happy to speak to when we get to that department as well. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And so I mean fundamentally speaking, do we have a plan related to this mandate item? Like, do we have -- how do I say this. I mean, are we measuring our northern workforce, determining what is preventing it from growing, and implementing a targeted plan to grow it? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Absolutely, Mr. Chair, that is largely based on our Skills 4 Success plan. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll leave that as my comments on the business plan for now. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a very perhaps silly question but on page 37 of the mains, the fees and payments line under expenditure category has gone up since 2023-2024. Can the -- and I've looked throughout the various functions of BC, and it seems to be going up through most of them. So can the Minister explain what fees and payments going up means? Thank you.