Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that's manager of capital planning. It came with the ELC agreement with Canada, so it's fully funded and is to help us be able to distribute the funds through our infrastructure fund that we received from the Government of Canada. And it is a term position. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Okay, thank you for that explanation. That is helpful. That's all I have for this item. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm looking at the active positions page there. When I look at the Sahtu and the Deh Cho, together these two regions make up one-third of the territorial communities and we've only allowed, for the last couple of years, one position. So I'm just wondering with the amount of schools in these two regions is there any future plans to expand on the personnel or staff in those two areas? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so this section here is the early learning section so it is the staff that help support early learning and childcare, and they are not -- they're just -- the education section is farther along, so that would speak to those positions. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll ask that question again. Yes, I understand this is the early learning section of the schools. Is there any plans to increase the early learning sections of these schools in these two particular regions? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, we were certainly looking for all opportunities to support new childcare spaces within the territory. At this time I know that, for example, Norman Wells is looking at a new space, and they've been very active in conversations with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment; and in addition, Industry, Tourism and Investment is kind of all hands on deck to see how we can support that understanding how critically important these new spaces are to parents across the territory. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In this area of the estimates we're talking about, the children, can the Minister expand on the upcoming year and the school food program that is being planned, maybe explain a little bit more information on the new fiscal year food program for the schools? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thanks very much, Mr. Chair. So that funding would be found in the education section because it will be delivered to the education bodies through contribution agreement. So we have received that funding now from the Government of Canada, and we are in the process of putting together each of those contribution agreements with our education bodies to ensure that those dollars flow out the door as quickly as possible. I also think it's worth noting here that there is 100 percent carryover with those dollars between this year and next year knowing that we are so close to the end of the fiscal year, so we don't want schools to feel like they need to rush out and spend all of their money in the next month and a half here and know that they have time to do that. The action plan that is driving what those contribution agreements are was drafted with education bodies, so education bodies had really the autonomy of deciding how they wanted to spend those dollars and, luckily, Canada was very flexible in how those dollars got spent within communities as well. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from the Sahtu.

Nothing further, Mr. Chair. I'm really glad to hear that; that's good news. Mahsi.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from the Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm looking at as well as the active positions for the Deh Cho. It says it's one half-time, part-time position. Why is it part-time and not full-time? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, I'll pass to the deputy minister in a moment here to provide more information on regional staffing. But these staff are to support our early learning and childcare system users across the territory, so people setting up day homes or people setting up childcare facilities. And through yourself, Mr. Chair, if you're comfortable, I'd like to pass it to the deputy minister.

I'll go to the deputy minister.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from the Deh Cho.