Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am wondering if the Minister can tell me if he is satisfied with the state of distance learning in the North and satisfied with the performance we are getting out of our $5.5 million?

Thank you. Is that a grand total of $3.5 million or a grand total of $5 million?

Thank you. So this is an ongoing $1.5 million per year, roughly. I am wondering if the Minister can tell me how much money we have sunk into this project since the onset of the project, in both capital and operations and maintenance? The total bill to date.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask the Minister a few questions about the digital communications network and how it is affected, specifically in this interim, but more specifically overall as the department sees it in its ongoing plans.

I know we see a lot of uses for the digital communications network in education, specifically distance learning is obviously going to be very valuable. This government has made a conscious decision to get into what we call grade extensions in the communities, where we would like to provide high school courses in the smaller communities, instead of shipping the kids away from home. I think that distance learning will certainly be a huge asset in this area. Specialized courses can probably now be offered in some of the small communities where there may not be a physics or chemistry teacher. As well, additional training for teachers can be ongoing. They can get online training over the digital communications network.

But we know we heard problems from all departments. We have heard problems from this department that we have a lack of bandwidth. It would cost us a lot of money to upgrade the service, to make it useable in this area. I would like to get a handle on what kind of money would have to be sunk into the digital communications network to make distance learning a reality, because I think it is a very valuable initiative.

First, I would like to ask the Minister how much money the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment has spent in this area to date on this initiative, in both capital and operations and maintenance?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That sounds good. I am hoping that we are then going to realize that since that is the department's intention, we are not just talking about 74 jobs here. Since it is the intention to get funding in the mains for the rest of the summer, we might as well let out contracts for 500 jobs, or some number higher than 74, because I think that is just a drop in the bucket of what we really need.

Since we are going for the funding in the mains anyway, I just think that we let out the same number of contracts that we have in years past with the understanding that the funding will be made available in the mains. There are many other year-long contracts, many other contracts in this interim that extend over a length of time greater than the interim, and we commit to that. It is just understood that money will be there in the mains to follow up.

We certainly do not expect to hire a consultant who might have a year long contract and tell them that this is the amount of money for you in the interim. We cannot tell you what is going to happen half way through a project when we get to the mains. You will have to come and talk to us then. I think that is the same approach we are taking with the students.

The department has to be a little more upfront in saying we are going to take care of the students. We are not just going to stick to the number of 74, or whatever the $150,000 justifies, and commit to contracts for the duration of the summer. Thank you.

I can appreciate that the bulk of the work might be done in July or August. That is when high school students are out. Kids on their way to their first year of university might be trying to access the funding only for July and August. But for May and June, for the university students who are listening and are going to read about this in the newspaper, having to prepare for final exams and these kinds of things, hoping they will be able to find employment when they come back here...we do not have much of a response for these students. We can basically say to them we can do a little better in July and August. Are we suggesting they stay down south and look for work? It looks pretty bleak.

I think we need to be able to assure students coming back that we are not going to provide only 74 jobs with this $150,000. We are going to make the commitment to hire more students than that with the understanding that we will approve the funding in the mains. Certainly we commit to year-long contracts in other areas. I do not think this commitment is out of line with what we see in just about every department. We make year-long commitments. This is a four-month commitment. I do not see why we could not make the commitment for the length of the time. Even going back, if it means getting more money in this interim, more than $150,000, then we do it. I think that it is ridiculous to say to students we can provide a job for a few of you but only for a couple of months, and then you are on your own. Whether or not you will have employment or can find any employment for the last two months of the summer, we do not know. We cannot help you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Minister is basically saying then that they are going to be able to commit to 74 jobs this year because we cannot make commitments past the end of June, and roughly the money had provided 500 and some odd plus jobs last year. He is saying he is pretty sure we will approve additional funding in the mains, but are we talking about additional funding for only 74 jobs, since we cannot commit higher than 74 positions? That is what I think I am hearing. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I can appreciate that we may not know until the contracts are written, but surely the Minister can see that we have four months where the funding is of any use to students: May; June; July; and August. We are going to approve this interim at the end of March. So they will put these contracts out and have roughly one month to decide where the money is going and how many contracts this is buying, et cetera. The money will run out in June. At that point, they are proposing, since they cannot go any further than June, that at the end of June when we approve the mains, they are going to turn around and do another set of contracting? Or are they just going to extend the existing contracts?

If it is going to take them a month, from the beginning of April to the end of April, before they can be ready for May, where is that month going to come at the end of June for these students? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like some clarification on this. There is $150,000 in here, we do not know how many students this is going to provide for. I am just wondering if the Minister can get back to us before we conclude his department to let us know how many contracts he is proposing this $150,000 will buy us.