Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak to the proposed amendments to the Education Act. Mr. Speaker, the proposed amendments to the Act address two major issues that are crucial to improving education in the Northwest Territories; pupil/teacher ratio and student support services.

In terms of pupil/teacher ratio and student support services, the amendments propose to reduce the pupil/teacher ratio over a period of four years. Lowering the pupil/teacher ratio will affect class size. The research in this area is overwhelming. Small classes improve children's learning conditions. In smaller classes, teachers are able to spend more time with individual children and are better able to meet their needs. It just makes sense, Mr. Speaker. The individual help children receive decreases as the number of students in the classroom increases. In their research, they conclude average pupil achievement increases as class size decreases.

In terms of student support services, our classrooms consist of students with varied backgrounds, abilities and needs. Today our students are faced with many challenges. They need support services more than ever. The amendments propose to increase funding to student support services from 8.2 percent of total schools funding to 15 percent beginning the next school year. Mr. Speaker, our students need this support.

A Yellowknife educator says;

"while the focus in education over the past 10 to 15 years has been to integrate special needs students and towards inclusionary education, I do not feel money and resources have accompanied this goal, rather regular classroom teachers have been asked and expected to meet the diversity and intensity of needs."

This is a systematic problem that needs to be addressed and this is echoed throughout the Northwest Territories. The proposed amendments to the Education Act will affect every student in school in the Northwest Territories. These amendments are supported by all the partners in education; teachers, parents, school trustees and divisional educational councils and educational authority members. More teachers and more student support forces cannot help but have a positive effect on our educational system.

Mr. Speaker, our educational system must focus on promoting the success of all children as learners and on developing the talents and potential of each child. To do this, we ask that legislators ensure the funding is in place to provide quality education and equal opportunity to all children in the Northwest Territories. The proposed amendments to the Education Act are a good beginning to doing this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for a more positive response on that. I can also say to the Minister that I have a different opinion as to the availability of resources to build a road faster. I am sure if we got the money, we could work around the lack of equipment.

I think that this is a concern not only with Yellowknife Members and constituents, but with the constituents of Rae-Edzo and Fort Providence. We have to involve the aboriginal organizations that are affected in these regions. I want to know if the Minister will make the commitment to bring all of the stakeholders together and make this project a priority on his list of things to do in the next little while? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have many Members on this side that have had a briefing on this project, and I am alarmed to hear that in fact, it may even be more than ten years. This is in light of the fact we do not have full production of diamond mines. We only have BHP. We will hopefully have Diavik coming in the very near future. We also have Winspear on line. This little road cannot handle one mine during the winter road season. This road cannot wait for ten years.

I hear over and over again that we have to ask the federal government. I want to know from the Minister, what has he done in the whole time he has been in his office? How many meetings did he have with the federal Minister of Transportation? What is he doing to lobby the federal government for additional money? Is he just waiting for the budget to come out? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am really happy to hear the Minister agrees this road is in very poor condition. There is a need for real action here. I am also glad to hear from the Minister that this is a temporary measure. I would like to know what other long-term plans the Minister has to address this condition of the road? This is really not a road. It really is a mud hole. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister responsible for Transportation. It is regarding the Member's statement I made today about the dangerous road conditions on Highway No. 3. I would like to ask the Minister what prompted him to announce the policy yesterday? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think I have to go back to being a lawyer a bit here. I would really like the Minister to answer yes or no as to whether he is taking the question as notice. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to be clear, may I please have the Minister confirm he is taking the question as notice, and that he has to reply in the Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, have a question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, regarding the Student Financial Assistance Program. I believe the proposed amendments are a step in the right direction, with the exception of some of the shortfalls in terms of how the recommendations from the Minister's Forum on Student Financial Assistance were addressed, such as the amounts provided for tuition and books, overall cap on the amount spent on the program, the new definition of a full-time student, and the amount provided for part-time students.

My question today has specifically to do with item number 5 in the recommendations of the Minister's Forum on Student Financial Assistance. It recommends the primary focus of the Student Financial Assistance Program be indigenous and aboriginal people, and non-aboriginal Northwest Territories youth who have completed part or all of their schooling in the Northwest Territories.

It lays out the focus the program should address. I believe the correspondence the Minister has provided does not give enough information as to whether this was dealt with. I would like to ask the Minister if he can provide us with a breakdown of the numbers within each group of students, status aboriginal, non-status aboriginal students, Northwest Territories school students, and non-Northwest Territories school students? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am concerned that having two separate speed limits would encourage small-vehicle operators to keep trying to pass the big trucks. You can see how this can be dangerous for everyone travelling on that road.

As I stated earlier, Mr. Speaker, this road is a fatality site waiting to happen. How many lives do we have to injure or lose on this road? How much fuel and contaminants do we have to dump into the lakes surrounding this highway before the road is paved and widened? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause