EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Mr. Deputy Chairperson (Ben Sveinson): Will the Committee of Supply please come to order. This section of the Committee of Supply will be considering the Estimates of the Department of Education and Training. Does the honourable Minister of Education and Training have an opening statement?

Hon. Linda McIntosh (Minister of Education and Training): Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to be able to provide opening remarks for the department’s Estimates for the 1996-97 period. The Manitoba government, as you know, is strongly committed to education and training. Despite the tough fiscal realities, coupled with the harsh federal cuts in funding to provinces, the 1996-97 Estimates will reflect this government’s commitment to education.

In setting the stage for this year’s Estimates debate, I wish to present the following: one, a brief descriptive overview of Manitoba Education and Training, the breadth of its mandate, the education partners and the clients that are served; two, the department’s mission, the principles that guide the department’s activities and the priorities for 1996-97; three, an overview of the key initiatives and the significance of these initiatives to Manitobans; four, the highlights of the 1996-97 funding allocation through which this government has endeavoured to ensure that available resources are provided in the fairest and most effective manner possible.

As we proceed with the Estimates process, we must keep in mind that the Education and Training system is large, complex and affects thousands of Manitobans across the province. The system includes at the present time 54 school divisions and districts with a total student enrollment of nearly 200,000; 55 independent funded schools with a total enrollment of over 13,000; four universities which offer well over 350 degree and certificate programs; three community colleges which serve students across the province and deliver a wide range of programming; many ongoing programs and services delivered through youth programs, literacy, student financial assistance, private vocational school administration, employment development programs, Access programs, apprenticeship and others.

Given the breadth of the system, the responsibilities of the minister are broad and diverse. For this reason, Manitoba Education and Training is managed by two deputy ministers, one for Education--kindergarten to Senior 4--and the other for Training and Advanced Education. It should be noted, however, that these responsibilities are shared with elected school boards and appointed college and university boards. In fact, over 90 percent of departmental expenditure is allocated to schools, capital facilities, post-secondary institutions and ongoing training programs such as Literacy and Access.

This government believes in focusing resources at the institutional and community level. Particularly in times of severe fiscal restraint, government itself must become as efficient and lean as possible. We want a cost-effective bureaucracy. As reflected in the 1996-97 Estimates process, the department has been streamlined further from last year. Particularly at the post-secondary level, branches have been amalgamated in order to direct as many resources as possible to programs, and this also helps, Mr. Chairman, to offset the decline in federal transfer cuts to post-secondary education in this province.

The department has also continued to develop an infrastructure designed to encourage partnerships and cost-effective joint ventures. This has included the creation of a council on Distance Education and Technology. This council was established just one year ago and is an important initiative to enhance the use of technology in education and training, support improved access to educational opportunities, and foster partnerships among post-secondary institutions and school divisions.

The establishment of an interim transition committee to expedite the creation of a council on post-secondary education. This council will focus on co-ordination and articulation of universities and colleges and effective funding, governance and accountability structures.

The establishment of the Children and Youth Secretariat. The secretariat supports effective and efficient interdepartmental co-ordination of services. One example from that particular secretariat is the protocol for students with emotional and behavioural disorders.

Working closely with other jurisdictions to maximize ways of developing and delivering programs. Examples of this are the Western and Pan-Canadian Protocols for collaboration and basic education, the forum of labour market ministers, and partnerships, where possible, with the federal government, such as the Winnipeg Development Agreement and the Canada-Manitoba Infrastructure program. The recent creation of the business advisory group on education--through business education partnerships, exciting possibilities of joint ventures can emerge.

Through partnerships and creative cost-effective approaches, we will endeavour to offer Manitobans the kind of education and training programs they deserve. However, throughout the entire Estimates debate, let us keep in mind the harsh and unprecedented reductions in the federal support for social programs, post-secondary education and health that must be dealt with, not only this year but in future years. While we will continue to work with our education partners to seek cost-effective ways of delivering programs, we must also, at the same time, seek ways of encouraging our colleagues at the federal level to carry out their responsibilities, readjust their priorities and preserve support for social programs.

An educated citizenry and a skilled and adaptable workforce are the province’s most important assets in a knowledge-intensive society. The mission of Manitoba Education and Training is to ensure high quality education and training programs for Manitobans to enable them to develop their individual potential and contribute to the economic, social and cultural life of Manitoba.

In carrying out its mission, the department is guided by the following principles:

Excellence--providing a climate for education and training that fosters dedication, determination, creativity, initiative and high achievement.

Equity--ensuring fairness and providing the best possible learning opportunities for Manitobans regardless of background or geographic location.

Openness--being receptive to ways of thinking and acting that result in ongoing renewal and meaningful involvement of people in decision making.

Responsiveness--meeting the education and training needs of individuals by taking into consideration personal background, individual characteristics and geographic location.

Choice--providing alternatives to meet diverse learning needs and interests.

Relevance--providing education and training that is current and meaningful to students.

Integration--connecting components within and between education and training and social and economic systems in order to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of programs and services.

Accountability--ensuring that the expected educational outcomes are realized through effective and efficient use of resources.

The primary responsibility of Manitoba Education and Training is to facilitate the improvement of learning at both elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels. Emphasis is placed upon enhancing learner performance, delineating roles and responsibilities across the education and training systems and facilitating the development and sharing of new knowledge. Priorities include: improved quality and relevance of programs; greater accessibility; more accountability in reporting to the public; enhanced curricula; well-trained teachers; defined standards and assessment tests; increased choice; effective use of technology; more parent, student and community involvement; improved co-ordination program, articulation and credit transfers among institutions, both secondary and post-secondary; enhanced business and education partnerships; strengthened linkages between Education and Training and the province’s economic and social development initiatives; improved program rationalization and overall efficiency and effectiveness.

The education and training system in Manitoba is currently undergoing significant renewal. Virtually every aspect and level is affected by this renewal--kindergarten to Senior 4, post-secondary, program development, program delivery and governance structures. Initiatives across the education and training system are extricably intertwined and stem from the department's priorities. As the 1996-97 Estimates will show, resource allocation decisions support the following initiatives, and I shall outline them for you.

Curriculum development and implementation: Work continues in curriculum development and implementation for language arts and mathematics. Social studies and science curriculum frameworks have been deferred for one year to align Manitoba curriculum development with the Pan-Canadian and western curriculum projects. This will provide more time for teachers to implement the new program. Multimedia resources are being integrated into curriculum.

Senior 3 social studies, Canadian history, will continue as a compulsory course until new social studies curricula are implemented. Specific support material for teachers has been developed and distributed to assist them as education renewal is implemented. Some examples include: Native Peoples: Resources pertaining to First Nations, Inuit and Metis; School-Based Planning: a continuous process for effective education; Senior 1 Mathematics (10G): Curriculum Document; Towards Inclusion Documents; Locally Developed Curricula: School-Initiated Courses and Student-Initiated Projects; Renewing Education: New Directions, A Foundation for Excellence; K-4 Mathematics: Manitoba Curriculum Framework of Outcomes and Grade 3 Standards.

Modifications have been made to subject area time allotments that increase flexibility for educators in time tabling. This was based on responses to the department’s survey of principals. A letter communicating these modifications was sent to educators in February 1996. This is just one example of how the department, working with the field, can arrive at practical and effective decisions.

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The implementation schedule for new curriculum has been modified with the introduction of an implementation year and a phase-in of senior years curriculum frameworks. The introduction of an implementation year will allow teachers and administrators more time to become familiar with the new curriculum frameworks prior to testing being conducted. This should facilitate the introduction of new curricula and provide for more co-ordinated planning and scheduling. At senior years, where curricular changes are more extensive, incremental phase-in of each senior year’s curriculum framework will allow senior year students to develop new knowledge and skills one year at a time so they can build the learning for each new course in succession and can more successfully achieve the outcomes that have been identified.

A western Canadian institute of reading recovery is being established to train teacher leaders. The purpose of the program is to provide early intervention for children at risk re: literacy. The department is excited about this initiative, given its success in other jurisdictions in our pilot schools and the high level of support from our education partners.

Assessment and evaluation: Testing outcomes in the core subject areas at Grades 3, 6, Senior 1 and Senior 4 will be key to ensuring consistency and greater accountability of the school system for the benefit of students.

Provincial Senior 4 examinations in mathematics and language arts will continue in 1996-97. The first Senior 4 English language arts exam in 25 years was recently administered to 7,400 students in January of 1996. The provincial mean mark was 63.6 percent, and the provincial pass rate 81.3 percent. This kind of information is very important to benchmark and monitor student performance in Manitoba.

More than 150 teachers are now trained markers. The marking process was considered to be a highly valuable professional development experience by Senior 4 English language arts teachers. This government wants to ensure that student evaluation is carried out in a fair, reliable and professional manner.

The first provincial standards test, Grade 3 Mathematics, will be piloted in June of 1996. In conjunction with this pilot, the reliability of local marking versus central marking will be studied. The pilot will also help develop a meaningful way of reporting student test results. We want to ensure the test results are used appropriately.

Parental and community involvement: Advisory councils for school leadership were up and running successfully across Manitoba. Supports, example, school-based planning document advisory councils for school leadership handbook orientation training will be in place to ensure effective community input into the school planning process. Implementation of requirements for school planning will begin with pilot schools in 1996-97, and all schools will submit the first phase of their school plans to school boards during the 1997-98 school year.

The third Parents’ Forum was held April 13, 1996, just this past weekend, in support of the government’s commitment to ensure meaningful parental involvement in the education process. The forum was very useful, and many comments and suggestions were made by parents as to how schools could continue to be more effective through planning. Teachers support professional development and training. As reflected in New Directions, teachers are key to the success of education renewal. This government is committed to ensuring that teachers have the necessary skills and supports. [interjection]

I am wanting to listen to your conversation because it sounds so interesting. I always find the little conversations that go across the table so much more interesting. I shall carry on.

In-service training for teachers is a major thrust of the department. The department will work with teachers and other education partners to ensure opportunities for professional development. Planned for 1996-97 are a variety of workshops, curriculum orientation sessions, training in the use of technology, and others. To ensure that Manitoba has high-quality teachers, teacher education is currently being reviewed.

The Board of Teacher Education and Certification, which we call BOTEC, made a number of recommendations, including the length of training to 150 credit hours versus the current 120 credit hours and practicum experience. Recently, the department engaged Dr. Bernard Shapiro, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University, to do an analysis and formally report his suggestions for teacher education reform. It is pleasing to know that Dr. Shapiro is returning to Manitoba for a second round of consultation with education partners.

Distance Education and Technology: This government is committed to ensuring that technologies are used effectively in education and training. This initiative is critical to enhancing accessibility, program relevance, cost-effectiveness, and overall quality of programs. Over 1,700 teachers have received professional development in Distance Education. Three technology initiatives which support curriculum delivery and learning are: (1) Curriculum Multimedia Integration Project for Senior 1, Senior 4 science, (2) Computer-Guided Learning, we call it CGL, a project for the delivery of Senior 1 math, (3) Interdisciplinary Middle-Years Multimedia Project.

Support has been provided for 10 more pilot projects in Innovative Distance Education and Technology initiatives. Results from the first 13 projects have been positive and informative. Technology and Science Resource Centres, TSRC, are designed to provide fundamental high-technology applications to traditional industrial arts and vocational education. [interjection] You are right. We need a special course in what all these initials mean.

Pilot projects include another 25 sites that will engage in the process of establishing the program. The infrastructure works project was approved for establishment of an education network capable of two-way video linking 80 Manitoba high schools.

MERLIN has been in place for one year now, and we are beginning to see significant benefits from this agency. Examples include school division savings through bulk purchasing of technology and services, greater co-ordination and compatibility in development of educational networks, assistance to schools and post-secondary institutions in technology selection and planning, co-ordination of the infrastructure works project, effective negotiation of tariff and regulatory changes to benefit the education and training sector. MERLIN is also working with vendors and other agencies to find affordable methods of access to Internet for all schools in the province.

Education information system, EIS: EIS will provide centralized data on Manitoba’s students and the education system which will allow for better informed decision making. In September 1996, divisions will be offered an opportunity to participate in submitting school and division-based data electronically. This will streamline the administrative processes for school divisions and department, reduce paperwork, and increase efficiency. For this year we expect to collect enrollment information on approximately 100,000 students. By 1997-98, all schools will be submitting enrollment information electronically, and all of us here had better learn how to use our E-mail if we do not know it now. A unique student identifier is being assigned in this process. Through the steering and implementation committees, the department is working closely with education partners in developing policies as to how this information will be used and disseminated.

Aboriginal education: Aboriginal perspectives are being integrated into curriculum frameworks in all core subjects. A native education steering committee with representation from aboriginal groups is currently being established to oversee this development. The department is partnering with the University of Manitoba and aboriginal teachers circle to hold a summer institute on native education. The development of curriculum framework for aboriginal languages has been initiated with our Western Protocol partners. We have established a partnership with the Manitoba Association for Native Languages to strengthen language instruction in the province. The Apprenticeship branch has been working on the aboriginal apprenticeship initiative. This proposal has been successfully negotiated with all relevant partners. Pilot delivery of two community-based programs is under way at Sandy Bay and Norway House. As aboriginal self-governance unfolds, the department looks forward to working with the First Nations and seeking opportunities in education and training.

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Choice: Choice of schools within a school division and between divisions will be finalized to take effect in September of 1997. Enabling legislation will be introduced this spring, the spring of 1996.

The youth program: This initiative is targeted to Manitoba students and youth aged 16 to 24. Specific projects include CareerStart. This involves a wage incentive of $2 an hour to prospective employers to provide meaningful summer jobs. Urban and Rural Green Teams provide grants to support environmentally focussed projects which employ youth. Partners with Youth involves grants to support student hiring. It is anticipated that 330 youth will be placed in 1996-97. This project also includes a grant for youth to start their own businesses.

Revitalization of apprenticeship: Government continues the revitalization of apprenticeship as a critical thrust. Progress has been made in the following areas: updating the skill requirements of apprenticeable trades; strengthening the linkage between high schools and apprenticeship training through the introduction of a high school apprenticeship option; addressing skill shortages in northern, remote and aboriginal communities through the introduction of the aboriginal apprenticeship training initiative. The elimination of federal funding for apprenticeship training will have a major impact on apprenticeship training in Manitoba and on the province’s ability to meet the labour market demand for skilled human resources and apprenticeship trades.

Literacy programs: In recognition of the importance of literacy, the government has committed additional funding of over $80,000 per year for the next five years to literacy programming. Beginning in ’95-96 and continuing in ’96-97 with the restructuring of training and advanced education, a close linkage is being forged between literacy and employment development programs. Increased access to literacy programming for social assistance recipients is an important assist for re-entry to the workforce.

University education review: Since the release of the Roblin commission’s report, government has invited universities and colleges to respond to the challenges by exploring and/or establishing program priorities, potential centres of specialization, new management arrangements, opportunities for resource sharing and program rationalization, communications and learning technologies, et cetera.

Government has also taken steps towards implementing the recommendations of the Roblin report. These steps include the establishment of the interim transition committee to pave the way for the council on post-secondary education. This committee is developing the legislation, examining fee structures, program rationalization, the use of technology, institutional articulation and exploring potential partnerships, ensuring post-secondary participation in the Distance Education and Technology Council, which advises the minister on all matters related to the incorporation of technology and education and training, ensuring post-secondary participation in the business advisory group on education which will make recommendations to strengthen business education partnerships; initiating the consultation process necessary to establish Keewatin Community College as the post-secondary education co-ordinator in the North. For example, responsibilities for Inter-Universities North is being transferred to the college.

We are developing partnerships, Mr. Chairman, to strengthen linkages between business and education. We have the business advisory group on education developed and the members selected. Parents and other community members are key partners, and formal mechanisms are being implemented to enable their fullest participation. The regulations are now in place for advisory councils on school leadership. Through the Western Protocol, we have a partnership between the four provinces and two territories. Each of the provinces has content developers working on the senior math courseware; Nelson Canada, the industry partner, is contributing $2.8 million and is the project manager.

During the past year over 800 educators have participated on departmental advisory committees, on development teams, and on reaction panels to prepare and review curriculum frameworks courses for distance delivery and school plan guidelines, and in the development and scoring of provincial examinations for senior for English language, arts, and mathematics.

Parents, students, staff and members of the deaf community have joined the department on an implementation committee to develop renovation plans for the new Manitoba School for the Deaf. Consultative mechanisms of various stakeholder groups are ongoing and are being strengthened.

We have an implementation advisory committee now, of great assistance to the minister, from all of the stakeholder groups including parents to give advice on the implementation of educational change. The council on Distance Education and Technology and the education finance advisory committee are a few.

Regional consortia are working to ensure business and industry are thoroughly involved in identifying local lifelong learning needs, and the strategies for meeting them in order to develop educational technologies which support sustainable economic development in Manitoba. Working in partnership with businesses, schools, and government, employability skills portfolio kits were developed to assist students in making course decisions and correct choices by compiling their skills and experience in a portfolio to increase their chances for job opportunities.

The 1996-1997 Estimates funding specifics, as I indicated earlier, despite the harsh fiscal realities coupled with the significant reduction of funding from the federal government, Manitoba Education and Training continues to ensure that available funding is provided to the fairest, most effective manner possible. As we go through the Estimates debate, let us keep in mind the following. Approximately $1 billion will be spent on education and training this year. This is a significant portion or overall government expenditure.

Manitoba’s funding of public schools has generally compared favourably for that in other provinces. For example, Alberta and Saskatchewan have announced zero increases after several years of decreases or frozen funding. Ontario continues significant reductions in funding with a 9.9 percent decrease. Only British Columbia, with its favourable economic position on the West Coast, has had funding increases from ’93-94 to ’95-96.

We will ensure that all Manitoba post-secondary students have the means to invest in their own education; a $12 million dollar Manitoba learning tax credit will be implemented for the 1996 taxation year. This refundable provincial tax credit is the first of its kind in Canada and fulfills the promise made in the last election. Refundable Manitoba learning tax credit covers 10 percent of all eligible tuition fees and will be delivered through the income tax system. An additional $1.7 million has been allocated for education renewal in ’96-97. As well, the government recognizes the importance of assisting teachers in the classroom as they work towards implementing educational renewal through professional development. As a result, 750,000 has been earmarked for use in key curricular areas and to promote the development of technology in the classroom.

In order to encourage advanced education institutions to focus on marketable skills and innovation, the Post-Secondary Strategic Initiatives Fund will be targeted at $3.5 million. Of that amount, $2.5 million is targeted to community colleges and $1 million to universities.

In ’95-96, community colleges added 500 new seats to community college training capacity using Strategic Initiatives Fund resources. In ’96-97, another 360 full-time equivalent training positions are expected in our community colleges.

The Apprenticeship Program is being restructured and merged with Workforce 2000 to bring together and strengthen those two workforce-based training initiatives. The Workforce 2000 element of the program will continue to provide support for strategic industry-wide training partnership and province-wide special courses.

Grants to universities are being reduced by nearly 2 percent this year, which is significant considering the federal cutbacks. Provincial support to colleges is maintained at last year’s level. $745 million is allocated for public schools in 1996-97, a 2 percent reduction from last year. The ESL education support levy is maintained at last year’s level.

In addition to the formula changes, the flexibility component was introduced with a base support to allow school divisions more discretion as to how they use base funding. I am going to stop because my time is up and I have been asked to make a summative concluding statement and I will in that summative concluding statement indicate, Mr. Chairman, that I express sincere thanks to the men and women who work in education and training. They have put in exceptional commitment to their tasks over the past year, an extremely challenging and busy year. They deserve an awful lot of credit and I wish to publicly acknowledge their efforts, without which the department would be far the lesser for, so I thank my staff and I will add any other comments I have to make during the course of questioning.

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Mr. Deputy Chairperson: We thank the Minister of Education and Training for those comments.

Does the official opposition critic, the honourable member for Wolseley, have any opening comments?

Ms. Jean Friesen (Wolseley): Yes, I do want to put some comments on the record.

Mr. Deputy Chairperson: Order, please. I hate to interrupt. I just wanted to note that under the new rules the minister and the opposition critic both have 30 minutes for an opening statement. Thank you.

Ms. Friesen: I do not think I will take that long, but we will see. I thank the minister for his statement and I particularly note her thanking of her staff and I know that her staff have had a very difficult year. In fact, I think they have had a difficult series of years, and I think it is important to recognize the extra work that I know the staff have done. There are many of them who have been working weekends and evenings to deal with the kinds of pressures that the government has brought on education and so I think generally the people of Manitoba recognize the particular contribution that the staff of this department have made.

I think one of the things that I see happening in Education now is that it has become a battleground. I would not have said that five years ago. I would not have said that seven years ago, but I do think that education has become an area of crisis. My sense is that it has been a crisis which has been, in part, created by this government, not so much perhaps in the sense that the Harris government deliberately set out and said they were going to create a crisis in education, and I cannot tell whether this government set out to do it deliberately, but do it they have.

And they have done it I think by dividing and confrontational tactics that they have used with parents, with superintendents, with teachers, with trustees. It seems to me wherever you look in education that people have been pitted against each other. Whether this was the governments intention or not I do not know, but I think that that level of conflict is what we see in education and it is certainly what I am hearing from so many areas of the education community.

If you talk to the trustees, to parent councils, to school board employees and superintendents, I think what you hear is the many strands of what I see as a single story. The Filmon government and this minister and previous ministers have brought about rapid changes in education and they have done them without very much consultation. They have had very rigid deadlines and I note that the minister has backed off from some of those deadlines and that she included those comments in her introductory remarks.

My lament is that that kind of common sense, that willingness to listen to the community partners in education who for two years have been telling the minister this I think has led to many of the problems, so I welcome that willingness to listen to people, that willingness to be more flexible in the kinds of deadlines, because I think there have been enormous pressures put on certain parts of the school system that were quite unnecessary, whether or not one supports the kind of program that this particular government is putting in place. So I am glad to see that finally, after in some cases 18 months to two years, the government has finally listened to what people were telling them about the middle schools curriculum, about some of the aspects of standard testing, about some aspects of the advisory council on school leaderships, about Canadian history, of which I am sure we will have the opportunity to discuss more later.

Certainly I think that backing off, that back pedalling on so many of their rapid introductions of very rigid deadlines has been welcomed by a number of areas in the education community. But what has been wrought by those two years of division and confrontation, I think, are very serious and long-term concerns to Manitobans, because what we have seen is a loss of trust, and I do not think the minister intended to set out to do this. I do not think previous ministers did, but the combination of all of the forced and rapid change which has come from on top, from on high, not beginning from the grassroots, not through consultation, I think, will have long-term implications for education in Manitoba.

I have heard people say to me that, you know, some years ago it used to be that we looked upon the department and its staff as our assistants, not to say that there were not conflicts. Of course, there were, and, again, it was not Utopia, but there was a sense that teachers in the field or superintendents or parent councils believed that they had a friend in court. They believed that they had assistance and resources in the department. They believed that they had field workers who would help them. They believed that the libraries and all of the facilitators in the department were on their side.

My sense is that that automatic assumption has gone and that it will be difficult to return to that kind of level of trust. I do not think that it is something that can be regained very quickly. It is something that I draw the minister’s attention to, that it is something which is going to have to be regained over a long period of time, but I think regained it must be, because that fundamental level of trust between teachers and superintendents and trustees in education and the kinds of roles that staff have had to play in the last few years, I think, have really led to some serious difficulties.

This is, by no means, a criticism of staff. I do not make any of my comments personally. I do think that they have been required to play roles which have unnecessarily brought them into conflict, and I do think that level of trust has to be returned to education. It is possible that the minister’s greater flexibility on some of the time deadlines, for example, or some of the other areas where she says that she is more willing to listen to parents and to teachers or trustees in certain areas of policy, perhaps that will begin to re-establish the level of trust that I think we did have in Manitoba.

I think we also need to be very aware of the impact of this on school morale. There are many areas affecting school morale, but I think the relationship between the department and school divisions have become very, very strained, whether it is in the area of boundaries or whether it is in the area of Advisory Councils and school leadership or, as one of the trustees wrote from southern Manitoba, the government’s seeming intent to trustee-proof education. I thought that was quite a startling letter. It was one of the ones that was submitted to the Boundaries Commission. Here was somebody who recognized very clearly that what the government was doing was attempting to bypass the trustees in so many areas, whether it was in curriculum, whether it was in the changes in the position of principles or whether it was, of course, in the treatment of school board recommendations to the Norrie commission.

So, again, there is another area, the role of the trustee and the relationship between the Minister responsible for Education and the trustees, the locally elected officials who every day have to face their constituents and deal with the changes in education. And, of course, trustees are facing one of the most serious areas of change in education, and that is the continuous cutting of funds to education.

Again, we saw this year a minus 2 in public education, and the minister believed that quality can be maintained with this. It seems to me it is the constant cutting that I am hearing about that is making people despair, that is making people give up the kind of enthusiasm and energy that they have put into education in the past. It is that sense of being constantly undermined and constantly undervalued, of which the minus 2 and perhaps the minister’s committee on enhancing accountability are only two of the most visible elements.

But it is the trustees who have had to face their constituents with, in some cases, tax increases, some of which have gone as high as 17 percent. It is the trustees who have had to deal with the $43.5 million that has been lost from public education over the time of this government. It is the trustees who have had to face the loss of over 600 teacher positions in education over the last number of years of this government, the trustees who must juggle tax increases, the spending of reserve funds as required by this government, the cap on their ability to tax, as this government required, and of course, in many cases, the so-called Filmon Fridays that were also introduced by this government. It is the trustees who must face the implications of service reductions, and it is they who must meet their constituents on the street every day.

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So the relationship between the minister and trustees is, I think, a very important one, and I know the minister herself has been a trustee, and I know she understands some of this. So I am drawing it to her attention as an area of great concern where I think government policies have truly made a difference, that I think the kind of relationship between trustees and the government that might have been there 5 years ago, or perhaps in other decades, whether they were NDP decades or Conservative decades, is being quite rapidly eroded. I do draw that to the minister’s attention as a concern, and it was one that was very strikingly made for me in those submissions to the Boundaries Review Commission from particularly southern Manitoba.

The Boundaries Commission, as well, is obviously an area of concern for the government, for its caucus and for all Manitobans. One of the problems is that we have seen a great number of delays, and this leads to continuing uncertainty in many parts of Manitoba. Now, there are some areas in Manitoba that are prepared to amalgamate. There are some areas, indeed, that are prepared to try pilot programs. Those areas and those trustees who are interested in that and prepared to move on that, and there are some, I have read those submissions to the Boundaries Commission, and there, indeed, is a willingness in one or two areas to do that, and we believe that they should be encouraged. We believe that the minister, who has had the report of the Norrie commission since September--remember that very short time period that we had between, I think, was it early June and August, when the minister reopened and extended the deadlines for the Norrie commission, could only be done until August 15 because the report had to be in by September. So we assume it was in in September, but since then the public has heard nothing.

Again, I draw to the minister’s attention--I probably do not need to; I know she is hearing from trustees as well--the additional insecurity that is being created by the continual delays in the government’s response to this. So we are looking in these Estimates for some sense of the government’s direction on this, or perhaps even a timetable, of the kind of level of decision, or even of consultations or pilot projects that the government might be looking at in this area.

The government has also, I think, introduced a level of confrontation and division in Manitoba education that perhaps is unparalleled. My experience does not go back, obviously, as long as some members of this Legislature. But the document Enhancing Accountability, Ensuring Quality, certainly, I think, created in Manitoba’s teachers and parent councils and superintendents and trustees a level of hostility that I do not think I have encountered in education before. I know that we have some members of the commission with us, and I am sure that they will testify to some of the passion, some of the anger which was expressed to them.

We have some questions about that. We certainly have a lot of concerns that we will be expressing throughout this session on the ideas and proposals that were there, as well as the processes and procedures of that particular commission. It is something that I continue to get letters on every day, and I am sure the minister is as well. It is coming, I think, from an anger and frustration of people in public education who are continually seeing their position undermined and the support for public education undermined as the government continues to erode and cut the funding for public education. Their anger and frustration, I think, is added to by the government’s choice, the government’s decision to increase the funding to private schools and, of course, this year, we do not quite know yet how much it is. We know that the government has changed the formula for funding private schools, and they did announce that in the budget, but subsequent questions in the House seem unable to persuade the minister to put that agreement, the new agreement, the new funding proposals, the new numbers that we should be looking at on the table.

So again, and I am sure the minister anticipates this, we will be pursuing that in the Estimates.

But I draw the minister’s attention to it now as another area of division within society and within the community. The continual cuts to funding of public schools at the same time as the government is increasing and we believe increasing in ever larger amounts the funding for private schools is of very serious concern, not just for education, but for the future of Manitoba. It seems to me, as I look at the government’s plans in so many areas, whether it is in legislation, whether it is in curriculum, whether it is in the development of school choice, whether it is in boundary decisions or whether it is in the fundamental issues of funding that what we are looking at in Manitoba is an increasing inequality, not just in the society generally, through funding cuts to people on welfare, changes in so many areas of society. The attack on public sector workers generally, the reduction of salaries and the use of legislation in effect to create greater inequalities within society, all of that is context, but within education what we are also looking at, of course, is a kind of policy which in the end, I believe, has a very high potential to create much greater inequality in Manitoba, and that gives me great cause for concern.

The individualization of schools and the creation of a market in education I think are the government’s end goals. I do not know if the minister is prepared to discuss things in those terms, but it seems to me that that is the direction the government is going. We can look at examples in the United States. We can look at the 1988 Education Act in the United Kingdom. The government is following many similar steps with much of the same kind of ideology behind it.

The government’s goal I think is as in health care, to create a market in education, because this particular government is based upon an ideology which believes that the market should rule, that the market is the most effective and efficient distributor of resources. Mr. Chairman, I think there is reason to argue that the market is an efficient, perhaps not an equal, but it is an efficient distributor of some goods, perhaps consumer goods. But I think there will be fundamental differences between us and this government on the issue of marketizing, of creating a market economy in areas of health and education. I do not believe that the market distributes fairly or equally those kinds of social goods, and I think fundamentally those are the differences that we are talking about, and I do believe in education, by incremental changes, that is the direction the government is going.

The creation, the widespread creation of school choice has been existent in the city of Winnipeg for quite a long time, or parts of Winnipeg, I should say, but is in itself, perhaps, relatively innocuous. It has the opportunity to benefit some areas of the community and may provide difficulties for small schools in other areas, and we have talked about those elements of that policy before and we will be raising them again in these Estimates.

But, I think when you add to that the decline of public funding for public education, the increase in public funding for private education, when you add to that the requirement of the government for schools to seek corporate sponsorship, which I think is increasingly happening, you are moving to a situation which does exist in other parts of the world where conservative ideology has run its full force. You are leading to a situation where some schools will thrive, those who are able to have access to corporate sponsorships, those who have active and wealthy parent groups and who are situated in areas where it is possible to create the kind of community support for schools that we would like to see in all communities.

There are great inequalities in our society which are reflected in education, but the goal of education over the past number of decades in this province seems to me both under Conservative and New Democratic administrations to have been to try to equalize those opportunities, to distribute resources so that there are monies for special needs students, so that there are monies that are distributed equally across the system.

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My sense of the direction of where this government is going is that the individualization of schools, the introduction of market principles in schools are going to undermine that long-term policy of Manitobans to equalize access and to equalize opportunities to Manitobans.

So those are my concerns in the public education system, and I see it happening incrementally. I do not think we are there yet, but I think there are fundamental changes that the government is making which will lead schools to essentially a situation where those who will have access to wealth and power will survive and those who do not will not. That is putting it perhaps crudely but I think those are the issues that the government must look at as it moves to this kind of competitive market scenario.

I am concerned obviously about post-secondary education, as well, and share with the minister--I have forgotten how you expressed it now--but certainly share with the minister her concerns about the withdrawal of federal funding for post-secondary education, and there may indeed be areas there that we can support the representation, the letters, the negotiation--well, I guess I cannot even say negotiations--that the minister may be having with the federal department over this.

Obviously, Canada as a nation needs a strong national presence in post-secondary education, and I think now more than ever we are moving into an area of very high cost with the expansion of distance education, which obviously has a very large place to play nationally in post-secondary education. I know that the minister will be attending the Council of Ministers of Education meeting coming up in Edmonton. I know that those kinds of things are on the agenda.

The presence, the strong federal presence in post-secondary education is very important to us, both for I think the maintenance of a nation and a sense of nation, and we will be looking at issues dealing with French language, monies for education there, both for St. Boniface College and for the public schools of Manitoba, as well.

So I see the loss from the federal government both in national terms and in provincial terms, and, of course, the loss to the provincial budget is considerable. It is considerable in areas where, perhaps, Manitoba has not always been the strongest--apprenticeship, for example, an area where we need to be expanding our activity and expanding the opportunities for young Manitobans. It is also federal withdrawal. Of course, we have seen in earlier years the withdrawal of the Canadian job strategy and the implications that has had for the community colleges. Again, that has fallen very harshly upon communities like Manitoba, Saskatchewan and, I would expect, some of the Maritime provinces as well.

So we do have great concerns about that, and we are looking for some long-term plans. I know some of the ones that Saskatchewan is putting in place. I have looked at some of the ones that Alberta has done over the last three to four years as they have looked at long-term planning for post-secondary education, and I would say in criticism that is something that we have not seen from this government. We did press for early establishment. If the minister remembers, I talked about this in the last Estimates and asked for dates and deadlines as to when that interim committee would be established so that we could begin to get some kind of planning underway for some very serious changes, some of which are being forced upon us, some of which this government is choosing to make, and so I do lament the late appointment of that and will be asking the minister some of the questions about the next stages of that and what the schedule is for that.

In community colleges, again, we agree with the government that the section of the Roblin commission that argued for the expansion of programs--the doubling, I believe, of community college diploma programs--was an area that we were very supportive of. I continue to look for improvement in that area. I notice that the minister made a reference to the number of new places. I am not sure that those are in diploma programs, and it is the diploma programs that Roblin pointed to. Again, that is something, I think, that we want to underline our concerns about and want to discuss with the minister as we get to that area of funding.

I should perhaps also point out that it is the post-secondary area of the department which has taken the largest cut. The minister has talked about it in terms of efficiencies, and it is possible there are efficiencies there. We certainly look forward to discussing that, but at a time when the federal government is reducing so rapidly, both in apprenticeship and in the support for post-secondary education, it makes it very difficult for institutions in Manitoba to look at those changes in funding to colleges and universities. I think the minister said that--well, we will leave that for later; sorry, I digress.

But it does make it very difficult to look at the priority that the government is establishing for post-secondary education when we see those kinds of cuts within the department and those kinds of cuts which have also come for universities and may indeed be there for colleges as we examine the implications of the governments changes last year to the grants in lieu of taxes.

With that, Mr. Chairman, I think, perhaps suggest that if the minister is willing, I had suggested to the Liberal critic that they might want to make some opening remarks.

Mr. Deputy Chairperson: At this point I do not see a Liberal critic. We thank the critic for the official opposition for those remarks.

Under Manitoba practice, the debate of the Minister’s Salary is traditionally the last item considered for the Estimates of the department. Accordingly, we shall defer the consideration of this item and now proceed with consideration of the next line. When we resume at nine tomorrow morning, we will ask the minister to introduce her staff.

The time being 5:30 p.m., this committee is recessed until nine o’clock Friday morning.