Mr. Benito: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Education. There is a large backlog in deferred maintenance of schools, and with classroom space becoming critical in some areas of the province, what is the minister planning to do to address the student space issue and the maintenance backlog when there are no new projects in the 2010-11 budget?

Mr. Hancock: Well, Mr. Speaker, while it's important to note that there are not any new announced projects in the budget, there are 101 major new or major refurbishing projects under way as we speak or in planning which will start shortly, so there is a significant amount of work happening. The 101 projects will see the creation of more than 30,000 new student spaces and the refurbishment of a considerable amount of space that's out there now. We're putting about $550 million into renewal of our school system.

Mr. Benito: My final question is to the same minister. I understand that more than half of the capital budget is going towards schools in Edmonton and Calgary. With Alberta's student population continu­ing to grow, what is this budget doing to address the school infra­structure pressure in the rest of the province, particularly in the communities outside the urban areas?

Mr. Hancock: Well, Mr. Speaker, of the 101 projects that I spoke of, 58 of those projects are in jurisdictions outside the metro area. The work is being done, yes, to create with the ASAP 1 and 2 projects new spaces primarily in Edmonton and Calgary and the immediately surrounding areas. That's where the majority of growth is happening. There are other growth areas that we need to pay attention to, but there's a significant amount of work being done to keep up and to improve the school infrastructure right across this province.