Ms Pastoor: Mr. Speaker, in 2007 this government signed an agreement with the Alberta teachers. At the time the Premier wrote to ATA, "I pledge to seek the Legislative Assembly's support for the necessary funding to enable the Memorandum of Agreement's full execution." Now the government is sending mixed signals about its willingness to live up to the agreement on teachers' wages, and school boards are more than concerned that they soon will be footing the bill. To the Premier: will the Premier, please, clearly articulate how his government is going to provide ongoing funding for this agreement?

Mr. Hancock: Well, Mr. Speaker, I don't think there's anything unclear about it at all. We clearly indicated to school boards, in fact just yesterday, that the full 5.99 per cent increase on the average weekly earnings from last year, after arbitration, will be funded in their budgets and annualized. I've also indicated to them that the anticipated increases for September 1 this year and next year, we understand, now have to be calculated based on the average weekly earnings index. Now I have to work with the ATA and the Alberta school boards to figure out how we're going to do that, not on a one-year basis but over the period of time.

Ms Pastoor: Well, to the Premier, but I'm sure it'll go to the Minister of Education. You've answered part of this, but failing that, failing taking the responsibility for the arbitrator's ruling could force districts to reduce staff or cut services. Is that right?

Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, what I've indicated to school boards is that we are anticipating, in fact we know, that there's going to be an increase in our student population starting last year and moving forward over the next number of years, including perhaps up to 10 years. We'll see an increase in student population. It would be imprudent to cut back our teacher numbers in that period of time, so I've asked them to plan their teaching staff, teaching ratios, on the same basis as they had last year. I understand that may require them to draw on operating surpluses this year or even in some cases run a deficit. But over the next two or three years we'll sort out exactly . . .

The Speaker: The hon. member. [interjection] The hon. member has the floor.

Ms Pastoor: A good segue into my question. How can the Minister of Education expect school boards to survive off their reserves indefinitely, especially when some boards lack reserves and the Minister of Education has been clawing back money even from those that have it?

The Speaker: There are no preambles in questions.

Mr. Hancock: Well, Mr. Speaker, first of all, school boards across the province are in an excellent fiscal position because of how well they've been funded in the past. We know that they had last year $440 million of operating reserves. Now that's down to about $360 million, still sufficient to be able to finance their operations. Some school boards don't. We've said that we will work with them to make sure not that they can run a deficit just indiscriminately, but if they need to run a deficit in order the finance the cost of teachers going forward, we'll work with them on that.