Mr. Mason: Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker. The town of Beaumont is rapidly growing, and their school can't keep up. They've lost their music and computer rooms to provide more classroom space, and they have one portable, but their school still is far too small. Now, grade 3 students carry their desks across the street every day to a fully liquor licensed facility, Club Beaumont, which they are using as classroom space. Why has the Education minister failed these children by refusing to include Beaumont in the three-year capital plan when a new school is obviously needed?

Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The situation in Beaumont is indeed one that I've been paying very careful attention to. I've instructed the department to work with the school boards serving Beaumont to try and find some early solutions with respect to the growth that's happened in that particular area and to work with us to find resolutions for those students not just this fall but in the longer term.

Mr. Mason: Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker. Well, given that their classroom, a community hall, is used for bingos and weddings at night and, therefore, the eight-year-old children are carrying their desks across a busy street twice a day, how can the Education minister possibly pretend that he is striking any kind of balance when children are left to study in a licensed hall because this government refuses to build a permanent classroom for them?

Mr. Hancock: Well, Mr. Speaker, the hon. member dwells on the issue of licensing as if it had any relevance to the issue. What's really relevant to this issue is the students crossing the street on a daily basis and not having an appropriate facility for them to engage in in their school. We're working on that issue with the school boards involved and working very hard to try and find both the capital resources necessary to deal with that and working with them in terms of what their space requirements are in the immediate term and how we can maximize the use of the resources we put in so that they're not just stopgap, that they're available for the longer term.

Mr. Mason: Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker. Well, I think we're finally getting somewhere with this minister.

Given that all these children are left to carry their belongings back and forth to a makeshift classroom and given that the government keeps saying that education is one of their top priorities, why won't the Education minister put his money where his mouth is and ensure that these kids have a properly equipped school for education so they're not doing this, Mr. Minister?

Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The picture that the hon. member is holding up in violation of the rules as a prop was actually published sometime last fall, so he's very, very current on the issue. Mr. Speaker, this is one of those challenges that we face. There's a challenge that we face. There's no question about it; I won't back away from it. We need school facilities in Beaumont, and we need school facilities in Airdrie, and I'm working to get those done.