The panel heard from first nations about many gaps, including: no regular reporting on the educational attainment of the child; poor quality of reporting on learning needs; inadequate or non-existent early literacy and numeracy programs; absence of any meaningful or functioning special needs system; no funding or support for language and cultural curriculum and programs; poor school facilities, including at least 100 schools that are not up to standard in terms of physical facilities and are not safe places for learning; very limited programs for quality distance learning; limited availability of technology or library support; an ...[+++]d significant discrepancies in remuneration, institutional support and benefits for school staff, including teachers and principals.

(Return tabled) Question No. 148 Mr. Bill Casey: With regard to the findings within the May 2007 report of the Auditor General of Canada, entitled “Chapter 3, Human Resources Management—Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada”: (a) what specific actions and programs has the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade undertaken to respond to the Auditor General’s findings in regards to barriers to spousal employment being a disincentive for employees working abroad; (b) what is the percentage of resignations at the department currently attributed to spousal employment issues; (c) has the department been, or is it plann ...[+++]ing to re-address the spousal employment issues listed in the Auditor General’s report through the National Joint Council; (d) in regards to the department surveying other countries spousal support programs and activities, what has the department thus far learned; (e) in regards to sub-question (d), what programs and activities does the department plan to adopt or emulate; and (f) why does the government not provide as high a degree of spousal support program as is found in other countries?

Participants are invited to comment, for example, on whether it is necessary to envisage a more structural aid for distribution in relation to that which currently exists (film by film), on possibilities of structural alignment between the European distributors (in the form of permanent groupings, for example), on whether support should be envisaged for new distribution channels (in particular DVD and on-line), on whether Community programmes should develop further the promotion of European audiovisual products on the markets and in the festivals located outside Europe, on whether the granting of a Community contribution facilitates obta ...[+++]ining investments and/or banking aids in the activity of development/production, on whether the criteria as defined in the calls for proposals on TV Distribution help to preserve independence with respect to broadcasters, on whether the granting of a Community contribution facilitates obtaining investments and/or banking aids for TV production, on whether Community programmes should develop further and/or differently organised training support, on whether a programme like MEDIA could facilitate the negotiations with national and foreign investors and/or banking organisations, the most important constraints for the development of the audiovisual sector in the new countries.

The question is therefore how to define regions whose development is lagging behind and lay down the limits of and rules for Community support". The report reviews the four possible options for determining the eligibility of regions whose development is lagging behind: 1) application of the present threshold of 75 % irrespective of the number of countries joining the Union. This option would eliminate a large number of regions in EU 15; 2) the same approach, but all regions above this threshold currently eligible under Objective 1 would receive temporary ...[+++] transitional support; 3) setting a threshold of per capita GDP higher than 75 % of the average, at a level which would eliminate the automatic effect of excluding those regions in the EU 15 simply because of the reduction in the average per capita GDP in an enlarged Union; 4) setting two eligibility thresholds, one for the regions in EU 15 and one for the applicant countries, and leading de facto to the creation of two categories of lagging region.

They have a very fair system. It is acceptable to producers, and very inexpensive for the federal government when compared with other interventionist systems, such as the Crow rate, subsidies for western farm production or the eastern fishery.

The fourth area includes support for the 'academies' (institutions designated or set up by the Member States to teach foreign languages and be responsible for promoting the objectives of the programme); development of teaching systems and material; support for reports on Member States' policies and future cooperation; aid for associations and consortia in their activities to support LINGUA, together with technical and logistic support for the implementation and evaluation of the programme.