Legislative Assembly of the Government and of the Minister in this respect too. I don't know whether this program has been frozen or not, but there has certainly been a recession in the prog¬ ress of vocational education in this province. Honourable Robert E. Campbell : Oh my! It was never so good. L. George Dewar : Just wait now till I tell you. This Legislature at the last Session passed Estimates to provide vocational educational facilities in , and in King's County. None of these facilities have been provided, Mr. Speaker , and in fact,there has been a sort of controversy going on in the press all winter with respect to the progress in vocational education. Some strange contradictory statements have been made and we wonder what the policy is in this mater. We were told on the 16th of January that major changes were in mind for Prince Edward Island vocational training program. Major changes were in the wind. Honourable Gordon L. Bennett : Who said that? Some Member : You did. L. George Dewar : Well now, it was reported in the press on the 16th of January in one of the local papers, it was by "staff," it doesn't say exactly who said it. Re¬ ported by "staff." Honourable Gordon L. Bennett : Is the statement from the Minister? L. George Dewar : Let me see now. "Reports reaching this newspaper's bureau here tell of a meeting of the staff of the Provincial Vocational Institute." Honourable Robert E. Campbell : There you are. L. George Dewar : "Meanwhile, Education Minister Gordon Bennett confirmed that the whole field of vocational training is being carefully examined." (Applause) L. George Dewar : "If the government goes through with the proposed plan it could be for the reason of economy." Again, we have ominous signs that education has been downgraded as far as expenditure is concerned. In 1959 the expenditures in this province for education were only 15% of the budget, a lamentably low amount. Last year the expenditures in education were almost 80%—26 to 80% of the budget Honourable Gordon L. Bennett : Is it fair to predict what they should be for this year? L. George Dewar : I wouldn't dare. (Laughter) Last fall at the Federal-Provin¬ cial Conference the provinces were told that Ottawa was withdrawing from support of the vocational school program. That, I maintain, is a serious matter. Federal with- drawl from vocational training. This is an expensive type of educational training and it is well that I think the federal government should be encouraged to continue their participation in this program, because the burden of supporting this program is going to be very heavy on the honourable Provincial Treasurer, and I think he should do everything possible to see that this program is not forsaken by the federal government. Because it is a wonderful program and one that I think very necessary and the Minister of Labour will agree with me in this respect. Without it I am afraid that many of our young people are not going to have the benefits of education. I was rather disappointed when I discovered that one of the major changes that were envi¬ saged was doing away with the Vocational High School program in the province. If you don't get the young men and young women into vocational training after they finish Grade Eight you are going to lose them, Mr. Speaker , that's the time. If you are going to force them through the Nine and Ten Academic mill they are not going to be there, they are going to be "drop-outs" After Grade Eight,give them a taste of vocational training and I think probably you may be able to retain a certain number of them; you will lose some of them no doubt, but that's the time to do it. Now I think the Vocational High School program was good and I would hate to see the Minister do away with that. Anyway, I believe he had some second thoughts about it because... —108—