00:00The Ministry of Defense is proposing changes to the Civilian Conservation Corps and the military-led academic training program as
00:08allocations for both programs have been drastically reduced.
00:11The proposed allocation for the Civilian Conservation Corps has fallen from $39.2 million to $5 million, while MILAT's allocation
00:20has dropped from $17 million to $5 million.
00:25The reductions in estimates for the CCC and MILAT were questioned by Port of Spain North MP and former Prime
00:33Minister Stuart Young during Wednesday's examination of the Ministry of Defense's proposed expenditure by the Standing Finance Committee.
00:42The CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, it has dropped from $39.2 million to now just five, as the original estimate
00:54for 2026, to now $5 million for 2027.
00:58What is that $5 million for?
01:01Defense Minister Wayne Sturge said the CCC was being restructured with the proposed allocation intended to cover expenses, including the
01:11recruitment of staff from outside of the Trinidad and Tobago Defense Force.
01:16We are not reverting to the previous manner in which the program was being conducted, where there's housing and so
01:30on, and persons with inflated salaries.
01:33So the staff, the teaching staff would be, they would more or less be subsumed from members of the different
01:47formations in the TTDF, and the $5 million would cover those persons who must be recruited from the outside.
01:55One option under consideration was to have participants enter the CCC through the cadet force.
02:01However, Sturge said that proposal had not been finalized and would first have to be taken to Cabinet for a
02:09decision.
02:10Young also questioned whether the proposed restructuring meant participants would no longer receive stipends.
02:17As it stands, there would no longer be a stipend in the new proposal, but that has not yet been
02:24taken to Cabinet for determination.
02:28Sturge said the Ministry would consider other options if Cabinet did not agree to the proposal.
02:34The government also intends to restructure MILAT, which was designed to help people who experience difficulties in school obtain academic
02:42qualifications through a military-style training program.
02:46Well, the government has decided to restructure the program, the program that we inherited and which in any event was
02:57stopped by the previous administration in January 2025 with no intake of students.
03:06Under the new proposal, participants would be brought through the cadet force and housed at a camp with associated expenses
03:15expected to be absorbed into the wider expenditure.
03:19Sturge said the proposed changes to both programs were still subject to relevant decisions.
03:26Alexander Bruiswall, TV6 News.
03:28U.S.
03:29.
03:29.
03:29.
03:29Approximately.
