Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the community of Colville Lake started up as a community where the people said they wanted a traditional community. They, still today, don't have a water plant, so we don't have an ability to put in water and plumbing in that community. We understand that that will be installed by MACA within the next year. The modular classroom that we're going to add to the facility there will accommodate modern facilities to take advantage of the water plant that's being installed in the community.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will continue to work with the college to see if we can find a way to address the housing issue, but this government has invested heavily in assistance to the nursing program. That’s because of the difficulty we are having filling nursing positions across the North. So we put a real emphasis on getting northerners into the field. The Member is right, though, we need to see a similar sort of emphasis on the trades. We have, this year, put an extra $600,000 into trades training. What we are doing there is encouraging employers to take on tradespeople...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the credit of the families in the community, there has been tremendous growth in the population in that school. In the year 2000, there were only 19 students using the school, when we first started talking about an addition. But as the Member has pointed out, there is some pressure to move very quickly on this issue, and a plan to add to that school would probably be time consuming and relatively expensive, because of the nature of that school. It's not a regular shaped building, Mr. Speaker. It's a log structure, which is really quite striking, and has a number...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the amount of money that was cut from the workplace literacy budget last year was the amount that historically had not been taken up by employers. If we can find a way to increase the number of applications coming in from employers to take advantage of that money, I can tell the Member that I'll go to bat to try and find money to increase that budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning. Earlier this week, I officially launched Family Violence Awareness Week in the Great Hall of this building. The focus this year is the prevention of violence against women and children with disabilities.

Members of this House know the impact violence has against all members of our society. Its corrosive effects eat away at our communities and families. We must work together to eliminate violence, and we must be especially vigilant in our efforts to eliminate violence against the most vulnerable members of our society.

Mr. Speaker, people with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had hoped to be able to bring this project forward in this current year because I visited the learning centre and would agree with the Member that it is far from ideal. It does need to be replaced. Unfortunately, given the other pressures that we had with schools in the Northwest Territories, we ran up to the limit of the capital plan before that project could be included. So it will be one that I am hoping will come forward in the very near future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we will be working with our colleagues at the DECs to make sure that there is some thought given to what would happen in the event that a school was not available, and so that there would be some form of backup planning in all communities.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have told the Member, I am quite prepared to work with the college board of governors and the community to look at where we can fit the facility in Norman Wells into the capital plan. I do agree that we need to look at it as an urgent need for Norman Wells. That facility really needs some attention. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not aware of another facility that is in as much need of replacement as the learning centre in Norman Wells when it comes to Aurora College facilities.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon. The recent rise in energy costs will have an effect on many NWT residents. While market forces may see the price of energy decrease, unfortunately there is no expectation that this will happen in the near future. Long-term solutions are needed.

This issue is broader than just the cost of department programs. We must also make a concerted effort to use our energy resources more wisely.

With this in mind, I would like to outline measures the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is considering to keep our overall costs down, while building...