Charles Dent

Thank you, Madam Chair. The intention is to make that sort of definition in the regulations. That will happen after consultation after the act is passed and before it is brought into force.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That’s correct. It’s not necessarily something that follows on after a student has used up all of their 12 semesters if they qualify for 12 semesters of remissible funding. There are many students who access needs assessed funding. This funding is all needs assessed. You have to apply for the money and demonstrate a need for it, but that can be available to you beginning in the first semester if you have a need for the extra funding. So this money is over and above the basic grant and the remissible loans, yes.

Yes, Madam Chair, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The department needs to, on a regular basis, ensure that our program is in line with getting a graduate or post-graduate degree. So I think it is imperative that this sort of change take place on a regular basis. I expect that it would probably be a good idea to take a look, as we just did with the Employment Standards Act, making it possible for the government to make this change in regulation rather than come back to the House and do it in legislation.

It wasn’t something we had time to do in the life of this government, but it is something that should be considered...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled The Feasibility of Whistleblower Protection in the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I won't admit that. This government has invested considerable time and energy in developing an NWT Arts Strategy. After the first strategy was developed and tabled in this House, we also brought the people who helped develop it, along with others, back together to review the strategy and advise us on how to further develop it. Both ECE and ITI have, over the life of this government, increased funding into the arts; ECE specifically into the funding that goes to the NWT Arts Council. That has seen an increase during the life of this government. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The existing members of the Labour Standards Board will be considered adjudicators by the terms of this bill. So their appointments continue automatically as sole adjudicators. We are hoping that they are prepared to continue to act as adjudicators so that we can take advantage of the experience and knowledge that they have already gained on the job. The expectation will be that there will be regular training sessions for adjudicators, offering them a chance to come together so they get to know each other and meet face to face at least annually for training...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to make it perfectly clear that their application for increased funding has not been turned down. I think there's perhaps a lack of understanding here on the timing of how our budget process works. An application that was received by this government after the budget was passed this past spring would normally be put into the budget process for the next budget, for the next budget year, and decisions for that budget will be made, of course, by the next government because this government won't be in place to pass that budget. So the application is still in place...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, the expectation was that there would be some public discussion about that issue. One manner might be, for instance, to take a stab at a draft of what the regulation might look like and then go out and ask people have we got it right. That process is not dissimilar from what was undertaken in the first place and I think worked fairly well to stimulate discussion.