Charles Dent

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.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. After the bill is passed, the intention is to bring it into force as quickly as possible. So the consultation is planned for this fall.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. No, we’ve been quietly letting people know that the expectation of this will be in place this year and once the bill is passed, we’ll make sure it is well publicized amongst students so there is that awareness. There were some students who were running up against that $47,000 limit and we have been letting them know it was in the works and it will be in effect this year.