Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Within the income support division, we treat everybody equally and respectfully and there is a reporting mechanism that is in place. We have to work closely with the office of the Auditor General that did the overall, intensive and comprehensive review of our income support division. Based on the feedback that we received from the office of the Auditor General, there’s a guideline we have to follow. The regulations have been established. The reporting mechanism is a key front of the discussion that we have with clientele. They have to report, whether it be income...

Once the information is available to me, then I will be more than willing to share that with the standing committee.

Mahsi. That type of training has been conducted in various communities, along with partnerships with the various different departments and the communities, so by all means we can pursue those. If it’s a real need in the community, for sure we’ll be working closely with the Department of Transportation and the community. Of course, the college will be involved, as well, when it comes to training in various areas, whether it be trades or different sectors. Those are the needs that need to be identified then I will be getting back to the Member on the information that’s going to be provided...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. There are activities that are happening in the Sahtu region and my department will conduct a study regarding the feasibility of the Sahtu training centre that we’ve been talking about for quite some time now. That would consist of education and training, the needs of the communities. Obviously, we need to do that anyway, because we need those feasibility studies within the guidelines that we approach the next step.

We have established a committee and there’s been a labour pool that’s been developed for training needs, so it is before us. Through the committee, industry...

Mahsi. In order to move forward on a forum for the Sahtu region, obviously we need the tools, we need that data, we need the stats, so I’ll be working very closely with ITI as we move forward on developing the forum for the region and providing that information that’s required, the community needs assessment and information from the community perspective and also the region. We will be compiling all of that information and working with ITI to deliver that to the community. Mahsi.

Mahsi. I need to find out the latest status on the actual report that’s been worked on by the committee. It does consist of a variety of parties that are involved on the committee. I’ll find out the status and if it’s ready for public review or for the committee, because it’s a tool that it’s giving us to work with while we’re developing the study on the feasibility of the Sahtu regional institute of technology that will give us some areas of discussion as we move forward.

So, definitely this is an area that I’ll find out the status. Mahsi.

For sure, we’ll provide all that information, because we want the Members to work with us, as well, with as much information as we possibly can to deliver to them. In addition, we can provide those spaces that are available that I had mentioned, I believe, yesterday. We’ll provide that detailed information on all those questions that were asked.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. We are fully aware of the surpluses that have been accumulated within all schools, most of the school boards across the Northwest Territories. We’re fully aware of the policy that’s in place with the Department of Health and Social Services. We haven’t made a decision on that. There has been talk, but no decision at this point.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I fully agree with the Members that we need to invest into our early childhood and that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re putting $8.2 million into this budget in ‘14-15 for early childhood development and learning. The majority of it, $5.1 million, is going towards daycare and day home subsidies, healthy children initiatives, small communities initiatives and also…(inaudible)…top-up.

These are key investments into our communities and I am fully supportive of that as well. Also, the Department of Health and Social Services deals with all these different deliveries into the...

Mr. Chair, this particular for a stand-alone campus has been discussed for a number of years now. We have been moving towards a planning study through that part of the capital planning process. We’re earmarking for 2015-16 for a planning study. Mahsi.