Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Next I have Mr. Bromley.

Thank you. We will resume with that after a short break.

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I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee today? Ms. Bisaro.

It’s also been mentioned in this House, suggestions to the government of where we can hire summer students from university who can then get some experience in the area that they’re studying in, but I’d like to ask, and again, that works really well in the public service, but I’d like to ask the Minister what is in place right now for the government to partner with the private sector so that the private sector could also have the ability to identify the post-secondary students and so on who could come to work in their businesses. There used to be a program, and I’m not sure of what the status...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. We’re having somewhat of a theme day today on how we’re going to grow our population, retain and grow our population here in the Northwest Territories. I’ve been kind of talking about that pretty much since the beginning of session on a day-by-day basis. I didn’t have a Member’s statement on that today, but I do have some questions.

When we talk about raising the population and we talk about what this government can do, we’ve been very focused on how we can get NWT residents into the public...

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Is the committee agreed?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, I understand that any such a program would not fall under the Minister’s mandate. That would actually fall under Education, Culture and Employment, but I’d like to just ask the Minister is he aware that there still is an ongoing summer program where the GNWT partners with the private sector to create employment for students? Thank you.

That’s very interesting to hear. I personally was not aware that the Come Make Your Mark program had worked with 60 businesses. On an ongoing basis, I’d like to ask the Minister what is the vehicle for continuing that liaison with the private sector when it comes to recruiting and retaining people in the North. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are three weeks into what is our traditional annual six-week budget session. It’s not one of my favourite activities, I must say. Our Finance Minister goes out there, he stands up in this House, he makes a budget address. We all go out in the Great Hall; we have a media scrum. They say, what do you think of the budget? What, like as if we didn’t know, what was in the budget?

The way consensus government should work is that way before the budget address is given, we, as committee members, who oversee different departments of this government, have an input into the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve been in the North for almost 40 years and, unlike many of you, I don’t have very many blood relatives here, so it’s a real pleasure. I have a couple; I gave birth to them. But I have my brother visiting today from Calgary – John Ostler – and it’s a real pleasure to have him here. I had to twist his arm a bit to get him here. He’s wearing a cast. I did not break his arm, but it was a great time to get him up here to visit his sister. My brother, John Ostler. Thank you.