Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment regarding the next steps in the development of an NWT polytechnic university. Any future development of the university must be carried out in close cooperation with stakeholders, particularly municipal governments. Can the Minister tell us what formal and informal mechanisms the department has established on this specific file to ensure close collaboration with municipal governments? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I don't think I was on your list.

Yes, thanks, Mr. Chair. I will just read a quick quote from the review board. The board found that the so-called whole-of-government approach, and this is the quote, "has limited the ability of evidence and expertise from GNWT departments about the potential impacts, concerns, and mitigations on issues within their respective mandates and jurisdictions." That, to me, is pretty damning. That is not coming from me. That is coming from the review board, so I want to encourage the Minister, and I think he is made a commitment before that he is going to review how this policy has been working. I...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. The Minister is starting to make my case for why I think ISSS is a bad move in the first place. Here's a department that is creating a new position so that they can get timely access to the kind of services that ISSS is supposed to be delivering. That sort of goes counter to the whole reason why this thing was being set up in the first place. I don't agree with it, and I think the people who were being moved out of Lands into the Department of Finance should stay with Lands. This just, I guess, confirms my belief that this is a bad thing to do, this ISSS, when we have a...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I did take the Minister's advice and give the Minister a heads-up about the questions I am going to ask today. In my statement, I raised some questions and points about the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework. Can the Premier provide an update on the status of his involvement in this federal policy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think that I heard from our friends here that, in water management and monitoring, there was an $85,000 reduction in water research and studies and a $50,000 reduction in travel. I am wondering how that is impacting our ability to negotiate the Transboundary Water Agreements. Maybe I could start with: have there been any new agreements signed during the life of this Assembly? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, well, although I believe in stronger public governance of the Heritage Fund, it is not me saying this. This was direction from the Legislative Assembly. The mandate was accepted. It was voted on in this House, and now the department has gone off and contracted out the management of our Heritage Fund. I can assure you I did not hear that when I sat in on the business plan review for this department, so this comes as very much a surprise to me, that we are contracting out the management of our Heritage Fund. Can the Minister provide me any sort of assurance that there is...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that detail. I am not convinced. It may not have an effect on programs and services, but it may have an effect on the kind of submissions that we make to land and water boards, regulatory bodies, the kind of expert evidence that they require to make sound decisions. Is that going to be impacted by these reductions? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I will wait until we get to the management board secretariat, and I just found my page here. It is 151. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Look, I appreciate the deputy minister's answers. I am not questioning his ability to manage the department, and so on. I would like to ask the Minister: did he ever consider going to the Financial Management Board and seek the additional funding or to get a waiver or whatever so that the department did not have to make these internal cuts to come up with the amount of the anticipated savings? I would like to know why the Minister didn't take that route. Thank you, Mr. Chair.