Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today I raised questions regarding leadership on post-secondary education in the Northwest Territories. There are a lot of people anxiously awaiting the Aurora College Foundational Review, including students, instructors, and even Regular MLAs. Can the Minister of Education tell us all when the foundational review will be released to the public? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, okay, I want to encourage the Minister to continue to go after that some of that federal infrastructure money that was announced in the Great Hall to meet our housing needs. Those are critical for our residents.

When I look at our Towards Level Ground report, there are lots of things in here that you would think would be eligible under this federal infrastructure program, things like emergency repair, seniors aging in place retrofits, new unit constructions, all kinds of things in here that are cost-shared at millions of dollars, that are not funded right now. This...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I have raised concerns regarding our support for post-secondary education in this House several times during this Assembly. The Minister of Education allowed Aurora College to cut the teacher education and social work programs as part of Cabinet's fiscal strategy and before efforts were made to improve them. He announced a foundational review on Aurora College and then got rid of the Aurora College Board. There appears to be little done to respond to the recommendations from the 2013 Cleveland review of Aurora College.

The steering committee for the foundational...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Well, that's all great information. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'm looking at the Minister of Infrastructure's statement in the House today. He talks about how there are a number of streams for this federal infrastructure money, some of which you think would be where housing would be eligible, things like Green Infrastructure Fund, Rural and Northern Communities Fund, Arctic Energy Fund. Can any of these funds be accessed and used for housing? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don't think I've ever heard a prompt answer like that before in Committee of the Whole, so that's great. In any event, I just want to go on the record. I don't think this is a good way to cut funds out of the Housing Corporation. If there are some LHOs that are in surplus, they're the ones that you should go after, not just right across the board cuts. I'll just leave that on the record. I don't have any further questions. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I'm a bit disappointed to hear that. Is the Housing Corporation then going to develop some kind of policy about surplus retentions and deficits for LHOs? I know the Department of Education has something similar, but is that something that the corporation is going to look at, developing rather than these across the board cuts? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. How does the corporation determine the allocation of this $217,000 reduction? Is it just a handful of LHOs, or is it all of them? How is that calculated? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am just looking at schedule 3 of the business plans, the public version from the website, and I see that there is going to be a reduction to local housing, LHO funding contributions of $217,000. Can someone explain what that is all about? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. That is helpful to know but I don't think it answers my question. Who will pay for transcripts if they are required? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think this is the section of the budget where the court reporters are going to be eliminated, for $478,000. Can I just confirm that with the Minister? Thanks, Mr. Chair.