Statements in Debates
Thanks. I guess I was not clear on enough, Mr. Chair, with regard to my question. So if the loss of this revenue, though, I understand there might be a staff reduction related to it, can the Minister confirm that there have been no other reductions made to the Prince of Wales and Northern Heritage Centre?
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm just skimming through this section to see if I've got anything else. I think most of my questions were already asked by my colleagues. Sorry, there's one here. Public library services have been declining over time. Can someone from the department tell us what's going on? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. So okay, now we have the paper trail right. The department told the college about reductions. They came back with a revised budget. That was then approved by the Minister and the department. The Minister has known about the cuts to these programs for several months, and now word is coming out about these because of e-mails to students and so on. Regular MLAs, we weren't really told about what was being reduced or cut in terms of the programs offered by the college. Once again, poor communications. Just unacceptable that this is the way that this sort of thing takes place...
Thanks, Mr. Chair. That's a very helpful explanation, and I can see it now.
I also note that the NWT Arts Council in 2014, they developed a strategic plan. Are there any plans by the department to increase our support for arts and performers? Thanks, Mr. Chair. Sorry, and the reason why I say that, Mr. Chair, is this is an area of our economy that has tremendous paybacks; it can help diversify our economy, showcase our culture. Is this something that the department is looking at increasing, say, funding to the NWT Arts Council and/or Support to Northern Performers? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the explanation from the Minister. I don't agree with the process the department has gone about with this. Let's just get a little bit more detail about when was Aurora College told that they were going to get their contribution cut? Just a ballpark figure. Middle of September? When did that happen? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Sorry, I thought we were going through this page-by-page, so I did have one question about -- it's on page 35 and it's about Support to Northern Performers. Back in 2015-16 there was $185,000 in that budget for it; now it's down to $101,000. Can someone from the department explain what happened? Thank you.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Great to hear that the accountability framework is mentioned in the mandate letters, but can someone explain just a little bit more about this? Presumably, it's some sort of a system to evaluate the effectiveness of their programs and what they're doing and whether targets are being met and so on. Is that what this accountability framework is all about? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I am glad that the Minister recognizes that this corridor will go through the range, the habitat of the Bathurst caribou, but he didn't actually answer my question about critical habitat, like water crossings, calving grounds, and so on, so maybe I will try a different angle here. The Grays Bay Road and Port Project, that the Minister mentioned in his statement here, would link up with our road, and it is all part of one big project now apparently. Is the Minister aware of whether the Grays Bay Road and Port Project would actually go through any critical habitat for the Bathurst caribou herd?
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that response; it helps clarify it for me.
Earlier in the House I had asked whether the Minister was prepared to give Regular Members the terms of reference for the strategic planning exercise that the college is going through; we still don't have that, and I think that's, like, over a week ago now; and one of my colleagues asked for copies of the mandate letters from the board of directors to be tabled in the House as well.
Does the Minister have any timeline for providing this information to the Regular MLAs on this side? The reason why I raise this is that is...
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions for the Minister of Transportation on his statement that he gave earlier today. I was really pleased to see that caribou got an honourable mention in his statement on the Slave Geological Province access corridor. That wasn't there last time. In his statement, he says that the corridor has been identified: "It will provide greatest economic benefit to the region in the Northwest Territories." Can the Minister tell me whether this corridor will benefit caribou, specifically the Bathurst caribou herd? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.