Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. There's a lot of eager beavers here today.

---Laughter

While we're on this department, I just want to ask about the first quarter funding for energy solutions, which I believe also includes Arctic Energy Alliance and our own work as a government on energy conservation, energy efficiencies, and so on. I'm just wondering what rough portion we're looking at spending in the first quarter of 2016-2017. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the Premier for his response. I guess I was asking the question, though, in the context of this First Ministers’ meeting in Vancouver that he is going down to. I am wondering if he has any specific asks or requests that he is going to be making at that meeting, and if he could share those with the House.

Mahsi, and I want to thank the Minister again for his answer. Earlier today, though, I just spoke about how there are other post-secondary institutions here in the Northwest Territories, including Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning and College nordique francophone. Can the Minister tell this House whether he's prepared to enable these other institutions, Dechinta and College nordique in particular, to grant degrees, and when does he believe such authority will be in place? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate the answer from the Minister. We have a number of post-secondary institutions in the Northwest Territories, including Aurora College, Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning and the College nordique francophone. What role does the Minister see for each of these post-secondary institutions in the future?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided] I too would like to recognize Josee Clermont. She is the [English translation not provided].

I thank the Minister for his answer and we all understand that the Education Act allows for the granting of post-secondary education degrees, but can the Minister tell us which institutions in the Northwest Territories have such authority and for what types of degrees?

[English translation not provided] Earlier today, we had an interesting public presentation from Dechinta today at the Standing Committee on Social Development. Then last week, as an Assembly, we adopted the Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories, 2016-2019. One point in that document states that we should be refocusing support for post-secondary institutions in the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment tell this House what is meant by “refocusing support for post-secondary institutions in the Northwest Territories?” Merci.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to salute the tremendous public service performed by the Northern Journal over many years. It may seem odd that a Yellowknife MLA is making a statement on the publication based in Fort Smith, but I have no hesitation whatsoever in saluting this newspaper as a standard of excellence in the Northwest Territories, setting an example for all other media to follow. The Northern Journal was founded in 1977 by Don Jaque as the Slave River Journal. It has been a family affair with his wife Sandra and has spawned some of the best journalists we have had, including...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. My next question is: after we took over the jurisdiction for securities with devolution April 1, 2014, did the GNWT take any actions to transform that promissory note into a more secure form of financial assurance? If I could just talk a little bit about that. A promissory note is just a letter saying that somebody is going to promise to pay somebody some money. A much more secure form would be something called an irrevocable letter of credit, which is issued by a chartered bank. You give that to a bank and the bank pushes the cash across the counter. That's a much more...

I understand that a good part of the claims work is on the Yukon side, the mineral claims, but can the Minister send somebody out to the site to have a look at the Northwest Territories side to confirm that there are no liabilities and could he report that back to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment? Thank you, Mr. Chair.