Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I just get some clarification? The government confuses me. We have a "what we heard" report for agriculture, and now we have an agricultural strategy that goes to 2022. Has that agricultural strategy been implemented, or are there plans to develop an action plan? That is not in here. Can I just clarify also, perhaps, whether, whenever we have a strategy, the next step is then an action plan? Thank you.

That was quite the list of challenges to simply being open for evenings and weekends. I do believe there is a solution here, and I do believe that I can work with the Minister to find one, even if we were to close Mondays and open Saturdays. That would be the exact same amount of working hours. Perhaps that is one of the solutions.

I am going to spend the next four years trying to work through each of these issues. I would like to begin with the collective agreement. The Minister is correct that collective bargaining is the department of the board of management, of which she is a member, and it...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I wish to speak about the hours of service for the Yellowknife Department of Motor Vehicles.

Mr. Speaker, a number of my platform points that I campaigned on currently lie dead in the water. I won't walk out of here in four years having delivered universal basic income or universal daycare. However, in my platform, I had a number of smaller, very simple changes, and hopefully, after four years of persistence, I can get the Yellowknife Department of Motor Vehicles to be open evenings or weekends, Mr. Speaker.

Firstly, I would like to begin by acknowledging that the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am happy to hear 2022 for the board of governors. That is sharing my term, so I can see that step. Hopefully, I will see a senate formed. Then I just want to clarify. This is to transform Aurora College over the next six years. Are we on track, and do we believe that, in 2026, Aurora College will be a university, accredited as such?

I would like to begin, on behalf of Frieda, saying the headquarters will remain in Fort Smith. Also, I think I would like, on this issue specifically, to move on from the number of conversations that have happened around the president and begin to look to the future. I am very excited about this. I have been to a number of university towns across the circumpolar North, and the key is they are economic drivers. They employ hundreds of people. They are very inspiring. Yukon College, unfortunately, is going to beat us and will become Yukon University in two months. I am going there in two weeks...

Thank you, and I am glad to hear that. My other concern or one I would like to see with this is: I have raised a number of times some more flexible positions, some more part-time positions. I have a number of constituents who are retired nurses. They are not willing to go out for a full-time nursing position, but they would gladly come back at casual or part-time. I think that is another one of those things is that we really have to do whatever we can to retain people, and that may involve being a little flexible in our hours or creating some different positions. I am wondering if that is part...

No. I guess what I am asking for is perhaps for EIA to create some consistency across departments, especially in this one, which is led by ITI, Health, ENR, and Lands. I am looking at the agricultural strategy, and I believe it covers off almost everything that is in here. There are a lot of amazing recommendations. It is clear a lot of them have not been accomplished, it goes to 2022. Would the Premier be able to provide an update on the status of the recommendations in our agricultural strategy?

That is completely the role of a Minister in their department. There are a number of schedules in our collective agreement, specific cases for corrections and nurses. Yesterday, we had a conversation about homecare workers and allowing them to work more flexible hours so that they can serve elders outside the hours of 9:00 to 5:00.

The Minister of Finance does not know the on-the-ground operations of every department. I am not asking that the Minister of Infrastructure commit that she can do this. We can't commit anything to change in the collective bargaining agreement. That is why it is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement earlier, I said that I hope by the end of four years I can go renew my driver's licence on an evening or weekend in Yellowknife. My first question to the Minister of Infrastructure is: what are the current barriers to extending the hours of the DMV? I know that nothing is simple around here, but can she just identify some of the barriers?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know that there have been a number of questions on this, but one of the very exciting things about a university is that, once you actually get it to that point where it is accredited; it has a board of governors; it has a senate; it is arm's length from government; professional universities go and get their own funding. They raise money through endowments. There are lots of donations. The potential for a university to go and get 100 percent funding is much greater than it is for the current Aurora College structure, which is essentially the GNWT going and getting...