Tom Beaulieu

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I spoke of students at Aurora College and specifically the Thebacha Campus in Fort Smith; students from Res and Lutselk'e having some issues with childcare subsidies. I’d like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment questions on that.

Mr. Speaker, would the Minister agree to complete an assessment or an examination of the child care subsidy for effectiveness? Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Although this is a constituent of mine that brought the issue to my attention, there are many other students with similar problems. Would the Minister commit to going to Fort Smith to meet with the student body on this issue of child care prior to the end of April? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the particular issue I speak of is not really a student financial assistance issue but rather an issue with the subsidy pertaining to child care. The Minister is right; the needs seem to be met through student financial assistance, because rents subsidies and other things are given to the students at a lower cost than the other people that are just in the community. However, what I am hoping that the Minister would do is examine the child care subsidy and consider how it accommodates the students. Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Today I wish to speak about the students at Aurora College and the support they get from the Government of the Northwest Territories. Our students are our future and this government must do all it can to support the students. The success of the students is essential. Many of the students are mature students and have costs associated with family and children.

Currently, a family of three that needs child care services to attend school receives about $1,700 to $1,900 per month, if supported by Aboriginal organizations through the ASETS...

Mr. Speaker, I thought the main objective or primary purpose would be to keep the GNWT dollars in the NWT. I thought the level playing field was a result of trying to do that. Will the Minister go back to the small communities, maybe not every small community, not a full consultation process, but to some of the small communities to hear first hand from the small community contractors what the issues are with the BIP? Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the Business Incentive Policy as it’s applied in the local preference adjustment. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI questions on this.

Will the Minister go back to the department to see if the current BIP is working in the small communities in the sense that the small communities are getting the majority of the contracts within the small communities? Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to discuss the simplification of the Business Incentive Policy. Today the current Business Incentive Policy local preference has a local percentage of 5 percent. This is not enough for the small communities. For example, in Fort Resolution a local contractor lost a contract to another business by just over $100 and that contractor brought workers from out of the community.

I think the GNWT should change the Business Incentive Policy to a single 15 percent local preference calculation. This will make it very simple and it will give the small communities...

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I consider the variance report to be part of project management, especially huge project management. I’m wondering if, since the Minister did refer to a variance report but saying verifying variance report is what I’m hearing, I’m wondering if the Minister could provide us a variance report, one variance report that compares a cash flow with expenditures so the House could determine where we’re at, like, if we’re on schedule with the construction, if we’re on schedule with the flow of money. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I’ll assume that means that management is standing by the Department of Transportation. I was wondering if the Minister could provide me with some information in the sense of looking for schedules versus stages of construction. I was wondering if the Minister could provide me with a project status report on the Deh Cho Bridge. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister if he could do more analysis on BIP. I would like to ask the Minister if they can do adjustments to contracts that were already let in the small communities, a new set of adjustments based on 15 percent local preference only and maybe discuss the results with me so that I am able to also determine what the issues are when I am talking to local contractors in Fort Res and Lutselk’e. Thank you.