Wendy Bisaro

Okay. We will move on. Before we move on I will allow the Minister to respond to general comments. Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and I’d like to follow up on my statement. Aurora College students, those attending classes here in Yellowknife, unfortunately some of them are in extremely crowded conditions. Some of them are in classrooms which have great heat variations, sometimes too cold, sometimes too hot. It’s not an optimal experience for them. I believe strongly, and I think many of the college staff and students also believe, that Yellowknife deserves a stand-alone campus similar to those in Inuvik and Fort...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is an urgent need for a stand-alone Aurora College campus in Yellowknife. At this time the other two NWT communities with comprehensive college curriculums, Inuvik and Fort Smith, both have stand-alone campus buildings and designated student housing infrastructure. Yellowknife has neither, however. Aurora College students attending courses in Yellowknife take their classes in a crowded, leased space in a high-rise building. The lease on that space was renewed last year but only for a short time.

The housing stock at Yellowknife North Slave Campus is very limited...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I do agree we have to move forward on this, but I heard no timeline except that we are going to renew a lease. Again, lots of talk and little action. If we are renewing this lease for three years, can I expect to see a timeline for construction within the next six or eight months? Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I am really pleased to hear that there is actually something happening other than just talk. There has been a lot of talk in the last couple of years about maybe this happening, maybe that happening, but there has been nothing concrete.

I’m glad to hear the Minister say that he is meeting with the college board, but I guess I would like to know, when he says that they are looking at all options, does that include options such as P3 projects. Does that include options such as a corporate sponsor who might perhaps assist in the building of a college? Is the Minister...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize a couple of constituents in the gallery, Ms. Jenni Bruce, who is the chair of NWT Tourism, Mr. Josh Campbell – oh, he’s slipped away on me – he is the public relations officer for UNW, and one of our municipal councillors in attendance, Ms. Lydia Bardak. Welcome all.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My comments are in no particular order and they don’t necessarily merit a response, but they will also reflect many of the concerns of other Members who’ve already spoken and who will speak after me.

I want to start by talking about the amount of money that we are going to be using, $15.6 million, according to the Minister, to offset the NWT Power Corporation’s rate increase that’s upcoming. I’m all for reducing my power bills. Lord knows I don’t want to pay more for my power than anybody else does. I think that our cost of living, whether it be here in Yellowknife or...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to know from the Minister my usual question in terms of when we might expect to see some progress on this particular project. From the Minister, can we expect to see a timeline for this project, some definite movement in a forward direction, not talk? Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. Everything I have heard is in the future. I’m looking for something that is going to happen a little sooner than the fall of this year, although I’m glad to hear that there will be something even though it is a small thing and it’s a pilot.

The people who come to our service providers are very often in pain, they are struggling, they are at wits’ end. If they are not adequately understood, we see the horrendous ramifications that we have experienced in the last several months, particularly here in Yellowknife. I feel that the Department of Human Resources should be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Human Resources. I would like to follow up on some of the thoughts in my Member’s statement. I spoke about the diversity within our territory and the need for our service providers to have an understanding of the diversity that exists, of the different languages and the different cultures that exist within our territory. I feel that we as a government have to change our mindset and we also have to change our mindset as workers. What programs exist now that go to training our service providers to be culturally aware so...