Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my goal is to always say yes, especially when it comes to transparency. I will note that this report was commissioned by the Department of Infrastructure so I will say yes with a caveat of being able to make sure that there isn't any privacy concerns from the Department of Infrastructure or concerns about any commercial information given that they are the owners of the report. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today, right now, I can commit to the Member and to the public that this program will be reopened in the month of February and that in the, you know, coming week, we'll be able to inform the public as to what that will look like, but that is the extent of the commitments I can give on timing right now. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in multiple instances, the department of education hasn't even had to pick up the phone. As soon as the media articles hit the online waves there, the phone started ringing. My phone certainly did and as well as the department as well as Aurora College. So once we have clarity as to kind of what the landscape looks like, then would be the opportune time to start making phone calls and being able to actually have concrete conversations about how Aurora College intends to go forward so that we can have conversations based on known factors. Thank you...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the timeline of the transformation has everything from new legislation that would be polytechnic university legislation. It has a new funding formula for Aurora College. And it has things like very program-specific things like, you know, when different programs will become available through the college. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this essentially is the point of this policy and this program is, first of all, penalizing financially the companies that aren't adhering to BIP and then at a certain point if companies are being nonresponsive, then they are going to end up with consequences and especially in a place where government contracting is so important to contractors, you know, as the -- my other hat, the MLA for Kam Lake, very much understand that government contracting is very important. If government's not putting out contracts, you better believe that I hear about...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the change that was made was specific to start off for construction contracts over $250,000. And so those contracts, they're really what we are focusing on to start with the vendor performance management policy to ensure that those contractors are meeting their BIP requirements. All of the contracts that are put out by the government then undergo review, along with the contractors, and there are penalties that are applied to contracts where BIP is not followed within that financial bracket. And I'd be more than happy to answer any other...

Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Aurora College transformation has a very detailed website. The one thing I will note is that the dates associated with the timeline need to be updated. But it does have a website that outlines everything that needs to happen. It has GANT charts. It has timelines with all the details of all the different steps, who is responsible for those steps. Three of the remaining transformation outlines include the GNWT. Those would be things like the legislation that I was referring to. And then there are some that are definitely under the purview of...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the board of governors is currently working on a new set of timelines for the transformation and once those are finalized, those will become public. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, well the contractor is the one that is making a commitment off the hop on a commitment they are making through a contract and through a bidding process to the government. So they would, I would hope, would know what commitments they're making in their own tendering process right from the hop. That being said, one of the things that we will be implementing coming up here is training for contractors so that they understand the expectation of all contracts, they understand how businesses are registered and comply with BIP, that they understand...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, a few things, businesses have to meet the eligibility requirements of BIP and then those businesses, of course, are audited on a biannual basis. And then also we have our vendor performance management policy as well as the -- which was put out in 2023. And then in 2024, the guidelines were put out so that both the staff of the GNWT would understand what is expected and required, and staff do undergo training. And then in future we will be putting out training for contractors as well. Thank you.