Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Does that mean that additional training spaces will be opened up for these counsellors or will they be competing with existing public service employees? I say this because I know some of these training opportunities are quite limited and I'd like the Minister to give a commitment then that the department will make these opportunities available and provide additional resources if required. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Committee would like to consider Minister's Statement 186-18(2); Bill 16: An Act to Amend the Education Act; Committee Report 10-18(2): Report on the Review of Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Education Act, in that order. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. What I hear from the Minister is he has not yet taken a position on that, and I think it is important we get out to the communities. Those discussions have to be carefully crafted so we get good results, and the question we put to our citizens is clear. Apart from those principles, does the Minister have a set of discussion paper around this that he can share with Honourable Members on this side of the House that makes it clear what those questions are going to be that we put to our residents around the important subject of cannabis regulation. Thank you, Mr...

[English translation not provided.] He has laid out clearly what the group has produced to date. How long did it take them to come up with these principles, principles which have basically been around since the 2015 Liberal party platform announcement? There might have been crib from that platform, but I will leave to the Minister to answer. How many times has the working group met? These are well established principles behind this. I'm wondering if they have done anything else. How many times have they met?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As with all things we do in this great institution of democracy, compromise is essential to ensuring we make good decisions for our people, and I am very thankful to have the support of Cabinet on this amendment. I am also thankful to the honourable Member for Yellowknife North for showing his support, and to the concerns raised by the honourable Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. [English translation not provided.] We have 78 per cent for Yellowknife and 95 per cent for this one school. Clearly the Minister can see that there is a problem here. If we are going to keep pushing grades onto our school boards, we need to have some flexibility here so these schools can meet the needs of our families and our parents. I will ask again if, in the rollout of the new junior kindergarten funding in the fall, when these needs are assessed, will there be additional money provided to the schools to provide for temporary accommodations or retrofits to...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I move that Bill 16 be amended by adding the following after clause 4:

4.1. The following is added after subsection 126(4):

(5) The Department of Education, Culture and Employment shall review the hours of instruction prescribed under subsection (4) within six months following the conclusion of the 2019-2020 academic year.

(6) The review shall consist of an examination of the hours of instruction, the effectiveness of the administration and implementation of the hours of instruction, and the achievement of the objectives behind the hours of instruction.

(7) The...

I am glad that the Minister is looking into this, but this isn't a new issue. I would like the Minister to commit to a timeline if he can, today, on when we are going to have a sense of when this needs assessment work has been completed.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would just like to thank my Honourable friend, the member for Nahendeh, for laying out some of these considerations. I, too, have consulted with some people on this issue. The crux of it is, the NWT students graduate with an NWT senior secondary diploma, and not an Alberta education diploma; and although there are some course equivalencies through the NWT senior secondary diploma such as the Alberta 30-1 or 30-2 language arts course, ultimately, the NWT's diploma is standalone. Universities do not require 1,000 hours when they are considering the NWT's senior secondary...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise again to recognize Mr. Fraser Oliver, Kam Lake constituent and president of the NWT Teachers' Association. I know he has been here every day so far this sitting, and eagerly awaiting the debate on Bill 16, which is today. I am sure he will be very pleased with our proceedings. Thank you.