Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for that. I appreciate that the government provides probably the best support in Canada for students attending university down south. I am going to re-ask that question with just a bit of different language. Rather than send our students to these institutions, can we bring these institutions to the North? Can they establish a campus or a branch here? Has he had those discussions, and is he working toward that goal? Thank you.

Sadly, it sounds like not much has changed. I'm particularly interested in post-secondary academic education. I think the community learning centres do an amazing job, but I'm more focused on the degree granting institutions. I know that the Minister committed to doing a bit of work on this, developing some legislation around it. Can he provide an update on that legislative process and when we're going to be able to grant northern degrees from northern institutions here in the North?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It sounds like the Premier is starting to understand what it's like to be a Regular Member. Often, we raise concerns that are put to study or put to an internal working group when we're not at the tables, so perhaps this will inform his relationship when we're working with the government to find out how to make good decisions for people. My last question, Mr. Speaker, we've cut $5 million out of our public service capacity to address oil and gas development in the Northwest Territories. With what little is left, is that being used to address these issues and to develop...

Well, I appreciate that we've been safe so far, but these problems persist. This is the reason why a ban was put in place by Canada. I'd just like to take a minute to quote from debates in Hansard of February 2, 2013, when the Premier said:

"The Government of the Northwest Territories is focused on managing the business of the territory. It has to be our primary objective not telling the Government of Canada how it should do its business. Further, we aren't the federal opposition. We're governing our own right and we need to concentrate on managing our own affairs. We will continue to work with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank all the Pages for their hard work over this sitting. I would also like to recognize my constituency assistant, Mr. Garett Cochrane. I couldn't do this job without him, and I am very appreciative that he is joining us here today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that we rise and report progress. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We're still at the consultation stage. I think that's helpful for understanding our progress to date. In addition to northern institutions, their willing partners are very close to us in northern Alberta who have been trying to make inroads with our student population. Has the Minister had any interaction with these institutions in trying to bring their programming into the North and make it more accessible to Northerners?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We spent a lot of time this sitting debating education. I'd like to ask the Minister of Education now how the ambitious plans for post-secondary education are rolling out of the departmental level and if he can give an update to the House on the work to date on developing a thorough post-secondary education regime to the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

I appreciate that explanation from the Premier. There's a clause in that Devolution Agreement that allows us to take disputes through that process. Is the Premier going to use the Devolution Agreement to bring Canada to task on this issue? I should point out that it's not a permanent ban. It's a five-year ban that can be revisited, so is the Premier going to wait for five years until we can revisit that decision or are we going to access the Devolution Agreement to start these negotiations early and as he's clearly stated, he's a strong believer in this economic opportunity. Are we going to...

Thank you, and thank you for that clarification from the Minister. I will move on to asking about the perimeter fence. Again, this seems to be funding that is allocated to address the security concerns that emerged after that escape. Is that correct for this $414,000 fencing project? Thank you.