Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the response from Mr. Neudorf. Can the department provide us with any detail on the economic benefits that have come from the impact of the grant funding so far? I will just start with that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have three letters I would like to table. One is from Ms. Karen Lapine-McFeeters, a third-year Teacher Education Program student. One from Her Worship Lynn Napier-Buckley, the Mayor of Fort Smith, and a member of the Board of Governors of Aurora College; and a letter from Chris Westwell, an actively engaged and concerned citizen. They are all in reference to the cuts at Aurora College. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased that the Minister has made it clear that our government is driving the strategic plan for Aurora College. I do think that is problematic. I think that we need to decide if it is going to be a thirdparty organization that can decide its own priorities or if we are going to decide its priorities for them. So, I am going to ask the Minister, just clearly: is he willing to put a hold on cutting funding to Aurora College so they can preserve these two existing programs until such time as the strategic plan has been completed and has been considered by this House...

Perhaps, maybe, that is the point. Are we too involved with the daytoday operations of this college and providing strategic direction to them? As my honourable friend, the Member from Hay River North, pointed out in his statement earlier, issues with the success of the college are not new, and instead of helping them, we seem to have been turning away from that and are now offering them guidance on how to cut programs, not how to improve programs.

My question, Mr. Speaker, is: given that 66 per cent of the revenues of Aurora College are provided for by government and, in our neighbouring...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I am sure he is used to it every time he appears, but I would also like to recognize Mr. Tony Whitford, former Member for Kam Lake. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am sorry. Did the Minister say he will make that commitment or he has made that commitment? I don't think we have heard it until now. If he could clarify. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. That is fine, Mr. Chair.

I would argue that the line of the mandate for implementing the mineral would be expanding it. A million dollars to this program would increase the return on investment to somewhere around the level of $8 million. Does the Minister agree that an additional $5 or $6 million injected directly into our economy through boosting this important subsidy would be a benefit to our economy and to our mining industry?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Finally, under community delivery -- and this is a little bit different; this is the adult learning centres or community learning centres and the adult education portion. There is a decrease as well in that line from 2016-17 to 2017-18. Can we have the substantiation for that decrease, please, Mr. Chair? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since raising the issue of the Mineral Incentive Program, I have been flooded with correspondence from the public in support of increasing this program. I am going to ask the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment today if he will commit to increasing the Mineral Investment Program to $1 million, support our industry, and grow our exploration sector? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.