Kieron Testart

I appreciate that that postsecondary development is an important piece of knowledge economy initiatives. This future skills lab, though, is, again, an opportunity for interested parties to partner on an optin basis and would provide cofinancing to initiate pilot programs in skills and competency development.

I think of our remote Northern communities. We often have to develop new techniques to solve problems, and this would be an opportunity to finance innovation in that kind of problemsolving, so I think it is very separate from Aurora College. Again, is the Minister willing to look at this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I talked about innovation and the supreme importance of creating an innovative and competitive economy for the Northwest Territories by investing in a knowledge economy. I spoke about a future skills lab. This is an initiative that the federal government has agreed to provide $100 million in funding for. Obviously, we can't do that with our fiscal capacity here, but there is an opportunity to build a northern skills lab that would create unique northern solutions by partnering with the federal government and with various other...

Maybe I was not clear enough. Are the dollars we are saving from identifying these efficiencies being reinvested into postsecondary education, with Aurora College or any of our other postsecondary partners, or back into SFA? Is any of this money going into postsecondary education, or are we just making cuts and the savings are going back into general revenue?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, honourable Members. Mr. Speaker, people with mental illness and addictions are more likely to die prematurely than the general population. Mental illness can cut 10 to 20 years from a person's life expectancy. It keeps people from being productive at home and at work and for too long has held Northerners back from achieving their full potential.

With a new action plan and new support from Ottawa and Indigenous governments, now is the time to take a stand and assure Northerners we are taking real action on mental health and addictions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

So last budget, we supported them to the tune of around $33 million in direct contributions, and this year we are reducing that, we are supporting them $3 million less. That's what I am talking about. That $3 million in support, where is it going? Is it going back into postsecondary, either through the college or through other groups, or is it just being cut?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a number of the honourable Members on this side of the House have questions for the Minister of Education, continuing the line of questioning this week about the change of affairs at Aurora College. I, too, have questions.

A number of the discussions have been around streamlining program delivery so we can save costs and maximize benefits to students. My question then is: these costs that we are saving by cutting programs, are they being reinvested in the college in other program areas or in new infrastructure, or are we just cutting costs to reduce the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On November 3, 2015, the Minister of Health tabled "Mind and Spirit: Promoting Mental Health and Addictions Recovery in the Northwest Territories." This is the mental health strategic framework for 2016 to 2021.

Mr. Speaker, mental health is a critical issue that this government must address, not just for our citizens today but also for future generations of Northerners. I'm glad to see this government recognize this with its new strategy, and I'm equally pleased that the federal government has allocated to the Northwest Territories $6.1 million over a 10year period to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Minister has laid out his position on this, and what it really hinges on is that strategic plan. I again call on the Minister to table that at the earliest convenience and give a firm deadline to this House. It is of great interest to the public.

My final question, Mr. Speaker, the strategic plan seems to be predicated on the labour market analysis that ECE has done. In fact, they have moved their Aurora College operations or support into the labour division within the department. My question is: is this strategic plan that the government is assisting with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Education has made several statements about a need to ensure value for money at Aurora College, and I need to ensure we have adequate programming to support our fiscal bottom line and the contribution agreements -- the government's and Aurora College's fiscal bottom line. I wonder if that's not part of our strategy moving forward. I've asked questions in this House, to the Minister, about an apprenticeship strategy, and I was told money will not be allocated to that until the plan has been put into effect. Do we have a working draft of that...

Thank you. I'm sure those partners will be interested in receiving additional funding from the Minister moving forward. In this specific area of reduction, the Minister spoke about value for money. How many students were enrolled in the social work program, and what is the cost per student of that program so we can get a clear sense of the value for money?