Kieron Testart

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...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just more a comment at this point on how we are rolling out post-secondary education. Again, I feel like we are very far behind where Northerners expect us to be in providing quality post-secondary education here in the Northwest Territories. I will not argue with the Minister that the Student Financial Assistance program is world-class and gives a lot of opportunities to our kids to pursue educational opportunities across Canada and the world, but it is here in the North that I think we need to do a better job at bringing not only opportunities to students who want to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will appreciate receiving that information to properly understand how we are supporting our post-secondary partners. I note that the line item for adult and post-secondary education is $34.5 million. Can the Minister confirm if the majority of this goes to Aurora College? It looks like $31 million goes to Aurora College. Thank you.

I have nothing further. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Has a new agreement been worked out with College nordique to support them moving forward in excess of that $354,000 or is that funding going to be stable for the next fiscal year as well, as represented by this budget? Thank you.

Thank you. As the department will be looking into that, I'll also ask if they could split that between the three campuses so there's a clear understanding of where ARI's facilities are located and what they have available to them. Furthermore, the Yellowknife campus at the NUP building is somewhat notorious for glycol leaks and other maintenance issues that could impact the health and safety of students. Those needs to repair those issues and make those improvements to the building, have those been taken into account in this building and works funding? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am wondering where I would find the contributions to College nordique and to Dechinta Centre for Learning, if the Minister could help me with that? Thank you.

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?