Kieron Testart

Thank you to the Minister for that. It's good that we're giving more handson direction to the college, as they take a lot of our funding and, in fact, nearly all of our postsecondary education funding to provide these services.

Mr. Speaker, does the Minister believe that the college is properly resourced? Could the $3million reduction that's being proposed in this budget have anything to do with the termination of programs such as the Social Work Diploma degree?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I spoke of the Aurora College. The Aurora College has reached the termination of their Social Work Diploma program. I wonder if the Minster can provide some detail on that and why that decision was made, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, post-secondary education in the Northwest Territories is very important to me. I believe it is a way we can bring transformational change to the Northwest Territories and give a real future for our residents, and invest in our young people, allowing them to pursue opportunities here at home in the North and not have to leave to the South.

I've been quite dismayed to learn from constituents and students at the college that they were abruptly told the Social Work Diploma program has been cut from Aurora College and will be phased out by 2019. This has caused a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear a lot of excuses from the Minister. If he is not interested in this policy change, I wish he would be forthright about it. Has he talked to the judiciary in addition to the other two departments I have listed, and can he answer if the department has spoken to the RCMP, the judiciary, and to other GNWT departments? Have we had this discussion about this policy change, and is the Minister willing to make that move? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Could the Minister be clear if it is 100 per cent or if we are still using the RCMP for a service that is not required? I think what I am getting across is: has an assessment been done if we are going to move the sheriff's office towards full coverage of court security and escorting services so we can get the RCMP back on the streets, keeping people safe, and allow our sheriffs to do a much-needed job that they are perfectly capable of doing, especially now that you have been given more resources to do that job?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Premier for that answer. My last question, Mr. Speaker, is the Premier also made public statements to the effect that, if this deal remained at its current levels, there would have to be cuts made to continue to support the healthcare system. The new sources of funding that he has previously addressed in this line of questioning, is that enough to avoid the need for cuts to pay for decreases in the health system? Do we have enough money flowing in that we don't need to make any cuts or adjustments in order to maintain a quality healthcare system in...

Could the Honourable Premier give a few more details than just that? The deal that we accepted is still less money than we have enjoyed previously on -- even with the additional mental health funding and homecare funding, it's still less than we would have received under the old agreement, so can the Premier be specific about how we're winning on this deal?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the honourable Members who have spoken before me, both today and tomorrow. Their comments are important to hear.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Finance delivered the muchanticipated 20172018 Budget Address, setting the stage for the coming weeks of budget deliberations in this House. It is a relief that this information is at long last made public so that our constituents can now know the full extent of what the government is proposing to do with their tax dollars and provide the programs and services they have come to expect.

As honourable...

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

I appreciate the statistics from the Minister. It is good to see we are making better use. Apart from escorts, are we moving away from having an RCMP officer in the courtroom securing it? Has that policy shift been discussed with both our partners in the RCMP and within the Department of Justice? Have you had that discussion? Are we moving toward the model that we have seen in other jurisdictions, such as Nunavut, where the sheriffs are the sole security personnel and peace officers responsible for court security and we can start shifting the RCMP to other responsibilities as through our...