R.J. Simpson

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Wednesday, October 28, 2020, I will move that Bill 14, An Act to Amend the Securities Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One year ago, Members of this House made the transformation of Aurora College into a polytechnic university a priority of the 19th Legislative Assembly. Today, I would like to provide an update on some of the progress that has been made toward this goal.

Earlier this month, Aurora College released a three-year strategic plan, which sets out the vision, mission, values, and strategic direction that will guide the college's operations for the next three years and helps set the stage for key transformational changes. Two of the four strategic pillars of the new plan are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that, on Wednesday, October 28, 2020, I will move that Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Apprenticeship, Trades and Occupational Certification Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That took a turn. The Member was advocating for an increased minimum wage, then said the minimum wage is irrelevant, and now wants a living wage. No, I don't have a path to a living wage. Frankly, I don't have a path to ensuring that everyone makes $25-plus in the territory. I'm really not sure how we would get to that at this point. It would take a rethinking of a lot of small businesses. I know of businesses in Hay River that would go under if they had to pay everyone $25 an hour, so no, I can't commit to that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll see what the report recommends. It's a complete waste of all of these people's time if I'm going to stand up here and answer these questions without ever seeing what is recommended. I understand what the Member is saying. I've worked in the industry, as well. I know that you make lower wages because you live off the tips. If that's something that they recommend, then that's something I'd consider. However, you don't get tips everywhere you work. Maybe Yellowknife isn't bad, but I know there are places where the tipping isn't great. We can't paint the NWT with the same brush as the rest of...

The SNAP program, people participating in the SNAP program are already able to benefit from the wage subsidy program, so no change is needed. It's already happening. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I like how the Member thinks. I think we need to be offering more programs than we are, increasing the number of programs that lead to careers and lead to employment soon after high school. However, this is a program that is offered by Aurora College, and I can't tell the college what to do. I will bring this information back to them. I know that they have been working with Health and Social Services and the territorial health authority to expand delivery of the program outside of Yellowknife, and so it is being offered online, as well. It is being expanded, but it's not being offered in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Chrome Books the Member is referencing were purchased with the allocation of funds that was announced a few weeks ago. It was a joint effort between the Department of Finance and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Those Chrome Books were intended for students who could not access full-time, in-person learning. In small communities, the students have been lucky enough to have access to full-time, in-person learning.

There is also a contingent of those Chrome Books that are for a worst-case scenario. If a school was to shut down because of a COVID-19...

I think it would be an odd choice, given everything, if I made the recommendation to uproot 40-some people and move them to Yellowknife and move the administrative offices of Aurora College to a different community. To the Member's question, does it make sense to keep the people employed where they live in the building that they are currently working in? Of course, it does.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since February, I've been talking about an implementation plan that I'm going to be releasing that will lay out the path forward to a final transformation to a polytechnic university, and I will be releasing that in the coming weeks. That is going to have some key dates in there, and it talks about things like the facilities plan. The college is going to go out and do an assessment of all the different facilities and see what's in place, and that can inform things like programming and things like the Member is talking about. I can say, and I've said before, I've never...