R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I wish to table the following document "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 3-19(1), Tracking Post-Secondary Student Accomplishments." Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to draw the Chair's attention to the clock. It is 6:00 p.m., and according to Rule 6(1), the House must rise at 6:00 p.m., as we weren't put into extended hours. Thank you.

Absolutely. This government is all about collaboration and breaking down silos. I have to work with the Housing Corporation, as I've stated before. When we're talking about small businesses, I have to work with ITI. I am absolutely going to do that, and I am going to have to work with the committees of this Assembly, as some of the changes that are being discussed would require legislative changes that would have to go through the committee stage.

I'm trying to build the best relationships I can with all the education leaders in the territory. To that end, I phoned the chair of every DEC or regional authority in the territory when I first took office. I've had conversations with all but one of the members of the board of the French schools. Again, yesterday, I reached out to the chair and I'm setting up a meeting so that we can have a discussion, myself and the board, with no one else in the room, no one from the department, no employees of the board, just the elected officials, to figure out how, as reasonable people, we can come to a...

The money spent on court proceedings pursuant to the 2016 directive is $220,000.

One of the things about this job is there is a lot. There is a lot in ECE. This is something I have an interest in, a personal interest, but I haven't gotten to the level of detail, yet, that I would like to. I appreciate the Member bringing this up. It is going to spur me and my department to look further into this. As for those resources, I will look into that.

I want to say, too, that, in the last Assembly, whenever we had a youth parliament or whenever I engaged with the youth, this was one of the biggest issues they spoke about, the mental health crisis among our youth. We are aware...

I will definitely look into that. We had a conversation about this yesterday. It is a very real issue that students are facing. They become counsellors, peer counsellors, who are dealing with heavy, heavy issues. That weighs on someone. People internalize that, and that becomes an issue for them. I am committed to looking into this.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is part of a broader discussion that we have been having about how we can better use Income Assistance to get people into the workforce or support self-sufficiency. The Member spoke earlier about a laissez-faire approach to business, and some of the concerns around this are, if Income Assistance is paying for rent as well as income while someone is starting a small business, that puts them at advantage over other people who have other expenses, to pay for office space, and things like that.

That being said, the Member makes a very good point. You can't get back on...

If the directive is winding us up in court or is putting us into court proceedings, obviously, it can be improved upon, and I'm very live to this issue. I'm from Hay River, where we have a French first-language school, and I've been looking closely at this file. I'm not looking at a formal review right now, but I am personally reviewing it. I am having conversations. I had a conversation this morning, or rather yesterday morning, about this, and I'm having further conversations.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member doesn't want me to say, "I don't know." Well, I do know. There have been 29 individual student applications. Twenty-three of those student applications under the 2016 directive have been approved, which means that those children, as well as, for the most part, most of their siblings, are now eligible to attend. Thank you.