Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today the Minister of Housing presented a progress statement on NWT housing. So in one of her statements she goes on to talk about moving vacant units into three-bedroom four-plexes. Can the Minister please provide this House what communities she's looking at doing it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with great sadness, I announce the sudden and unexpected passing of a former colleague and dear friend, Chris Szabo, on January 18, 2017, in his home in the Nasksup, BC, at the age of 59.

Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to meet Chris in the spring of 1988 in Inuvik, then later in Cambridge Bay where he was the recreation coordinator. He spent almost three years in this job, until he became the senior development officer for the Kitikmeot region. Thanks to his leadership, he developed the Kitikmeot Recreation Association and connected the community...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. That's some pretty exciting news, and safety is very important. When he talked about CanNor previously and bringing them in, and it's great, but some of the people in my riding are asking why are we bringing southern companies in to promote tourism when we could be looking at our successful tourism businesses in the North and getting these people to provide information and training that showed off their success. Could the Minister please advise this House how southern companies are brought in for tourism training and not northern...

It's great to hear what the department's doing, but can the Minister provide a breakdown per regions and what ridings with the money that's being spent in these areas?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for her answer. Just for the record, she has given me this information and the houses are still there. They still haven't been demolished and that. I appreciate that we're going to be doing this sometime hopefully by the end of this term. It will help the community.

My final question is: in regard to the Fort Liard Housing Authority, are they going to have a board? Presently in other communities they have a board. In Fort Simpson they have a board. So I'm trying to figure out, with the new local housing organization, will we have a new board or...

I thought it was something new. I knew about that, so I apologize. I thought we were looking at something new. Mr. Speaker, she goes later on to talk about demolition that is happening in the community. Does the corporation have a scheduled plan, because I've been talking about three houses in Fort Liard for a number of times and they've gone for sale and that. So now does the government actually have a plan that they're actually going to be able to share with us, when we're going to see these implemented?

As Bill Wells said, "Chris was a proactive visionary for recreation and parks in Alberta and he had an impact nationally." This is true for his work he did for the recreation system in the NWT and Nunavut, too.

In 2015 the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association nominated Chris for the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association Award of Merit, which he received that fall. He is survived by his sister, his three brothers and their families. He was predeceased by his wife, Jane, and his parents, John and Jeannette.

A memorial mass will be held on Friday, March 31, 2017, at 10:30 at the...

I thank the Minister for his answer. I guess this leads to my next question. Will the college be willing to share with us over here the results of this study or this evaluation, so we can look at the programs, so we can make an informed decision?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today in the House I asked some questions about a mandate letter from the government to the college. Will the Minister commit to this House that he will actually show us what this mandate letter was? We have seen other deputy ministers' mandate letters, but we haven't seen the Aurora College one. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, on Friday the Minister spoke about how the college has autonomy to make their own decisions and where they are looking at moving forward with the programs that they provide. As well, the Minister spoke about the fact that the board of governors received a mandate letter, and it was reflective of our own strategic plan moving forward. With this information, can the Minister please explain how the college has autonomy when they are given a mandate letter from the department?