Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for his commitment. I have heard a lot of stuff about the social work program in the last couple of weeks here and leading up to it. In regard to the social work program, can the Minister confirm that, once a student finishes this program, they can be hired by the department as a social worker? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for his commitment on that. In regard to the social work program, we have heard about low enrolment in that. What has the government or the college done to find out why we are not having success? Has the government or the college actually done an assessment of it and found out why the students have not done that? I would like to ask the Minister if he can provide any information.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, in speaking with the students, they are not feeling cared about by the college. In fact, they feel like they are not important, nor are the residents of the NWT. To make matters worse, the college and the department are agreeing to a $300 term increase, which works out to be $600 per year. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise if this is the way for the college to recover some of the shortfall the government is proposing on them in this year's budget process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I spoke about the message the college is giving the students. It was about aligning the GNWT expenditures to projected revenues, how GNWT departments have been tasked with identifying expenditure reductions. This sounds like a reduction exercise for the college. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm this was the message that the department had given to them as they started their budget exercise?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank my colleagues for allowing me to finish my statement. By $300 for this term in 2018-19. Mr. Speaker, I find it very interesting that the college is taking more funds from the students' SFA to cover the costs. To me, it's taking money from Peter to pay Paul. This is very disappointing, to say the least.

Mr. Speaker, the e-mail goes on to say:

In these difficult economic and changing labour market requirements, we have had to re-examine the way we do business in order to set Aurora College up for long-term stability and success. To assist us in moving forward...

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, as I said in my address about the budget, communication is poor. Thursday was another example of why I say we have poor communication in this House. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please advise the House when we on this side will get a full briefing on why this program was phased out?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, the social issues in the NWT are not going away with an increase in industrial development. It needs to be a balanced approach by this government. When you look at our social issues in the NWT, they are vast and many, which could possibly have lessened with a workforce of people trained and educated on northern social work program.

Mr. Speaker, here we go again -- the fiscal restraint taken over without looking at the longterm picture of the Northwest Territories. The ill-advised cuts to Aurora College are misguided at best and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to report to this Assembly that the Standing Committee on Social Development has concluded its review of Bill 13, Marriage Act, and wishes to report that Bill 13 is now ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.