Debates of August 22, 2007 (day 15)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, education is one of the most important issues we deal with in the Northwest Territories. Education is the key to our future. It is the key to the future of a lot of people across the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, earlier in the summer, I had the opportunity, as we do most summers at the end of the school year, to attend the graduation ceremony of Grade 12s. We also get to attend the Aurora College convocation ceremonies. It always gives us a great deal of pride to attend these and see a lot of people going through the program.

One of the most important events that I like to attend, Mr. Speaker, is the Aurora College completion ceremony that is held in Inuvik. A lot of people there have dropped out of the school system. They haven’t been in the school system for awhile. They decided to go back and probably get an education because, nowadays, you need to have your education. They understand that. That is the one I think that I am most proud of. I am very proud of these people because I know a lot of them. They have been out of school for awhile. They raised families. I have seen a few of them have gone on to college and are actually starting to do quite well now. They are going to get their diplomas and degrees. These are a group of people that I am quite proud of.

Mr. Speaker, we still have some issues that I have brought up before on the Student Financial Assistance program. I noticed in the Minister’s statement, he was talking about the benefit levels going up, depending on the cost of living. I am hoping that this applies to the student financial assistance where a student is going to school up North where there is a higher cost of living as opposed to a student going down south. The cost of living is a lot lower. If I read into this, I am hoping that has changed because of this formula he is talking about. That is something I think is quite important, because education is the future of our territory. It is the future of a lot of our people. It gives me a lot of pride to see more and more of these people continuing on with their education and getting better lives and better jobs. Eventually more people will continue on this course and we will all become quite self-reliant. This is going to help the Income Support Program too, because you will move more people off this program and starting to look after themselves like they should. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause