Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this motion. I'd like to take the opportunity to thank my colleagues that put tremendous effort in ensuring that the report and the motion that was tabled in the House, and what we're seeing today was their greatest effort. I've seen them work many hours and commit themselves to ensuring that it was very reflective of the desires of the House, even to the point of involving Members of Cabinet in those discussions.
The mid-term review I think is a time of reflection. We're going to reach an important juncture in terms of the halfway mark of the 18th Assembly and it's going to be a healthy exercise; perhaps a lot of introspects in terms of where we should go, and that Mid-term Review will provide that opportunity. At the same time, for us it's also bringing home to the home front, like, November 26th will be almost a year since we've been elected and we need to check to ensure that we're going in the right direction, and that will be a healthy exercise, and so, therefore, I support this motion. Mahsi.
Masi. To the motion. I'll allow the Member for Frame Lake to give the concluding remarks.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I too had wished that this could have been supported unanimously by all the Members, but I understand that there are some differences of opinion here. I would like to try to assure the public and my colleagues on the other side of the House that there is goodwill on this side of the House to make sure that we have a productive, constructive mid-term review. It is focused on progress on the mandate, but necessarily that will require looking at performance as the original motion of referral did specifically reference evaluate performance of Executive Council collectively and individually.
I think we've done our best to try to come up with the fairest possible process. There's obviously some issues around whether the ballot of confidence should be done in the open in public or whether it be done in secret. We always have that option to do it public every day the House is sitting. So I think what we've tried to do is to look at the best way to come up a fair process and preserve, as one of my colleagues said, the right of each MLA to vote freely as they see fit and try to find a way to deal with Cabinet solidarity. So, in any event, I do appreciate all of the views that the Members have expressed in this House, the work that we did as a committee, the work that we did and reviewed in Fort Providence.
I look forward to moving on and conducting some other business as well. But I believe that there is goodwill on this side of the House certainly, and probably for all Members, to make sure that the mid-term review is carried out in a professional manner that will help make sure our ship is steering in the right direction. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
The Member for Frame Lake, the Member for Yellowknife Centre, the Member for Deh Cho, the Member for Nunakput, the Member for Hay River North, the Member for Mackenzie Delta, the Member for Sahtu, the Member for Yellowknife North, the Member for Kam Lake, the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, the Member for Nahendeh.
Masi. Those who are against the motion please stand. Those that abstain please stand.
The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, the Member for Range Lake, the Member for Great Slave, the Member for Yellowknife South, the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, the Member for Hay River South, the Member for Thebacha.
In favour, 11; against, zero; abstentions, seven. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu, what is the wish of committee?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 143-18(2), Capital Estimates, 2017-2018. Committee would like to continue with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and then get into Municipal and Community Affairs, Department of Health and Social Services and the NWT Housing Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. We'll continue after a short recess. Does committee agree? Sorry.
Agreed.
Okay, we will continue after a short recess.
---SHORT RECESS
Thank you, committee. Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 143-18(2), Capital Estimates, 2017-2018 for the Department of Education. I'd like to ask the Minister, does the Minister wish to bring witnesses into the House?
Yes, I do, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Would the Minister please introduce his witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right, I have my deputy minister, Sylvia Haener, and to my left Deputy Minister Olin Lovely. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Committee, we're finished off on page 12 with Education, Culture and Employment, labour development and standards, infrastructure investment, $9,157,000. Mr. Testart, I believe we left off yesterday.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yesterday we were discussing the Post-Secondary Strategic Investment Fund, and I had asked the Minister if he was aware of an application that Dechinta University had made to the federal government to access this fund. I'd like to start with that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we were aware that Dechinta had made that application. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is the Minister aware of the total request for funding and the commitment that the federal government had made to this initiative from Dechinta? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Moses.
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. Can the Member please repeat his question? Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Testart.
In the proposal from Dechinta to access the Post-Secondary Strategic Investment Fund, can the department share the total amount of federal investment that was being requested?
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Moses.
Yes, thank you. I believe the business case in the proposal that Dechinta was asking from the specific fund was in the amount of $5 million.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In speaking with this I guess very important private sector in developing our economy, the number was much higher from them, around $30 million with additional sources of funding lined up for O and M endowments going forward. So my question then is what was Dechinta looking for from the department in order to support their proposal? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do know where the Member's going with this, Dechinta did approach the department for a letter of support. At the time we were looking at some of our own needs and our inventory as well to support some of our programs moving forward through the Aurora College, and knowing that we were coming up with the Skills 4 Success Action Plan and the strategic framework going forward, the 10-year strategic framework going forward to address some of the in-demand jobs, skills and training that was needed. So I know where the Member's going. They did request a letter of support. At the time we didn't feel it was appropriate to give that letter of support, as we were looking at our own infrastructure needs throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Any further questions? Mr. Testart.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Minister being candid, and that was where I was going. I'm not very knowledgeable about this fund. Is it all or nothing? Can you only make applications for the Northwest Territories from one agency or can multiple agencies access this funding? Does it need to be government-sponsored? Those are a couple questions, but I'd like answers. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Moses.
Well, as you can see in the last callout, there was a couple of different organizations, including ourselves, that was asking for funding and put in an application. It doesn't have to be government-sponsored to get that funding. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Testart.
Would the Minister agree that it's helpful if the government does write a letter of support for these funding applications? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Moses.
It's not required. In the past though we have written letters of support for Dechinta to access funding in other areas that there were throughout Canada. On this specific one we thought, because we were putting in an application as well, that it wouldn't be appropriate. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Any further questions? Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I suppose there's some competing strategic priorities here. But given that our government's mandate also includes diversifying our economy, investing in post-secondary institutions such as Dechinta and College nordique, is there a way we can provide more? Are we picking winners and losers here? Is it Aurora College versus other institutions or are we providing equal support for all our post-secondary partners in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, there's no winners or losers here. That's not how we do our business. We have an Aurora College Act that we do follow and fund the Aurora College and the learning centres. We do fund College nordique and we also fund Dechinta, and actually I think we just signed a multi-year agreement with them just recently or are about to, increasing the funding that we do give to them. So we've funded Dechinta over the years, and continue to fund Dechinta. I'd also ask the chair that we also focus on the infrastructure side of things, rather than discuss some of the program delivery and how we fund certain programs as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Any further questions? Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that we do provide O and M funding, I'm discussing a capital request that Dechinta had made to the federal government, and that was more the line of my question; if we have a competing interest versus federal and capital investment for Aurora College versus other post-secondary institutions. But I take the Minister's point that it's his assessment that all of our post-secondary partners are treated fairly.
If Dechinta or College nordique or anyone else who wants to invest in this Post-Secondary Strategic Investment Fund in the future or a fund similar to it comes along, would the government be willing to support those partners or is Aurora College always going to come first for capital needs? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As discussions from yesterday where we had talked about some of the school and learning centres, a lot of our community members that spoke up yesterday talked about the need for learning centres in our community as well, which does get on the needs assessment based on priority. We do have an Aurora College Act and we do want to ensure that our communities also have the opportunities to provide learning outcomes and opportunities for some of our residents that do live in small communities. So we're still in talks with Dechinta and College nordique in terms of working together and we'll continue to have those partnerships moving forward. But we also have a lot of buildings under our responsibility that we need to make sure are up-to-date rather than expanding, that are even just up-to-date to meet the needs of our residents. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
