I welcome that response from the Minister. Since they're established, Mr. Speaker, what are the changes that were given to date since the operation took effect?
Maybe I can get the Member to ask the question again. The changes that have taken place across the Northwest Territories with respect to the provision of health and social services in a single authority are pretty massive. There's job reorganization, design structure, there have been a lot of staffing actions to move people into the single authority. We've done our best to make sure that, you know, we haven't lost any of our front line provisions, but we are seeking, and continue to seek, input from our Regional Wellness Councils on local design.
There's a significant amount that's happened, and I don’t think an hour is enough time to outline all the things that are happening at the authority, so is there something specific the Member is looking for?
With respect to local design, as mentioned, will the Minister commit to working with the Sahtu, the stakeholders, and the Regional Wellness Council, the administration, and leadership in general to hold a strategic conference on updating the strategic plan that was done on 2014 and expired in 2016?
The Territorial Board, the Health Board, which consists or chairs from all the Regional Wellness Councils, has actually been working on the development of a strategic plan for the Health and Social Services system. From that strategic plan all the Regional Wellness Councils would be expected to then in turn develop some plans at a local or regional level for the delivery of services and the required tailoring and adjustments made at a regional level.
That work is part of the work that they're doing. It's part of the mandate of the authority. I think the Member is asking for a larger, broader meeting to take place with other stakeholders. It's certainly something that interests me, but I would certainly need to get more detail on what the Member is thinking of, and I would suggest that maybe the Member and I should sit down with maybe some stakeholders from the Sahtu to figure out exactly what we're talking about here so we can determine if this is something that we can actually move forward with.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I welcome that scheduled consultation dialogue back and forth so we can have a clear understanding what the move-forward procedures are and the targets. My final question to the Minister is: can the Minister's office provide us with the schedule so we can have that prior to scheduling a meeting with his office, and that's between my office and his, to discuss next-step procedures? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to have my staff talk to the Member's staff in order to coordinate a date where we can have this conversation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I talked about the social work program being cut from Aurora College. I'd like to ask the Minister of Education what is the plan moving forward with the social work program at Aurora College, if there is any plan? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As it was mentioned, the social work program itself will continue to run for two more academic years. We aren’t taking any new students in, but all the students who are currently in the program will continue to get the support that they need to work on completing that diploma program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My concern today obviously was with the students in the social work access program. So I wonder if the Minister could talk to Aurora College about what would be the implications, I suppose, of extending the program for one year so that people who have entered in at the access level at this time also have an opportunity to complete their social work diploma?
The access program itself helps prepare students to get into a social work program or into other programs that Aurora College provides, or even other institutions. The students who are currently affected in the current access program who did show an interest into social work, the Aurora College staff have met with them and have come up with other plans, other career paths that they might want to take, and my understanding is that all five students have worked with the college to develop a new career path that they're looking at.
I'm very glad to hear that. That was my next question, if somebody was going to assist these individuals moving into another program of their choice. So can the Minister advise me of what programs are these students targeted for?
That's the Personal Support Worker Program. I believe one is going into the Office Administration Program and also applying at a southern institution. I'm not sure what the program is, but we do have another student who is applying to a southern institution.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not expecting the Minister maybe to have these answers at his fingertips, but I was wondering if the Minister could advise me how many of the students had graduated from the social work program in recent years? I'm looking for what's happened and how people had progressed into health and social services, and I'm just trying to get a feel for whether or not there's a level of success with the program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
From my side of things, we have graduated 12 social workers in the diploma program over the last three years, so on average it's about four students a year, and I think we can get that information in terms of how many have gone into employment within the Department of Health and Social Services and provide that with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Friday we heard from the Minister that the social work program has had low admission and low graduation rates and this is why they are phasing out the program. Mr. Speaker, what doesn't make any sense is why the college is phasing out programs before their strategic plan is to be completed this June. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please advise the House why they're cutting these programs before the strategic plan is complete? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The reductions were part of the GNWT's 2016-17 business planning process and were included in the 2017-2018 Main Estimates. As I mentioned earlier this week, ensuring that programs we offer and programs that we provide funding for are effective and are efficient, that is part of good management. We looked at some of these programs that were brought before us in terms of the 10-year strategic plan that Aurora College is currently undertaking. It is going to look at some of the needs of the NWT labour market that were identified in the needs assessment that we tabled in the House. As I mentioned, when we look at those programs, you have to make sure that we are spending our dollars as efficiently as possible so that we provide Northerners with the right programs that they need to succeed. 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?
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment and Aurora College have worked together in identifying potential expenditure reductions over a three-year period to help ensure the long-term sustainability of Aurora College so that we can continue to provide good programming moving forward. The reduction decisions were made to ensure that Aurora College is operating in a manner that was cost-effective and efficient, as I mentioned before.
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?
Aurora College currently receives $36 million in base and contribution funding from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, as well as an in-kind contribution from other GNWT departments. College senior management, with direction from the senior board of governors, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the college, including decisions around when and where programs should be offered. As the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, I did provide strategic direction to the college through a mandate letter, and we continue to work closely with the college to ensure that they are providing efficient, effective programming.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
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.
Currently, the department funds students through the Student Financial Assistance on their tuition up to $2,400 per semester. Our increases are still way below that. Any student at Aurora College who might have concerns, they are still going to get the full tuition to move forward in their programming. That $2,400 per semester will also cover the most expensive programs within Aurora College. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Earlier today, I talked about this report from Alternatives North that provides a roadmap to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050. I am just wondering, as the department is going out doing its consultations on this energy plan, will that sort of perspective, of 100 per cent renewable energy, will that be reflected in what the consultations come up with? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The report is being used along with input from other stakeholders across the Northwest Territories. We will take that report and use it for input for our energy strategy and development for what we need to bring forward for the Northwest Territories to get off of diesel in the long term. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the response from the Minister. It sounds like that will be one of the scenarios that will be looked at in this NWT energy plan, to get us completely off non-renewable energy. That is great to hear that. I am just wondering, can the Minister give us an update when we can expect to have this energy plan presented to this side of the House? I understand there are still some consultations going on. The latest one is March 8th in Hay River, but when would this side of the House and the public start to see some results?
The consultation that is going on presently, we have two communities to finish up. We have Hay River and Fort Simpson, I believe, and then we are also probably going to try to meet with Behchoko and the Tlicho government. Once this stuff is all pulled together, we will put a report together and probably release it later on this year.
There are, I think, about 10 months between now and the end of the year. I was hoping you could be a little bit more specific here. In this plan, will there be a schedule for implementation? Is there going to be a budget, some resources identified to help carry it out and some public reporting? Is that the sort of thing that we can expect to see inside the plan?
The short answer is yes. Those are the sorts of things that we will be looking at doing when we pull out this energy strategy and climate change strategic framework.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Great to hear that, and I really look forward to the next budget having some investment into renewable energy beyond what we have already. Can the Minister tell me, is part of that energy plan going to be a carbon tax or carbon pricing system for the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
We are still working on those sorts of things. There are all kinds of input from these themes going around to the communities from how we are going to support more biomass for communities, portability of energy moving forward, how do we implement some of these things going forward. Also, we have to look at what kind of federal investment we are going to get moving forward, and we are looking forward to the budget coming forward with the liberal government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Back to my statement on on-the-land programming for youth, Mr. Speaker, my first question is: what youth on-the-land programs are available to students in the Beaufort Delta? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we recognize the importance of getting our youth out on the land. As such, we have the Take a Kid Trapping program that we offer in all the regions across the Northwest Territories. As well, through the NWT youth core there is money that is earmarked for a lot of -- it is an application process, but it is distributed evenly across the Northwest Territories. The communities and the schools take advantage of the money that this government has to offer in offering these programs to their youth. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the response. Mr. Speaker, my second question is: what is the Government of the Northwest Territories doing to ensure ENR's on-the-land youth programming is a permanent part of NWT students' education?
This year, ENR, we are actually going through the numerous applications that we have right now from several schools across the Northwest Territories to try and access some of the funding that we have available. One of the ways that we continue to support ontheland programming through the youth is through the budget and having the line item in it every year so that there is a defined pot of money that the schools can apply for. That has been going on for a while. Again, we recognize the importance of these programs to youth out there, so that will continue to be a line item in the budget.
