Masi, Mr. Speaker. I would just like to follow up on the question from the Kam Lake Member. Mr. Speaker, it is troubling that the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment played no role in the recent Aurora College president dismissal and that, in fact, he was not consulted. The Minister admitted publicly. There is a lot of confusion on this side of the House and from the public, and the public wants answers.
Mr. Speaker, this raises concerns regarding the legal propriety of the president's termination. I would like to refer back to the Aurora College Act, which has authority over the hiring and firing of the president exclusively with the Minister responsible for the college and not the Premier, section 19 of the act. Mr. Speaker, the first question I have is: we have so many acts here in the Northwest Territories passed in this House by Members of the Legislative Assembly. One of them happens to be the Aurora College Act. Mr. Speaker, once these acts are passed in the House, doesn't it become law that we follow as the Government of the Northwest Territories?
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to offer to maybe sit with the Member after and look at the interpretation because my interpretation of the Aurora College Act does not say that the Minister is responsible for hiring and firing. My interpretation of the Aurora College Act says that the Minister is responsible for "appointing" a president, different terminology. It does not say "firing," at all, or "terminating."
As I stated earlier, there are many positions. The employment contract of an associate deputy minister or a deputy minister remain with the Premier. There are many departments across that actually will appoint statutory appointments that are not responsible for the employment contract. No Minister that I know of, except for hiring their secretaries or their special advisors, they do not hire employees into the public service. However, once people are hired into the public service, that Minister may appoint people that are in the public service to statutory positions. Again, that Minister is not responsible for the employment contract. The employment contract is under the department's perusal within that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In my eyes, this is a law that we follow in this House and also out of this House, as government. Section 19.1 of the Aurora College Act: "The Minister shall, in consultation with the board, appoint a president of Aurora College." So, when a former Minister appointed the president, there was no call to the board. Was that legit? But that is another discussion, another topic of the day because we are beyond that. With this act, it clearly states that the Minister responsible shall appoint with consultation for the board. I just want to make the process clear. Why did the Premier overstep her authority by dismissing the president of Aurora College when it is, in fact, the law it is Minister's job, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, to do so?
Again, I think it might be a communications issue. At no time have I broken the law. In fact, we have had more legal opinions on this than not. The Premier is responsible for hiring and terminating associate deputy ministers and deputy ministers. Appointments to positions are not contingent on the Minister having to hire or terminate. There are many statutory positions that the Minister is not responsible for hiring. In fact, very few positions can a Minister hire for. We are blending in two things that should not be blended.
Just going forward with the process itself, if the Premier of the day can overstep the decision of the education Minister, what is stopping her from doing so with other departments, other statutes that are before us? Again, I have to remind this House that we are dealing with the law that we passed in this House with sitting Legislative Assembly Members. This is a very critical issue that we have to be clear for the public. I am still confused with the process because there is a Minister here, and the Premier makes a decision over top of the Minister responsible for Aurora College to deliver those under her act.
Again, I have not broken the law. There is a clear separation between employment contracts and statutory appointments. The Minister did say in this House and publicly, that there were discussions, and there were discussions. The decision of how that came about, the Minister was not part of; that was mine, but there were discussions. Nothing was done in isolation.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Final supplementary, Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. There might have been a discussion, but the decision to overrule the Minister's authority is in question in this House. Section 19.1, "Minister shall, in consultation with the board, appoint the president of Aurora College." Clearly, it lays out, Mr. Speaker, and here, we have a Premier that came down to say, "I don't like this. We are going to change this." There are other statutes, other committees, other organizations, departments that are in a similar boat. Are we going to go to allow the Premier to call the shots at the end of the day to say if she likes it or not? The Ministers are given authority to appoint or dismiss.
Mr. Speaker, I am still confused with the whole process, and I am not happy with what happened, the process itself, if I were given authority to the Ministers, six Ministers, to operate their department according to the act that we have in place. That doesn't seem to be the case. I am kind of worried and concerned in that area. With that, Mr. Speaker, I just want to lay it out because the public needs to know the process itself. Masi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, discussions were had. This wasn't made on my own. It was a decision that I made. I hire. I terminate. That is done on my authority, but there is consultation that happened within that. I must also point out when people are appointed into positions such as boards, presidents, et cetera, that the Minister doesn't hire for but appoints, the Minister also has a time after that. There is usually a 60-day period that you can actually revoke those board appointments or presidents, et cetera. The termination of an employee or board member, et cetera, does not necessarily mean that you have to wait until they are revoked from their position as a board member. If that was the case, we would have board members throughout the Northwest Territories that would actually be having to get honorariums, paycheques, after their termination. The termination is separate than the appointment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
