Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, for the facilities that are owned by the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Department of Infrastructure does have an asset disposal policy. While it is imperative that we follow that policy, I also feel that it is imperative that we also speak with communities to find out what their intent is as well, to make sure that we have an open conversation about those assets. We have had outreach from some communities indicating what they would like to use their local community learning centre for, and so continuing those conversations is paramount.
And then in addition to that, there are some facilities that are being used, for example, as classroom space, and so that will be very important that they continue to be that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so these -- we've heard that there's -- we've heard directly -- Members have heard directly from people working in some of these facilities that they're seeing clients, you know, there's some that are very productive. So is there a pathway that the Minister can take -- can keep these facilities going under a different mandate, keep the staff going, doing the work they're doing of offering programs, and then, you know, the ones that are less productive, maybe hand those over to the local authorities, whatever they may be. But, like, I think what Member -- what communities are concerned with is you have some of these places are working really effectively. They employ people. They see people. The Dettah, N'dilo facilities, a hundred people over -- or a hundred students and training them over 18 months. So is the Minister willing to take this on and bring these back under ECE? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that would be a pretty significant budgetary ask and, at the same time, a building is just a building without the staff that need to go along with it. So that is not a question that I have an answer to right here on the floor of the House, and I think certainly would have more information as more of these details get ironed out. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a fantastic solution which is the money that Aurora College that is still being granted to them, take that back and use it to fund these facilities. So will the Minister pursue an exploration with that and see how we can keep these -- the productive facilities that are training students, that are important to communities, that are employing local people who will not have jobs when they're gone, stay open. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, with some of the funding that Aurora College has, they intend to continue -- to pay out staff using their staff retention policy. Some of that funding is being shifted to their online version of the adult learning and basic education. And then some of that funding is going to support the development of their Bachelor of Education, their diploma of social work. They're working on their made-in-the North degree. They're working on -- they shared with this House programming for dental therapy up in Inuvik. And so there's a lot of programming that they're working on in order to offer that to students across the Northwest Territories. And so it's not funding that they are simply pocketing for better -- better use of that word but is certainly funding that they intend to reinvest in ensuring that Northerners have access to education. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Colleagues, we will take a brief break to give our translators an opportunity to take a break.
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have the following questions for the Minister of health and social services concerning the productivity of operating rooms at Stanton Territorial Hospital:
How many scheduled surgeries and day procedures were completed in 2024, broken down per month;
What are the total hours worked by all surgical teams for the year 2024;
How many surgeries and day procedures were cancelled over the same time period;
Will the Minister provide a full cost accounting of all scheduled surgeries and day procedures completed in 2024; and
Will the Minister provide a full cost accounting of all scheduled surgeries and day procedures completed in 2024?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following two documents: Aurora College Annual Report 2023-2024 and College Corporate Plan 2024-2025. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Wednesday, March 12th, 2025, I will present Bill 23, An Act to Amend the Children's Law Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Notices of motion for first reading of bills. Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Wednesday, March 12th, 2025, I will present Bill 24, An Act to Amend the Family Law Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? I'm going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 275-20(1), 2025-2026 Main Estimates, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Okay, thank you. Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 275-20(1), 2025-2026 Main Estimates. We will now consider the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Does the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment wish to bring witnesses into the House?
Yes, please.
Thank you. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the chambers.
Would the Minister please introduce her witnesses.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. To my left, I have assistant deputy minister Melissa Cyr. And to my right, I have director of corporate services Nina Salvador.
Thank you. The committee has agreed to forego general comments. Does the committee agree to proceed to the detail contained in the tabled document? Committee?
Agreed.
Thank you. Committee, we will defer the departmental summary and review the estimates by activity summary beginning with corporate management starting on page 234 with information items on page 236. Are there any questions? Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you -- I guess my earpiece just isn't working. Sorry, Mr. Chair. I assume that the first page is a good spot to ask questions about the business plans.
On page 260 of the business plans, it talks about releasing an economic vision. I just wanted to ask about the -- understand more about what they're doing, why it wasn't started this year, and what the expected timeline is. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the economic vision exercise that's being done is being worked on with multiple stakeholders across the territory. We have presented to Council of Leaders, and Council of Leaders has formed a working group with officials that Indigenous governments have selected. Following that, this year we will also be working with additional stakeholders across the territory outside of government so that we are creating an economic vision which is largely a statement with principles and values associated with it, and our goal is for every Northerner to be able to see themselves in this statement so that it is something that, at the end of the day, we are putting together as a team and that we can all take outside of the territory together. So when we're doing investment attraction, whether or not it is an Indigenous government, a municipal government, or a resident of the territory, we're all speaking the same language together and all essentially hustling in the same direction. The goal for this work to be done is in the fall of this year, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm a bit surprised to hear the ambitious timeline considering it's spring of this year that we're already hoping to have this out the door by fall, although I'm not going to sit here and discourage the department from getting work done quickly. And I appreciate the department noting the need for and development of an investment strategy following development of the vision. And I think that's a great -- you know, that's a great order of operations there. You want to establish the vision and then what are you going to do to implement it. So great planning there.
The only question I would have is, you know, it wasn't that long ago that the government established regional economic development plans. So how do those fit into this? If we've developed regional economic developmental planning, I have to assume that those plans haven't been finished and completed and job well done. So is this going to supercede those; is it going to work in concert with them; are they a totally separate thing? Can the Minister help us better understand how this all goes together and works together. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So we certainly use that work as a basis for this work. But that work is certainly, as the Member referenced, absolutely not done. The economic plans from regions speak to things that were identified by people within the region of what they are interested in and what they would like to see investment in. So those were things like agriculture and tourism and really speak to regional specific economic development opportunity whereas the economic vision really is a whole of territory approach and doesn't speak directly to specific sectors, so to speak, necessarily. It speaks more to a global vision for the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I am curious, I mean, considering that incredibly ambitious timeline, are MLAs or the economic development and environment committee going to be brought into that process at all, or is this going to be done kind of completely outside of the Assembly's contributions? Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, I absolutely want the voices of committee to be involved in this work. And so between the months of April and July, there will be an engagement period that will include Indigenous governments, the public, stakeholders, and certainly committee and MLAs as well. There will be a draft discussion paper that will be produced from there and engagement -- sorry, engagement results collated and organized and then also facilitated visioning sessions that will be done through ITI themselves and then in the fall, so in November roughly, release of an NWT economic vision. But to the Member's question, yes, I absolutely want to be able to have every Northerner, should they wish to participate, see themselves reflected in this work, and that includes Members of standing committee.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And can the Minister discuss what kind of expert economic analysis is going to be applied to the economic visioning in particular -- yeah, and how it's going to kind of lead into investment strategy. I am curious to hear because, you know, the Minister will remember I made a statement about this a number of sittings ago. I was speaking about the Greenland Economic Council and how they applied economic analysis of the current state of Greenland and how, you know, targeted investment in certain areas would help change that and move things along. I would notice that Ontario publishes a report like that annually. I'm just curious what kind of analysis -- because, I mean, it's great to go out and talk to people, but it's also great to employ the advice of experts who understand macroeconomic planning and understand how investment can move the needle on certain things. So I'm curious to know what kind of expertise the department would be employing as they develop this vision to ensure that it is effective and not effectively just a What We Heard report turned into a vision. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through yourself, I would like to pass to assistant deputy minister Cyr.
Thank you. I'll go to the ADM.
