Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister of Education, Culture and Employment
The Honourable Caitlin Cleveland was first elected in the 19th Assembly as the MLA for Kam Lake in 2019, and has served as the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment since 2023 after being acclaimed to the 20th Assembly.
In addition to owning and operating a northern business for over 20 years, Minister Cleveland worked in a variety of communications and policy roles in both the public and private sectors before entering politics.
Between 2019 to 2023, she chaired the Standing Committee on Social Development, fulfilling a goal to be a part of the discussions and decisions affecting social programs in the Northwest Territories. Her noteworthy work on the Committee included guiding the considerable review and input into recommendations on housing in the NWT, suicide prevention, and improvements to caring for children in care and building supported families.
Within the scope of her portfolios, Minister Cleveland is focused on helping children grow into successful NWT residents that recognize opportunities and develop successful careers that contribute to a growing economy. She advocates for new approaches to sector diversification and innovation, and ensures the North is welcoming both skilled foreign workers and investment in the critical mineral resources across the territory. She persistently explores solutions for efficient and equitable access to programs and services, upholding a shared vision of an NWT where people are supported in the ways they wish to live, work, and grow.
Minister Cleveland is a lifelong resident of Yellowknife where she lives with her husband and their three children.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the timeline of the transformation has everything from new legislation that would be polytechnic university legislation. It has a new funding formula for Aurora College. And it has things like very program-specific things like, you know, when different programs will become available through the college. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this essentially is the point of this policy and this program is, first of all, penalizing financially the companies that aren't adhering to BIP and then at a certain point if companies are being nonresponsive, then they are going to end up with consequences and especially in a place where government contracting is so important to contractors, you know, as the -- my other hat, the MLA for Kam Lake, very much understand that government contracting is very important. If government's not putting out contracts, you better believe that I hear about...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the change that was made was specific to start off for construction contracts over $250,000. And so those contracts, they're really what we are focusing on to start with the vendor performance management policy to ensure that those contractors are meeting their BIP requirements. All of the contracts that are put out by the government then undergo review, along with the contractors, and there are penalties that are applied to contracts where BIP is not followed within that financial bracket. And I'd be more than happy to answer any other...
Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Aurora College transformation has a very detailed website. The one thing I will note is that the dates associated with the timeline need to be updated. But it does have a website that outlines everything that needs to happen. It has GANT charts. It has timelines with all the details of all the different steps, who is responsible for those steps. Three of the remaining transformation outlines include the GNWT. Those would be things like the legislation that I was referring to. And then there are some that are definitely under the purview of...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the board of governors is currently working on a new set of timelines for the transformation and once those are finalized, those will become public. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, well the contractor is the one that is making a commitment off the hop on a commitment they are making through a contract and through a bidding process to the government. So they would, I would hope, would know what commitments they're making in their own tendering process right from the hop. That being said, one of the things that we will be implementing coming up here is training for contractors so that they understand the expectation of all contracts, they understand how businesses are registered and comply with BIP, that they understand...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, a few things, businesses have to meet the eligibility requirements of BIP and then those businesses, of course, are audited on a biannual basis. And then also we have our vendor performance management policy as well as the -- which was put out in 2023. And then in 2024, the guidelines were put out so that both the staff of the GNWT would understand what is expected and required, and staff do undergo training. And then in future we will be putting out training for contractors as well. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am all ears when it comes to suggestions around solutions, so I appreciate the Member's suggestion and will absolutely discuss with the department. And I appreciate that. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to start off by acknowledging the amount of work that families do to support their children, absolutely, of course. And children with disabilities, their parents are absolute champions and are they're biggest champions for their kids as well. So I just want to acknowledge the amount of work that parents do day in day out.
A few of the things that have been done within the school system in order to increase supports are, for example, working with education bodies to provide training within the school system to education assistants. I've...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was very happy to accept an invitation from the Member to the community, to come see the school, when it works for community leadership, and I very much look forward to that. I can also confirm for the Member that there are currently six small capital projects in the 20-year capital plan for this particular school that will be completed between 2025 and 2030. Thank you.
