Julian Morse

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And really appreciate that information and certainly encourage the department to pursue that work, which they're already doing. So I guess, yeah, appreciate that that work's taking place. Because -- and I guess I would just say, I mean, yeah, in a market-based community, that makes perfect sense to me. I'm wondering if do we need, then, to maybe think about splitting up the requirements of this program because, you know, again, I can't stop highlighting the work that social development's been doing and some of the great presentations that committee's been receiving...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I certainly don't want to belabour the point too much but do want to note that, you know, the level to which the department would be able to bring back numbers for committee to review, that would be very appreciated. I know that they probably don't have them off the top of their heads right now. But certainly, you know, one could simply take a drive around Yellowknife, count all the different units that are being built. So I would be curious if the department could kind of put together some information for us because I think it would help us get a better picture. I...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay, what I was hoping to ask from the Minister is she mentioned that this motion is double the MOU that the -- that ECE has with the college. I would have liked to know that number.

And the other question that I would have liked to have brought to the Minister is what, in fact, is her intention for dealing with this problem that Aurora College created for both us and themselves in the sense that we suddenly found out, you know, as the budget was already printed and hot of the presses that we have a fairly significant pot of money with no intended purpose and no plan...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The comments are certainly brief.

Madam Chair, Bill 12, Business Day Statute Law Amendment Act, received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on October 30th, 2024, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review. On February 10th, 2025, the standing committee held a public hearing with the Minister of Justice and completed its clause-by-clause review of the bill. I thank the committee for their efforts in reviewing this legislation. Individual Members may have additional comments. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What the Minister shared there was quite vague. What I'm trying to get -- what I'm trying to narrow in on is what problem are we trying to solve. What are the issues in our workforce that we're trying to solve? Is it the fact that, you know, employment at the mines has only reached about 40 percent northern over the years? Like, are there specific issues we're trying to address with this goal; do we even know? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last year when MLAs were complaining that there were no targets attached to our mandate, we were told it's all going to be in the business plans. But a year later, in many cases I don't see this happening. When I look at our updated business plans, in many cases I'm not sure I see a clear plan articulated for much of what we're trying to do.

Because it came up during your review of the ECE budget last night in COW, I'm going to focus on targets related to growing the workforce today. But I want to be clear that there are a number of areas where we need to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And just to speak to a specific line item, another kind of part of this in the housing is spectrum and continuum, homeowner entry level and market housing programs, I note there is a reduction from 2024-2025 from -- or sorry, there's an increase. Can the department explain to us what's contained in that increase and what is going to be taking place there.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I certainly appreciate my colleague's hard work although they've pulled a bunch of questions out of what I was planning to ask, so having to switch on the fly here.

I do appreciate the department clarifying that we are currently looking at up to -- well, we're currently looking at kind of -- and I'm assuming they meant kind of approved and moving forward 147 units before the end of the term of this Assembly. What I would ask kind of to build upon some of the comments that have already been made, you know, we had a good discussion about the $50 million over...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, am I allowed to ask a couple questions of the Minister during this time?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I guess to get to the point of my statement, why are some of ECE's targets on this item so vague? There are items that are very specific, like the 10 percent one I listed in my statement. But, for example, our post-secondary education goal is simply to maintain or grow. It doesn't say how much, it doesn't say when. Can we get a commitment from the Minister for these items in the growing and enhancing our northern workforce goals in the business plans that we will get achievable, measurable goals, attached to those items in the business plans. Thank you...