Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I note that this area of the department includes airports. Where can I find the Yellowknife Airport infrastructure item? Thank you.

This is why I made the statement. What Aurora Research Institute is doing is good, solid research that is advancing scientific knowledge, but what a knowledge economy is, is using the skills and expertise of these hubs to build economic opportunity, and that is exactly what we are talking about. It cannot just be up to ITI. I think we are hearing about a lot of good work that is going on in the natural resource economy, but we need to focus on building a knowledge economy.

What the Minister is saying is not quite right. I am wondering if he will commit to developing a knowledge economy strategy...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement, I talked about the knowledge economy. In the future, when we look at how technology is changing Canada's economy, we can see that, where new technologies have been introduced, there is a demand for highly skilled workers, particularly highly skilled information and communications technology workers. I would like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment if the department has a plan to harness potential information and communication technologies, and what they are doing about that field and how it can transform our economy. Thank...

Will there be an opportunity to table this in the next sitting; not the current sitting, but in the third session of the House? Or will we have to wait until next year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was aware of that and I'm pleased that we have that clarity from the Minister; however, business planning is a closed-door process and members of the public won't be able to see or hear exactly what is being planned for this, so what is the plan to allow for transparency on this plan? The government was quite keen on selling the changes to the airport based on enhanced infrastructure services, et cetera. When are we going to see detailed plans on infrastructure improvements at the Yellowknife Airport?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, the Minister is looking at what we have currently got in play. Embracing one economic model does not mean abandoning the other. The work they have done is about existing economic opportunities in the Northwest Territories. I am talking about creating new economic opportunities.

Let us go with the Minister has said here. We need to bring in more universities and more post-secondary institutions. When is the Minister going to develop legislation to enable these post-secondary institutions to operate in the Northwest Territories? I am talking about an overarching...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When does the Minister anticipate that this work will be done, Mr. Speaker? Will it be done next year, the year after, the year after that? When do we expect the tender to be released, and the work to be done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank the Minister for offering a new kind of hope, a hope that comes from getting projects done, and making firm commitments in this House. Now, I would like to turn to the other issue of the security improvements. What is the status of them? Does he have any new information for the House today on those projects, which are significant in that the deficiency that they are designed to address resulted in an escape from the facility, an escape that brought an inmate into very close proximity with a residential neighbourhood?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. "We are the prisoners." Mr. Speaker, those are words spoken to me by my constituents who live next to the North Slave Correctional Facility. Over the summer months, they have been bothered by frequent noise late into the evening, and almost direct interaction with inmates, only a stone's throw away from their backyards, Mr. Speaker: catcalls from the inmates at their children and living in concern of a perceived unsafe situation, especially after last year's incident where an inmate escaped the facility.

Now, I know the Minister and his department have been diligent at...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Working with the Department of Infrastructure, as the Minister put it, is that work going to start now? Are we thinking post-2021 or is this still going to be a 10-year process of waiting the lease out? Thank you.