Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is nice to know that we do have a ballpark figure for this. I appreciate that there are many needs across the territory. At the same time, if we are going to invest in post-secondary education, we need the right facilities to do it. A new campus facility could be a strategic investment to support local economies in our capital. It can create jobs. It can create new opportunities and allow students to stay within the North to achieve their educational aspirations. Again, can the Minister start working on a feasibility for this and reaching out to partners in the...

Mr. Speaker, apart from the strategic plan that will come out of Aurora College, that facility needs serious work and is inadequate for many of the needs that the other two campuses in Fort Smith and Inuvik enjoy. I spoke to science and research development opportunities. This is simply not there. I am not asking the Minister to pay for it. I am asking the Minister to begin the planning process for it, not to commit to spending on it, but to commit to starting to do the work on it. Sometimes it can take five, 10 years to move these projects along. If we start work on it now, we can be better...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for providing some clear timelines. My last question is going to be a difficult one to answer because it's about capital, and Aurora College currently does not have a Yellowknife campus. One of the components of Aurora College is the Aurora Research Institute, and currently they have office space, they do not have laboratory equipment, they do not have research equipment at all.

Clearly, there are some necessary upgrades if we're going to expand our research capacity and expand training and education opportunities for Aurora College. That...

The Minister just indicated a list of stakeholders and those sound like a good start. There are a number of examples of community colleges or smaller colleges that have evolved into polytechnics or university colleges. We are seeing that process happening in our neighbouring territory, the Yukon. Will the stakeholder consultation also involve speaking to those experts and seeing how they were able to transform their post-secondary vocational institutes into formal polytechnics and university colleges?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The committee carefully considered this recommendation and, looking at the detail provided on other areas in the report in the public accounts, we felt that this was over and above what others — an example is contaminated sites. There is no inventory of contaminated sites, but there is an inventory of everyone receiving student loan remission. These are not bad debts; these are students in the remission process. So to the honourable Member from Thebacha's point, transparency is important and the amounts owing certainly are, but attaching them to people who are not...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize Stan and Karen Cochrane for different reasons. My constituency assistant, Mr. Garett Cochrane, is Stan and Karen's son. I couldn't do my job without him. So thank you very much for providing me with a great deal of resources. Thanks for being here today.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends that the office of the comptroller general in the Department of Finance work with the Auditor General of Canada and GNWT departments, boards, and agencies to complete the interim and final public accounts at the earliest possible date each year and in time to meet statutory reporting deadlines and to seek the necessary extensions where those deadlines cannot be met. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the honourable Members on the excellent work done in the interim report on the review of Standing Committee of Rules and Procedures on public engagement and transparency, and also the work done on revising the guiding principles and process conventions for consensus government. This attempt to bridge the ever-growing democratic deficit is a real achievement by the 18th Assembly, and symbolizes that we are truly attempting to evolve our public engagement into 21st century standards, which admittedly, took a little longer than other jurisdictions, but...

Yes, Mr. Chair. I thank Ms. Green for her comments. Certainly, this is a very important area of oversight and accountability that is performed by parliamentary committees. The standing committee had an opportunity to meet with public accounts committees from across Canada at this year's annual conference. Much was learned, in particular the amount of work that these committees do to hold government accountable and understand how money is being spent. Of course, we found that our financial documents could have their readability improved in the interest of openness and transparency, which of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that this Assembly recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this report within 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Chair.