R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize someone who, as we've just heard, is always looking out for me: my mother, Ms. Betty Lyons. I would also like to acknowledge my constituent, Ms. Donna O'Brien; and, of course she's back, my sweetheart, Ms. Chantelle Lafferty. Thank you.

As the Minister of Education, I plan to travel to lots of different schools, and, of course, I plan to travel to the college. I am not sure what the schedule is for the new year. It has been relatively busy. It is hard to find a free moment. At some point in the new year, at some point, I'm sure, in the first part of next year, I will be travelling to Fort Smith, and I will be having discussions with staff.

I am always open to sitting down with the Member, as well, and having conversations. The Members are the voices of their communities, and I want to hear from the Member about what she has to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank my colleague for bringing this forward. I completely understand the concerns. We had a foundational review, and the third party who did the review of the College suggested moving the headquarters to Yellowknife, and so I understand why there was this concern coming out of Fort Smith.

You know, Fort Smith is the headquarters, as they say. It is the home to the corporate services of Aurora College. I believe there are 40 jobs in corporate services. There has never been a plan to move that out of Fort Smith. There is not a plan now to move it out of Fort...

I know there is an internship program that the GNWT had through the Department of Finance, I believe, but the Member is right. We need to do more, I think.

One of the first things I talked about when I got this portfolio was the need to be better communicators and do a better job promoting education and promoting the North as a place to come back to. We need to reach out to our students. We do that through Student Financial Assistance. They have a great advertising program. When I was in school, I always knew when my payments were supposed to come and when my application was supposed to be in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I want to thank my colleague for the question. I would also like to congratulate, myself, Ms. Doreen Arrowmaker for her achievement of achieving a master's degree. You know, with this portfolio, that's the goal, to get our residents educated.

The Member brings up a good point: are we keeping track of who is educated? If we don't know, how do we bring them back here? We do know what programs our residents are taking, if they are receiving SFA. We know what institutions they are attending. Outside of that, we don't have that ability. If someone just goes off to school...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to welcome a constituent who came up from Hay River today for this, Ms. Beatrice Lepine, and I want to thank her for all of her work that she has done for me over the years and all of the work that she does for the community, most recently helping with the families of the fishermen who came up to Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. There is a motion to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a feeling that this is going to go on a while. I want to recognize the returning officers for Hay River, Ms. Marny Twigge and Ms. Heather Coakwell, who do great work as returning officers, but also do a lot of other stuff in the community as well. I want to thank them for, not just this work, but everything that they do. Then my constituency assistant, who hates being recognized, but it's the last day, so I am going to do it: Ms. Anne Peters. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

All those in favour? All those opposed?

---Carried

I will rise and report progress.

I will now call for the last time Committee of the Whole to order. "What is the wish of committee" is how I would usually begin, but today is the day for speeches. I will keep it brief, committee. No worries. This is the last time the 18 of us will sit together as Committee of the Whole, so I just want to say a few words.

Prior to becoming an elected Member of this House, I really had no political experience. I hadn't really attended any formal meetings, let alone chaired any. It was a little intimidating to come here and chair Committee of the Whole right off the bat, but I have to thank all...