Statements in Debates
As I said earlier today — and I’ll reference again that people don’t want to go there — we have a Social Worker program that people don’t want to go to. It wasn’t fully subscribed to, cancelled, moved to Yellowknife and was fully subscribed to and even over-subscribed. The trades have dropped by 67 per cent — two thirds. So the fact is that people aren’t wanting to go there.
What is this Minster doing about this process, and is he cutting back on the college’s budget and funding because people don’t want go there?
Mr. Speaker, without hurting anyone’s feelings or insulting anyone, I have to tell you when the Minister says that ECE and Aurora College are doing this review, it’s like putting the fox in charge of the hen house, for goodness’ sake. I mean, why doesn’t he say to me that the president is reviewing the effectiveness of the campus in Fort Smith — by the way, where he lives and runs the program. Wow, I’m sure that will be independent.
Mr. Speaker, what I’m asking for is an independent review. What I’m asking for is: will the Minister bring to Members — maybe just myself, but I’ll tell you that I...
Mr. Speaker, let me say it very clearly: MLAs want input on this survey. Rather than doing a survey without any consultation in this House…. It’s nice to hear that a survey is going on, but I didn’t hear when this was going to come forward. I didn’t hear about consulting MLAs or any details about that. These are some important issues that need to be decided in this House, and if we are going to do a survey, we should be having input from this side of the House to make sure it is effectively done.
Would the Minister ensure that MLAs such as myself have input on this survey? If this is done in...
Mr. Speaker, if there's a review going on, I'd like to know what the review means. Does the review mean you're going to go to an independent survey? Does it mean you're going to create questions, or you're going to check with students? What is the definition of a review? Does it include the staff, the management and the bureaucracy of Aurora College, to make sure we're delivering safe and effective programs for our students?
I’m glad the Minister understands it clearly that I in no way am suggesting to change the shape of the licence plate; it’s only the tagline. My concern is that it’s not happening soon enough. The issue, I can clearly hear, has good buy-in, but it’s not moving fast enough.
My question really is: when can we see some results of this work? When can we expect to be able to see cars driving around the Northwest Territories that say “spectacular” on the back of them? When can we see that work?
We again seem to be reading from a different letter, because the letter I have here says that they have to take individual responsibility, that it’s basically up to the individual. This one-way letter continues to cite exactly the opposite of what the Minister says; although the letter says that if they want to call, it even provides a phone number.
Would the Minister re-evaluate her department’s position on this? I’m telling you: everything she says referencing that it’s a two-way communication process is not in this letter.
Well, you know what? Maybe the problem is solved because there must be two different letters. My two-page letter says: “It is Poundmaker’s practice to make follow-up calls directly with their clients, partly as a way to evaluate their programs and the outcomes…. Community staff” — referring to the G.N.W.T. — “do not consider this follow-up call to be part of the aftercare program.”
That is exactly the opposite of what the Minister just said.
Why is the follow-up call not considered part of the aftercare program, and would this Minister stop being stubborn and say, “We’ll look into this, and we...
Mr. Speaker, as always, I try to regularly make special mention that it is Red Friday.
Today I feel compelled to speak again to the issue of aftercare and follow-up for clients with addictions. I must confess that I am perplexed by the Minister’s answers to the questions earlier this week. A finer defence of the status quo I’ve never seen. As the Minister stated, individual responsibility is a major component of recovery in healing from addiction. I do not disagree with that statement. What I find puzzling is the Minister’s harsh resistance to what seems like a simple, inexpensive yet...
Mr. Speaker, this only begs one more element to this combination. Obviously it’s nice to see a Minister working with a Member and hearing the cries from this side of the House — and hasn’t forgotten us, by the way. But I’d just like the reassurance from the Minister that he will include the N.W.T. Tourism Association in on this as well as, as he had mentioned, the Minister of ITI. Finally, would he make sure I’m included in some type of release when they do this? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, about a year ago I raised the issue of the N.W.T. licence plate and how its tagline says, “Explore Canada’s Arctic.” My concern at the time with the Minister of the day was the fact that it’s not truly reflective of our Northwest Territories in present times. The good Minister of the day had agreed with me, and it sounded like the department was moving forward full steam ahead on updating the licence plate with a suggestion I brought forward, “spectacular.ca.”
My question to the Minister of Transportation is: where is this project? Assuming that it’s still going forward, when can...