Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the further programming opportunities before Aurora College and one of the problems put forward is the lease is expiring in about two years. The issue is about not just the lease, but its present location, I don’t believe it suits its need for future growth. My question would be to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. What is the Minister’s plan to help support the college to move forward towards an independent campus that I believe Aurora College needs to have in the Yellowknife Campus location? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The college campus itself has been in discussion for quite some time now. We’re fully aware that the lease is up in 2012, and we are working towards possibly extending the lease until we have a plan in place. We probably have to do that anyway, because it will take a few years to develop a plan of action and then find a suitable location, if that needs to happen.
Mr. Speaker, this is an area where we met with several other potential partners as well. We’ve had numerous discussions with different organizations on how we can move forward. This is an ongoing piece of work that’s before us. Probably this fall, Mr. Speaker, we will probably request an extension of the lease on the Northern United Place, as it stands right now. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the answer from the Minister there. I’d like to pursue, in my questioning, the area of partnership. As I understand it, the federal government has a P3 office suited for public partnerships, public, private, and institutions like Aurora College would fit into this particular case. Mr. Speaker, what has the Minister done to support the long-term planning of Aurora College with the private partners that do exist out there? I am aware that there are two potentially wanting to work with Aurora College, so I think we have an opportunity of interest. How does the Minister see his department helping that? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there has been a couple meetings a few years back on potential partners, private partners, organizations, but the information has been brought back to our attention as we need to move forward. Those are the discussions that we’ve had in the past and we are open to ideas and suggestions on how we can move forward. There have been talks about having possibly a First Nations organization build a facility for us and lease it back to the GNWT. That was an option that was thrown at us, but we haven’t seen anything as a proposal or anything that we can move forward on.
Mr. Speaker, this is an area that I’ve also met with INAC Minister Mr. Strahl, a former Minister, and also dealing with the INAC office in Ottawa, identifying a three territorial jurisdictions MOU we talked about. This is of real high interest for us and we need to discuss it further.
Mr. Speaker, would the Minister of Education be willing to commit to see if he could bring those partners to the table with Aurora College to discuss about putting forward a joint proposal to P3 Canada to take advantage of those opportunities? I won’t name the particular parties here in the House, for obvious reasons. They may not have publicly committed their interest at this stage so I don’t want to put them on the spot. Would the Minister be willing to commit to bringing these parties to the table in short order so a proposal could be put forward? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we’re definitely open to discuss any potential opportunities with respect to a facility or programming. We did have a meeting in the past. I’m sure those individuals or organizations are listening to these House proceedings, so by all means, if they want to meet with us as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, we are more than willing to meet with them. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In speaking to the Board of Governors last month when they were here in Yellowknife having their Board of Governors meeting, I know they are specifically targeting a long-term solution for the Yellowknife Campus. They need a solution that works, and the present solution in the NUP does not work. They are looking beyond that and they need someone to help lead that partnership role. That’s why I’m asking, would the Minister, once again, commit to seeing if he could pull the Aurora College president’s office as well as those potential partners together to develop a joint proposal for P3 Canada? Thank you.
I also met with the Board of Governors on that same day, probably before or after Mr. Hawkins. We talked about the same issue. My understanding is that the Board of Governors will bring an idea forward to our attention within the ECE department. So we are waiting for the Board of Governors to bring us information that we can work on. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
