Bob Bromley

What is the investment from this multi-national company that’s partly responsible for the greatest threat to civilization that we are choosing to partnership with, this public government is choosing to partner with? What are the contributions that we are on our knees for, despite our responsibility to fund these programs from tax dollars for our public this year and next?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is basically all I had. I think I will leave it at that with one last question, Mr. Chair.

Would the Minister commit to telling us, or getting back to us through committee, what the standards are that will dictate whether it was a success or not, whether it is working and how we can expand it if it is? Thank you.

I believe I’ve heard our Premier say repeatedly that this is a priority to get these recommendations from our country’s best and pursue them quickly, so I guess I would ask the Minister if he would, the week after the report comes out, if it does confirm an energy efficiency act, that he would be prepared to come forward and seek very expeditiously the resources required to get that legislation in place.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know the Minister has heard me speaking in a similar vein by suggesting examination of an alternative model that has not been well used but has a record of success where it was tested and that’s the guaranteed basic income. I appreciate the Minister’s agreement to look at that and perhaps consider something like that for a regional model if the economics worked out. I think right now we are doing not too bad a job of holding people where they’re at, but I don’t think that’s the goal of our government. We want to help them out of poverty and into employment and better...

I’ll look forward to that information and I understand now that the actual surplus is about $1 million right now. So I’d appreciate that information.

Just related to Aurora College programs and some of the issues that had come up before, the housing for people who live in Yellowknife, students that choose to go to Aurora College is not supported at all, unlike people who live outside of Yellowknife, and yet they are still giving up their life as income earners to attend college. I know the Minister is aware of this issue. Is there any contemplation on a policy to address this deep concern to...

Thanks to the Minister there. Is there an attempt to move social workers around or to place them in cultural situations where they’re comfortable, that sort of thing? Do they receive the training for cross-cultural situations? Mahsi.

Thank you to the Minister for that. I’ll look forward to those. I’d like to just move to Aurora College now. That’s a big figure there, adult and post-secondary education, $37 million. I know $33 million or $34 million is for Aurora College.

I’m trying to understand how it is that Aurora College has now developed an ongoing and running surplus of $9 million. I’m trying to read the annual reports. It looks like they’ve overspent in a number of years. As an arm’s length they get granted more money and then go and spend all of that and it builds up as surplus and now it’s running at about $9...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister for Health and Social Services, in recognition of the Social Workers Month here. I would like to ask, recognizing the importance of the work that these workers do, what supports are in place? Frequently our workers, I know, deal with sad and sometimes traumatic situations, and that can take quite a toll on people and families, and people might even take it home and the consequences can disperse out. So, what supports do we have in place for this particular group of workers who have their own unique issues and require our support...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess the significant thing to me is that the starting place, the amount per student doesn’t change each year. So they start over again with a clean slate. So I appreciate that explanation. I think I’m getting there. I’m starting to get there, I think, according to the Minister’s staff.

I just had a question on the education renewal. I heard in a response yesterday that the education renewal includes a number of initiatives, which are one or two-year pilots, and I heard that many education renewal initiatives are one or two-year pilots. Can I get an idea of what those...

Just moving on to education operations and development, let’s see if I can get through this smoke and mirrors here too. Just on student achievement, obviously, the slight rise. I think the deputy minister had it right. One data point does not make a trend. What other monitoring do we do on student achievement and do we have other sources of information other than the EDI?