Caroline Cochrane

Mr. Speaker, income security programs are a vital piece of the societal safety network that together help address the needs of NWT residents. Those who access programs within this complex network are often at a point of vulnerability in their lives. It is good government practice to continually review and evaluate programs, especially social ones, to ensure that those in need are being provided appropriate supports and services.

Over the past three years, the department has implemented a number of enhancements to its suite of income security programs to better support NWT residents. By seeking...

I want to thank the Member for clarifying because, if it was a $1-million question, I couldn't support that, of course, because I don't have $1 million to give to one parenting program. I will give a commitment that, although we may be changing the program, any program that is currently providing parenting support will actually be either getting the full amount through the Healthy Children Initiative or they will be supported in applying for the application for the new program called the Supporting Child Inclusion and Participation. Anyone that is providing parenting support to community...

My understanding, again, and I am sure I will be corrected if I am not right, is that there are certain areas that we report on. There are other areas that we don't report on so in-depth because of confidentiality, such as line items. The commitment is that, the first couple of years, we will be developing an implementation plan to move us into a polytechnic university, and during that work, there will be financial targets that will be identified in that work, and then also looking at partners, not only us, but other partners also to find those resources. That will be part of the...

I do know that we give approximately $32 million to the Aurora College at this point. They provide a plan for how they are using that money. I don't, at this time, have the exact figure that is for the associate deputy minister's office, including travel, et cetera. Again, I can get that for the Member.

These are accumulated surpluses. They add up over the years. Like I said, the last one that was tabled here was 2017-2018. It was over $13 million. That money will be used for the polytechnic university to assist with the implementation plan, although, Mr. Speaker, I must qualify that that is one pot of funding. If there is additional funding that is drawn up that is expected through the implementation plan, then I, as the Minister, or whichever Minister is in this position at that time, I am hoping, will be bringing forward that figure to the government to ask for additional funding. We will...

No. This associate deputy minister is responsible for overseeing the operations of the Aurora College, just like the president's duties. However, this is an associate deputy minister position. The main priority is actually bringing forward the framework, and then, of course, when that work is done, then that position will dissolve and then a president position will be reinstated for our post-secondary polytechnic university.

I should clarify: my understanding of the question before was if we would do a comprehensive review on the whole education system. That isn't something that I could probably do in the next few months. However, we are constantly doing reviews of our education programming through our education renewal program. That is ongoing, that we are always looking at our programs, our education services, and they are always being reviewed on a constant basis. I just want to clarify that it is not like we are not doing it. We do it regularly. If you are looking at a full, comprehensive one, that is a little...

The education monies are actually provided to the education bodies, councils in this situation, and sometimes authorities in different communities. We're always more than willing to meet and to talk about anything education, but it would have to go through the appropriate bodies, which would be the education council at that point. If they're willing to organize it and fund it, then I will make sure that, of course, we have staff from ECE to attend, for sure. I think it's important.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Wednesday, March 13, 2019, I will move that Bill 48, Post-Secondary Education Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will take that under advisement. I can't make that commitment on the floor. I would have to talk with my colleagues in Finance, et cetera, to find out what is confidential, what is not confidential, and how we share that information. It is a little bit more complicated than I would like to make a commitment at this point.