David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions today for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment going back to my Member’s statement when I talked about a stand-alone campus for Aurora College located here in Yellowknife.

Yesterday I was asking some questions of the Minister of Health and Social Services about planning dollars and found out that there’s $900,000 in planning for Stanton. I’m wondering if Education has any planning money in the works for a new stand-alone campus for Aurora College here in Yellowknife.

The current space that the college utilizes at Northern United Place obviously isn’t conducive to a college campus. There’s no parking, there’s not enough room there. They obviously need a new building. I’d like to ask the Minister if there will be any planning dollars in the capital plan come this fall. I know there’s going to be an election in October, but I’d like to ask if there will be any planning dollars for this campus come the capital plan this fall.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to lend my voice today -- what’s left of it -- to celebrating Education Week. Last week Mr. Lafferty called on all NWT residents to help in promoting education this week. I’m very happy to help him do that.

The Minister also stated that learning is a lifelong journey and I couldn’t agree with the Minister more. I’m proud to say that I’m a product of the local school system here in Yellowknife and I’m very grateful for the teachers and the facilities that I had along the way. Now that I have a son that’s at Montessori at N.J. Macpherson, the cycle continues, only...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That’s good, thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ll be brief in my comments. Again, I mentioned this last year and I’ll mention it again this year. In the time I’ve been here, there have been a number of issues with Human Resources going back five or six years. I believe in the last three years under the guidance of the Minister and the management team in the department, as an MLA we don’t get as many calls or complaints from the public or the public service. I appreciate that. Obviously the public and the public service that you serve appreciate it as well. I think people are getting a much more fair shake when it...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee would like to continue with the Department of Transportation followed by Industry, Tourism and Investment, and also Human Resources today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wasn’t going to ask any more questions, but I can’t resist. I’m going to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services a few more questions, getting back to the questions I had earlier. I’ll try to keep the questions pretty straightforward. What planning has gone into a retrofit, a complete retrofit of Stanton Territorial Hospital to date? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I spoke earlier of the need for capital dollars and especially in the area of health care. I am wondering what planning is going into trying to look to the future needs capital requirements for our health care system, particularly Stanton Hospital which I mentioned is probably going to need a major capital retrofit in the very near future, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions today for the Minister of Health and Social Services getting back to my Member’s statement where I talked about planning for the future of health care in the Northwest Territories. How is the Minister planning to move the Foundation for Change along and introduce it to the public here in the Northwest Territories as the answer for what ails our health care system here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Just one quick question, Mr. Chairman. On the contract services, I’m just wondering why we’ve gone up $1.4 million. Maybe just a quick explanation on that. Thank you.