Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I regret that the Minister has had a full glass of mumbo-jumbo for lunch and we are not getting anywhere with trying to understand how to preserve the strengths of this program within the time that is still allotted to it. It's not too late to have the remaining staff start working on how the implementation of the reports' recommendations could happen, and so what is standing in the way of this? It cannot be the hiring of this associate deputy minister. He is working at too high a level to start worrying about which elective social work students are going...

Thank you to the Minister for that response. Mr. Speaker, it's my understanding that there is already a loss of one of the three instructors and that the college is now down to just a handful of students who are finishing up their program. What is the Minister's intention for this program in the meantime, before the review is implemented?

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge a former constituent, Jack Sigvaldason, who died this summer.

Beginning in 1971 with the feisty Yellowknifer newspaper, "Sig," as he was known, built Northern News Service into a consortium of seven newspapers across two territories, running the NWT's largest printing service with a payroll approaching 100 people.

In June 2012, Jack Sigvaldason was awarded the Canadian Journalism Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to journalism and democracy across the North.

Please join me in applauding the life and work of Jack Sigvaldason...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the external review of the Aurora College Social Work Diploma Program. I obtained the review last month, not through the Minister but through an access to information request. I believe that one of the reasons this review has not been made public is because it contradicts the government's line. The review shows the program is worthwhile. It should never have been cut. Instead, it must be redeveloped to improve student success.

Mr. Speaker, the decision to end the social work program came in response to the government's decision to cut...

I appreciate the Minister's willingness to work with the Y. At the end of the day, the Y is going to have to have revenue to keep this housing program going, and if that revenue can't be generated from a building, then it is going to need to come from a contribution agreement. I am asking the Minister what resources he can bring to the table for the continuation of this program.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services in his role as the lead on the Rockhill fire.

The Rockhill apartments belong to the GNWT, and they were leased to the YWCA over the long term. Rent collected from the tenants paid for the housing staff to provide wraparound services for the families. Now, not only is the building gone, but revenue from the building is gone as well.

My first question is whether the Minister is committed to this housing program continuation? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that the Y needs to make a specific ask, and my understanding is that the leadership group there is considering that and will be making that known to the Minister.

My final question is about the takeaway, the Minister's takeaway, from the government response. I realize that only just happened, but are they going to do a debrief? Are they going to look at how the response went from their position to strengthen service delivery in the future? Not that there were any problems with the response last week.

Could the Minister give us a sense of the options that are on the table? For example, does the GNWT have access to a building that could be leased to the Y, or is there access to bridge funding to help with the continuation of the housing staff services? What is the range of options the government is willing to consider?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday morning last week, I woke to the news that the Rockhill apartments were on fire. When I looked out my kitchen window, I could see the black smoke, and I feared for the lives of the families who called Rockhill home. For 20 years, the transitional housing program has helped hundreds of families rebuild their lives. It has become indispensable, and I worked there myself for six years. The good news is that all 87 people who lived at Rockhill escaped unharmed. The bad news of course is that the building was destroyed.

Mr. Speaker, since the fire, the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm fond of saying that the biggest problem small business has in this territory is the Government of the Northwest Territories. This is not a government that is friendly to small business. It's a paternalistic government that is regulating small businesses into the ground. The irony is that they're gutless with big business, too. In any case, do they take us as fools? Do they really think that we consider this on par with what we have proposed in our amendment? This is not an acceptable compromise. The Minister does not need this kind of discretion. The prior...