Kevin O'Reilly

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is a helpful, sort of, overview of money moving around there and so on. I guess I want to ask the Minister: are we cutting the staff position that is probably located in Yellowknife and just kind of using that funding, then, to build up the Western Arctic Geoscience Centre in Inuvik?

Look, I have always been on record as supporting that centre in Inuvik and capitalizing on the investment that this government has made in the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Line, but if we are just shuffling money around here to build up that office, that is, you know, a result of Cabinet...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So, as I understand it, within income assistance there is some provision for cost of food, cost of clothing and so on. For any of those sorts of components, is there any provision in here for an increase in any of those parts of income assistance? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Well, I guess I am concerned that we are continuing to cut if the results of the study seem to indicate that there are no costs savings. So, at the end of the day, the district education authorities are going to be left with less money to work with. That is not what I had hoped from this budget, but I think this is just part of the Cabinet's reduction strategy again, and I do not agree with this cut. I do not expect a response from the Minister. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, that is what I had, and I appreciate the Minister's answers, and I look forward to that discussion paper very soon. Thanks.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I recognize this is work under way, but the problem is we are going to have to vote on an appropriation bill maybe before we even get the report. We are going to have to vote on whether we are ready to accept this budget for the department, so when is this report going to be made available? If the report is finished, can the Minister share the report with us and then share the response from the department afterwards? Once again, we seem to have a problem with getting information from the department. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I appreciate that, and I think that is a good investment of funding from our government. I am sure the Minister will work with College Nordique to look at how we can support those folks, as well. I want to shift now to the postsecondary education legislation. Can the Minister just give us an update of where that is at? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the Minister for that. I understood that there was going to be some kind of a consultant hired to look at potential for shared services amongst the district education authorities. Can the Minister tell us the status of that work and whether the district education authorities are onboard for this reduction of $200,000? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

It's good to hear, at least one of our other postsecondary institutions is getting an increase in their funding. Can the Minister tell us what that increase is for Dechinta and what the contribution, say, for 20182019 is going to be, then? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So, are there extra events that are happening between 2016-2017 and 2018-2019, or are these cyclical conferences or something? I am just trying to understand why there is a doubling of the travel budget between those years. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Yes, the Minister over there was sort of like a deer caught in the headlights all of a sudden. He had to pay attention. It's a "heads up". When it comes to his turn, I will be asking those questions. Look, if we're going to spend time and money trying to encourage apprenticeships, surely to goodness we can find ways for them to work on our capital projects to get their certification and all of that kind of stuff. Anyways, the Minister is listening to me now. I am sure he is going to get ready when I ask him those sorts of questions, but I want to move on to some questions about postsecondary...