Kevin O'Reilly

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, we've got an oversubscribed fund. It is doing great things. We are going to be developing a broader evaluation system for whether we are making progress on poverty overall, not just money invested into this fund. I think I have made the case and the Minister has helped me make the case for putting more money into the fund, period. Thank you.

Merci, monsieur le President. People in the Northwest Territories who want to choose cremation of human remains  that is currently about 30 per cent of all deaths  cannot access this service from a Northwest Territories supplier. A local funeral home would like to expand to provide this service, and it's just down the road from me, Mr. Speaker; but in seeking a way to support the expansion of our economy and of services for our residents, road blocks have been encountered.

All Canadian jurisdictions except the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have legislative regimes for cremation. In the...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think I heard him say in there that there was value for money, but it was sort of a little bit longer answer than I had expected. Can the Minister tell me how oversubscribed this fund is in terms of the applications that are received? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. That is all I have for now. Thanks.

Thanks to the Minister for that response. I have spoken about how Canada is the only circumpolar country without a university and that federal government is looking for transformative change investment opportunities. Has the Minister had any discussions and made any approaches to the federal government regarding investment in postsecondary education in the Northwest Territories?

Merci, monsieur le President. The Minister of Education seems to be very popular today, so I have got some extra questions for him. In my statement earlier today I talked about how we can build a real postsecondary education system here in the Northwest Territories. I know that there is some sort of a strategic plan being developed for Aurora College. Can the Minister tell us whether this plan will contain any ideas on how the college relates to other institutions, such as College nordique and Dechinta? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Boy, if we could only get the Minister to answer "yes" or "no" to some of the other questions that he has had over the last week, that would be fantastic. I guess I was hoping for a little bit more detail. I am sure he can provide that in response to my next question, as well.

Can the Minister commit that during the lifetime of this Assembly he will work with Regular MLAs and the public to develop a full postsecondary education strategy and action plan for the Northwest Territories that includes a university? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the Minister for his honesty there; a bit of a disappointment, though. He just was talking about partnerships and so on, and it is too bad that this strategic plan for Aurora College is not going to consider linkages with other postsecondary institutions.

There must be some sort of terms of reference or a contract scope of work for this strategic plan. Will there be any effort or investigation of a broader postsecondary education framework or strategy? Perhaps the Minister could agree to share the terms of reference for that strategic plan with this side of the House?

Merci, monsieur le President. I want to talk about how we can develop a real post-secondary education system leading to transformative change in the Northwest Territories. I'm talking about beginning the work of building a university of the Northwest Territories.

Canada is the only circumpolar nation without a university in its arctic or sub-arctic region. In 2015, I had the opportunity to visit the second largest city is Iceland, called Akureyri. It's a thriving place with about 19,000 people and a university established in 1987. There are now about 1,900 students and 180 faculty and staff...

Merci, monsieur le President. I will use my reply to the budget address to set out some of my thoughts on the following: a quick review of what I recommended to the reply to the budget address of 2016; description of the process for 2017 and how it might be improved; and the good, the bad, and the ugly of the 2017-18 budget as proposed by Cabinet.

What did I recommend in my last reply to the budget address in 2016? I recommended the following: open up the budgeting and business plan review to allow for some level of public scrutiny; set firm deadlines around negotiation processes between...