Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I support this amendment. It strikes a good balance between the need for expediency in emergency situations while still allowing collective decision-making at the Cabinet level when a request for exemption comes forward. The reason why it’s important to have that collective decision-making in my perspective is exemptions may come from any area and it may be a low-emissions industrial actor, something like that where these regulations might unduly impact their economic success.

Having the perspective of more than one department – sorry, I should say more than one Minister...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the biggest challenges for manufacturers is the high cost of operating a manufacturing facility in the Northwest Territories. Will the Minister commit to making this a costed plan that has dollar amounts attached to it so it gets a real sense? The department has done this before with the Economic Opportunity Strategy. Can the Minister make that commitment to put some money behind this one? Not just words and we can actually give a boost to our manufacturing industry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI a question about a mandate item that he’s been working on for some time now, an update on the manufacturing strategy. Can the Minister provide one to this House? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, our government is on the ball on this. It’s more about the suppliers, people down on the supply chain. We enter into very large contracts, so prompt payment is an important issue as we move down the supply chain. Mr. Speaker, the Ontario government is now considering prompt payment legislation that will create a prompt payment regime and require a mandatory adjudication of certain disputes within construction. Is the Minister familiar with this legislation and is he reviewing our own legislation in light of that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this government’s spending is approximately equivalent to 52 per cent of our GDP. That’s $3.854 billion. This compares to, let’s take a province in Canada: Ontario, our largest. Their government spending amounts to 20 per cent of GDP, so clearly our government has a huge role in this economy. A lot of that comes out of procurement of these contracts. I’d like to ask the Minister of Infrastructure if he will once again commit to a comprehensive review of our procurement policies on this very important economic driver. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the chair rise and report progress. Thank you.

This is why I made the statement. What Aurora Research Institute is doing is good, solid research that is advancing scientific knowledge, but what a knowledge economy is, is using the skills and expertise of these hubs to build economic opportunity, and that is exactly what we are talking about. It cannot just be up to ITI. I think we are hearing about a lot of good work that is going on in the natural resource economy, but we need to focus on building a knowledge economy.

What the Minister is saying is not quite right. I am wondering if he will commit to developing a knowledge economy strategy...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement, I talked about the knowledge economy. In the future, when we look at how technology is changing Canada's economy, we can see that, where new technologies have been introduced, there is a demand for highly skilled workers, particularly highly skilled information and communications technology workers. I would like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment if the department has a plan to harness potential information and communication technologies, and what they are doing about that field and how it can transform our economy. Thank...

Will there be an opportunity to table this in the next sitting; not the current sitting, but in the third session of the House? Or will we have to wait until next year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was aware of that and I'm pleased that we have that clarity from the Minister; however, business planning is a closed-door process and members of the public won't be able to see or hear exactly what is being planned for this, so what is the plan to allow for transparency on this plan? The government was quite keen on selling the changes to the airport based on enhanced infrastructure services, et cetera. When are we going to see detailed plans on infrastructure improvements at the Yellowknife Airport?