Kieron Testart

Mr. Speaker, thank you, and a thank you to the Minister for that commitment. I just note that there has been a lot of discussion about this from the new federal government. Even His Holiness Pope Francis has made a very clear commitment to the rights of Indigenous peoples, so I wonder if the Minister then can give us some assurance that these plans will be in place by midterm? Thank you.

Thank you to the Minister for that clarification. Let's get back to land use planning. As it is not directly related to a settled agreement, what can the Minister do outside the Deh Cho process to move this file along, apart from assuring me that an ADM is on top of it? Is there any concrete policy change and political leadership he can apply to the file to settle this 10year, this decadelong, lapse of approving the plan?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for being brief in his response. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister have any suggestions or new directions that he's going to take his department in getting this land use plan done and succeeding in his mandate, to his department and his own mandate, commitment to complete the land use plan? Thank you.

On the Deh Cho process, my understanding is that the interim draft land use plan has been approved since 2005, so what has kept our government from signing off on that land use plan for over a decade?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to speak on the matter of the Yellowknife Improvement Plan that the Minister of Transportation brought forward to this House in his statement yesterday.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to lay out some of my own facts. Canada places 124th out of 141 countries ranked by the World Economic Forum for cost competitiveness of its travel and tourism industry, and a recent analysis says that much of this has to do with both ticket taxes and airport fees.

Mr. Speaker, airport charges alone account for 25 per cent of the price difference between airfares in...

Thank you. Just on the matter of the Education Act, in particular visavis communications, there was a change in instructional hours that was negotiated between the Teachers' Association and the government. Now, that change needs to be reflected in legislation. However, that is coming late in the day to legislators, so are those kinds of realities being properly understood by the department, and are we going to catch those in the future? I think it is very important we remember the very important role that standing committees and elected officials play in reviewing legislation and ensuring that...

Thank you. How many policy analysts, policy positions, are within that line item, policy, legislation and communications, on page 31? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As many of my honourable friends have mentioned, the communications exercises that the department has been engaged in I don't think have been meeting either the department's goals or the public interest. Junior kindergarten, quite frankly, was a mess from the first roll-out to where we are today; we're still trying to sort through that mess. My honourable friend the Member for Frame Lake referred to it as slippery as a dead fish; that made, I think, the front page of the local newspaper, and I think we're all feeling that way.

I know the Minister is trying his best, but...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have some opening comments for this department. Much has been said by my honourable friends on the issues surrounding junior kindergarten, inclusive education, Aboriginal Head Start, and many of the more high-profile issues that we have debated in this Chamber. One thing is clear: the focus of the Minister's responsibilities are very much geared toward education, and currently the priority seems to be on pre-kindergarten-to-12 education, and the supports for students after the fact.

We are not taking a hard look at some of the other responsibilities and giving them, I...

Can the Minister advise if he can update the appropriate standing committee or perhaps members of the public, Members of this House, on the progress of land use planning on regular intervals, on this and all the other unsettled claim areas?