R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm here today to present Bill 30, an Act to Amend the Aurora College Act. I want to thank the Standing Committee on Social Development for their interest in and review of this bill.

This bill will result in an arm's length governance system that supports an effective, efficient, and sustainable Aurora College positioned to continuously identify and respond to the needs of northern residents, Indigenous governments, partners, and stakeholders. It will also set the stage for further legislative change in 2024 to create the polytechnic university.

The creation of a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The type of arts council structure that the Member's speaking about, they are usually born out of a grassroots organization, a group of artists that get together and has a vision, has a plan, and it's an organization that then can be supported.

There is currently no organization in the territory that has that ability at this point. There's a number of different organizations, and maybe if they all combine their power, that might be an organization that we might be able to support. But that's just not the case. These are generally grassroots organizations. And while the...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Plain Language Summary for Bill 41: Justice Administration Statutes Amendment Act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker knows all about this. I recall in the last Assembly, this hit his constituents hard because there was an increase in fuel prices that was quite abrupt and the change in the way that this was funded didn't quite account for that. So what we did last year, actually, was we increased the amount that seniors are eligible for, and Members in this House should remember that. So there was an increase.

And I also want to say that despite the fact that there is a monetary amount now associated with this, there is a cap. A number of instances have come across my...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is one person in the GNWT who, as part of their duties, works with the arts council to distribute that money. That is not enough money to fund an executive director and an office in downtown Yellowknife, never mind the additional funds for travel for everything else. So no, at this point I'm not willing to do that. It would not be a good use of our funds.

There's other jurisdictions in Canada who operate in the same manner that we do. We are not unique in this sense so it's not like there is one gold standard for arts councils. So at this point, I'm not willing to...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And I don't have the details about what that specific role would do. I believe it's to more coordinate efforts between the three jurisdictions and the federal government. But I will follow up with the Member on that.

But I will say that ECE and ITI do some of the work that the Member is talking about. Last night there was a session that was coordinated by ECE's immigration staff, as well as IRCC, to reach out and have those discussions with employers, and I think there was 14 employers who registered for the session.

There's also stakeholder meetings at the Yellowknife...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So the Yukon's immigration strategy is from 2010. That's when it began. Ours began in 2017. So I would hope that with an extra seven years, they have learned lessons and advanced a little further than we have. And I wouldn't quite say that the strategies are carbon copies, although there are similarities given our similarities with the Yukon. I would say that we do work with the Yukon. We work with Nunavut as well. And we see what has worked for them because they do have a more advanced immigration environment in the Yukon, and we take those lessons and we can apply...

Madam Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 41, Justice Administration Statutes Amendment Act, be read for the first time. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So I do want to clarify that, you know, the Member said we're not attracting federal investments. This year, in this federal budget, we attracted federal investments in our postsecondary education system. It's happening. So I don't have to convince my Cabinet colleagues either of the value of this. Everyone is well aware that this is a priority. It's a priority of this Assembly. It's a priority of this government. Everyone understands the value of education and higher education. So I don't think that I need to convince everyone. I think we're all on the same page...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It might not seem like it, but 2022 is less than a month away. So July 2022 is not that far off. And there is a lot of work that needs to be done. The Member often references the Yukon and them getting money. The reason they got money is because they put a lot of effort into developing a facilities plan. That's what we're doing. We don't want to go with a document that is not up to par, that the federal government will look at and say we can't give you this much money based on this plan. So that's the work we're doing. It does take time. We do need to engage with...