R.J. Simpson

This is why I'm excited to get the information out there, because, right now, that's the plan. I don't like to say we're going to get something done regardless of whether we're ready or not. I've seen, when government tries to do that, things don't work out well. There are also legislative changes that need to happen, and that means the Assembly is involved. Right now, that's the plan, 2022. That's temporary, that's during the life of this Assembly, and that is going to lead us toward the creation of the university.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The transformation of Aurora College into a polytechnic university has been identified as a priority of this Assembly, and we are in the midst of that process. That process calls for the board to be re-established at a point in the near future, a couple of years from now; 2022, right now, is the plan. Before that is going to happen, we'd like to make some changes to the Aurora College Act because, you know, the act isn't quite as arm's-length as one would think. It states that the Minister may give direction to the board respecting the exercise of its powers and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member bringing this up. It's good to get this type of information out to the public. I know that, when I was a Regular Member, and even now as a Minister, there seems to be difficulty communicating with the people on the ground, with the boards, about the roles and responsibilities and the rights of education authorities.

The policy that the Member is referencing was enacted to ensure that money that is provided by this Assembly for education is spent on education, and it allows for surplus carryover that is either 7 percent of audited revenue or $250...

I thank my colleague. That's why I try and say "colleague" all the time because we're all equal here. There are no promotions. We are all here to represent the public. I am happy to work with the education authorities to find ways to ensure that they can use their funds to deliver education in the best possible way. We also have to look at the fact that the funding from ECE is provided to the education council, and the education council is the one that then distributes it to the education authorities.

There is another level here that we have to look at, and perhaps the way that it's distributed...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What we have done with Income Security is take a continuous improvement approach. I was a Regular Member for four years, and I am still an MLA. I do get concerns from constituents about Income Assistance, but the vast majority of times, things go off without a hitch; there aren't problems. There are going to be hiccups in any system like this, but we are committed to continuously looking at each case, learning from it, and improving our system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that it is advisable to have a bank account. It is easier to keep track of your money; direct deposits can make their way into that bank account sooner. There is also the option to cut a cheque at the Income Assistance office, so it is not an absolute necessity to have a bank account. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There have been some staffing issues in Fort Providence, and there hasn't been someone there, permanently, every single day for quite a while. I am happy to announce that, on January 27th, that position was permanently staffed. A lot of those issues that the residents have been facing are going to be cleared up. This person has previous experience as a client service officer, so the client service officer can help clients access their banking information. There is office equipment, phones, faxes, and computers at the office that they can use. There should be no reason that they are being sent...

Mr. Speaker, education is vital to the success of our residents. Increasing student outcomes in the Northwest Territories to the same level as the rest of Canada is a priority for the 19th Legislative Assembly and one of the key objectives of the education renewal and innovation efforts underway in schools across the territory.

Last week, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment released its first five-year evaluation report on the education renewal and innovation framework and action plan, which is guiding systemic changes to the way we approach junior kindergarten to grade 12...

Mr. Speaker, I want to provide a personal explanation to this House today about the matter of the termination of the associate deputy minister of post-secondary education renewal.

Media reporting yesterday gave the impression that I was not consulted by the Premier on the decision to terminate the employment of the former associate DM. I want to state clearly that this was not the case.

The fact is over the last number of months I have had a number of discussions with the Premier's office regarding the management of Aurora College and the Aurora College transformation team. Two weeks ago, I...

We have a framework. The name is escaping me right now, but it deals directly with this. It deals directly with data collection and how that data is processed. We have standardized the way that we are now collecting this data from the education councils. My colleague is right; there is a separation between all of the education authorities, and separated from ECE, as well.

I think that one of the things that we need to do, and this was mentioned in the Commissioner's address, is look at our Education Act and see if there is a way to better integrate our systems. Not to get rid of the regional...