R.J. Simpson

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 72, Opioid Damages and Healthcare Costs Recovery Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. No, I can't. I don't have the authority to commit to the commanding officer. Our agreement with the Government of Canada is very clear that the GNWT does not direct the operations of the RCMP. However, the community government is more than welcome to reach out to the commanding officer and request a meeting. I know that he's still relatively new to the territory and is trying to get out to the communities and meet with everyone so it could be a good opportunity. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Each year I send out letters to the Indigenous governments across the territory to ask what they think the policing priorities should be for the RCMP. As Minister, I provide the RCMP with their policing priorities annually. One of the three priorities relates to drug and alcohol use. So we start right at the very high level. That's how we begin engaging. At the local level, there are you know, the RCMP is always open to meet with Indigenous government leadership. They're willing to meet with elected leaders. You know, when I speak with elected leaders in communities...

Mr. Speaker, at long last, it gives me great pleasure to announce that the members of the new Aurora College Board of Governors have been selected. I would like to welcome and congratulate the following individuals on their appointments:

Joseph Handley of Yellowknife;

Lorraine Tordiff of Fort Smith;

Lucy Kuptana of Tuktoyaktuk;

Rebecca Plotner of Yellowknife;

Tom Colosimo of Hay River;

Jack Rowe of Hay River;

David Hurley of Yellowknife;

Kevin Antoniak of Fort Smith;

Stephanie IrlbacherFox of Yellowknife;

Richard Boudreault of Quebec;

Student member, Cayla Gillis;

Instructional staff member, Wanda...

Thank you. And, yes, we do receive significant funds from the federal government, and they provide those funds to all the provinces and territories and I am currently working with the other ministers of the provinces and territories to begin the negotiations of the future agreements. And I can say that we are putting a lot of effort into that. There are meetings coming up this spring or summer, and we are everyone is united in the call for more funding because everyone recognizes the labour shortage, the need for skilled labour, and especially the type of skilled labour we support through...

I'll hand it to Mr. Saturnino. Thank you.

Thank you. And so we do have the $70,000 in here. On the line item, there's another $85,000 the department contributes out of the Labour Market Development Agreement. Perhaps I can hand it to the deputy minister for some more succinct comments on the Member's question. Thank you.

Thank you. We are supporting about 300 apprentices right now. Thank you.

Thank you. So this House did pass the amendments to the Aurora College Act, so that decision has been made. So we're past the before part. But as the Member's aware, we have a facilities master plan that sets out, you know, potential infrastructure investments and the college and the government are well aware of the space limitations, and along with the residents in Fort Smith, addressing those limitations are the top priorities for new infrastructure for the college. Thank you.

Thank you. That represents an influx of cash that we received from the federal government as part of their contribution to the transformation of Aurora College into a polytechnic university, and it was not recorded in this year because we received it last year. Thank you.