Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I might not have had a third question but I just want to clarify on the record, in my case I'm not worried about board; I'm worried about boards as a territorial MLA and hence the issue to me is if it's reflective in Yellowknife, it could be reflective in every riding. So will she ensure that all ridings are -- sorry, all education districts receive the same type of question and support? Thank you.

So exciting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't contain my excitement. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, my next set of questions is targeted to the -- I shouldn't say targeted, but being offered ever so kindly to the Minister of education. And so during the campaign, a lot of the teachers complained about the BC curriculum coming in because the lack of foresighted training for -- and prep for them. So in other words, they're being handed these packages of saying hey, now good luck, and they had to implement it. Mr. Speaker, what can the Minister of education do to help support these teachers who still...

Mr. Speaker, we're not really talking about a lot of students here. We're literally talking anywhere from 10 to 50 students who need to go beyond that $60,000 cap, Mr. Speaker. What's the Minister's apprehension, really, at the end of the day for expanding the cap? Because we know it's not a lot of students, and she would have the numbers of how many exact students would be attending. So what's her apprehension? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm excited to ask the next batch of questions to the Minister of education.

Under the Student Financial Assistance Act, section 10(3)(a), so that doesn't mean much to the public, but what it is is it specifically points out to the cap of SFA provided to Northerners attending post-secondary school, Mr. Speaker, which happens to be $60,000 in total. That's your total cap of what you can take.

So, Mr. Speaker, recognizing the costs and ever changing needs of Northerners seeking education and recognizing the fact that we want to support Northerners to get education and even...

So, Mr. Speaker, what is the department doing in the sense of selling this as an opportunity other than saying pick us? Thank you.

I may not have heard the answer because I was writing my next question down. So in fairness. So the climate change preparedness for the North, is there any type of public reporting of this particular initiative? Thank you.

Thank you. So we're still taking money, but we don't have any money in the program? Or sorry, we're still taking applications, but we don't have money in the program; is that currently correct at this very moment?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have two-line activities. One says wastewater surveillance. So what does the public actually see and know about this, and how does it get reported? It's these are powerful words but they're kind of generic. So, you know, somebody would say well, what does that mean and how is it reported? So what information do they gather, where do we find out about what these mean? And setting aside it’s federal money, which is nil, in other words nil to the cost to the Northwest Territories, people are often curious of these types of things as just generic headings. So thank you...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to confirm, is this new money for people to apply for, or is the application process closed and this is an opportunity to backfill some outstanding applications?

Goodness, that was the longest response, Mr. Speaker. But thank you for the detail, and I'm sure Northerners appreciate it.

Mr. Speaker, my last question is this: When consultation went out and asked people their thoughts on the health benefits, Mr. Speaker, it did not present a policy change. So people didn't know, I guess, in some ways what they were agreeing with or knowing what they were going to get. Mr. Speaker, therein lies part of the problem and there is the question, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister be willing to send the policy to the social development committee so they can have a...