Julian Morse

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, have a look through past Hansard transcripts and year after year, you'll find speeches by MLAs complaining that the capital budget has failed to adequately allocate resources to the Assembly's priorities. I argue that the underlying reason for this pattern is that our capital budget setting process is disconnected from priorities by design, and we need to change that process if we want to see a change in budgeting.

Currently, departments are using a set of criteria for identifying capital projects none of which include priority consideration first. In most...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And while I appreciate the answer, the Minister's also responsible for mandate and direction, so it's not just dollars.

Mr. Speaker, I've heard things such as the college has been approached by entities offering to build housing, offering to provide a campus even, and the board has been rejecting these offers. What is going on, Mr. Speaker? How could a board committed to transitioning to a polytechnic possibly want to turn away from such opportunities for this kind of collaboration? Again, Mr. Speaker, I want to speak to accountability. What is the Minister's...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, considering the board does have that responsibility, Mr. Speaker, what measures is the Minister taking or considering in holding the board accountable for results for the funding they receive from the government for transition, for operation of the college, all of it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just to be clear, is the Minister committed to transitioning Aurora College to a polytechnic university and supporting the college in proceeding with the facility's master plan?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I spoke about change management, and today I want to continue that thread and speak to the state of the Aurora College transition. Despite reassurance from the board and president that they are committed to the transition, every indication and metric I see is clearly communicating that the transition has ground to a halt and, if anything, is in the process of being openly reversed. Responsibility for this lies on both the Ministers and the board's shoulders, but there were a number of critical change management elements missed along the way when...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is the Minister concerned about the milestones that the college is facing? Does the Minister share my concern that the project appears to be significantly off track and that does not appear to be reversing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while I generally appreciate the rosy disposition of the Minister for ECE, I have to express a bit of confusion. Mr. Speaker, the college is bleeding staff. They're missing milestones. There's no public statements on the indications about the transition so I have to say I'm a bit confused. The Minister seems to be quite confident about the transition, but all the public indications are showing that it's not going well. So, Mr. Speaker, if things are going well, where are the results? Where's the urgency? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker; we're keeping it short and sweet today. Mr. Speaker, I know that the Minister has a textbook on change management on her desk because I handed it to her myself. Mr. Speaker, has the Minister considered employing change management principles in setting her direction to the board? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've just made my statement, so we know what my questions are about. Mr. Speaker, why has the Minister of education not sent a new mandate letter to the Aurora College board?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And knowing that we are seeing red flags, the question I have is, is the Minister willing to take decisive action, if necessary, to move the board forward, to move this project forward, to ensure that it gets back on track in a timely fashion? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.