Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to acknowledge former Northwest Territories Premier Joe Handley who was named one of this year's Symons Medal recipients. The Symons Medal is awarded to outstanding individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to Canadian life, and former Premier Handley has no doubt earned this honour for his decades of dedication to northern society.

Mr. Handley has had an impressive career as an educator and public servant who has worked as deputy minister for numerous departments, including the housing corporation, renewable resources, and economic...

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has long prided itself on its fiscal discipline through instruments like the fiscal responsibility policy, robust capacity, and the financial management board secretariat. And a keen ability to leverage federal funding into 75 or 100 percent dollars, our government has proven it has what it takes to manage complex fiscal challenges. That is why it's so alarming that the GNWT's largest ever projected operating surplus has evaporated now to such a severe deficit that the Finance Minister is asking the Prime Minister to raise the debt...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move the chair rise and report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is it time for -- as we're on the power corp, is it time for the board to be -- private board to be -- or public board to be reinstated without deputy ministers to steer the power corporation towards sustainability and towards running the company like a business rather than a department? Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Infrastructure perhaps can speak to -- let's -- or sorry, you've given me a pickle. But structural -- so the structural debt of the power corporation, I suppose, whichever Minister wants to answer that question, I'll leave it in your hands.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to get to the bottom of these cost overruns that I brought up in my Member's statement. Can the Minister of Infrastructure speak to what appears to be a systemic problem with how we're budgeting projects? Let's start there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in continuing with my -- with questions to support schools, working families, students, teachers, I'd like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment how the department is working to support schools. And, of course, this requires coordination across multiple departments because there are a lot of requirements so we might jump around a bit, but I'm confident the Minister can answer it.

First off, there's a youth mental health crisis in the Northwest Territories, and our schools are on the frontline. So what are we doing to support them and now...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister consider putting some accountability measures behind the dollars that we're giving to Aurora College? Change the funding program so they are tied to outcomes and if those outcomes aren't met, they don't get their funding and they have to seek performance elsewhere. That way we can ensure that they're performing. Because if they fail in the outcomes that the government designs that the Minister is accountable for, then they don't get funded. And they're not going to exist very long if they can't get funded. So will the Minister do that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, they've been given time. They've been given years to get this done, and they're still struggling. So clearly something isn't working. How much more time is the Minister going to give Aurora College to fail? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Minister's going to make herself available, but I'm going to keep asking these questions and I hope it's more than availability. We need some answers, we need some solutions, we need to move forward.

Mr. Speaker, another issue is there's no -- currently, the quality of school infrastructure is up to the school -- most school boards to care for in Yellowknife themselves. The GNWT owns those buildings in other communities and for other school districts. But there's no dedicated funding for technical assessments. Since the pandemic, many of those...