R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here today to present Bill 14, An Act to Amend the Securities Act. I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Social Development for their thorough review of this bill.

The purpose of securities legislation is to facilitate the raising of capital in the private sector while providing appropriate protections and remedies for investors. As cross-border trading has evolved over time, the regulation of securities in Canada has become a coordinated activity among all provinces and territories and, increasingly, worldwide. When the Northwest Territories enacted...

Thank you. If you look at other jurisdictions, what they do, there are a number of different courses that you can take. Then that is confirmed by the department, and then you get issued a Blue Seal. I am sure that Aurora College has those courses. I don't have a list with me, but as a polytechnic, they would definitely have those types of courses. Thank you.

Thank you. I've already talked to the department about getting a website and an email address going so that members of the public can provide their comments. Thank you.

Thank you. We have Mr. Michael Saturnino, assistant deputy minister, labour and income security, and Mr. Mike Reddy, director of legislation, Department of Justice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. None and no. The reason for those answers is because we have been informed by the federal government that this money is not flowing to governments. It's not flowing to provincial or territorial governments. It will be distributed through the Canada Council for the Arts. What that means is that there are a limited number of organizations in the territory that will actually be able to access this funding. We have a lot of artists in the territory who are just individuals. It might be someone making slippers in their housing and doing beading. Those individuals can't...

Based on the questions that I've gotten in the House, the feedback that committee has provided during our main estimates review, both in camera and in public, there's additional work being done on the Arts Strategy. I think it's incumbent upon us when we hear things to incorporate that feedback. We will do that. We will be providing standing committee, both, I believe, Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment and the Standing Committee on Social Development with copies of the draft for additional feedback in the coming weeks and likely will table at the next sitting of this...

I think that the Member might be envisioning a different body than what our arts council currently is. Our arts council helps make decisions about how to distribute the funding provided by ECE. I think the Member might be thinking of something like an artists' collective in the territory or something like that. While there is, perhaps, merit to those discussions, that's not really what the arts council is at this point.

Mr. Speaker, one of the many exciting developments to expect as we get closer to the launching of the polytechnic university is increased capacity for northern research. We know that the work underway to increase the number of researchers and build effective research supports for college partners and stakeholders across the Northwest Territories will serve as catalysts for northern social and economic development.

In the areas of research, Aurora College is starting from a place of strength and great promise for the future. In December, it was again recognized as one of Canada's Top 50 Research...

This is a conversation that's been going on for years and years. I think that, from the outside, ultimately, when it comes to programs that support our residents, there should be no lack of service or service disruptions or poor service based on how its distributed among different departments. Ideally, the GNWT should be working together, sort of an integrated service delivery approach, and provide services to residents with a resident focus. How the government does that needs to be coordinated. I think that there's this coordination between ITI and ECE, and it would be difficult to completely...

Thank you. I'll get the deputy minister to speak to that.