R.J. Simpson

I think communication causes most problems, not just in corrections, but everywhere. Lack of communication really leads to misunderstandings; it leads to problems not being resolved. The first thing that happened after this report came out is that senior staff, senior management, went to the different facilities. They presented this information, and they listened to the staff to hear what they had to say directly, not through a consultant. From that, they are compiling a "what we heard" report so that they can then distribute it to staff and say, "Are we hearing you correctly?" Because...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for her persistent advocacy on behalf of her constituents. This is a very concerning situation with some history. The Member's statement was quite a retort to my statement, and it explained the long history of this. I will not be tabling that report. When this report was initiated, the staff were told that it would be kept confidential.

While there was obviously a risk of it being released once it was distributed to all staff and to other parties, that was a risk that we knew we had to take. Despite the fact that it is publicly available, I will...

Again, I don't have those specific numbers. I am not sure how this is being funded. Perhaps it's out of the current budget that there have been some savings on travel, for example, so maybe that is what is funding this. I am not quite sure, but I can find that out and let the Member know.

I appreciate the question. We need more people in general in trades, but especially women in trades. I think the number of women in trades is around 5 to 7 percent of the entire profession, which is quite low, obviously. The department has recognized this, and in addition to getting out and promoting trades to everyone, there is also a renewed focus on promoting it to women and young women in schools. What we are going to be rolling out in the new year is a new visual and media campaign to promote women in trades. There is going to be promotion via the radio, newspapers, and social media...

Before the pandemic, there were some empty classrooms, and that's really why we were embarking on this transformation. We want to make the college the first choice for students not just in the North, but from across Canada. The pandemic obviously emptied out some classes, and we weren't able to have lots of face-to-face. I'm happy to announce that, in the upcoming September session enrolment, we will have face-to-face programming resuming at Aurora College. There are some caveats around that, of course. This was all vetted through the Chief Public Health Officer, who has allowed this, but the...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents: "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 390-19(2): Introductory Trades Program in Inuvik;" "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 453-19(2): Temporary Variation of Statutory Time Periods;" and "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 475-19(2): RCMP Detachment in Monfwi." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Red Seal is governed under the Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program, and that is a common set of standards across Canada. So, if you are a Red Seal in one province, your skills are comparable to a Red Seal in another province. We don't quite have that yet with Blue Seal, but what Blue Seal is building on is the Red Seal. It is a program whereby people who have earned their Red Seal can take additional courses in business and earn a Blue Seal. This is to really build up the workforce and allow perhaps journeypersons who want to rise up to management in companies or help them become...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will just note that the Member, in her statement earlier, she was telling it like it is. She laid out the state of education well, and some of the things we have to do and the challenges we face, and I agree that we do have to have more northern-born trained persons who can do the work that we bring people up from the South for.

Right now, schools across North America have taken a hit, whether it's JK-to-12 or post-secondary, and the North is no exception. There has been, as most people know, no face-to-face or rather limited face-to-face instruction. Despite that...

Thank you. I have a question about this recommendation. It recommends that the Mace be put in its place, which is here in the Assembly on its perch. In the event of a remote sitting, would this tie our hands in any way? If the reason we are having a remote sitting is because we cannot get into the building, would it cause any issues for Legislative Assembly staff? How is that contemplated? Thank you.

Last year, about 4,000 people accessed income assistance. If we were to pay each one of those people the max amount that you can get on income assistance each year, it would be about $80 million. That's an extra $50 million on top of the $30 million that we spend now. If we did the real universal basic income where everyone in the territory regardless of income gets that amount, we're looking at $800 million. The very low end of this is $80 million. To the Member's point, if we spend money here, costs elsewhere go down. I get that. Same thing with education, but that doesn't mean that we have...