R.J. Simpson

The department is aware and looking into this. Unfortunately, I have to report that we do not have a silver bullet for this issue. It is going to take a bit more research, but we are committed to doing that, and I will get back to the Member when we have that information.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In March of 2019, YK1 and YCS raised the issue through a joint letter to ECE. To my knowledge, CSFTNO has not raised the issue through a formal channel like that, but I am sure that it is on their radar. ECE officials have engaged with the Yellowknife DEAs to begin to try to figure out how to solve this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My colleague is speaking about the trades and occupations wage subsidy program in which the department tops off the wages for apprentices for a couple years. She noted that it doesn't necessarily follow the apprentice all the way through. That is because the pot of money just isn't big enough to do that. We can't cover everyone.

I am looking forward, in this Assembly, to increasing the number of apprentices and journeypeople that we have in the territory. If this is something that we think is useful and a way to do that, then I look forward to having those budget discussions with Cabinet and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The SNAP program, as the Member mentioned, the Schools North Apprenticeship Program, doesn't run on a schedule. It is not a regular part of the curriculum. There is no scheduled start time right now. The program requires a significant number of parties to all come together. You need employers; you need the school; you need students, parents, and ECE to ensure that things run smoothly.

If there is an interest from employers and there is an interest from students, then this is something that we can facilitate, and we can use this program. I will speak to the department to...

Direct communication with the staff and the students is part and parcel of the type of communication that I want to do, and I will be reaching out, and I will reinforce my commitment. Like I said, this is a great opportunity. I am lucky to be involved with it, and I am going to see it through to completion, and we are going to wind up with a world-class university in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Change is always hard. I assumed years ago or, rather, when this was first discussed in the Assembly, that it would be difficult to change. Actually, one of the first meetings that I had, I think the very first meeting that I had with Dr. Weegar, I asked him if he was getting any resistance and, if so, that I wanted to work with him to ensure that we made these changes.

I am all in favour of developing a world-class, arm's-length university here in the Northwest Territories. There will be some changes. There will be some bold changes, and I am fully in support of those. Going forward, maybe it...

The department has looked at a number of ways of doing this. Unfortunately, there is no way of getting around the fact that the board members were elected for a fixed period of time. Any change to that period of time, to extend it, would be antidemocratic.

If you are elected to a certain period, if the voters vote you in and they think that you are going to be there for this many years because that is what the legislation says, I am not willing to extend that. What would be required would be a plebiscite, similar to what municipalities do.

I believe in democracy. I am a strong supporter of...

The best-spent money is always on children's education, so it's hard to argue with that.

SFA is for students who are studying. I don't know if that is an appropriate avenue to provide funds to somebody who is working as an apprentice, but I have been speaking for years about the need to get more apprentices in the territory. We have so many journeypeople who are retiring, who have retired. Like the rest of Canada, we just do not have the people to replace them. I am hopeful and committed to increasing that number during the life of this Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Aurora College offers trades, industrial, and occupational training in the trades mobile training lab. This lab is a state-of-the-art facility. I think it is pretty cool, basically. We are always open to having these discussions with Indigenous governments. In 2019, December, the lab returned to Inuvik from Tuktoyaktuk after offering the Building Trades Helper Program.

There are ongoing discussions about how we can better use this lab in the Beaufort-Delta for things such as trade preparation, entry-level programs for youth to enhance employment skills, and the Building Trades Helper Program...