Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the mover of the motion, I will offer remarks on reinstating funds to ensure NWT students are considered for placements in the University of Saskatchewan’s Veterinary Medicine Program.

As the motion points out, the University of Saskatchewan is offering a student from this Territory the opportunity to occupy one of the much sought after seats in its prestigious Veterinary Medicine Doctoral Program. Not only does the University of Saskatchewan make a seat available to a non-resident applicant, they offer this seat to the GNWT at a reduced rate, greatly reduced rate of sponsorship compared to other provinces. We used to budget funds for this purpose so we’d recognize the value of this action in the past.

For NWT students looking to become veterinarians, the University of Saskatchewan is the only game in Canada. No other province with a school of veterinary medicine will accept registrations from anyone who is not a resident of that province. To be accepted in other provinces’ schools, our students would have to give up their territorial residency and their eligibility for NWT student financial assistance with it and become provincial residents to gain acceptance.

I will note that the University of Calgary has recently established a program. Alberta has taken residents of the NWT as residents of Alberta in the past. When I contacted the university, they said that only residents of Alberta could apply, but I’ve asked the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to seek further information and confirm that.

Members may also know the student development programs the U of S delivers in the NWT where veterinary students come to the Sahtu communities to practice their skills on a by-donation basis only. This gives tomorrow’s vets exposure to a region where they might eventually decide to set up practice and it brings veterinary services our remote communities would not otherwise enjoy.

We also know that our current wildlife veterinarian is approaching retirement within the GNWT. We’ve seen from the recent crisis and concern with caribou populations and wildlife diseases associated with climate change, that we’re going to need northern veterinary expertise more than ever.

We are just concluding a major committee review and public hearings for the modernization of the Dog Act. Again and again in those hearings we’ve heard we don’t have enough veterinary services and the demand continues to grow.

What kind of money are we talking about here? As the motion says, sponsorship of a seat would cost us $25,000 a year for four years. In years where we don’t have a veterinary student at the U of S, these funds could be reallocated early in the fiscal year to other purposes. The motion includes provision for the student to pay back the cost of the sponsorship in addition to the repayment provisions already in the Student Financial Assistance program for graduates who don’t return to the NWT to work.

By refusing to allocate funds to take advantage of the occasional opportunity to back an NWT student for an advanced degree at the only school in Canada accepting out-of-province applicants, we put our students in the position of having to renounce their territorial residency and compete for seats in other provinces. You can imagine how eager these students will be to return here to practise, with that vote of support from their own government.

Saskatchewan places a priority upon meeting the veterinary care needs of the Northwest Territories. We need to place the same or hopefully greater priority on NWT students that the University of Saskatchewan does. Creating high-income earners whose lifetime taxes would pay us back many times over on the initial investment in education seems like a wise investment.

I’ve been pursuing these arguments for more than a year now with the Minister of Education on behalf of a student looking for what would be the least support we can give. Lately I’ve received information that given this government’s disinterest, the U of S may even be reconsidering the worth of offering preferred status to territorial students.

Having been unable to sway the Minister directly, I am asking Members of this House to vote their support for a simple low-cost step with no financial risk, great fiscal benefits, specifically answering our need for a vital service and fulfilling our stated objective to promote the advanced learning of our citizens.