Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m going to just be very quick. Most of my comments and questions will come as we go into detail. Similar to my colleagues, I’m pleased to see the work being done under the Healthy Choices Framework and what’s been done to date on the Aboriginal Student Achievement. I think those are both very good initiatives and I look forward to seeing the information as that comes forward.
It’s going to be no surprise to anybody that I’m happy with the additional support that this government is putting into the arts. I think it’s important from several perspectives. Supporting this industry is good for business but it’s also good for tourism, it’s also good for the overall well-being of people throughout the Northwest Territories, so I’m happy to see some additional money in there.
I’m very pleased to see the additional $200,000 that you’ve included to expand exhibits and collections at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre. It doesn’t sound like a huge amount of money, but I think with $200,000 you can go a long way to making truly northern exhibits that are reflective of the people throughout this Territory, and I look forward to seeing those exhibits in the future.
Related to that, as I have said before, I like the concept of curated shows and I think there might be an opportunity in this area to look at some of the exhibits and see if there’s any potential to include some curated art in any of our exhibits, exhibits that can travel outside of the Northwest Territories to really show people some of the cultural significance of our great Territory.
One of the areas that I do have concern with with the budget is actually with respect to infrastructure. I know that we’re not talking about infrastructure right now -- that was in October -- but infrastructure does drive O and M, and in Yellowknife there are a couple of schools that I think need some work and because the work isn’t done I do believe it dries up the operations cost. Specifically, the far side of Mildred Hall, the windows and the insulation on that back weren’t upgraded at the same time the rest of the building was done. The department and the board did a fantastic job of upgrading that building but we didn’t quite finish. I’m worried about the fact that we’re not getting that done and we continue to drive the operation costs of that school. I’d like the department to keep on top of that and keep working
towards trying to find some solutions with respect to the far side of Mildred Hall.
Also, Sissons School is in need of a significant amount of work. It’s quite old. The mechanical systems are quite old, and once again, if we don’t move on those types of things, operation costs in those schools will continue to go up, which is at a disadvantage for the programming we deliver. We need to make sure that the money is going to the education, and if we can get some savings with respect to mechanical and operations, that would be good. It’s an infrastructure point but it does drive O and M.
The other infrastructure issue I have that, in my opinion, also drives O and M, and that’s Aurora College. There is no stand-alone Yellowknife campus here in the capital of the Northwest Territories. We’re in a couple of different buildings delivering services and our students are located in different parts of town. It’s my understanding that Northern United Place is fairly expensive, so obviously a stand-alone campus would help us gain better control over the operational costs of a Yellowknife-based campus and, once again, give us an opportunity to roll more money into the program, which is really the most important thing.
I know we’re not talking infrastructure but I am concerned about the way that some of the existing facilities we have may be driving our O and M costs and potentially taking away from programming that we could have.
I share my colleagues’ comments with respect to income security. I don’t think we’d ever be able to get a system where there’s no need for income support. People go through cycles and people are always going to need, many people are going to need support from time to time. I’d sure like us to get to a system where it was more proactive and it was more effective on helping people transition from a low point financially in their lives where they need assistance to the point where they can be more self-sufficient and not require the social assistance so much. It’s going to be hard work. I know you guys are working towards that, but it would be nice to see some more progress on finding ways to transition some of these people out. I don’t know how many times we’ve heard people don’t want to get off social assistance because it’s so much easier to stay on. We need to find a way to help people transition out and make productive choices. I remember the tag line years ago used to be productive choices, and it’s a good tag line, but let’s see a little bit more action there on trying to help these people get out of the system.
I do have lots of questions as we go through the department, but those are my basic, general comments and I look forward to more discussion as we move through the document. Thank you so much.