Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular stand-alone campus has been in the works since I became Minister of Education back in 2007. It has been in discussion before me as well. What it has come down to is the resources that we have in the capital. The $75 million a year that we have for capital infrastructure can only go so far. We talk about the new hospital, we talk about renovation at the hospital, over to the Aurora College stand-alone campus. Some of those areas that we have been working towards that are critical need as well.

When I presented in the House about the capital infrastructure, I did mention that I’m working closely with the Department of Public Works and Services because they have certain guidelines that we have to follow. We have had meetings in the past with various private sectors, as well, having possibly the option of lease to own. At the same time, it does impact the borrowing limit of the GNWT. There are implications. I still have to work with Public Works and Services to make this a reality. We are continuing to look at exploring options as well.

As the Education Minister says, of a critical need, I would have thought the first thing out of his mouth would have been education is a critical need for Northerners, not excuses why we won’t move forward on this particular project.

What options, really, have been developed in advancing the Aurora College project, and what is he willing to put on the table today that shows us we’re moving forward, as opposed to backwards, under his leadership?

We are moving forward, not backward. We have made progress. The discussion that we’ve been having, we extended our lease agreement this past summer, as well, with Northern United Place up to three years and potentially up to five years, depending on the progress we are making with Public Works and Services identifying the funds and resources and potential if there’s going to be a partnership involved. Those are the areas.

Education is a priority of this government. My department spent over $300 million on education factors. We will continue to pursue that. It’s a great investment into our people.

Well, the results seem to prove otherwise, that education isn’t a priority of this

particular Minister. When I asked him back on May 31, 2012, about actually laying a plan before the House, giving us some clear definitions of the partners, et cetera, on timelines, he wrote me a letter back, which I tabled in the House almost two weeks ago, and it shows nothing other than says they’re continuing the lease.

What can this Minister do by demonstrating real progress has been made on this particular file? What can he tell Northerners? What can he table before the House? What can he actually do to prove he’s solved any problem on this particular issue?

What I can do is present this to the committee of the GNWT and put it as part of the priority for my department, but at the end of the day, $75 million is the number we’re working with.

Again, the hospital and other sectors that are out there are in desperate need, the schools and so forth. Those come into play, because we are talking about education factors as well. We talked about early childhood earlier. We need to heavily invest in early childhood too.

It is a pressing issue that we’re faced with. What I can do, again, as the Minister responsible to deliver that as part of the priority for this government, but at the end of the day, we’re dealing with $75 million for the whole Northwest Territories. That will be my initiative to do that.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In scouring the Hansard over the last five years, I found over 30 instances where the Minister keeps saying I’m doing discussion, plans, and it goes on and on and on. The Minister’s defence is we have other priorities. There seemed to be money when they wanted to build an office building downtown immediately. They put an office building over education. This is not a new issue.

I call, once again, for the Minister to answer the question. What is he going to lay before the House to prove that they’ve actually done something on the issue of trying to build a stand-alone college here in Yellowknife, because thus far I’ve seen nothing?

I’m not sure where the Member’s been, but there have been new schools up on the horizon. At the same time, this is an area that we’ve always, always brought forward. But, again, it’s a number figure; $75 million is what we work with on an annual basis. This has been of interest to us as well. Of course I want a stand-alone campus myself, as the Minister responsible, the best resources that we should have, the technology. But at the end of the day, it’s number crunching: $75 million. I will be pursuing that

forward as an initiative, as capital infrastructure and then the decision will be made from there the following year. I will continue to push that forward.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I’ve indicated in this House before, the waterways in Hay River are very important. It’s important to keep the waterways in Hay River open to industry, to commercial fishing, to the community flood safety.

My questions today will be for the Minister of Transportation. What has the Department of Transportation done over the last year to do any kind of dredging program in the Hay River area?

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve supplied $60,000 in a contribution to help work with the Canadian Coast Guard and the Town of Hay River to advance this project along, but we certainly need to be looking at the federal government for an infrastructure program so that we can get the work done that’s required in the port of Hay River.

I know the department has done some of the minor dock maintenance stuff. I’m wondering if the department has done any assessment of the Hay River channel, the main channel, to do any of that stuff.

The federal dredging program ended in 1994. There hasn’t been a program in place since then. The federal government has completed hydrographical surveys of the port of Hay River. They’ve identified several areas of concerns, but yet they haven’t been able to come up with the resources that are necessary to, in a meaningful way, dredge the port of Hay River. Again, that’s an area that we have identified as a concern and something that we need to continue to address with the federal government.

My next question for the Minister is: Has the Minister had any direct discussions with his colleagues, the federal Minister of Transportation in this area of dredging the Hay River?

Yes, we have, and I’ve mentioned this in a previous response to the Member, is that we hope that come 2014 there is a new infrastructure plan put forward by the federal government that the Government of the Northwest Territories can avail itself of to cover off situations where we can partner with the federal government on getting programs like dredging in the port of Hay

River done and other infrastructure projects around this territory.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m wondering if the department has any commitments for the upcoming years to look at putting any more dollars of the territorial government into dredging.

Our hope is that a new plan will come forward in 2014. In the absence of that, that is something we would consider.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We were just before the House earlier this session with the Department of Transportation’s capital plan. On highways it was just over $23 million.