Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Are we looking for partnership opportunities with the universities and other northern jurisdictions to advance local food production in the NWT? Mahsi.

We are always looking for opportunities to maximize the funding reach of our scarce resources and certainly we've been approached by other bodies including I guess different non-government organizations I guess is the best way to call them that and we also have very good connections with universities, so we certainly want to get the best bang for our buck and we look at all of the different sources of funding.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Core funding for Dechinta Bush University will create 156 jobs in their business proposal. The vast majority of these jobs will be in the smaller communities and regional centres. Will the Minister of Education, Culture, and Employment commit to providing additional funding in the next departmental business plan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The department has been a supporter of Dechinta for the past several years in providing some funding. We're always working with them and just having ongoing discussions with the Dechinta executive. Most recently our current discussions is that we're waiting for this current budget process to finish before we start allocating funding. We continue to speak with Dechinta executive and supporters to see where we move forward next, and that will be at discussions at the next business plan cycle which will be commencing in about three months' time. I really appreciate the Members continuing to bring up the concerns of funding for Dechinta. We have a lot of champions within this House and appreciate the efforts and continued questions and bringing up the awareness for the program and the work that they do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate the Minister's comments; however, I didn't hear a solid commitment, but I'll move on from there. In their business case, Dechinta's looking for $5 million. I note that we fund Aurora College to the tune of around $32 million. Can the Minister give us some stats on the success rate of people who take Aurora College programing? We know that Dechinta's sitting at 100 per cent success rate. What are the comparable stats for Aurora College and are we getting value for money for that $32 million that we currently invest in Aurora College? Thank you.

This year we've actually had an increase in graduation rates in the high school, but also in Aurora College system. This summer the Aurora College is actually going through new strategic plan for the next ten years. It's going to be reflective on our Skills 4 Success Action Plan which we are developing this summer as well. And I understand that Dechinta's also working on a proposal, maybe a revised proposal reflecting our Skills 4 Success Action Plan. The details, I can get the details in terms of success, in terms of how many graduates we had in Aurora College compared to Dechinta. I could get those specific details and I can get it to the Member if he likes.

In the 17thLegislative Assembly there was a motion that was brought forth actually I believe in November of 2015. The department is looking at that. Most recently Nunavut did do a feasibility study of the same information that the Member's asking for. We did get a copy of that feasibility study from Nunavut. We are looking at the recommendations and the possibilities moving forward and what we as a territory are going to be doing in terms of the legislation or the granting of degrees, but we've got to take a look at that feasibility study and see whether or not it will reflect whether our financial situation as well our capacity in the Northwest Territories to be able to do that.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, Dechinta's not an idea, it's a real institution. It's producing graduates; it's doing very good work. It isn’t an untested project. This is something that's clear and measurable. They have a business case, it's very well thought out. I think it's time to act on these issues and stop speculating through action plans and strategies. Will the Minister make those commitments to bring forward funding by the next business plan and bring forward legislative changes the next sitting of this House? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At this moment, I can't commit to bringing the legislative changes until we've done the review of the feasibility study, looked to what other jurisdictions are doing and still have those discussions with Dechinta moving forward. I know Nunavut has that feasibility study. They spend a lot of money into that feasibility study. It was in the news just recently and we're going to look at those moving forward, but at this time I cannot commit to bringing more funding or a legislation before the next business plan review which is about three months away.

Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today my question is addressed to the Minister responsible for OROGO on the activities to date in that area with regard to the expiration licence acquired by the Sahtu Explorer's Group here several years ago, particularly in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. I ask the Minister to date what is the status of the significant discovery licenses that have recently been issued if any? If I could get an update on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. I believe the question is to the Minister of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, significant discovery declarations do fall within responsibility of OROGO, but significant discovery licence are obtained from ITI, so I'm not sure whether the Minister of ITI would like to respond to that portion of the question. I can advise that there has not been much significant activity of any kind in the Member's constituency or throughout the Northwest Territories in the last couple of years since these matters were devolved to us.

My next question is in trying to understand the opportunities available with the tenures that were recently done at that time to see if any land monitoring opportunities to see if these applicants or these developers are in compliance with their tenures in creating opportunities to maintain these licenses. That's sort of where I'm going with the question. So my next question is would the Minister provide a briefing on the update of the current licenses to be issued SDLs if there is any?

Mr. Speaker, I don’t like to make commitments for other Ministers, SDLs would be handled by the Department of ITI and perhaps the question could be more appropriately addressed to that Minister.

I'll leave that question to the other side to decide which one I'm going to get a response from.

Masi. I think that was a comment to executive. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a few questions for the Minister of Housing. As I mentioned a few times in this House, we recently have the Joe Greenland Centre that opened last summer. A great facility, Mr. Speaker. We also have one that's under construction in Fort McPherson. The main issue with Joe Greenland Centre's since we noticed from October to April was the heating system, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, even through the election campaigning when I was visiting the elders there, they had little heaters set up in their units, Mr. Speaker. A couple of them had burnt out just because they were working so hard, but I'd like to ask the Minister, you know, what is the department's plan to resolve the heating problem at the Joe Greenland Centre? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Joe Greenland building is really an unfortunate incidence because not only were there heating issues within that building, that's a building that we accommodate our seniors which are really valuable population within the Territories, and so on behalf of the department I do apologize that there was a mix-up with the heating system. The plan to go forward though, we consulted with engineers, we did a lot of research in it, we checked the building code. We couldn't find any actual issues. The building was up to code, it was engineered properly. And so after doing all of the research the plan to move forward is actually on Monday, this past Monday, June 20th, we renegotiated with the contractor and so we will be putting extra radiators into each unit within that building. And I can guarantee that that will be done by the end of summer so that our seniors actually have a warm place to sleep in the winter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.