Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Testart.

Would the Minister agree that it's helpful if the government does write a letter of support for these funding applications? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Moses.

It's not required. In the past though we have written letters of support for Dechinta to access funding in other areas that there were throughout Canada. On this specific one we thought, because we were putting in an application as well, that it wouldn't be appropriate. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Moses. Any further questions? Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I suppose there's some competing strategic priorities here. But given that our government's mandate also includes diversifying our economy, investing in post-secondary institutions such as Dechinta and College nordique, is there a way we can provide more? Are we picking winners and losers here? Is it Aurora College versus other institutions or are we providing equal support for all our post-secondary partners in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, there's no winners or losers here. That's not how we do our business. We have an Aurora College Act that we do follow and fund the Aurora College and the learning centres. We do fund College nordique and we also fund Dechinta, and actually I think we just signed a multi-year agreement with them just recently or are about to, increasing the funding that we do give to them. So we've funded Dechinta over the years, and continue to fund Dechinta. I'd also ask the chair that we also focus on the infrastructure side of things, rather than discuss some of the program delivery and how we fund certain programs as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Moses. Any further questions? Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that we do provide O and M funding, I'm discussing a capital request that Dechinta had made to the federal government, and that was more the line of my question; if we have a competing interest versus federal and capital investment for Aurora College versus other post-secondary institutions. But I take the Minister's point that it's his assessment that all of our post-secondary partners are treated fairly.

If Dechinta or College nordique or anyone else who wants to invest in this Post-Secondary Strategic Investment Fund in the future or a fund similar to it comes along, would the government be willing to support those partners or is Aurora College always going to come first for capital needs? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As discussions from yesterday where we had talked about some of the school and learning centres, a lot of our community members that spoke up yesterday talked about the need for learning centres in our community as well, which does get on the needs assessment based on priority. We do have an Aurora College Act and we do want to ensure that our communities also have the opportunities to provide learning outcomes and opportunities for some of our residents that do live in small communities. So we're still in talks with Dechinta and College nordique in terms of working together and we'll continue to have those partnerships moving forward. But we also have a lot of buildings under our responsibility that we need to make sure are up-to-date rather than expanding, that are even just up-to-date to meet the needs of our residents. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Moses. Committee, I'd just like to remind everybody we're overlooking the Capital Estimates, you know, we're not doing the O and M, but did give the Member that opportunity to get his questions here. But we will stick to our agenda here and overlook our Capital Estimates. Any further questions from committee or, Mr. Testart, sorry?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand the discomfort around this line of questioning, so I will cease for now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Any further questions? Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate it. Yesterday, the Minister was talking about I think heavy equipment operators' facility thing there and saying that 60 per cent territorial government, 40 per cent federal government. My biggest struggle is why is this program being put in Fort Smith or utilizing the money in Fort Smith, where it cannot sit at the end of the road? Why couldn't it be located in maybe Fort Providence, where there is a lot of highways or Fort Simpson, as there are a lot of highways there available and a lot of industry available? So I'm asking why this was done this way? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. When the announcement for this funding came out, we had about a month, as did other institutions, to try to get the funding, so we had to look and act fast to get a proposal developed and together and out the door and look at where we can provide training and opportunities in the Northwest Territories. The heavy equipment facility in Smith was a prime example which we can support. The Mine Training Society actually just donated a bunch of equipment to the campus there, as well, so it was just a great opportunity for us. There was a lot of federal dollars, and we didn't want to miss out on the opportunity. We had to look at places where we could have addressed those.

The building itself that's in Smith was constructed in 1953, and we wanted to build on that and upgrade it so that the program there was going to be reflective on having a safe environment for students and residents to get the training in. There also was a great opportunity to address the jobs, the in-demand jobs, out of our Skills 4 Success Action Plan moving forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. I guess my biggest struggle is the vision, where we're looking outside of what we exist presently. Having these facilities in the major centres, which is Hay River, Fort Smith, Inuvik, Yellowknife, are challenging for the smaller communities. Also, you have to look at the industry out there.

We're offering these programs, which is great, but where is industry in this? Have we been talking with them? So I guess I would like to ask the Minister, it's kind of a wish list with this here, is that any future opportunities that the Minister looks at outside so that the smaller communities can be given this opportunity where industry, as well, can be tapped into and existing roads can be done?

Because my struggle is, in Smith, it's great; we're working on this equipment. But it's a six-week or eight-week course, maybe three-month course, and then we're out there building roads. Industry is not going to put somebody in with only three months' experience in there. So will the Minister look at this, if money, federal money, comes available next time, that looks outside of the bigger centres and starts looking at the smaller communities and look at industry? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I think that's exactly what we've done through the labour market information report and needs assessment as well as developing that Skills 4 Success Action Plan. We did get a lot of input from industry throughout the Northwest Territories, and, moving forward, we also have the mobility trades trailer in Inuvik that we try to utilize. But I do understand the Member's point and that we need to get some of these training opportunities into the communities, possibly partnering up with industry moving forward.

With this particular project, because it was the length of time, we had to find an area that we could have put in a proposal that would benefit Northerners, benefit industry, and benefit the training opportunities that we could get out of this, so that was one of the projects. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for his answer. I guess my big thing is that, if we're only going back to status quo, we're not going to move ahead. That's my biggest challenge. Yes, I understand the facility was built in 1953, but we need to be looking outside the box, and here's an opportunity. I would hope the Minister will work with this department to develop something for the future so, when these opportunities do come available, it's outside the major centres and it'll have an impact on the smaller communities. So thank you, Mr. Chair.