Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister just led me on to my next question here. How much do ferry operations cost compared to a bridge? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Operating ferries and ice bridges in the Member's area, with a little bit of lower volume of traffic compared to the Providence crossing, which has a high significant volume of traffic, the department has not developed a cost estimate to construct a bridge at the Tsiigehtchic crossing or the Peel. Those would be significant investments. The Deh Cho Bridge cost $200 million. From my recollection, to operate the Louis Cardinal ferry costs over a million dollars a year. You do the math. It is not viable to put a bridge in there at this point.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. The department has said that it has a heavy legislative workload. Can the Minister explain what legislation her department expects to bring forward during the life of this Assembly? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs actually has quite a bit of legislation that we are working on. Some of it is from our mandate. Some of the them are from the Auditor General's Report, et cetera, so the things that we are working on currently are the Civil Emergency Measures Act that needs to be amended. We are working on the 911 legislation and regulations. We are working on the Fire Prevention Act. We are working on the Western Canada Lottery Act and regulations. At a request by the City of Yellowknife, we are also doing some research on the Cities, Towns and Villages Act in regards to the hotel levy and the emergency retrofits. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister for that list of legislation. We've got the list now. How does the regulation of cremation fit into the legislative agenda for the department? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The topic of cremation actually was not in our mandate. However, it has been brought forward to us as a department. We are actually engaging with stakeholders in the spring, coming up here. We have added, actually, the cremation issue to our list of topics that we'll be working with stakeholders to define what the priorities should be and what order of legislation we should be working on so that we are not only meeting the needs of the Government of the Northwest Territories, we are actually meeting the needs of the consumers, the stakeholders, that will be impacted by these decisions.

I appreciate the answer from the Minister. It is good to know that there are going to be some consultations around this issue, but I have raised the issue of capacity of Cabinet and their departments to bring forward legislation before. What would it take to move forward with legislation to regulate cremation and to allow a local business to grow and provide our residents with better services at lower costs?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would really like to say that putting forward the issue, the legislation, around cremation, would be easy. However, in all honesty, I don't see it as easy. When I give more thought to it, there are a number of steps. Again, we would be looking at prioritizing what we need to do to make sure that we take care of the public safety of community members -- that would be my priority number one -- making sure that the stakeholders that are impacted by all the legislation have a say in what they say are their priorities.

Cremation, at first, I thought would be an easy amendment or it would have to be an act that we would have to do in MACA; it would take some regulation changes from Health and Social Services and their Public Health Act. The bigger thing that I worry about is stakeholder engagement. The cremation might impact some of these businesses. It may impact some of the residents. It may impact seniors. We would have to consult with them. In all honesty, I do fear a little bit of what is called NIMBY, which is "not in my back yard." Knowing the position, we would have to consult with residents to make sure that they would be accepting of the act.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the response from the Minister. It sounds like she has started to do some homework around this. That is a good thing, but there is model legislation out there already. I am happy to share it with the Minister to try to move this along. I know that the operator who has brought this to my attention is looking at a chemical process, so emissions are really kept to a minimum.

I guess what I am looking for now from the Minister, though, is: can she commit to taking the lead on this issue with her Cabinet colleagues to ensure that there is a timely resolution, within our term, to allow this local business to grow and provide our residents with better services at a lower cost? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I put my hand up and said that I wanted to be a Minister, the biggest thing I talked about was being accountable, being transparent, and talking to people, asking stakeholders what was important before I made major decisions. I have followed that promise within my housing portfolio. I am following it within MACA. In order to keep my promise, I would have to bring that issue to the stakeholders and have them define what the priorities should be for us to move forward in this.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we heard in the news a lot about this issue about the strengthening teachers instructional practice pilot. We have heard it in the editorial again. It is talking about the negative impact on it. We have heard from the teachers' union of the positive of that. I am trying to get this cleared up. Can the Minister inform this House: is this part of the Education Renewal Framework? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through the Education Renewal Framework, we have a lot of interesting pilots, a lot of great things that are happening that are going to help improve student outcomes, but on the other side we want to make sure that we are taking care of our teachers. As is heard in the news, they are averaging about 52 hours of work a week. They are hardworking. They are dedicated, committed, go above and beyond to make sure that our students get the best opportunities for success in the future.

The instructional hours, I know it has been debated in the public. Those are just opinions, and I want to make sure that everyone knows that, yes, reducing instructional hours is part of the education renewal. It speaks to improving teacher practice, enhancing teacher wellness, and to the overarching need for change to improve student engagement, learning, as well as outcomes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for his answer. In looking at this issue here, some of the things we are talking about are senior high and how we line it up with Alberta. Can the Minister inform this House: are we able to keep the 125 hours of instructional time it requires for our students to get their five-credit courses?

Actually, Alberta is moving away from the standard 125-hours-per-five-credit high school courses through their own high school redesign project. As Members know, we did have a meeting with Minister Eggen from Alberta to discuss those changes to the curriculum. Alberta is a shift away from the standard of 125 hours of instruction for five-credit courses, where students who are involved in the project can now complete courses in less than 125 hours and/or take more time if it is needed. It is based on what the students need. The NWT has always been flexible in this area, part of the education renewal, and we are continuing to follow that direction and continue to look at what Alberta is doing, moving forward.

I thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, some of the things and some of the challenges we are hearing about this change is the diploma. Will this have an impact over the NWT diploma once it is done? Since we are going to be implementing it, will it have an impact on our students and our youth?

I believe this is going to have a very positive impact on our teachers and our youth and people who work in the education system. There will be no changes to the diploma which NWT students currently receive.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I probably have a few more questions, but I will end with this one here today: will the Minister be able to tell us, with this pilot project, will the schools be able to be compliant with the Education Act with respect to instructional hours? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.