Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's Statement, I made reference to the cuts that are in my region, which is the ferry service during the fall in both the Peel and Mackenzie Rivers. Mr. Speaker, just when the department mastered operating in the fall season, it seems they have decided to cut this service. I would like to ask the Minister: why has the department made the decision to cut the ferry operations for the late fall services both on the Peel and Mackenzie ferry crossings? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Transportation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Upon review of the ferry service in the Member's riding, I have been on record that the costs outweigh the benefits when we have had a serious look at this. That is the reason why we are bringing this forward in this budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I do not know who they got to do their survey, or what they are basing this on but, Mr. Speaker, just look at the employment alone. Twenty to 30 people working every fall up there, especially the important time during the year just before Christmas, Mr. Speaker. Also, keeping the cost of living down during these times when the prices rise, which is both the fall and the spring, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister: has the department been working with the community of Inuvik to ensure that they don't run out of LNG, which is one of the other reasons for this operation running the place during the two months of freeze-up?

Yes, this is one of the things that we have looked at with the decision of moving forward. As the Member is well aware, the Dempster is closed 40 per cent of the time during this operation due to weather and unforeseen circumstances. Most of the suppliers have already had a serious look at how they are operating, have made adjustments to have extra storage capacity for propane and LNG in the community. Based around some of those decisions, that is why we are able to bring this forward in this year's budget.

I think the numbers that the Minister is using are from a couple of years back, when they were just learning how to actually operate in this climate, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I actually got some numbers from November alone. We had over 120 tractor trailers hauling freight or B-trains hauling fuel up in that area. I would like to ask the Minister: what is the department's plan if, for some reason, Inuvik is in an emergency situation with a need for LNG during freeze-up time?

As I have said, we have already engaged with stakeholders on this very topic, and we are very confident that the LNG plant and the propane people will have sufficient storage to get the community of Inuvik through this transition.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you never know how long this freeze-up could last. It could be two months; it could be three months, depending on the weather. For some reason, the pipeline to Ikhil, for example, something happened to that. That would have an impact on the LNG storage that is in Inuvik. Will the Minister take a closer look at this operation, and possibly reinstate it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have already had a close look at this. This is the reason we bring this forward as a reduction in the Minister's budget proposal, and I stand behind the department's decision to bring this forward.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Education has previously mentioned that Aurora College had a review of its programs. I assume there are outside agencies that also review these programs. I know in this House, we get to see the annual report which is tabled, as well as the public accounts. None of that really helps us hold Aurora College accountable.

I would like to know, with the reviews of the programs, what happens if the department finds that Aurora College is not living up to what they would like? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and yes, we do have third-party reviews by other partner institutions that, obviously, we work with. For instance, the Bachelor of Education program is reviewed by the University of Saskatchewan. The nursing program is credited and reviewed by the Canadian Association of School and Nursing, as well as the Registered Nurses' Association of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The trades program, that is reviewed under the Apprenticeships Division within our department. It is something that we always look at and look into in terms of reviewing the program, making sure that it is meeting the educational objectives, as well as making sure that students that are taking those programs have the opportunity to transfer to other institutions once they have completed, so we do outside reviews from other agencies when we are looking at these programs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister mentions the Bachelor of Education program was reviewed by the University of Saskatchewan, yet we see the 75 per cent dropout rate. We hear anecdotally from former students and people in the education industry that it is hard to find jobs. What comes of these reviews? I know the college can be told to do better, but is there any real consequence to failure by the college?

I hear that the Minister of this term, there are a lot of changes to the way that the government interacts with Aurora College. There are mandate letters for the first time, more meetings with the Board of Governors, a new accountability framework. It sounds like the department is aware that there is an issue. The problem is that government is good at taking half measures, but it is not very good at fundamental change. I think what we need here is fundamental changes to an organization that has been now entrenched in their ways after decades.

Is the Minister of the opinion that we need something beyond -- not opinion. How about this: Is there a plan in the future to look at the foundation of Aurora College to really get down to the function of the administration of what we want this to be? Is that in the works?

I know the reduction review that we are going through with Aurora College has sparked a lot of discussion and debate right across the Northwest Territories. It sheds light on some of the concerns that the honourable Member has mentioned in terms of the foundational structure of Aurora College administration. If that is a review that the government wants to go through, that is something that we would take a look at, and see what are some of our challenges and barriers within the Aurora College system that we are having high dropout rates in these two specific programs, and that our graduation rates are pretty low and have been historically low over the last few years, and how do we adjust fixing those, and also changing the direction of Aurora College so that we are meeting and providing program services to meet the in-demand jobs that we are going to see here in the Northwest Territories.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister mentioned that if that is the type of review that the government wants to go through; I will remind the Minister that he is part of the government. He is the head of the Education, Culture and Employment Department. The problem, I guess, with government, with half measures, is that you have to make decisions that are unpopular and might not get you re-elected, but you need eight years to make those decisions. That is how you get real change done. I will ask the Minister if he will make an unpopular decision and commit to a foundation review of Aurora College? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do agree, we invest a lot of money in Aurora College. We've seen with these two programs in particular that there were some challenges. We have low graduation rates. Once again, I do want to emphasize to any of the students who might be listening who are in these programs: focus, study hard to completion and graduation, because that was one of the indicators that brought these programs forward. I will talk with the departments about that foundational review. We'll have discussions. We'll sit down with the chair as well as with the president and see what the next steps in moving on that foundation review can be and what it will look like. Obviously, we're just going through that strategic planning process right now so we want to see what comes out of that first and then we can move into the next steps.

Masi. Oral questions. Item 9, written questions. Item 10, returns to written questions. Mr. Clerk.