Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has received virtually all the blame for Members of this House and from the public for the cutting of Aurora College's Teacher Education Program.

I, too, blame the department, but not for cutting the program -- that was Aurora College’s decision. I blame ECE for allowing the college to operate in a manner that resulted in a teacher program that the college saw fit to cut. The Teacher Education Program costs two to three times more to deliver than similar programs in the South, has a 75 per cent dropout rate, and costs anywhere from $250,000,000 to $750,000,000 per graduate. The worst part, Mr. Speaker, is that the graduates of the program, solely because of where their degrees are from, have a hard time finding teaching positions not only in the South but also in the territory. These are failures of the college, not the students. However, again, I put the blame on ECE for handing tens of millions of dollars over to the college without the oversight to ensure that the people of the NWT get what we pay for and that the graduates of the college get a world-class education and a degree that is respected throughout Canada.

Many of my colleagues have stressed that the decision to cut the Teacher Education Program should be informed by the college’s upcoming strategic plan. There have been strategic plans in the past; the last one was for 2006 to 2015, and arguably it left the program in worse shape. Besides, Aurora College has had 47 years to develop the Teacher Education Program. It should be the college’s crown jewel. Instead, it is the first program that Aurora College has ever cut.

If ECE did not reduce its contribution to the college, there is no doubt that the program would continue on. However, ECE did not tell the college to cut the Teacher Education Program -- the college made that call on its own. Much like what government does, the college found it impossible to find any savings in what many have commented is a bloated administration, and instead chose to cut a program that they knew they were failing to deliver appropriately.

Mr. Speaker, just so there is no confusion, I believe that we should be educating teachers in the Northwest Territories, but I believe that they should be receiving an education on par with anywhere else in Canada. So do we continue to fund the Teacher Education Program regardless of the program’s quality or success, essentially throwing good money after bad? Demanding that the Minister reinstate funding for the program and maintain the status quo might win me political points, but it will not do justice for the people of the Northwest Territories, and that is my concern. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted