Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Friday we heard from the Minister that the social work program has had low admission and low graduation rates and this is why they are phasing out the program. Mr. Speaker, what doesn't make any sense is why the college is phasing out programs before their strategic plan is to be completed this June. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please advise the House why they're cutting these programs before the strategic plan is complete? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The reductions were part of the GNWT's 2016-17 business planning process and were included in the 2017-2018 Main Estimates. As I mentioned earlier this week, ensuring that programs we offer and programs that we provide funding for are effective and are efficient, that is part of good management. We looked at some of these programs that were brought before us in terms of the 10-year strategic plan that Aurora College is currently undertaking. It is going to look at some of the needs of the NWT labour market that were identified in the needs assessment that we tabled in the House. As I mentioned, when we look at those programs, you have to make sure that we are spending our dollars as efficiently as possible so that we provide Northerners with the right programs that they need to succeed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I spoke about the message the college is giving the students. It was about aligning the GNWT expenditures to projected revenues, how GNWT departments have been tasked with identifying expenditure reductions. This sounds like a reduction exercise for the college. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm this was the message that the department had given to them as they started their budget exercise?

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment and Aurora College have worked together in identifying potential expenditure reductions over a three-year period to help ensure the long-term sustainability of Aurora College so that we can continue to provide good programming moving forward. The reduction decisions were made to ensure that Aurora College is operating in a manner that was cost-effective and efficient, as I mentioned before.

I would like to thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, on Friday the Minister spoke about how the college has autonomy to make their own decisions and where they are looking at moving forward with the programs that they provide. As well, the Minister spoke about the fact that the board of governors received a mandate letter, and it was reflective of our own strategic plan moving forward. With this information, can the Minister please explain how the college has autonomy when they are given a mandate letter from the department?

Aurora College currently receives $36 million in base and contribution funding from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, as well as an in-kind contribution from other GNWT departments. College senior management, with direction from the senior board of governors, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the college, including decisions around when and where programs should be offered. As the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, I did provide strategic direction to the college through a mandate letter, and we continue to work closely with the college to ensure that they are providing efficient, effective programming.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, in speaking with the students, they are not feeling cared about by the college. In fact, they feel like they are not important, nor are the residents of the NWT. To make matters worse, the college and the department are agreeing to a $300 term increase, which works out to be $600 per year. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise if this is the way for the college to recover some of the shortfall the government is proposing on them in this year's budget process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Currently, the department funds students through the Student Financial Assistance on their tuition up to $2,400 per semester. Our increases are still way below that. Any student at Aurora College who might have concerns, they are still going to get the full tuition to move forward in their programming. That $2,400 per semester will also cover the most expensive programs within Aurora College. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Earlier today, I talked about this report from Alternatives North that provides a roadmap to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050. I am just wondering, as the department is going out doing its consultations on this energy plan, will that sort of perspective, of 100 per cent renewable energy, will that be reflected in what the consultations come up with? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The report is being used along with input from other stakeholders across the Northwest Territories. We will take that report and use it for input for our energy strategy and development for what we need to bring forward for the Northwest Territories to get off of diesel in the long term. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate the response from the Minister. It sounds like that will be one of the scenarios that will be looked at in this NWT energy plan, to get us completely off non-renewable energy. That is great to hear that. I am just wondering, can the Minister give us an update when we can expect to have this energy plan presented to this side of the House? I understand there are still some consultations going on. The latest one is March 8th in Hay River, but when would this side of the House and the public start to see some results?

The consultation that is going on presently, we have two communities to finish up. We have Hay River and Fort Simpson, I believe, and then we are also probably going to try to meet with Behchoko and the Tlicho government. Once this stuff is all pulled together, we will put a report together and probably release it later on this year.

There are, I think, about 10 months between now and the end of the year. I was hoping you could be a little bit more specific here. In this plan, will there be a schedule for implementation? Is there going to be a budget, some resources identified to help carry it out and some public reporting? Is that the sort of thing that we can expect to see inside the plan?

The short answer is yes. Those are the sorts of things that we will be looking at doing when we pull out this energy strategy and climate change strategic framework.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Great to hear that, and I really look forward to the next budget having some investment into renewable energy beyond what we have already. Can the Minister tell me, is part of that energy plan going to be a carbon tax or carbon pricing system for the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

We are still working on those sorts of things. There are all kinds of input from these themes going around to the communities from how we are going to support more biomass for communities, portability of energy moving forward, how do we implement some of these things going forward. Also, we have to look at what kind of federal investment we are going to get moving forward, and we are looking forward to the budget coming forward with the liberal government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Back to my statement on on-the-land programming for youth, Mr. Speaker, my first question is: what youth on-the-land programs are available to students in the Beaufort Delta? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.