As I mentioned, there has been a lot of work that was done to Moose Kerr School. I also mentioned that we have a lot of infrastructure within the Department of ECE. After every business, or every capital planning process, we do go back and look at our 20-year needs assessment. There are priorities in every community across the Northwest Territories. We also have 49 schools. We look at utilization rates when we take those into consideration, as well as our own needs assessment criteria, so those things come into play when we have to look at the whole scope of infrastructure needs within our department, but across all departments in the GNWT.

Mr. Speaker, what criteria indicated to the Department of Education, Culture and Employment that a major retrofit or replacement of Moose Kerr School was not necessary?

There are various criteria that we do look at, Mr. Speaker, such as safety, stage in the asset life cycle, environmental concerns, program needs, and preparation for further future business plans. As I mentioned, when the Department of Infrastructure looked at it, they said it was in good condition and extended the life cycle by 20 years; that is part of the criteria that we do look at. We base that on other infrastructure projects not only within our department but also right across the board of government. Those are some of the areas, but I can get more detailed information for the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Work at Kaw Tay Whee School in Detah has been on the capital planning list, as well, and needs some work. We are working with committee. Both for Detah and Ndilo, we are looking at addressing some of the capacity issues, but also the age of the school. Right now, a planning study will be undertaken in 2018-2019 for the replacement of the school.

Mr. Speaker, in the latest detailed plan I have, the planning study was to be occurring in this fiscal year, 2017-2018, and then the beginning of the renovation in 2018-2019, so I want to ask the Minister if that plan has just been shifted one year and that is the only change.

After we did the technical status evaluation, there were some other little things that needed to be addressed right away, such as in the areas of space and other technical issues. We needed to get that done. It has just gone off by a year, and we will get that planning study under way in 2018-2019.

That is good news. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister if he can commit to involving the YK Dene in all aspects of the school, the planning, student needs, employment, design, and construction jobs.

Yes, any time we do any major retrofits or replacement of a school, we do meet with community members and leadership to see what that might entail. However, we do have capital standards when we build our schools and infrastructure in our communities, and in some cases we do have governments, Indigenous governments, or other organizations, that want to make it bigger. At that point, we would have to go to a P3 process, but we always do involve community input.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister if there has been any discussion on where the school will be built. In other words, has there been identification of a site for the school? Thank you.

Yes, initial discussions between some of the YK Dene chief, the SAO, and some of our department have begun in March of 2017. We will continue those discussions this fall and see where we go from there. We will keep the Member updated on how that progresses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, as she has responsibility for consumer protection. I just want to add to my Member's statement that I am not aware of any widespread problems with the real estate sector in Yellowknife or the NWT and that I personally used their services to my complete satisfaction in the past. My statement outlined the situation in multiple representation or dual agency in brokering of real estate transactions. As I pointed out, our legislation is very weak when it comes to the regulation of buying and selling properties. Has the department received complaints or requests regarding this element of the real estate business in the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to date, no, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has received no complaints regarding the dual agency role of real estate agents. However, I would like to stress that within the act we do have a provision for a superintendent for real estate. If there are any residents in the Northwest Territories who have complaints regarding the potential role of a dual agency role, acting on behalf of the buyer and the seller, then please contact Municipal and Community Affairs, talk to the superintendent of real estate, and we will take note.

Thanks to the Minister for that response. I appreciate that very much. I acknowledged her reference to getting consumer protection information out earlier in my statement today and thank her again for this in the House, but I am wondering if her officials have researched other jurisdictions to determine how the real estate sector is regulated and what, if any, changes might be made here, in the Northwest Territories.

At this point, no, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has not done any research regarding the dual agency role for real estate agents. It has not been identified as a priority, it has not been identified in our mandate, and it has not been identified as a public safety issue at this point, so, to date, no, we have not done any cross-jurisdictional research.

Thanks to the Minister for that answer. As I pointed out in my statement, our current legislation regulating real estate transaction deals with regard to ethics are under sort of a catch-all section prohibiting "anything that dishonestly influences, discourages, or induces a trade." Real estate transactions, as I mentioned, are amongst the most complex and significant investments many people ever make. Does the Minister agree it is time to review how we regulate the real estate sector to more specifically address ethical issues and practices such as dual agency?

Yes, I do agree that there are a lot of acts and regulations that the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs are governed by. Very many of them are out-dated. We do need to work on updating all of the acts and regulations. However, we have prioritized, based on the mandate of this Legislative Assembly, safety issues, other issues that are necessary, such as the Western Canada Lottery Act. I had committed previously in this House that issues that were brought up would be put onto a list. We are working with all the stakeholders to identify priorities. Some of them will not be able to be done within this Assembly, but we will be putting in a report recommending that they be considered within the next Assembly if we cannot get to them.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Thanks again to the Minister for acknowledging her long legislative to-do list. I am just wondering if she can tell me: the legislation that governs real estate transactions, when was that last reviewed, if ever? Thanks, Mr. Speaker.