I thank the Minister for taking that active department response to try to get the waste out of the area. We have two seasons to do that, for the land management of disposal. One is during the barging season. One is during the winter road season. In this case, if the Minister could commit to working with I do believe it's Braden-Burry Expediting that has the supply chain management for shipping, if we can coordinate that between the regional office and this company to coordinate backhauls of landfill products?

As I stated earlier, we'll take any opportunity to work with who we need to work with to try to take advantage of some of the empty backhauls that are going out. I can commit to them, and I'm sure our folks in the region are working with them. Again, we have the discussion paper that we released. We have a draft implementation plan that we're looking at presenting to Cabinet very shortly, here. Then we will seek further input into the implementation plan.

So a lot of work has gone into this. We had a number of respondents to our questionnaire. We had 109 people, I think, show up in a lot of the engagement sessions. It is an issue that is out there, and people are conscious of it, which is good. We just need to do what we can as a department and as a government to support those who want to remove a lot of hazardous waste from their communities.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is not a question, but I will help the Ministers office here, help by coordinating the contacts or supplying the contacts in preparation for the trucking season. Having seen the landfills in some of the communities during my summer visits, I can really tell that they're getting overstocked with these waste objects, so I'll provide that information, any way I can help. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll take that as a comment. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm quite frustrated with the responses from the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about the social work program. Mr. Speaker, it was a political decision to cut that program based on the government's decision that we needed to have extensive budget cuts in the first two years of our mandate. On that basis, Aurora College was told to cut programs. They cut the social work program. Now, the Minister is not making a political decision to reinstate it. She's hiding behind the bureaucracy and saying that it's up to them to restore it. So my question for the Minister is: this is a question of political will. Do you have the political will to reinstate the social work program? Thank you.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have the political will to make sure that we have quality programming for our students based on the credited standards. I have the political will to know that the social work program and the Bachelor of Education program are in our top 10 needed skills within the Territories in the next 15 years. I have the political will, Mr. Speaker, therefore, to tell the person who takes the position, as I've stated many times in the House, that the first programs to be reviewed within the context of the Aurora College is the social work and the degree in education. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I wonder what the Minister thinks will be left of that social work program by the time she hires her expert and the expert comes up with a plan and an evaluation that has already done is redone. What will be left of the program that is there today?

What I'm hoping will be left when this is done is that we will keep the strengths that are offered within the social work program currently and also address the weaknesses that have been identified in both reports.

The thing that I find difficult to understand is: what of those strengths will be left in a year from now? For sure, it's going to take a year. Things move very slowly in government, I've learned. So what will be left of the strengths of this program to preserve by the time the new person gets around to working on the social work program?

One of the greatest strengths within the program that was identified in the internal review was that it takes a northern context; taking people on the land, bringing others, et cetera. That will be there because, Mr. Speaker, thanks to a previous Minister of Education who was really focused on language and culture, we have language and culture programming throughout our education system, including our post-secondary. So I can't take credit for that. I do have to give credit where it was deserved. That was a previous Minister, Minister Lafferty, I believe, at the time, and so we will make sure that the strongest component, that it is culturally based, will remain.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister for her response. Of course, it's not what I want to hear because it lacks the specificity of telling students who are interested in social work and instructors who are teaching social work that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Ever since this upheaval was created by the previous Minister by implementing cuts at Aurora College, the goal posts just keep moving and moving. We have to wait for the review; we have to wait for the management response; now, we're waiting for an expert. So I really encourage the Minister to expedite the response to the program evaluation and the retooling of the social work program as soon as possible. Will it happen in the life of this Assembly? Thank you.

Yes, like I said many times, as soon as that person is in place, the first priority of all the evaluations is to be the social work program and the degree in education; that will be a priority. So, yes, that evaluation had better happen in the life of this Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to follow up with some more questions to the Minister of Lands. When he talked about going into Nahendeh to consult and talk to the people, he's talking about October 22^nd and the 25^th. There are six communities in the Nahendeh riding, so can the Minister please explain where they are meeting, and with whom they are meeting? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Lands.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am aware of the dates and the fact that they are going to meet with IGOs on the 22^nd and 25^th. I'm not certain as to who they are meeting with and in which locations, but I can certainly get that information for the Member opposite. Thank you.

I appreciate the Minister undertaking to get that information to us. My big question, again, is: there are six communities, and if we're only going to be meeting X number of them, is the government going to pay to have these people come in? Or are they going to the communities?

I believe that staff is going to the Nahendeh riding. As I say, I'm not certain which communities they're going to, but again, we'll supply that information to the Member opposite.

I'm not sure of the content or context of the information sheet referred to by the Member opposite, so it makes it a little difficult to answer the question, but I will look into it.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.