Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, every year the Aurora College heavy equipment operator program graduates, on average, 16 new students per year. Many of the graduates dream of a job working with the various machinery that they were trained on, such as a dump truck, loader, grader, excavator, and caterpillar. The AGO training only allows students to choose two pieces of machinery and most times there are no other options but only a dump and a loader combination.

Many Northerners went through the AGO program and went on to full-time employment and, if lucky, to get a GNWT position and they can work until retirement, which is typically 30 years. Mr. Speaker, a lot of times newly graduated heavy equipment operators do not have the required number of years of experience on certain pieces of heavy equipment and therefore are usually never hired.

Mr. Speaker, when I see road construction, whether new construction or resurfacing, I typically see our trained heavy equipment operators operating a packer. If they're not driving the packer, then they are used as flaggers. All the AGO trainees come out with air brakes endorsements and a class 3 driver's license. Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the infrastructure Minister at the appropriate time. Mahsi.