Question has been called. All those in favor? All those opposed? All those abstaining? The motion is carried. Committee Report 47-20 is deemed read and will be printed in Hansard.

---Carried

*Deemed Read,- Report link

Member for Monfwi.

We're good? Okay.

Reports of Standing Special Committees. Returns to oral questions. Acknowledgements.

Colleagues, I realize we have an hour of oral questions, so we are going to take a brief break so the translators can have a rest before we start with the next part. Thank you.

---SHORT RECESS

Call us back to order. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for this opportunity. I just wanted to make a statement of personal explanation in response to a Cabin Radio report published this morning titled, MLA's Concerned About How Planned New Highways Could Affect Caribou.

So in this article, I feel that my comments were paraphrased and mischaracterized both through the subheading, too many roads, and the following paragraph, Yellowknife North MLA Shawna Morgan went further in her questioning and asked if the GNWT has considered simply not building any more roads as a means of protecting caribou.

So, Mr. Speaker, this is in fact not what I asked in the hearing last week, and my position is not that there are already too many roads. I was not and am not taking a position against the building of the Arctic Economic Security Corridor or the Mackenzie Valley Highway. I was making a point about the importance of cumulative impact assessment and how that practice of cumulative impact assessment means that we need to identify thresholds for disturbance, in this case linear disturbance which includes roads, beyond which caribou populations will suffer. So I was just urging the government to ensure that our regulatory system properly includes the practice of cumulative impact assessment so we know well ahead of time if we're approaching a threshold. And I was not suggesting that we've already reached that threshold and that we should not build any more roads. And furthermore, I just want to acknowledge too that the Indigenous people of this land have always been the primary protectors of caribou and still are, and I certainly also respect people's desire for more access to their communities. I just wanted to draw attention to the practice of cumulative impact assessment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity to clarify.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of ECE.

Will the Minister explain what the department is doing to reduce the need for NWT trade students to leave the territory for Alberta-based technical training? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we continue to work with Aurora College who works diligently to work to expand their offering of trades programs in the Northwest Territories here. Another key part of working with -- or sorry, growing our trades offerings in the territory is making sure that these apprentices or these students have access to people that they can work with in order to gain their hours. So one of the things that we've done is create more pathways to work with people who have significant hours by creating pathways for designated trainers. So that's people with extreme hours of experience in their trade and making sure that we can connect them with students. And also working with my colleagues in other departments, for example housing and infrastructure, to make sure they have opportunities for apprentices within their departments as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm the most recent numbers on apprenticeship opportunities in small communities across the NWT. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that we currently have just over about 350 apprentices in the Northwest Territories. Opportunities for apprentices would not be solely tied to the Government of the Northwest Territories. For example, there is apprenticeship opportunities in both infrastructure and in housing. Housing recently increased their funding specifically to increase the number of apprentices that appear in communities and regions across the territory. But these opportunities are also made all the more accessible and viable by employers in the territory, and so making sure that we're working with employers is a key component of this too. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.

Many of these apprenticeships, they get assistance from NWT SFA so I was hoping that she would give me the number but she didn't give me that number. But that's okay, we'll put it in writing.

Will the Minister commit to developing a practical pathway into the trades that allows capable residents in small communities to gain experience and build towards certification closer to home? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the Member and I are definitely aligned on this one. We've increased the pathways to trades in the life of this Assembly for NWT residents and continue to work on increasing our partnerships with employers, as well as making sure that we are improving the access to these programs through evolving the processes within education, culture and employment, and also connections through contracting within the Government of the Northwest Territories through other divisions or departments as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recall making that statement. I think about it quite often. I think about where I was as a Regular Member at that time and not having the experience as a Minister or as a Premier seeing this side of government, and then just how far -- how much I've learned in the meantime about accountability and about comments that we make as Regular Members. So what we're comparing here is not apples to apples. That report was scathing. That report said that things had gotten worse, not better. The report we're dealing with now, it shows improvement. It shows that we're actually moving in the right direction as opposed to the wrong direction. It highlights there's more consistent responses to urgent situations within 24 hours. There's more regular interviews with children and families during investigation. There's an increase in Indigenous foster care providers. There's more consistent completion of key foster care documentation and evidence of prioritizing placements for the majority of children and youth with extended family or Indigenous family members. These are improvements, Mr. Speaker, and I am glad that I am working with the Minister who is advancing these improvements. So no, I am not going to shuffle Cabinet. I am not going to ask for resignation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Maybe, Mr. Speaker, I mean -- interrupting the House, maybe that's your game.

Mr. Speaker, the ultimate issue is apparently the Premier has changed his mind on accountability; Maybe it doesn't matter over there. Mr. Speaker, as pointed out by the AG, there's been non-compliance with statutory deadlines, resource management and operations. This Minister could have issued a ministerial directive, 908 days to do this, and if the Premier thinks it isn't worse then he's reading a different report.

Mr. Speaker, will the Premier accept the resignation of this Minister or shuffle her? Because I tell you, the North is expecting a response.

Already asked an answered. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Premier demonstrate that accountability and responsibility is happening over there because of this gross mismanagement of resources? Mr. Speaker, who is going to be accountable for this mismanagement highlighted by the Auditor General of Canada? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This side of the House never shies away from accountability and the report was -- the recommendations in the report were accepted, and they're being actioned. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.