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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Despite the issue being raised more than 30 times in the legislative assembly over the last five years, no money has been set aside for a stand-alone campus for Aurora College in Yellowknife, nor is there an expected timeline for when this project will receive attention, says Robert Hawkins.

"We have completed yet another capital (budget) with nary a dollar to plan for a stand-alone campus in Yellowknife for Aurora College," the Yellowknife Centre MLA said on Tuesday.

"Members have been promised discussions, plans, partners and more discussions with results in due time. It seems to be a new kind of time, perhaps the 12th of never, or maybe after that."

Later, Hawkins questioned Education, Culture and Employment Minister Jackson Lafferty about when to expect results on this project.

The $75 million per year that the GNWT has to spend on capital infrastructure can only go so far, and there always seem to be more pressing needs such as new hospitals, said Lafferty. That said, there has been some progress, he said.

This past summer, the department secured another three-year rental agreement with Northern United Place, guaranteeing that the Yellowknife campus has a place to conduct its business until the territorial government can find the funding for a stand-alone permanent structure for the college, said Lafferty.

NWT ombudsman's office needed: Bisaro

In June, during the last sitting of the legislative assembly, MLAs passed a motion asking the government to establish an ombudsman office in the NWT and yet there is still no concrete plan on when or how this office will be established, said Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro on Wednesday.

Bisaro said that an NWT ombudsman could fill gaps such as landlord-tenant issues outside of the rental officer's jurisdiction, housing and income support issues and other occasions when residents feel that they have been treated unfairly.

While the establishment of an ombudsman office would cost money, the GNWT could find ways to cut other boards and departments whose jurisdiction would overlap that of the new ombudsman office, she said.

Premier Bob McLeod responded to Bisaro's questions about the ombudsman office by saying that the government is currently reviewing what sort of powers an ombudsman would have. The GNWT is also examining different issues an ombudsman office would need to address in the territory and pricing out how much this new office might cost. All of these factors will affect if or when this office will be established, he said.

Highway 4 re-alignment underway

Construction work to create a bypass route past Giant Mine on Highway 4 has begun, Transportation Minister David Ramsay confirmed on Tuesday.

The Det'on Cho Corporation received the contract for the project and is working with a number of subcontractors and partners to ensure that the new seven-kilometre stretch of road is completed by November 2013 and remains within its $17 million budget, he said.

The new bypass route will begin just past the entrance to Fred Henne Territorial Park, where construction is currently underway. The route will then go around to the west of Giant Mine and Baker Creek and re-join the Ingraham Trail shortly before the Yellowknife River bridge.

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