Legislative Assembly Briefs
'Junior kindergarten fiasco' raises questions about job resignations
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
One MLA posed a bold question Thursday when he asked the education minister whether he would ask for anyone's resignation over the "junior kindergarten fiasco."
"I don't think anyone feels good about this decision or the way it was rolled out," said R.J. Simpson, MLA for Hay River North.
"The regular members have wasted probably hundreds of hours researching this, trying to figure out what was going on because we couldn't get information from the department."
Communication over junior kindergarten has caused great confusion this year, particularly around funding.
Earlier this year, the GNWT promised to fully fund junior kindergarten although questions have continued to float about how busses will be funded, as well as why the department has not included money for aboriginal languages and inclusive schooling.
Education, Culture and Employment Minister Alfred Moses said he will not be asking for resignations and praised the work being done in his department.
"We are seeing some really good headway in junior kindergarten as well as our early childhood programming in the Northwest Territories," he said.
MLA checks in on hotel levy
Work is still slowly chugging along on a hotel levy that could help boost tourism in the City of Yellowknife and other NWT communities.
Yellowknife North MLA Cory Vanthuyne raised questions about the initiative, which the city has been has been lobbying for, for more than a decade, last Wednesday in the legislative assembly. For the city to implement the tax, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) needs to update legislation.
Vanthuyne, a former city councillor, told MACA Minister Caroline Cochrane the tax could help municipalities grow their tourism economies.
"It could help create infrastructure, potentially a project like a conference centre, which could help build momentum towards a more robust, active, healthy downtown core," he said.
According to Cochrane, research is underway. She said her department has been studying hotel levies in other jurisdictions, has met with city officials more than six times since October and is developing a discussion paper to bring forward to other groups that would be affected by the tax.
According to MACA spokesperson Jay Boast, the minister has committed to the discussion paper but there is no legislative proposal on the table as of yet.
Minister to approach feds about family reunification
Education, Culture and Employment Minister Alfred Moses promised last week to raise concerns about family reunification with federal officials.
The issue was raised last Thursday by Kam Lake MLA Kieron Testart, who said the NWT's nominee program for bringing international workers to the territory and helping them gain permanent residency does not touch on family reunification.
"Many of the people who come here through our nominee program contribute valuable services to the community, enhance our labour pool and open small businesses," said Testart. "But it's very difficult in many cases for them to have their family members join them - and extended family members, not immediate family members."
Moses reiterated that immigration is primarily a federal responsibility.
He encouraged families in the NWT who are experiencing trouble bringing relatives to Canada to contact his department so it can learn more about their case.
