Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize members of George Braden’s family here today. George was a couple years ahead of me in school. I appreciated the Premier’s tribute to George today. I know the family did too. George was a couple years ahead of me, but he always seemed miles ahead of me in terms of leadership. He was a very thoughtful guy and always far ahead of us. So, recognition to Carmen Braden, his niece, and Eli Purchase and Andrew Robinson, who are with us today, and my heart goes out to the whole family, of course.

I’d also like to recognize other constituents...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Residents from all regions of the Northwest Territories gathered last week to discuss ways to re-localize their community economy. The Building Localized Economies forum, hosted by Ecology North, was an exciting opportunity for people to share thoughts and experiences on how to capture local, lasting and meaningful jobs, restore our depleted environment and develop economies that actually serve communities.

They showed the combined domestic and local market economy that communities seek is far richer than the global market economy forced upon them today.

They explored the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to this, I am pleased to summarize the intent of the comprehensive rewrite of the Assembly’s rules as well as to highlight the most substantive changes that are being incorporated.

A working group consisting of senior staff from the Office of the Clerk was formed to study and make recommendations on revisions to the current rules of the Legislative Assembly. The working group considered the rules and procedures of other Legislatures with a particular focus on the approaches taken in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Nunavut and New South Wales, Australia, as well as the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know there are multiple examples of parks in the Northwest Territories that allow the use of motors and hunting and so on.

Will the Minister assure NWT residents that any northern tools used in conjunction with national park legislation for Thaidene Nene will provide protection equivalent to a national park while reflecting the recreational interests of Northerners? Mahsi.

I assume that would be before those tools would be actually applied, so that there was understanding on the basis of…so the public could have real input there.

My second question: Can the Minister provide assurance that there will be a full and early consultation with the public about the concept of Thaidene Nene? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the subsidies, simply look at our infrastructure budget, as the public does, of course. Let me sum up here, Mr. Speaker. The use of fossil fuels threatens the basic systems that make our planet livable. Fossil fuel assets are rapidly becoming liabilities as renewables are becoming too competitive and carbon levels become too dangerous. Our economies can no longer bear the subsidies for fossil fuel extraction, and there is a growing local and international belief that rapid transition to renewable solves the problems of both the climate and economy.

My question is...

That was four months ago, so we are anxiously awaiting that report. Fossil fuel companies and governments and, in fact, investors are confronted by the risk that many of the still-in-the-ground petrochemical reserves that count on balance sheets may never be recovered or realized. Burning more hydrocarbons is destroying the planet, as we know, and renewable energy is becoming more economically feasible daily, as we know.

Given the increasing likelihood that our fossil fuel reserves will be stranded because of economy and ecology, does this government have a plan B for our economy? If so, what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize people from the United Way board and thank them for all their considerable efforts, very successful efforts, as we heard earlier today from the Premier. The Weledeh constituents, of course, Tracey St. Denis, Mr. David Connelly and Craig Yeo. I know my colleagues will recognize Craig Yeo, a hardworking CA for four years in the building here. Welcome to them and all the other board members and people working on the United Way campaign.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The world, including we in the NWT, has come to a fork in the road. We must all choose. The choice will affect what kind of world we live in and leave for our children and grandchildren. We can choose to ignore the science telling us that continued fossil fuel extraction beyond 20 percent of known conventional reserves must stay in the ground. We can ignore the respected voices telling us that economies based on fossil fuels are not sustainable morally, financially or ecologically from Pope Francis to Mark Carney to the Rockefellers. We can ignore the mounting evidence...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member raising this question. It certainly has been a point of valid discussion, and discuss it we did. The Member is right. He can and, in fact, has spoken to this at length and I appreciate him bringing that forward, and all Members have had much opportunity to comment on it. Basically, a Member’s ability to name rules will develop over time and certainly will likely be weak at the beginning and very strong at the end of their experience in the House. Of course, there’s individual variation, the ability to quickly name a rule or do the research for it...