Frieda Martselos

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just want to have a couple of opening remarks. I was looking at page 261, just before the 262 and 263, and you have 331 positions for Yellowknife and 122 for the rest, the regions and the small communities. The way it lists it is North Slave as 246 and headquarters as 85, but very deceiving the way all the booklets that we've been receiving right from the beginning, since I started here; 246 for North Slave and 85 for headquarters, that's 331 positions in this area. Wow, that's a lot of positions.

The ministry used the term "sharing" in a previous reply. Sharing is...

Is the Finance Minister comfortable in defending a flawed agreement/contract with regard to the P3 of the Stanton hospital?

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Finance. The Minister of Finance tried to explain the grant in lieu. The grant in lieu is the same concept as taxes. Am I correct?

I want the Minister of Finance to justify and explain to the people of Thebacha and the NWT how all the shortfalls in this territorial hospital are going to be dealt with and who is going to be paying for those shortfalls?

Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance. My first question is: since the Stanton P3 and the legacy, 100-bed, long-term unit for Yellowknife have crippled our government for moving forward, could the Minister tell me who makes up the Boreal Health partnerships?

Madam Speaker, accountability and transparency are extremely important when dealing with public money. The money that is being used belongs to the people of the NWT. Most of the P3s are contracted with southern companies and the money flows south with little benefit to people of the NWT. P3s can be a positive way of doing business if we're dealing with northern companies or Indigenous groups and the detailed agreements are firm, signed off properly, and all the monies stay in the North. I will be asking questions to the Minister of Finance on this issue. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to just make a comment first before I ask the question, and that is that I'm very proud to say that most of the people at the two facilities in Fort Smith are extremely qualified and do an excellent job. I've been to both facilities at various times with clients, especially when I was with my other leadership role in Salt River. I support both facilities and the staff. There are some gaps in the system, and a lot of the people in there are long-term residents, members of Salt River, members of the Metis community that are staffing these units. They run a really...

Mr. Speaker, education legacy in Fort Smith has always been a topic that has been dear to my heart. When Yellowknife was named the capital of the NWT in 1967, Fort Smith was designated the education centre of the NWT. Fort Smith's education legacy is very prominent, and we are so proud to be leading the role in this field. Many of our former leaders, including Premiers, Ministers, former and current Members of Parliament, mayors, chiefs, and others have all gone through Fort Smith to advance their education. I say this because I want to remind people of the tangible value that Fort Smith...

Mr. Speaker, the staff must have a say in the development of the future transformation of the polytechnic university. Their experience, hard work, and dedication to post-secondary education must be recognized.

Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I want to say that, going forward into this 19th Assembly, my goal is to see the entire board of Aurora College be reinstated and to be at arm's length from the Government of the Northwest Territories. I want to see a northern-based polytech university with the highest of national standards be developed. Yes, the headquarters should remain in Fort Smith. Thank you, Mr...

It was noted last summer by Northwestern Air Lease that the Electra water bomber now has to taxi all the way to the end of the runway in order to turn around, thus delaying fire suppression activities. Was this risk factor taken into account when the decision was made to narrow the airport runway?