Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment is pleased to provide the Report on Telecommunications and commends into the House.

Your Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment is concerned about the growing digital divide in the NWT and the overall accessibility to connectivity and quality of internet services across the NWT.

The pandemic continues to highlight a growing gap between these with affordable, highspeed, reliable connectivity and those without. The communities in the NWT, especially more than remote communities, are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment recommends the Government provide a response to the recommendations contained in this report within 120 days.

Committee is committed to providing timely and constructive feedback during the review of the mining fiscal regime. Committee looks forward to a comprehensive, collaborative, and multiphased approach with meaningful opportunities for the public and Indigenous government engagement.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to hand it over to the Member from Great Slave. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to thank the Minister of Infrastructure and the Marine Transportation Services. I know the ice is frozen right now but I'm thanking them because we're only sitting now. Thank them for the service that they did for my riding of Nunakput. The communities of Paulatuk, Ulukhaktok and Sachs Harbour received their shipments in good order however the timing was delayed, Mr. Speaker. We have a limited number of barges in operation and in some cases it looks like contracts to generate revenues may have been prioritized over servicing my communities. This is a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, that's been kind of one of our problems, is when they do get the federal funding gets into to the development corporation's hands, it's staying there too long. It's the same problem that we have here, that they can't spend the money fast enough and get materials in. So there's got to be a better way to do that, and I'm looking forward to work with the Minister to find a solution and being able to I guess spend money on houses and providing service to the people that we represent. More of a comment; thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister, for that. You know, working I guess working on a housing strategy, I do have a housing strategy being done, but I really like how Fort Good Hope did it and in regards to doing their society. I really think that something like that would do a lot better than some of the housing boards that we do have in place, because housing boards could give the units that they do have and allocate and stuff like that but a society could do much better on and being able to pick what they want to do. So if you have Ulukhaktok and Paulatuk want a new Elders...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I'm looking at housing and housing assistance while we're going through a housing crisis, too, in my riding of Nunakput. There are no market housing, Mr. Speaker, in the communities in Nunakput. All the Housing Corporation does not have enough houses to address the issues we all know that. And even the public housing we do have is inadequate. There are houses, when the wind blows a certain way, that you have snow coming in, west wind through the doors in through the windows.

I think, Mr. Speaker, what we should be doing is making a I brought this up...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Minister's ready to work with the community. Paulatuk is she brought it up that Paulatuk is in need. We have young families with nowhere to go. We have overcrowding. We just don't have enough houses. How does it work? Do we take some out of our old stock, give them to residents that could handle it, and then get CMHC to come in and backfill in regards to take I guess give away and bring in new stuff. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, Mr. Speaker, my Member's statement was on housing. And they really we need more housing. We need to be fixing the units that we do have. I just want to know if the Minister's willing to work with the local housing authority, and if not, soon to be our local housing societies because what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to we'll set up a society not only with elected officials but with local people that don't sit on no boards and they have a different different view on how to work with it. Is the Minister willing to do that, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the high cost of gasoline and diesel fuel in our communities really affecting our people. I really would like to see if our government would be committing to cap fuel prices and increases in our communities because we used to get it at Edmonton rack price so you'd be a year out and it wouldn't really affect. But now that I think they're buying their fuel somewhere else and being shipped around over the top, it might be costing a bit more, I don't know. But is it available or are they willing to work to cap the prices for the coastal communities of Sachs Harbour, Ulukhaktok, and...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just in regards to  I bring this up every year, and  in regards to longterm care for my riding. We have home support. Thank them for, the staff for what they do and the home care support workers in the community. I want to thank you for all what you've done for our people and our elders. But I really think it's time to build a  like I've been bringing up working on bringing up in Sachs, or Ulukhaktok, trying to work with the Minister to get that done with a private company that's able to build it. They will come, you know, so to say. But I'm really hoping that we could...