Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Madam Minister. Now, I am looking at ground ambulance service for the Tuktoyaktuk Inuvik Highway. We don't have ambulance service. We have the RCMP in Tuktoyaktuk, and we put people in the back of a pick-up truck in a stretcher and bring them to the health centre. Thank God we haven't had any real accidents on that road yet. The safety concern, we did a study with CRA that did the study for the road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk that has an ambulance that is going back and forth being able to help out in the community, if needed, as well. We had buy-in from the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just in regard to that, I wonder if there is any thought given to putting like a four-plex of single-dwelling units or one-bedroom apartments, because we have young families in my ridings, and they're just staying with families. It's pretty tough on everybody. So, to try to alleviate the pressure in regard to that, I'm just wondering if, instead of building a house in Tuktoyaktuk, could we put another four-plex in the community, if it's possible? Same thing for Ulukhaktok, Paulatuk; we're really needing not single-dwelling houses. We need multiplexes, because the young...

Thank you, Madam Chair, just in regards to picking up off of the RCMP housing units in the communities. Do you want me to go ahead, Madam Chair? I see your hand up.

One more thing: today, they started back home for spring break. All the people who are travelling now, our teachers, anybody who is able to get of the community because it is spring break, I think: how is that going to work in our communities? Is the Minister or other Ministers putting that in effect into email to the principals, to the hamlet offices, all the people who need to be notified in case somebody does come back, does show symptoms of the sickness, and to be self-quarantined or quarantined? The staff that we have in our remote communities for health centres, they are going to send...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I got an email from one of my constituents regarding coronavirus. Every hamlet community has a hamlet office. Every hamlet office has an emergency plan. Is the MACA Minister willing to get, on the community level, making sure that they are starting to enact that plan in case somebody has the coronavirus? I am not trying to cause panic, but I am trying to give a heads-up to the communities to start looking at the community emergency plan and how they are going to act on it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Will the Minister share the proposed program, the parameters of eligibility, the requirements, with the standing committee before the program is finalized and working?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year, the Department of Finance put the Property Tax Arrears Program in place, out of recognition that some people who have had to have taxes at times higher than their annual income may never be paid off with their arrears. It allows remission forgiveness in property tax interest in return for a person making a payment on the principal that is owed. Will the Minister have her department develop a similar program with the arrears and forgiveness of debt, money put on, and they will get some of their arrears freed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, just in regard to that, I mean, when we were looking at the broader picture in regard to the planning of new housing units going into the communities, I think what they should be doing with the Minister is coming into the community. The housing stock that they do have, like, you know, we buy a lot of doors, we buy a lot of windows to try to keep those places warm. Like I said before, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s; some of our units, we have old units in my riding. So the monies that they are putting forward and the house planning that they do have, they should be looking...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I rise in support of my colleague, Mr. Lafferty, in regard to our languages, the 11 official languages across the territory. Yesterday, I think if it was English, if we couldn't speak, they would have shut the House down. With our languages that we do have, I think we have to support them, not only just to have translators here but, when something like this does occur, it has to be dealt with properly. What Mr. Simpson said, we should have walked out with him yesterday, too, because of that. I am in full support of him. I am in full support of your judgment and...