Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Madam Chair, for the two definitions of what Arctic Energy Alliance is. Perhaps, next time, we could just keep the answer a little bit shorter because I only get so much time. The reason I was asking the question is I do want to know if the Minister has explored looking at a training program through Arctic Energy Alliance to help increase the capacity of the non-governmental organizations in order to be able to expand or continue to implement their programming better. I know that they have quite a good group of technical experts at the alliance. However, it seems that they at times...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm a nerd. I like data. I'd take that, if you don't mind providing that; that would be great. I have a question now. Sorry, I'm jumping around a little bit, to the Petroleum Products Revolving Fund on page 257. I would also like a suggestion that we make our page numbers larger, going forward. With the Petroleum Products Revolving Fund, I note that we still are carrying an accumulated deficit at the beginning of the year of $1 million. I'm just curious to know, and I always struggle with wrapping my head around this one: have we paid off the extra debt that was...

Just to clarify that a little bit further: any of the money that was spent earlier on in the COVID situation, such as a year ago, March, April, to get everybody working from home, that would also be captured under COVID secretariat costs, not Infrastructure? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Just to confirm, that being the 2021-2022 fiscal year, the upcoming one? Okay. When I look at the charter costs for the 2019-2020 actuals, we lose money on the charters. Is the department looking at, perhaps, re-evaluating, as part of the governance model evaluation, whether or not MTS should be doing charters in the first place? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. With that being said, perhaps things are maybe not quite so drastic as they may have gone. Does the department anticipate that we would see any revenues from charters in the upcoming year? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's great, around alcoholism or alcohol education. I guess, too, I would like to see the department looking at a more holistic conversation around liver health, which does include things like healthy eating, exercise, and such. As I mentioned in my statement, many people have liver disease who have nothing to do with alcohol. I guess my next question would be: can we commit to launching a healthy liver campaign in the North specific to the liver, not just focused on alcoholism, but on a healthier lifestyle and prevention? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. Just a further comment to that, I do think it would be worthwhile, as we look at integrating things and breaking down silos within the GNWT, that the entire health and safety program of the Government of the Northwest Territories be looked at and perhaps one unified one created, which would be great, along with a public safety department, but I will follow up with the Minister at a later date on that. Sorry. I just lost my spot here. I really do need glasses, particularly at the end of this day. I am going to leave it there, and if I could come back to my spot, I...

I'm glad to hear the Minister say that she would have her department reach out to the Canadian Liver Foundation, given our propensity maybe for a little bit of liking the drink in the North. That would probably be a good thing. Annually, there is an 80 percent shortfall in funding to research liver issues when compared to the number of grant applications that are received. Could you imagine if any one of these applications actually contained the cure for liver disease or an early diagnosis tool? Does the GNWT participate in any sort of research in this area, and subsequently, do we provide any...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. I actually had a lot of opportunity to see some of the work of the universities and such, and there is quite a bit of research work being done along the ITH, so I just want to continue to encourage the Minister to use that work to leverage funding, as well, from the federal government because it does not always necessarily, maybe we can get our road repaired if we train a bunch of students to do it, right, and they come up with some innovative way of fixing it. I urge the Minister to be creative when she looks at that type of work.

My last question is just going to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This month, the Canadian Liver Foundation is recognizing Liver Health Month in Canada. The liver is the body's third largest organ and weighs in at approximately three pounds. Your liver can regenerate to 90 percent of its original size and serves as the body's filter, cleaning our blood and regulating hormone levels and cholesterol as well as vitamin and mineral uptake. The liver is our processor and, daily, performs over 500 functions essential to life.

When people think of liver disease or failure, there is often stigma attached. An automatic assumption is that it is...