Katrina Nokleby

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. I am looking at page 196 at the Centre Square Tower office space. Can the Minister speak to what does that lease cover? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Maybe the department could provide that SOA to us, to the standing committee, and maybe the one from before, just so we can see how those rates have increased? I would imagine that they would have to in order to continue to be able to run. I think at this time, I don't have any further questions, Madam Chair. Thanks.

Thank you, Madam Chair. When we had the Premier in front of us to talk to us about Executive and Indigenous Affairs, I asked where payouts to former deputy ministers would be found, and she mentioned that they would all be found within the individual departments' budgets, so would this be where we would find payouts to deputy ministers or former staff in this area of the budget? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The cost of the flights for people to Edmonton, did they change over the year due to COVID, or were they already set in place for the upcoming year? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Page 236, the $6 million in the 2019 actuals, the transportation line.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I had heard from a few constituents, particularly older constituents, who then chose to make it kind of a weekend down with the spouse or something as they were going to have to self-isolate together anyways. I'm really glad to hear that, and probably should have done a little bit more of my own homework before I asked that question. Again, I'm assuming that you had said that the numbers are going up this year for both the Extended Health Benefits and the medical travel benefits. However, there seems to always be quite a range. Is this due to just it's difficult...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would just like the Minister to maybe speak a bit on optimization of these types of programs. Is the department looking at policy and procedural implementation, such as, for example, drivers' logs, inspection records, safety programs like that that actually have been shown to reduce maintenance costs, et cetera? Thank you, Madam Chair.