Kevin O'Reilly

I want to thank my colleague, the Government House Leader, but who could forget the legislative landslide in the last eight months of the last Assembly? I personally spent most of the summer away from home, in committee travel, meetings, and a final sitting of the House in August where one clause-by-clause review of a bill stretched on for four-and-a-half hours, until past midnight. Who could forget that, Mr. Speaker? What is Cabinet doing to prevent a repeat performance?

Yes. Thanks, Madam Chair. I was in the last Assembly, and one of the reasons why they were being amalgamated was basically a cost-cutting, cost-saving exercise. Some people did lose their jobs, and I know there were efforts made to try to retain people through whatever the name of that policy is that GNWT has. There were less people working for Infrastructure than there was for the two separate departments. I'm just trying to square that with adding more money into the budget two or three years later to try to rectify this. It just doesn't seem to make any sense to me. Maybe someone can take...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today, I spoke of the legislative lethargy of our Cabinet. We are about a third of the way through our term, and no bills of any substance have been proposed by Cabinet. Changes have been promised to the Education Act, to implement UNDRIP, to bring our resource management into this century, and more. Can the Premier explain whether there is any substantive legislation planned for the current sitting? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Can someone explain to me the increases for department management and finance found on page 240? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair, and thanks for that information. How do we pay for maintenance on highways? Is it found here, or is it found in the capital budget? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. On page 236, I see a few areas where funding is actually declining: facilities and properties in the program detail, and then contract services and purchase services in the expenditure category. Can someone explain to me, as we build more and more assets and we just had the largest capital budget ever, how these are declining over time? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I am just trying to figure out: how do we get any traction on this issue? I think as my colleague from Yellowknife North said, it's $2.8 million this year, which might help those people who actually do not get any benefits whatsoever. I don't know. Have we tried writing to the federal Minister? Is there any talk of a reference to the federal courts? I think there is a questions act or something where you can actually refer a matter for a ruling of the court in terms of jurisdictional matters and so on. Any sort of thoughts about what kind of strategy we can use to get the...

Thanks, Madam Chair. Is there any indication whatsoever that the federal government is actually going to contribute towards this, and has it been raised, for example, at FPT tables? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Can someone tell me how many Metis are actually eligible for the Metis Health Benefits in the Northwest Territories? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Government House Leader for giving me credit on the clause-by-clause review of that faulty legislation in the last Assembly. Of course, we are looking forward to getting some regulations, as well. While I can understand that COVID may have delayed some of our legislative work, I am more than happy to ensure that departments and the government as a whole have the resources to start legislation flowing. Can the Government House Leader confirm whether there are the human resources and capacity necessary to begin to turn the legislative taps on...