Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and I want to thank the Minister for that explanation. Is there going to be any involvement with the City of Yellowknife moving forward on 911, other than the city dispatching its emergency services as required by 911? Is there any other engagement or involvement with the city as this rolls out? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I appreciate the comments from the Minister. I am sure that a number of our citizens who are on income assistance might not agree with the Minister in terms of whether it is adequate. I realize it is $31 million of our budget, but maybe I will just cut this short. Is the Minister prepared to look at some sort of scheduled review of income assistance rates as he does for the minimum wage? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. In my statement earlier today I noted the extensive public engagement undertaken by Mary Simon as the Ministerial Special Representative on Arctic Leadership. I understand that she actually met with our Premier as well. I am wondering: can the Premier tell us what he talked about when he met with Ms. Simon in her work as Ministerial Special Representative on Arctic Leadership? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate the response from the Minister. I certainly understand that income assistance is sort of the place of last resort, but I am a bit perturbed to hear that the Minister says he does not know what triggers a review. If the Minister does not know, who does know? Are reviews done every five years, every 10 years, 30 years? Is there a regular review cycle? Maybe I will start with that, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So, as I understand it, within income assistance there is some provision for cost of food, cost of clothing and so on. For any of those sorts of components, is there any provision in here for an increase in any of those parts of income assistance? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Well, I guess I am concerned that we are continuing to cut if the results of the study seem to indicate that there are no costs savings. So, at the end of the day, the district education authorities are going to be left with less money to work with. That is not what I had hoped from this budget, but I think this is just part of the Cabinet's reduction strategy again, and I do not agree with this cut. I do not expect a response from the Minister. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, that is what I had, and I appreciate the Minister's answers, and I look forward to that discussion paper very soon. Thanks.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I recognize this is work under way, but the problem is we are going to have to vote on an appropriation bill maybe before we even get the report. We are going to have to vote on whether we are ready to accept this budget for the department, so when is this report going to be made available? If the report is finished, can the Minister share the report with us and then share the response from the department afterwards? Once again, we seem to have a problem with getting information from the department. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I appreciate that, and I think that is a good investment of funding from our government. I am sure the Minister will work with College Nordique to look at how we can support those folks, as well. I want to shift now to the postsecondary education legislation. Can the Minister just give us an update of where that is at? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the Minister for that. I understood that there was going to be some kind of a consultant hired to look at potential for shared services amongst the district education authorities. Can the Minister tell us the status of that work and whether the district education authorities are onboard for this reduction of $200,000? Thanks, Mr. Chair.