Kevin O'Reilly

Yes, the Minister over there was sort of like a deer caught in the headlights all of a sudden. He had to pay attention. It's a "heads up". When it comes to his turn, I will be asking those questions. Look, if we're going to spend time and money trying to encourage apprenticeships, surely to goodness we can find ways for them to work on our capital projects to get their certification and all of that kind of stuff. Anyways, the Minister is listening to me now. I am sure he is going to get ready when I ask him those sorts of questions, but I want to move on to some questions about postsecondary...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I appreciate the commitment from the Minister to ensure that it is going to be a broader approach than the Pan-Territorial Vision for Sustainable Development that he developed. I think, all of us in this House, we can recognize and congratulate Dene Nahjo for their hard work on "We Are One Mind" that the Premier tabled last week in the House. That document is going to be a valuable contribution to the development of a Northwest Territories chapter of the Arctic Policy Framework. Can the Premier tell this House how he intends to engage Dene Nahjo in the development...

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate that commitment from the Minister. I am sure he will be happy to work with the Standing Committee on Social Development to look at that issue. I want to thank him for the commitment. It took us a while to get there, but that is what I was hoping to hear. Thanks, Mr. Chair. That is all I have.

I am happy to take the promotion from the Premier inviting me over to that side of the House any day. What I would like to ask the Premier next, then, is if he could tell us whether GNWT prepared a written submission for the Ministerial Special Representative on Arctic Leadership, and if so, can he table it in the House?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that sometimes those triggers might be external. You know, I guess another example is for those people who work, the Minister does appoint a minimum wage committee that gives him some advice. There seems to be a regular cycle for that. Why don't we have some sort of regular cycle for review of income assistance rates and payments? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. It was very disappointing to hear the Premier reject the report and findings of the Ministerial Special Representative on Arctic Leadership, Mary Simon, in this House on February 13th.

Ms. Simon held 65 engagement meetings involving 170 people, including the Premier, and received 34 written submissions to help her prepare her report. That's a lot more than the zero public engagement that the three northern Premiers undertook in putting together the Pan-Territorial Vision for resource development. Whoops. Sustainable Development.

Ms. Simon's excellent report made a...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, that is, I guess, what I was kind of worried about. So what triggers a review of any of those sort of rates for income assistance? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. My questions are going to be kind of similar to my colleague's from Yellowknife Centre, but I am going to be asking about income assistance. It is on page 46. There is an increase from 2017-2018 to 2018-2019. It is maybe about $1.75 million. Can the Minister explain this change and what, if any, parts of income assistance have been increased and why? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and I do appreciate the Minister passing along that information. So, if the preliminary results seem to indicate that this is not likely going to work, are we still cutting the funding to the DEAs to $200,000, or is the Minister suggesting that we should put that money back into the budget? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. The issue of changes to the Cities, Towns and Villages Act to allow tax-based communities to introduce hotel levies was discussed earlier in the sitting. The Minister responded and indicated that necessary consultations with the hotel industry stakeholders were causing the delays. These consultations have been going on since at least 2010, even before I became an MLA. I was involved in consultations that the Finance Department was undertaking at that point around a hotel levy. Can the Minister...