Kevin O'Reilly

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for the commitment of millions of dollars across the Northwest Territories. I pointed out that there are three visitors' centres elsewhere that were created with our funds, GNWT funds, including work like leasehold improvements in Dawson City, $1.8 million in construction costs, but what's being done here in Yellowknife?

Doesn't Yellowknife deserve at least equal treatment for a year-round operation? Will the Minister begin work now to commit a proportionally equivalent amount of money to the construction of a permanent visitors' information centre...

It's great to hear that, but I'm actually learning more about what's going on through the newspaper than the regular updates from the Minister. Can he explain what support, if any, is being given to the city to temporarily deliver visitor services to March 2018 and how that compares to support that was provided to the Northern Frontier Visitors' Association?

Merci, Monsieur le President. It's fall, and once again we are seeing our streets filled with tourists drawn from around the world to enjoy our spectacular aurora viewing. While further interim measures have recently been announced, we are still without a solution supported by the tourism sector, or resourced with dedicated funds from this government.

As I have pointed out before, aurora tourism is the NWT's biggest success story in sustainable and renewable economic diversification. It's a $40 million a year industry, and a study last year showed that having a visitor's information centre...

Yes, Mr. Chair, I do.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that was a third no. He is not prepared to look at the funding formulae which are the basis for the figures that he himself tabled a couple of days ago in this House. That is where I got the numbers from, was from his own reply to my written question that came from his own department. So, look, the funding for junior kindergarten implementation has been like a zombie; it just keeps coming back for more. Whether it is busing, inclusive schooling, capital improvements, Aboriginal language, custodial services, they are all underfunded or not resolved, but we are...

I thank the Minister for his response. I do acknowledge that he tabled the information that I requested at his earliest convenience, but often Ministers will provide it to Members ahead of time. That did not happen in this case. If he has different figures that he wants to quote than the reply to my written question, I would be happy to look at them, but after a lot of wrangling to try to ensure that we have truly fully funded JK, the answers have been evasive at best. We will be reviewing the 2018-2019 business plans beginning in November of this year. Will the Minister commit that full...

Merci, Monsieur Ie President. Over the last year we have heard the Minister of Education promise that there would be "full funding" for the implementation of junior kindergarten. On May 25, the Education Minister stated that he was "committed to fully funding the ongoing costs for junior kindergarten implementation beginning in the 2017-2018 school year and into the future" in response to the petition calling for full funding of Junior Kindergarten. Furthermore, the Minister said the department "will continue to maintain funding levels for inclusive schooling, and Aboriginal language and...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the question again. I think it is fair to say that I have had some very preliminary discussions with at least a couple of our Cabinet colleagues about this, but we all know that there is a lengthy legislative agenda that we would like to accomplish together as part of this 18th Assembly. I am not responsible for that, but I am happy to work with them and Regular Members to try to move forward with that. There are other professions, even medical professions, that are not currently regulated; occupational therapy, physios, and so on. There are a number of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have Ms. Laura Jeffrey, who is the legislative counsel for this bill, and she is sitting to my left. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. First off, I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Social Development for its review of the bill. Bill 30, the Health Statutes Amendment Act (Cremation Services), is a private Member's bill which proposes amendments to the Public Health Act and to the Vital Statistics Act.

Together, the minor amendments in Bill 30 will allow greater certainty for cremations to be performed here in the NWT, reducing costs and wait times for bereaved families, and further diversify the domestic service economy. Specifically, amendments to the Public Health Act will create the ability to...