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...

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...

Thanks again to the Minister. I think that was two no's in a row, now. We are not going to make up the shortfall for this year, and it does not look like we are going to get it for 2018-2019. I think our government really needs to make good on this $1.7 million gap for 2017-2018. The Minister's May 25th reply to the petition committed to "fully funding the ongoing costs of JK implementation, beginning in the 2017-2018 school year and into the future." Will the Minister commit to changing the district education authorities' funding formulae to fully account for JK students to avoid future...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Education. At the very strong urging of this Assembly and a petition, the Minister committed to fully fund the introduction of junior kindergarten. The Minister tabled a reply to my written question earlier this week regarding the full cost of including JK students in the funding formulae for district education authorities. Is it really the intention of the Minister to fully fund the district education authorities for JK implication and make up this $1.7 million shortfall for 2017-2018? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the question from the Member. I think, first off, I would like to say that this bill is an interim step. There was not an attempt to try to regulate funeral planners, their accreditation, and so on in this bill. That is not the purpose of it. That is not what I tried to set out to do in the first place.

There is a definition for funeral planner, and it is found in the Vital Statistics Act. It is defined as follows: funeral planner means a person who takes charge of a dead body for the purpose of burial, cremation, and other disposition. The duties of a funeral...

Yes, Mr. Chair, I do.