Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Tuesday, October 24, 2017, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that this Legislative Assembly expresses its sincere gratitude to Mr. Douglas Schauerte for his dedicated and exemplary service to the House; and further, that this Legislative Assembly designate Douglas Schauerte as an honorary officer of this Legislative Assembly with an entry to the Chamber and a seat at the table.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I think I need to point out that this government cares very much about the well-being of its employees, and takes every opportunity to work with them to try and improve their conditions or whatever it is that they may be going through. The collective agreement has a number of provisions in there for different types of leave, so we work with those.

As far as the supervisors trained on working with staff, the accommodation process involves cooperation between the GNWT unions and employees to identify safe, timely, and reasonable measures to accommodate...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 3, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2017-2018, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill makes supplementary appropriation for operations expenditures for the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Employment and Family Assistance Program is a confidential, voluntary-based counselling and referral service available to all GNWT employees and their dependents, to assist with a wide range of personal and work-related issues. The Employment and Family Assistance Program offers a wide range of services, including a variety of mental health services, and can be accessed 24 hours a day. The service allows people to discuss personal problems and concerns in an understanding and professional environment, away from the workplace. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 3, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2017-2018, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, GNWT has concerns about potential adverse impacts of projects on the population and habitat of transboundary wildlife species while recognizing the potential benefit of any proposed projects. Calving grounds are widely considered, both from a scientific and traditional knowledge perspective, as the most sensitive habitat for migratory barren-ground caribou herds, and so we do take very seriously and look at very closely any projects that are happening within the calving grounds. As the Member noted, we need to do what we can do to protect those calving grounds. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just very quickly, I got elected into the House in 2014 and I have had the opportunity to work with Mr. Schauerte. I have seen the work that he does and trying to keep his all in order. As we have just seen recently today, I think it is time to retire him. He is getting all the ridings mixed up.

---Laughter

That is starting to make me wonder if he even knew what the ridings were.

---Laughter

As member of the board of management and the Minister of Finance, I think it is going to be a cost-saving measure to this, too, because Doug runs up and down the hall so...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Bathurst caribou herd did decline to about 19,800 caribou in 2015. It was a 96 per cent decline from peak numbers estimated, as the Member pointed out, 472,000. The herd was fairly stable 2009-12, but declined further 2012-2015. A calving photo survey will provide an updated population estimate, and it is planned for June of 2018, and then management will be revisited once a new herd estimate is known.

I will work with my colleagues, but as far as the budget line goes, I don't think that is in the plans right now. The work for summer students is based on an operation basis, so as there needed to do some work, they are hired or to work on special projects. The operation requirements vary between the departments, but as I have pointed out before, we have seen an increase in the numbers. All of the Cabinet Ministers have encouraged their departments to try and bring on more summer students.

I am going to use this as an opportunity to point out the three departments within the government that had...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member pointed out before that the government has hired 349 summer students this year. That is the highest number we have had in the last five years. We have challenged our departments actually to try and find more, including in a lot of the small communities, because I would like to see a summer student hired in every community, but if you look at the number of summer students who are hired by maybe the local housing authorities or the municipal government organizations that are funded by the government, I think those numbers would go up. I have been...