Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table "Appendices for Return to Written Question 19-18(2): Position Vacancy and Overtime Statistics." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the FireSmart program is an important tool in mitigating risk and improving community protection in the event of a wildland fire. Applying FireSmart principles increases human safety, decreases property loss, and enhances wildland fire suppression success. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources continues to encourage communities, agencies, and home and cabin owners to promote and implement FireSmart principles.

Information on FireSmart for communities, cabin and homeowners is available from the regional and local ENR offices or at nwtfire.com. ENR headquarters and...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to my right, I have Mr. David Stewart, deputy minister of Finance, and to my left, I have Mr. Ian Rennie, who is the legislative counsel.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We thank you for the opportunity to present Bill 17, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, to the Committee of the Whole. This bill responds to our commitment approved in the 2016-2017 budget to provide further financial assistance to low and modest-income families to raise their children through an enhancement to the Northwest Territories Child Benefit.

The amendments to the NWT Income Tax Act will allow us to enhance the NWT Child Benefit by providing a total of $2.2 million in direct support for children in families with annual income up to $80,000. This enhanced program...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize two residents from Inuvik, Mr. Paul Komaromi and Mr. Tom Zubko, who will be inducted into the Order of the NWT, I believe, tomorrow. Welcome to the House.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Member for that very positive question. I can inform this House that we are projected to be ahead of last year's numbers. I think, last year, we had 306 summer students who were hired. My understanding is we have 272 who have been hired so far this year, and I think we have another 50 job offers that are awaiting signatures. We are well ahead of last year's numbers, and I think we have heard the concerns from Members of the House.

As far as the advertising goes, a lot of the kids who go to school or come on as summer students are well...

I know there are a lot of exciting things coming forward with the marine transportation thing now in the hands of the Government of Northwest Territories, and we are proceeding on a number of these fronts. Like I said, we are concentrating on getting the shipping season out in front of us and getting stuff to the communities, which is the most important thing.

We are working alongside with my colleague beside me, the Minister of ENR, on a phase 2 environmental assessment of all of the properties that are in Hay River and identifying any hazardous material that is on these potential properties...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our projections for the work force coming this year are roughly around 145 employees, and I can actually update the House a little bit. So far, to date, our work force is probably about halfway to where it needs to be to get up to full operation, but, up to date, 34 millers have been hired, as well.

Mr. Speaker, ENR is part of a project team that has been leading the development of the human health monitoring program, and I believe Dr. Rory Chan is working on this. An advisory committee was established, and GNWT's Health and Social Services office of the public health representative sits as a member of the advisory committee providing expert advice and direction.

The Giant Mine Remediation Project team, we're going to be putting together a socio-economic strategy. Its implementation is being designed to address socio-economic impact from the Giant Mine Project, and the upcoming study will...

Mr. Speaker, first of all we are supportive of the surplus funds going to research programs. I'm not sure if there was a mechanism in the agreement that had allowed for that, and I will raise that again. We do have some FPTs that are coming up this summer. We have the Finance Ministers' FPT, as well as the Ministers of the Environment. It is our understanding, though, that INAC is actively working on a solution to address the concerns that were raised, but, again, at the earliest opportunity, I will raise these issues with my federal counterparts.