Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the debate that's going on in this Assembly. I have had a lot of people reach out to me as well; constituents of Inuvik Twin Lakes, a lot of families worried about the strike. What I want people to understand is that, just because you don't support the motion, and I think a couple of Members have already said it, just because you don't support the motion, you're not voting in favour of a strike. Let's make that perfectly clear, and people need to understand that.

I have a lot of confidence in the ability of our negotiators and the UNW's...

Absolutely, the union has a right to strike, and they have served a strike notice. We respect their position. That doesn't mean we have to agree with it, but we respect it. People out there also have a right to go to work, and they have a right to have the proper information to help them make an informed decision. That is all we ask of each other. We want to have the right information to make an informed decision. We are giving them that opportunity. Unfortunately, it might be perceived differently by some, but we have to give people the right to choose. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to be eligible for the prime fur bonus, their fur needs to be sent to the fur auction and must sell for over $200. Then it would be eligible for the prime fur bonus. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One of the things that we are very proud of in the Northwest Territories is the number of Aboriginal people in our workforce, Indigenous people. We continue to try and enhance those numbers. There is a lot of value that is brought to the positions. We continue to promote that. If there is an opportunity in this particular situation to promote these programs at, say, educational fairs and things like that, I am not sure of exactly the details of our department's plans on promoting the program. I will follow up, and I will share any information that I can gather with the Members and Members of...

I take the Member's point. I will follow up and ensure that this is given the attention that it should be getting. I do know from being in a couple of places that there were some signs going up in the communities as to consultations that were happening there. I have seen some early indication of some of the consultations that are going on in the communities, some of the comments that were coming out. Obviously, they were in the paper, and because you mention the word "tax," everybody always says, "Well, I am opposed to any type of new tax." We will always have comments like that, but this is a...

Regardless if there is any budget coming forward or not, we still need to do the consultation because what people out there say is very important to us, budget or no budget session anymore.

The GNWT, we currently don't have any specific incentives for the harvest of grizzly bears in the NWT. Again, we will work with our co-management partners and see if we can come up with initiatives towards that if we find that they are a threat. As part of the monitoring program too, we are thinking that they would be able to monitor the number of grizzly bears that are actually following the caribou.

One of the stats that I found quite alarming when we were doing our tour was the fact that I think they followed them and they did the calf count at a certain time of year, and I believe they did...

The wolf incentive program is being run as a pilot project this year, this winter, to support the conservation and recovery of the two specific barren-ground herds, the Bathurst and Bluenose-East. We heard from our travels around the Tlicho a couple of weeks ago that many of the people there and a lot of the elders felt like the caribou were one of the main, or they took a fair share of the caribou, and they wanted to know what our plans were in trying to deal with that. This particular program is a pilot program that is aimed at those two specific herds for now.

The Talent Acquisition and Workforce Planning Unit attended career fairs, and that goes back to the Member's first question, in many different regions. Recently they attended the Aklavik Healthy Living Fair and the Fort Providence Skills 4 Success Career Fair. They plan to attend a career fair in Behchoko that would be attended by all high schools. Again, that is an opportunity to promote some of the opportunities. They recently finalized the guidebook on careers in health and social services professions, an NWT- focused career guidebook, which will be shared with all schools. Any...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there was a news release that went out in October of 2018 that talked about a couple of new programs to open new career pathways for Indigenous Northerners. As far as there being brochures to promote that, I am not quite sure if I have seen any brochures yet, but I could follow up. I am sure that information is also available on our website with the proper information for those that want to take advantage of these programs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.