Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, considering that, you know, we still have, I think, 22 files left over from the flood that you know, that haven't been completed, haven't even started to be actioned yet, and we do have, I think, three Pathfinders in Hay River, and I'm not sure what we have for staff here, but now with the fires and the magnitude of, you know, what happened in the South Slave, will there be additional staff added in the South Slave to help people, you know, deal with their claims? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These questions are for the Minister of ECC. I'd ask the Minister have any assessors visited the communities that had structural damage to assess those damages as of today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that answer. You know, however, you know, like I say, we've gone through three major events in Hay River and, you know, a year after the flood, we're still you know, we still got a number of files that need to be actioned. And when I see what's happened here, it's going to be this is going to be still existing after the next Assembly, the way things are going. So I think we need to be really proactive and forceful when we're dealing with the federal government to try and get additional funds, otherwise we're going to lose residents, we're going to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd ask the Premier to confirm what programs and associated funding amounts are in place to specifically support businesses impacted by the wildfires, and how quickly can we get that support out to alleviate the financial burden on our local businesses? Thank you.

In favour.

In favour.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a comment, I guess. You know, I look at this jurisdiction that we're in. You know, we're limited to, you know, revenue raise or raising ourselves. We count on the federal government for a big majority of the funding that we do have. And, you know, when we have disasters such as this, and multiple ones like in Hay River, over, you know, over 15 months, you know, it takes it takes a real financial impact on the territory. It takes it on the government. It takes on you know, on individual businesses and everything. And I think that, you know, when the federal...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Of the $75 million ask, I guess, will a portion or what portion of it will be used to offset the costs incurred by local governments, you know, as of today because most of the you know, most of our local fire departments are volunteers but they are using local personnel, they are volunteers there, they are using local equipment and infrastructure as well. So, again, like Ms. Cleveland said, is that, you know, we got to make sure that, you know, their costs are covered as well because this is going to, you know, set us this whole fire season is going to set the NWT...

Thank you.

What?