Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. When North Slave Correctional was built, I believe they call it a smudging room, but it was a room with kind of a healing circle in it, and then the Office of the Fire Marshal said that despite the architects and engineers signing off, that we were not allowed to use it. And I believe there was some capital money spent to perhaps get it open again. Can I just have an update on that? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I get an updated figure of what the municipal funding gap for capital is presently at. I see we're giving communities $29 million here. If we were following the formula as we have set it, what should this number be. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know there is a lot of efforts being done to make sure we fill those 61 positions, and I know that it's costly not to fill them. And I was hoping the Minister could inform us with this latest closure of obstetrics, what is the estimated cost of sending all those patients to Edmonton to give birth as opposed to, if they were able to, here in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess the first question is can I confirm that this is 100 percent flowthrough money that goes directly to communities.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my statement, the GNWT already owns and operates one fibre line with Northwestel. Just this week, we spent $6 million to extend that fibre line. And, you know, considering this press release came out yesterday, I'm not going to ask the Minister for a few more million dollars today. I'll give her the weekend before doing that.

I have one question for the Minister of Finance here. Is the Minister of Finance willing to meet with Det’on Cho and Northwestel and see if there is a path forward to some public funding for fibre redundancy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker...

Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, I'm  I'm doing some quick math. I think this is well over $20 million a year in O and M, and I think that's even a very conservative estimate based on what I just heard.

Can the Minister just speak to, I know that Health and Social Services Authority is in deficit. We're trying to find money always for health. The costs are ballooning. Is there  can the Minister speak to kind of whether we are confident that we will have the fiscal room to operate these beds. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just  I notice there is two body holding rooms here. Can I just get a bit of an explanation of what  why we're building body holding rooms. Are they required in all communities now? Is there some sort of standard that's kind of spurring us. I just would like a little bit of clarification there. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I want to ask, can the Minister speak to work being done to make that process easier. I am afraid that we are likely to lose this route with the current council, given their track record, and perhaps there's a way to pull some ropes. I just would welcome the political insights that's happening to make sure that that application development permit is a little smoother. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I see there's the continued funding for the wellness and recovery centre in Yellowknife. This has been in the capital budget a couple years now. But can I just get an update on that project and when we expect construction to start. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just trying to understand how the gap works. So say, I'm going to use Yellowknife as an example because then I'm not getting into a debate about communities.

If Yellowknife builds a new pool, that increases the needs for their capital. So does that then mean we adjust the formula and they are then required to new money, or is it just based on a per capita kind of design, or does it actually depend on what has been built in the community? Thank you.