Rylund Johnson

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Wednesday, November 24th, 2021, I will move the following motion: Now therefore, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Hay River North, that this Legislative Assembly, by virtue of section 5 of the Elections and Plebiscites Act, recommends to the Commissioner the appointment of Mr. Steven Dunbar of Yellowknife as the chief electoral officer for the Northwest Territories for a term of four years commencing on November 25th, 2021. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess, you know, there's a couple of things that have happened over the years. One is leasing was largely across all departments and they were slowly moved into the Department of Infrastructure. A lot of our leases are from the federal government. We have over actually 90 leases for various periods of time, many of them short three-five year periods. And the reality is you can't go to any northern landlord and say build us a new building or, you know, buy an asset without giving them years' notice. By the time we get to the end of a three-year lease, we just simply...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I spoke about earlier today, we've ended up in a situation where we're giving $20 million a year to one company in Yellowknife. And, really, looking at the fact that the GNWT averagely occupies a building for 20 years, some of them we've been in for 40 years continuously, we're talking about hundreds of millions, if not a billion dollars of contractual obligations here. And, really, when looking at how this happened, there is one policy. It is the leasing of improved real property policy that was written in 1986, Mr. Speaker. And it speaks to trying to create...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Firstly I would like to thank MLA Martselos for bringing this point of privilege. I want to begin by explaining a bit of procedural issues for those who are watching.

This current point of privilege is not the sole adjudicator's report, it is not the motion recommended in that, this is a point of privilege to anything that was outside of the four corners of the report and as such we should not be speaking about what was within the terms of reference of that report. However, I do think that it is important that this point of privilege is raised so that the entire context...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today. That is the motion for mandatory vaccination, Mr. Speaker.

---Unanimous consent granted.

The motion of requirement of proof of full vaccination by Members of the Legislative Assembly, I will read this again, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS COVID-19 is a communicable disease which has and continues to put the lives and livelihoods of residents of the Northwest Territories at risk;

AND WHEREAS the chief public health officer of the Northwest Territories has recommended that all eligible residents become fully...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I know that in the nonmarket communities where people own their peoples, we've tried for years to, you know, kind of help them and build homes and I guess ultimately the reality is in a nonmarket community a house is depreciating asset, and we have to kind of blur the lines between public and private housing in nonmarket communities. And committee heard from people that, you know, owning a house in a nonmarket community that there isn't government support. So I think from a pure housing standpoint, the government needs to look at every single house as an asset and...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we all recognize that my tenure in the GNWT is a bit of a Gordian Knot and given the competing Indigenous land rights, it is a  one of the most difficult areas for our government to navigate. But the Housing Corp has requested all of its leases from the Department of Lands in fee simple. We've had problems where we have brought units into communities, and we can't actually find any land to put them to on. So the units just kind of sit there. And I know multiple people in communities who have wanted to build houses and finding land to build a house on can be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on Friday, June 14, 2021, it shall be adjourned until Thursday, October 14th, 2021; and, further, that any time prior to October 14th, 2021, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly that the public interest requires that this House should meet at an time during earlier than the adjournment, or at a time later than the scheduled resumption of the House, the Speaker may give notice and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the 20192020, the most recent public service annual report, 82 of the 82 appeals that were filed were denied, Mr. Speaker. Previously, the department has used this to say there's no problems with the staffing process; it's working out just fine; all the appeals, you know, are denied. Mr. Speaker, I would say that this is a fundamental problem with the appeals process in  and people are giving up hope on appealing if there's no hope of actually being successful, regardless of whether an independent officer is reviewing it.

So furthermore, Mr. Speaker, the end of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So of those 16.5 percent of people who applied for GNWT jobs who were eligible to appeal, when I look and try to figure out exactly what the grounds of an appeal could be or within the process, I have a hard time let alone those people who just didn't get a job, Mr. Speaker. So my question for the Minister of Finance is what information is provided to an unsuccessful candidate who would be eligible for appeal, at 16.5 percent, to help them formulate and understand the grounds of an appeal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.