Rylund Johnson

No, I guess we'll just have to top it up again. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Costs, irate clients, union barriers, that could have been an answer to pretty much the reason why we can't do anything in this Assembly, Mr. Speaker. I guess I would like to speak to costs.

Right now the DMV is not even open 9 to 5. It closes at 4o'clock or 4:30, depending. Is there a possibility where we actually reduce the weekday hours to be open parttime on weekends? I think we could actually reduce the overall hours, or give some people a window outside of that time, and maybe we can go we have a new Collective Agreement coming out, maybe there's some sort of...

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I guess just stepping back, a number of jurisdictions have provided rebates for staycations where if you go on, you know, a staycation in the territory, you send in your receipts and the government gives you a 20 percent or some percent rebate. And the reason I like this model is it encourages tourism within the territory; it encourages, you know, some competition to still remain in the market so that we're not just subsidizing people who have essentially shuttered their doors to a breakeven point. It allows operators to actually exist with some revenue. And I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I'll save some of my questions for Dr. Kandola when we can reopen the Yellowknife DMV.

During COVID, the DMV was completely closed for a period. But they were actually offered more and more services online and some of the traditional inperson services were being done by email. I guess my question to the Minister of Infrastructure is what is preventing all services from being offered online? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I'm happy to hear that 70 percent of it will go to the northern tourism operators. I guess it's that remaining 30 percent, and there's a debate here. You know, NWT tourism, many of its members' operations are not based in the south  or not based in the NWT, they're based in the south and they fly clients in, and I kinda get that the money can be spent here. But it doesn't always get circulated in the NWT economy, especially not in the way a northern tourism operator does. And when I look at, you know, a lot of the other ITI programs, they require you to be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like the Yellowknife department of motor vehicles to be open a few extra hours a week on either evenings or weekends. I believe this would make life a little easier for those who can't get time off to make an appointment.

Mr. Speaker, I brought this up in this House before. I made statements and questions. I made statements to two different Infrastructure Ministers through two different deputy ministers. Let's see if today is the day.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My first question is of the $5,700,000 in new tourism relief funding, is any of this federal money? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I'm just very excited to see this $750,000 towards the antipoverty fund. I think we all support, you know, helping NGOs through this time and trying to, you know, ultimately end poverty in the Northwest Territories. But I know there's been some concerns in the past about the antipoverty fund doesn't necessarily address the systemic issues of poverty. Can I just get an update on I believe there's a review underway or whether there will be any changes to how we disburse the money under the antipoverty fund, seeing this $750,000 added. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I appreciate that. I think, you know, there's probably some goodwill after you give the airlines millions of dollars to and I'm not asking for a new route, I'm asking for the return of the sorry, too many noise. The Air North and the Canada North code share route, Yellowknife to Whitehorse. And, you know, I've heard some rumors that if the travel bubble gets going, that they may be willing to do that themselves. So just a commitment that the Minister of Finance will reach out to those airlines about the possibility of that happening. I think it could be a...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know Nunavut's number's somewhere about $40 million as well and just recently in the legislature, a couple of the MLAs said it was a missed opportunity not to take an equity stake given the amount of money they'd actually given the Air North by then. I know the Canadian government took six percent equity stake in Air Canada with part of their bailout. At any point, were there any conversations or did we consider taking an equity stake in Canadian North?