Rylund Johnson

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?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would just like to make a comment that this is the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs almost having their travel budget, and when I look at the few million dollars we took out the GNWT travel budget and what it's paying for, you know, investments in mental health and wellness, investments in the poverty fund, I think this is a great work, and I think it was this Cabinet leading by example. And I know we've had no controversy about Ministers, MLAs, and senior management travelling, but I just commend this Cabinet. They made lots of sacrifices, and it hasn't...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll try and keep my comments brief considering we already agreed to this. I'm very happy to see the child care infrastructure fund. This is much needed money. I believe, though, we need something like $20 million to make up our infrastructure deficit to get to the requiredto place where all our communities have child care. And I know the previous fund was oversubscribed. And I'm hoping we can get this money out the door very quickly, and I know the department will do that. I guess I'm just looking for I know some of the previous applications didn't quite meet the...

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. You know, and I get  I understand the building of infrastructure climate in the North and that it is very difficult and that the federal government flows on multiyear funding. I don't understand the software climate in the government. But as far as I can tell, information systems shared services cannot seem to get its projects done on time and on budget and there's $7 million here to purchase software. So I don't know how we can blame COVID or a barging system or anything else. So can I just get a bit of an explanation of why we are seeing a lot of these programs...

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I guess this is just a comment for Finance and Infrastructure. I believe the last time I asked about our deferred maintenance deficit, it was about $462 million of deferred maintenance to get our assets up to par. I just don't understand when we have such a massive deficit, and the Department of Infrastructure has consistently, you know, stated that they need more money for deferred maintenance and if we're going to get our assets up, we need to be maintaining them. I fully support that. I just  it becomes harder to navigate the Financial Management Board and...