Yellowknife North

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 70)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know the health Minister is well aware of this area, as is the department, that this continues to go up. I just want to flag this as a priority area for review, given the increase in costs, and perhaps there is a way to repatriate more of these people. When I look at the amount of money being spent here, I want some sort of commitment that there has been a review of what is being provided down south versus what we could provide up here for the amount of money being spent here, because, by all projections, it will just continue to climb. I'm wondering if such a review...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 70)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recognize we have to have those conversations, but I also think it needs to be very clear exactly where that line lies under our current legislation. For example, right now, the Minister is responsible for renewing the public health emergency every two weeks. That is solely at the discretion of the Minister, on advice of the CPHO. Can the Minister speak to whether any policy direction gets given every two weeks when there is a decision to renew that emergency or not? Can the Minister say, "Yes, I will renew the emergency, but please give us a new updated plan with...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 70)

I'm glad to understand some of the input such as vaccines and variants and how it works with under-18s, but one of my concerns is that, when we created the Emerging Wisely Plan, we didn't know what vaccines we were using. There was barely any talk of variants. The plan was largely created without considering these. I'm not sure that phase 3 is exactly where we want to go, anyway. I believe I'm hearing longer timelines for reopening the borders, different restrictions, so I don't get the sense that we're moving into the exact prescribed phase 3 as per a plan created months ago. I note some...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 69)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Does the Minister happen to know what the number one sick day in the GNWT is?

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 69)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am happy to see this. I know that a number of jurisdictions do that, and there are more and more Blue Seal kind of courses popping up at colleges across the country. I am just wondering the impetus for this. Do we plan on giving out any Blue Seals as there are presently people waiting to be able to get certified for one of these? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 69)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A head's up: during the Property Assessment and Taxation Act, I am going to be requesting the ability for municipalities to implement vacancy taxes, to have land value taxes, to have different tax tools that the department won't let them. Can I get the Minister to commit that they can go away and educate themselves on what city charters and these fiscal arrangements look like in other jurisdictions, in preparation for further questions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 69)

I appreciate the complexity here. My concern is I want to find some work to progress the work on the Cities, Towns and Villages Act and surrounding it. I note the department started work on the Fire Prevention Act back in 2008, and hopefully, we see that in the life of this Assembly. I recognize that there were years of work to actually get this done, and it gets to the heart of the NWT: are we going to have public governments in the future, or are we going to have more private governments? Presently, we have legislated that there are public governments across the Northwest Territories, and I...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 69)

Mr. Speaker, to be quite honest, I have more faith in our community governments than our own. I believe the structure of community governments allows them to be more nimble. I believe the services they provide their people every day on the ground are more important than much of the work we do in this House. Yet, Mr. Speaker, the GNWT continues to have a paternalistic relationship with its communities. This is no more apparent than with the relationship with our capital city.

Inevitably, Mr. Speaker, in every Yellowknife election, some city councillor decides to talk about a land value tax, a...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 69)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Does the Minister have any insight where Alberta is with that? I know they went out for consultation actually. I believe they actually had a bill ready at one point, and then COVID came. Do we have any update on where Alberta is with that, with this change? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 69)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think that reason alone is to get rid of the time change. It's also one of the most common sick days in the private sector, costing private businesses millions of dollars every year. When Alberta went out, 93 percent of Albertans wanted to get rid of it; BC, 90 percent. In almost every jurisdiction, it's been well over 75 percent to 90 percent of Canadians want to get rid of time change. Yukon went and did it. They went to permanent Daylight Saving Time. The Alberta government is ready to go. They're going to get rid of it. Can we just do this already? Is the Minister...