Rylund Johnson

Yellowknife North

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 59)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't want to waste every single Member of the Legislative Assembly's time on this, but I've asked this repeatedly, and I've repeatedly been told that by April 1st, we'll have a solution. I am not hearing anything that leads me to believe that that is now true. What I'm actually looking for is the conversations that have had with the City of Yellowknife. Has the City of Yellowknife said, "Yes, we'll do this for $100,000," and we decided that was too high? Has the City of Yellowknife said, "No, there's a risk assessment," and there's no way we'll offer this? Have we...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 59)

Thank you, Madam Chair. As part of the work of reviewing the funding formula, are there any plans to factor in how federal government money works? To me, if the federal government decides to spend a bunch of money on giving communities infrastructure, that should affect the funding formula. Or if Yellowknife gets a bunch of money to build a new pool, that should probably adjust the funding formula. I get there is a bit of a debate of whether you adjust a needs-based formula on one-off projects, but is there any work intended to adjust the formula based on the role of the federal funding I see...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 59)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to quote again, the Minister's answer. "There was consultation that was just recently completed. I should be able to provide an update to the Member by the end of February." We're in the last week of February here, and I'm hearing that an engagement plan is just going to be started and then we will consult. Can I get the Minister to correct the record? Was there actually any consultation with residents of the Ingraham Trail? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 59)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I get a sense of how this affects the municipal funding formula? If there is essentially $18 million in our budget that is granted, that we are passing through from the federal government and then that expires in 2022, does that mean our funding formula will decrease by $18 million? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 59)

Thank you, Madam Chair. As is my favourite question: can I have an update from the Minister on the status of fire services for the Ingraham Trail? Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 59)

Thank, Madam Chair. My question is: are all communities on track to actually spend all of the money in the fund by 2022? Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 59)

Thank you, Madam Chair. When I look at the seniors and disabilities property discount act, the Fire Prevention Act, and the Property Assessment and Taxation Act all scheduled for later in this Assembly, MACA is not introducing any legislation in the next year, I don't understand why the department doesn't grab some low-hanging fruit and bring forward a piece of legislation.

There have been requests for the Fire Prevention Act for years. There are simple little changes that you could carve off. I believe the appeals mechanism is not working. It should probably have a Ministerial appeal mechanism...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 59)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will follow up with the Minister about getting this money reported. My other question is, and this is one of the siloed issues, is that I am not really sure when I look at -- I cannot see who has received this money, but when I look at the application criteria, this fund, it seems to more be just another general place NGOs can go get money, similar to the millions of dollars we hand out across multiple departments to NGOs. I know EIA has a special executive policy where they can sometimes give money to NGOs. I really do not think that it makes sense for this...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 59)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I get that there are a lot of directions you can go with the Fire Prevention Act and that this started in the 17th Assembly, but I heard the Minister say that we are looking for an LP in February of 2022. I just cannot help but think that there is a systemic problem in the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs in getting legislation done. Even if it's piece-mealing it and doing it in a phased approach, I am concerned that we yet might go another Assembly, three in a row, without seeing the Fire Prevention Act. I hear the LP is scheduled for February 2022. When...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 59)

Thank you, Madam Chair. My first question is: I believe the NGO stabilization fund used to be in EIA, and then it was moved to MACA. Previously, there was reporting every year on who receives that money. If we take any other fund like this in the NWT, there is actually usually a press release, the recipients of the poverty fund, and then we list them, or I believe GNWT does a grants and contributions report every year that shows all the SEED winners. Can I get a commitment from the Minister that we will start reporting on who gets the NGO stabilization fund money and that all of the previous...