Rylund Johnson

Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I get an understanding, perhaps first a clarification? I believe these numbers might be slightly misleading in that there is a $19-million budget of last year and $18 million this year, but is that actually what was spent? Will that be the actuals, or can I just get a sense of this number? Is that what we are budgeting that then, if approved, we would hand out, become an actual, or have we actually been spending $20 million last year and expecting to next year? Sorry. I am trying to rephrase that properly. Are we going to spend $18 million this year on this...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Maybe one last thing. I don't want to wait until February 2022 before I have any input into the Fire Prevention Act, so if I could get the Minister to provide just a summary of what is being planned. In that, I would like the question answered whether this is going to be beyond fire prevention and be a building standards act, whether we are going to look at the entire national building code and the northern building code, whether we are going to look at accessibility legislation, whether that is part of the scope of work that we are doing right now, and I would like...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I just get confirmation that this section also includes all the information items for MACA? Thank you, Madam Chair. I am seeing you nodding. Can I have an update on the New Building Canada Plan, Small Community Fund? My understanding is that this fund is about 10 years old now. It was instituted by the Harper government. I see that it's about $20 million a year of municipal infrastructure funding. When will that money end? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I caution the department. Early 2023 means there are a couple of sittings and then an election. It's very hard to get legislation passed early 2023. I think with this one, specifically, getting an LP in 2022, if it's not going in the right direction, we are at risk of not passing this once again. One of those directions, as has been repeatedly asked by the NWT Association of Communities, is that this actually be a building standards act, that we look at the work of developing a northern building code; we look at how the GNWT Good Building Practices apply to the...

Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. It's not so much that I want it. I just believe I would like it to be publicly reported, so can I get a commitment that it will be made public? I can go look who won in 2015, where the money went, but then it just kind of fell off the map when MACA got hold of it. I am looking for public reporting. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I get a timeline on when the department started work on the Fire Prevention Act? Thank you, Madam Chair.

No. No further questions.

The Minister's answer gets to my next point directly. I believe we are presently where the Yukon was about 20 years ago, where they had one brewery, and now they have multiple in multiple communities. They have opened a distillery. There is an industry growing with people working, northern labour. There are jobs existing. I hope one day I can stand in this House and another MLA can ask questions about local manufacturing of wine, beer, and spirits in this territory. My question for the Minister is: is there work being done to assess the barriers for expanding the manufacturing in this...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think perhaps, once the Minister has compiled some information, the appropriate committee could request a briefing on this. Also, what I'm looking to get from the Minister is, I know this was spoken to previously, but how the School of Community Government fits in with Aurora College. If Aurora College plans to teach Indigenous governments as one of its core courses, to me, it doesn't make sense to have the School of Community Government using the CIRNAC funding to have a competing course. Can the Minister speak to the plans of any changes or the role of the School of...

Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking the Minister of Finance for her budget address last week. I also want to thank all of my colleagues for their dedication and hard work over the last year. We executed a model response to a pandemic, and, with vaccines well distributed, relief is in sight. Our Cabinet and public servants can hold their heads high in our response to COVID-19.

Mr. Speaker, it's hard to disagree with much of the new-initiative spending in this budget: $1.7 million for a small business tax cut which brings us in line with other jurisdictions and is most certainly needed for...