Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As has become a bit of a tradition, a tradition I hope to put an end to, I open every session asking about the Ingraham Trail fire services, so my question for the Minister of MACA is: Can I have an update on whether there are plans to reinstate fire services to the Ingraham Trail for April 1st? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The problem with this issue is that, if services are going to end, my constituents want some time to perhaps set up their own volunteer service. If the city can't reach agreement with MACA, then, perhaps, the Dettah fire services can be upgraded and certified to provide services. However, this all takes time, and it's unlikely to be done by April 1st. As such, the best option here is to get some sort of interim agreement with the City of Yellowknife so that other options can be explored in time. Do we have a sense of how long that will take? I hear the Minister say she will have an update for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank God for the federal government. I heard earlier today the Premier say that we have received over $120 million from the federal government in COVID support. I think that number would also be dwarfed by the amount of money we have seen the federal government dish out and serve through EI and through CanNor. There is no doubt that the federal government has kept our economy running. However, Mr. Speaker, early on in this pandemic, we heard talks of an Emerge Stronger Plan, a plan of what the GNWT was going to do to recover from this economic crisis. In fact, our...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My first set of questions a few weeks ago, when we started this session, were on the Ingraham Trail fire services, and my last questions will be on the Ingraham Trail fire services. The Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh raised the idea of Dettah providing fire services to the Ingraham Trail. My question for the Minister of MACA is: is that a feasible option, and have we done any work on that? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I believe the problem with saying that it costs a lot of money is: we have not actually done the assessment to see what it costs, and we have not looked at the way all of these programs are working together and how much is already being spent. I personally believe we could actually lower income assistance if it meant we guaranteed the money for longer periods of time and with less bureaucracy. I heard the Minister of health the other day mention the idea of putting a seniors' portal such that all of the applications of funding for seniors is in one place, and I laughed because I know how...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge that the Department of ECE in income assistance does lots of great work, and we have probably one of the most generous income assistance programs in the country. I think the department even inherently recognizes some of the benefits of a basic income. During the pandemic, one of the first things we did is we payrolled people for three months to give them more guaranteed time to report. We also got rid of the productivity requirements such that they got their money whether they failed to show up for a meeting or whatnot. I believe...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Northwest Territories regularly has one of the highest GDPs per capita in the world, and we are consistently amongst one of the highest government spending per capita in the world. No doubt, the first statistic is largely due to the fact that we have a small population and diamond mines, and the second fact is due to the difficulty of delivering services over such a vast territory. However, in this same time period, Madam Speaker, we have seen very little progress on many of our things. Our high school graduation rates and our housing inequality have all largely...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Perhaps I'm a little less stubborn than my colleague from Frame Lake, but I share many of his sentiments. Ultimately, I will be voting in favour of this capital budget. I think there are a number of problems, but I believe our Cabinet and our government are aware of them. One I would like to see addressed is some of the smaller infrastructure at times. I'm happy to see that $2.5 million for our municipal funding gap, but we know there is plenty of more work to do. The Department of Infrastructure's deferred maintenance budget is growing every single year, I think...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And now to the most important motion, the one that adjourns this House until February 3rd. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on Thursday, November 5, 2020, it shall be adjourned until Wednesday, February 3, 2021;

AND FURTHER, that any time prior to February 3, 2021, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, or...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am a little frustrated. The way I see this, there are three options. One, we contract with Dettah, and we make sure that a fire hall that has struggled to get insurance and get a full crew of volunteers happens by April 1st; two, we contract with the City of Yellowknife, who has been extremely resistant to providing services; or, three, in the next few months, we construct a fire hall on the Ingraham Trail, which also seems extremely impossible. My question for the Minister is: what is the plan to make sure fire services continue on the Ingraham Trail? Thank you...