Rylund Johnson

I hope, by end of three years of pestering the Minister about this, I can get a couple of extra hours. At some point, if the democratically elected people of the NWT can't get a couple of hours of time to renew their driver's licence, then I don't believe we are having the right conversations. My question for the Minister of Infrastructure is simple. I don't want to continue having conversations about the operating costs and the operations of a building. Will the Minister direct her department to open the department of motor vehicles in Yellowknife for some portion of time, either evenings or...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess this goes back to that issue. I question if there is outstanding money on people's equity leases, and they're not making payments, and we agree that we will eventually give them the land in fee simple. Why are we spending millions of dollars administering this when we could simply just hand over the land? Is the Department of Lands willing to look into cases where there may be outstanding fees? Is the Department of Lands willing to conduct an analysis of whether we're actually spending more money administering equity leases than we are actually owed at the end...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I previously asked questions to the Minister of Infrastructure about extending the hours of the department of motor vehicles in Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, I recognize that this is a small issue, but it is my intention to go through each of my campaign platform points and try my best, and if I can't have an office buy a couple of hours, then I wonder what I am doing here. The Minister responsible for the Department of Infrastructure last said that one of the barriers to implementing this was cost. I would like to know what the cost would be in adding an additional day to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to begin with the equity leases. Can the Minister of Lands tell me how many equity leases there are outstanding and the total amount owed on them?

Fifteen out of 320, I believe, is a statistic that shows that we're really not tapping into a huge section of our labour pool; that is, women who are willing to enter the trades. Is the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment willing to create a women in trades program?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do understand that there is a difference between land lease fees and taxation. I guess my concern here is we have the Department of Lands acknowledging that there are rights-based cabins and then continuing to charge those people fees. I really don't think that this is the purview of the Department of Lands. I think this is a matter of Executive and Indigenous Affairs. One of the problems is we have seen land administration continue to be a colonial tool where we enforce these policies without looking at the larger picture, that Indigenous nations are saying, "No...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In honour of this Sunday being International Women's Day, and my constituency assistant Cat McGurk recently receiving her Red Seal in carpentry, I want to speak about women in trades. Canada is facing a spike in trade and technology positions, without the skilled labour to fill those positions. The NWT presently heavily relies on southern labour to supply our various trade needs. Our infrastructure projects, our mines, and our private sector are all put at risk because skilled labour has become such a precious commodity in the North. We need to build up our skilled...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess my reason for requesting it is because securities administration in the GNWT, as we have seen with Cameron Hills, as we've seen with other departments, it seems to be all over the place in this kind of patchwork process. Will the Minister of Lands pursue a consolidated system to responsibly manage all of our securities, identify securities by project, and guarantee timely postings -- this is multiple questions. Madam Chair, will the Department of Lands conduct a review of all the securities in the GNWT and look to set out one coherent policy for the GNWT?

Thank you, Madam Chair. If someone comes forward and identifies that it is a rights-based cabin, do we then not charge them lease fees?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Perhaps if I could get the Minister to provide me a breakdown of what is held versus Lands and ENR? I will have questions on this when we get to speak to the Minister of ENR about the overlapping role of securities administration in those departments.