Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. I am also always confused about what I know and what is public and whatnot. I was simply looking for something public. My next question is: can I have some explanation of what a debenture is for the NWT Hydro Corporation, specifically what these debts are that have interest rates 6.42 percent, 9 percent, 10 percent? Can someone explain to me what that is and why would we ever be paying that amount of interest?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that the Minister acknowledges that there are problems with the building inspection. However, I think the argument that this would create further red tape, when there is simply no enforcement or inspection occurring, is not a valid argument, Mr. Speaker. It's a free-for-all right now, as soon as you leave Yellowknife, in regard to building standards. We have a number of codes and guidelines, some are enforceable, some are not, but at the end of the day, there is no one there to enforce this at a territorial level. Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe I asked this question before, and perhaps this is the page to get it. I have trouble reading these numbers and making any sense of them. Perhaps you or your deputy minster can just give me an estimate. We are borrowing essentially $1.2 billion here. I know it is over a number of projects. I know there is short term and long term. How much interest do we pay on borrowing $1.2 billion?

That is a great list of programs, and I'm happy we're going to meet that target regardless of whether we have a building standards act. I am very happy to see our GNWT best building practices followed. They are great practices. The reality on the ground is, if you are in a community, you can build whatever you want because no one comes and inspects it and no one enforces any of the building codes. Given this reality on the ground, is the Minister of Infrastructure willing to work with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and begin the work to develop a building standards act?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Looking at the 2019 Main Estimates, there was $65 million for the liquor and cannabis sales. I see that the actuals were $54 million in 2018-2019. Now we are estimating $54 million. Is that due to us simply selling less cannabis than we expected, or what is the cause for that?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank our Minister of Finance for our budget address this week, and before we move it into Committee of the Whole, I wanted to provide my response.

In reply, I want to pose some fundamental questions for this Assembly, questions of what kind of territory we want to be and our place within confederation. I want to share some thoughts on where we're at as a territory and what I believe we must do to move forward. I will focus my address on the question of what it means to be seated here in this House and what it means to be a Northerner.

Given this is a...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe I was well aware of that when I asked that question. Would the Minister be willing to share the reports or the work that the Internal Audit Bureau does with the appropriate standing committee?

No more questions, Madam Chair. I will take that as a commitment. I believe that I will have questions on that after being provided the breakdown.

Thank you, Madam Chair. One of my issues is we keep getting commitments to have technical briefings with confidential committees, and the whole point of sitting in this House is to be more transparent. I believe the Affirmative Action Policy has turned into the sacred cow that we're all afraid to touch due to the fact that there's a potential Charter challenge for people who reside in the Northwest Territories to have preferred status. That is not Indigenous people, that is indigenous to the North; Indigenous, not Aboriginal. It is the fear of that Charter challenge that has prevented us from...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I recognize that, when we want to attract good talent, we have to pay bonuses. My concern is that there is no transparency in how much those are. They're not even budgeted for. I would like a commitment from the Department of Finance that we will publicly disclose what we paid last year for bonuses, and we can get some sort of transparency going forward on what that amount is.