Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My first set of questions is for ENR. I'm going to start with the foxes, Mr. Speaker. That's where the rabies are most present, and then they get into dogs, and then they get into humans. So can the Minister of ENR just tell us whether the department is presently concerned with their rabies outbreak in the current fox Arctic Fox population. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I promise I'm only going to try and only talk for about ten minutes this whole main estimates review, and all of it's going to be about asset management. And I know this section's called asset management but I guess more in regards to all of the assets in the department.

Last earlier in this session, the Minister gave an update on road construction and she said there was, you know, $45 million improving our highways and bridges and 160 kilometres of chip seal. And as she was giving that statement, I tried to look through previous, you know, main estimates and the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Northwest Territories, unfortunately, is having a banner year for rabies and, unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, last year was also a banner year for rabies. And there's a couple of reasons for this. One is it's cyclical in the Arctic fox population so it tends to spike. The other reason is that with changes in climate and warmer weather, rabies outbreaks are becoming more and more common. And, Mr. Speaker, it's worth noting that rabies is one of those public health campaigns of the 20th century that we largely solved. There are still 60,000 human deaths a year from rabies...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Northwest Territories create a law that requires all carbon tax revenues to be rebated to households, business community, businesses, community governments, Indigenous governments, and nongovernmental organizations.

And further, in creating this law, the government should consider how rebates to each group will work and whether the carbon tax system should be revenue neutral.

And furthermore, this law should also require a separate accounting and annual reporting. Thank you, Madam Chair.

And furthermore, that each recommendation, NTPC and the department should indicate whether it agreed its work plan for implementation and its progress towards implementation. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I move that this Assembly call on the federal government to better recognize the specific needs and circumstances of the Northwest Territories in its climate change approach. These specific needs include significantly more funding to make renewable energy options accessible and affordable for all Northerners;

Further, committee recommends that the Premier of the Northwest Territories convey this motion without delay to the Prime Minister of Canada with a letter requesting a reply.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I recognize each one's unique. And one of my favourite unique ones is actually not Northview, it's Northern United Place. We signed a longterm lease with Northern United Place. It's allowed them to provide multiple units of discounted housing for vulnerable people for decades. And we were actually willing to pay a little more for that longterm lease knowing that it would be kind of a combined commercial and residential that would house some people. I think it's kind of a great model, and we never did it again for some reason. But I guess in the form of some...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, Bill 60, An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act, received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on November 1st, 2022, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review.

In its review, it was important to the committee to identify what changes could help mitigate the economic impacts of the tax. Committee also wanted to understand implications of reverting to the federal backstop.

Committee held a public technical briefing from the Minister of Finance and the department officials on November 25th, 2022...

Thank you, Madam Chair. We've come to my favourite part of the main estimates, which is page 285, $127 million we are going to pay in future lease payments largely to one company. But I wanted to start with a question about the new government building, the Sot Dene I've actually never said that out loud. The theory was when we spent that $25 million was that it would save us money yet we were required to do a lease to own commitment. I'm just wondering if we've ever followed up with whether that was a cheaper option or a more expensive option to build ourselves a sevenstorey office building...

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the one of the things about rabies is that the people most at risk are our hunters and trappers who are out on the land, often remote, and the other people are children, who perhaps just don't recognize the signs of a rabid animal. And I just want to ensure that we are treating people quickly as possible because even if you survive, there are some very nasty longterm cognitive effects if you ever get exposed to rabies. Can the Minister of health just confirm where people can get the rabies antidote. Is it presently available at all our community health...