Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard the Minister speak earlier about, you know, usually the arts organizations were thinking about a grassroots and then they go and they can access and leverage all this federal funding. And a similar thing exists for museums across the country. Many museums heavily settle for publicly funded but also receive a lot of federal donations and private donations and have an independent board. And I think this gets to some of the tension about what exactly the Prince of Wales is intended to be and what its mandate is. I think one of the ways to solve that would also be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A diverse and committed arts community exists in the Northwest Territories, with literally dozens of groups in the areas of dance, theatre, music, film, visual arts, crafts, and many more. Organizations may be small but they are big on hard work, enthusiasm, commitment, and inclusive programs that reach across our communities. Artists understand and acknowledge how the arts function to support our social strengths, our human health and wellbeing. Hill Strategies Research Reports reveal the link between the arts and student engagement in education, positive economic...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think how much consultation and engagement and how long a process takes is really the debate of the entire GNWT on all matters, and it's not a delicate matter. The previous motion speaking to bringing things to the Council of Leaders, I ask that the government take that seriously and, clearly, this could be a legacy of this government as we find that balance.

On this situation of the polytechnic, I think committee, I fully support them, making sure everyone is properly engaged. I think in many ways we get one last shot at this to do this right, and in my ways some of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to reiterate a point that I think is made in the last three motions here, is that we pay Northwestel about $10 million a year right now. We coown a $100 million fibre line with them. The CRTC and the federal government gives them hundreds of millions of dollars in public money every single year and yet, consistently, we do not advocate or hold them accountable to allow competition in the market. I understand that they are largely, the only regulated internet service monopoly in Canada, and there's some fighting that has to happen at the CRTC that does that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The federal government, after a series of review, recommended best practices for Crown corporations was to not have public servants sit on their board. The federal government passed a number of recommendations.

In our own situation, I think it's very likely that our Power Corp will be asking for a rate increase to the Public Utilities Board, and I really think it confuses the issue of whether we are responsible for rate increases, or whether the Power Corp is, when the board is made up entirely of deputy ministers.

So my question for the Minister responsible for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard the Minister speak earlier about, you know, we don't necessarily have a bunch of new funding for the art strategy and we have to look at what we're spending right now and evaluate that. And my understanding is how these things usually go is we do a strategy and then sometimes we do a framework or an action plan.

Can the Minister just speak to whether there is some subsequent document coming out of the art strategy and will it have any funding attached to it? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on some of the questions that my colleague from Kam Lake asked.

Presently one of the requirements to get Canadian Council of Arts funding at a certain level is to have an exhibition in a public art gallery. We are the only jurisdiction right now who does not have a public art gallery. Well, we kind of have one. It's a trailer that drives around to communities and shows public art. But I really think there's a lowest common denominator here where we could get some sort of space somewhere that meets the criteria of a public art gallery. Is that...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions were for the Minister of Housing but I've noticed she's stepped out. So I'm going to have an impromptu question for our Premier.

There's been some previous discussion about corporate restructuring, and I'll note that some of that discussion is centered around the departments of ENR, MACA, and Lands, who all tend to have one Minister right now. I'm just wondering if this is still on the table in the life of this Assembly, whether the Premier is going to look at corporate restructuring and how different departments are structured?

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would also appreciate any insight to whether we have updated our selfgovernment mandates. My current understanding is that there's hundreds of pages which form the selfgovernment mandate. There's a chapter on every single topic imaginable from health to education to government services. I mean, I have never seen any of this but I'm wondering if, given devolution, given the commitment to UNDRIP, whether a full rewrite of looking at all of the selfgovernment mandates is occurring or has occurred? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. With calls across the country to return land to Indigenous governments and really at the heart of our standing land claims is a question about land. I was hoping the Premier could provide some insight.