Rylund Johnson

Yellowknife North

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I see we're spending $2.7 million on early learning and child care. That's great, and then it's fully offset from the Government of Canada. That's even better.

Can I just get a bit of an explanation of what this fund is and especially in relation to, I see it runs to 2025, in relation to the upcoming childcare fund and agreement we could sign. I just want to understand how, if at all, they work together. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation ensure that all its housing units have fit for habitation such that tenants are not forced to reserve  resort to improvised methods to regulate the temperature of their homes. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I'll just ask one more question. Is all this work being done, is it just for phase 1 of the road, is it just the Lockhart Lake, or are we doing environmental assessment and wildlife studies for the potential of the whole project? I'm just trying to get a little more information on how we're approaching the permitting. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Our report was previously read into the record so I don't have any substantive comments to add to the report; however, individual Members may have comments on the report and its recommendations. I'd just like to thank the committee for their commitment and hard work on this report.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I was hoping I could just get a little bit more detail on the money being spent on the Slave Geological Province Corridor. I understand we spent $2.8 million this year, and we're moving $6.5 million forward. I get this is do we have an estimate of the total cost to get this planning work done? And I believe some of this is also for the potential environmental review. Can I just get a little bit more detail on what we expect the planning and environmental costs to be. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. That is the fact that I needed to click here. We are adjusting what was done in 2021, we have already approved the main estimates which get us to $1.5 billion. That's adding another $300 million, leaving us about $300 million in our debt cap. I believe I just stated that correctly.

Can I just get an update from the Minister of Finance? I believe during her budget address, there was talk about unsustainability and that current projections project us hitting our debt cap of $1.8 billion just at the end of this Assembly. Is that still the case? Does this change any of...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

No further questions on that.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Perhaps I can just get the Minister of I guess I don't have a lot of issue with adding $10 million more to our massive debt, but I see here that the total government borrowing is $1.19 I'm going to call it just $1.2 billion. I actually thought we were higher than that because I know we were approaching the $1.3 billion cap, and now we got extended to $1.8 billion.

But I can just clarify that by the end of this fiscal, this is what that borrowing limit actually is; there's not some other number that it's different from the imposed cap. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I believe me and the Minister, we're going to get through this. We've had a number of conversations, and I previously asked whether the department was willing to change the guidelines that the Office of the Fire Marshal operates under to review draft documents first. And I want to clarify what I'm asking for here.

I'm not asking for a final occupancy permit or a final signoff on draft documents. That would be very inappropriate. But during building a building, the architects, the engineers, and the contractors all get together, they move around the plans, and...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm happy to seeing the half million dollars of completely federal money to support long-term care. I remember when this was announced, there was some this was kind of going on across the country. There were outbreaks in long-term care and so a number of deals were signed. Can I just get a bit of a explanation of what this money has been spent on to mitigate risk in longterm care settings during the pandemic? Thank you.