Steve Norn

Thank you, Minister, for that very detailed answer. On the form here, it says, four to six weeks. I guess I didn't really quite get an answer. In addition to this four to six weeks that it states on the form, is there an additional delay for claimants?

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. The medical travel expense claim form in its current format is not user-friendly, and it has been reported to me that they are hard to understand and to fill out, causing unnecessary delays. I have it here in front of me, and I am looking at it. I walked through with one of my constituents. It was a very difficult process. I think it would have been far easier to go take their claims and go to H&R Block and go fill it out, but I don't think we want to do that with our constituents to do these forms. I...

Madam Chair, I move that the chair rise and report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My thoughts on this: I am echoing what Member from Frame Lake said about getting notice for the point of order. I think we as Members, when we first got to the House, we are going to work together. I think we have got to continue to do that and not to surprise each other because we give that courtesy across the other side, and we expect the same thing in return. We did not get that today. That is not right.

On that note, about this whole issue, for me, personally, it wasn't too much on my radar, but the more I thought about it, I have four tenets, and I kind of have a...

Mahsi cho, Madam Chair. I won't say too much about this, but I think I really need to get this off my chest. I am really, really so supportive. It is good to see that we are moving forward with education and advancing our education and talking about the knowledge economy and attracting investments. This is a good opportunity from that aspect. The only reason I am kind of conflicted about this, again, to what the Member for Monfwi said, a lot of our small communities, a lot of our students from small communities, I feel like they are going to be on the outside looking in. That, for me, is going...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for the response from the Minister. My concern is, and somebody has already echoed today, that my money is leaving the North. I just feel right now, I'm hoping within the life of this Assembly that we will see changes for our local and our northern and our Indigenous businesses, and have something real to show for it because right now, it's not working out that way, and I'm hoping we go in that direction. That's just a comment, not a question.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 12-19(2), 2019-2023 Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Thank you for the response, or kind of the lack of it. There was still silence and a lot of radio silence from the ENR Department for this whole development. Going back to the agreement, in my research, I found out that the Indigenous governments largely have observer status. My question to the Minister is: are there any plans to have Indigenous governments play more of an active role moving forward with our transboundary water agreement with Alberta?

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to share some remarks regarding the large oil sands mining project known as Teck Frontier, which, as of two days ago, has officially been withdrawn by Teck Resources Limited.

The news of this decision, in my view, is positive. The adverse environmental impacts that this project would have brought to our territory would have been felt for generations. We here in the NWT have always been feeling the impacts of the oil sands development for many years already. We have seen the impacts it had on our waterways, our interconnected lakes and rivers that flow...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move to report progress of Committee of the Whole.