Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Yesterday I started questioning the Minister in regards to reimbursing residents for airfares incurred during evacuation. And I'd like to continue those questions today.

As I explained today during my Member's statement, some residents tried unsuccessfully to use the government charters, and some also thought when they were leaving on commercial flights that they were aiding the evacuation efforts of the Government of the Northwest Territories. And so I'd like to ask the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, every evacuation story is different. Residents had access to different levels of public or personal support, and sometimes it came down to where they stood in a line. The government supplied air charters for residents to leave and return to the territory and, because of this, will not reimburse evacuation airfare costs. But the finer details of accessing those flights matter.

Yellowknife's evacuation day buzzed with evacuation rumors that Regular MLAs were never able to verify. By 9 a.m., multiple NGOs were told to move their clients because of the impending...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm also seeing in this capital acquisition plan points for or calls for things like dual seat firebosses, which is an aircraft. It calls for fire engine types, and looking at the summer we just had and the incredible support that we had from other places both nationally and internationally, I'm wondering if these are items that the GNWT also loans out or rents out to other places down south, or if we also send our crews south as well, looking at the support that we had here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, given the conversation we've just had now about the importance of schools in communities, the fact that we heard, you know, even during the Premier's Member's statement about how this has truly been an Assembly where we have gone from crisis to crisis to crisis, what is the intent, then, of the Department of Infrastructure what are their intentions of how to keep these very important projects moving on time and moving to a state of completion? Because to get a project like this done in five years is not timely. It's not realistic for a community...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So this project, the Mangilaluk School, will be done November 1st, 2023, in its entirety? Can that be confirmed, please.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. I appreciate the acknowledgement that Cabinet will take some time to discuss this.

Mr. Speaker, it's one of those things where absolutely there was charter flights that were going out. But there was also other people who did help the evacuation and the reentry process by putting themselves on flights, and people did what they had to do in order to be compliant with the order in order to be safe. I acknowledge that this might in turn be a substantial cost for the government, but this is a cost that the government is much better...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know I've had numerous conversations with the Minister about this and at this point, I'm thankful that the Minister still answers my phone calls. But I'm not done having this conversation.

Mr. Speaker, I get that the government had evacuation flights. Those evacuation flights weren't available on Thursday. There was extreme environmental factors that heightened peoples' fear; and people were being told the fire's going to be here by the weekend, you need to do what you can to get out. Then they sat in those lineups, and they were not put on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I might get in trouble for this one, but I'd like to recognize Kevin Whitehead who started as a Kam Lake resident, moved to Yellowknife South, and we just got him back. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I just have a couple questions about this section. But I figured I should start off by thanking Dr. Kelly for her service during this absolutely insane wildfire season, so thank you very much.

My first question is in regards to the fact that these capital estimates are generally developed by departments well in advance, and I think they're done in, like, April or May if I'm right. I might be wrong on that one. But they're done they're not done in the middle of summer. And so I'm wondering if based on our wildfire season if the department sees any...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Social Development is pleased to provide its Report on the Review of Bill 77: Nursing Profession Act.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Great Slave, that Committee report 5919(2), Standing Committee on Social Development Report on the Review of Bill 77: Nursing Profession Act, be deemed read and printed in Hansard in its entirety. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.