Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before we move on, I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank both the mover and the seconder for bringing this forward. I think that this is a really important conversation to be had, and I appreciate when people use private Member's bills in order to move things that they are passionate about and that are important to the people of the Northwest Territories. I wanted to just thank the Member for Monfwi for bringing this forward. Thank you.

In favour.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And I appreciate that. And can the Minister then confirm that municipalities will not be on the hook for expenses related to this forest firefighting effort or this wildfire fighting effort. My concern is that the cost of living in the territory is already incredibly high and that municipalities bearing the brunt of these costs will, in turn, actually just be passed on to residents through the form of taxes. And so I just want to make sure that we have a common understanding that these are not expenses that will be incurred and expected to be paid for by...

Absolutely, thank you. No, the Member for Yellowknife North alluded to doing a review of both this fire suppression season and also the evacuation, and I know that that's going to be a heavy topic probably in September if we do end up sitting in September but I'm wondering if there is any kind of commitment that could be made here today that that is work that will be done. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I do have some general comments, and I'm going to start just by saying that I was quite surprised to see that this supplemental appropriation was specific to ECE and did not include Finance and ITI. Just from I'm currently sitting here in session today from the city of Edmonton, which has gone above and beyond to try to support residents, and I have to say a huge shout out to city councillors as well that have been working closely with MLAs, to try and help out people as best they can. But right now where I sit, a lot of residents have paid out...

In favour.

In favour.

In favour.

In favour.

Yes, I'm wondering if the Minister can make a commitment, then, to keep Members on this side aware of what the GNWT will be requesting for reimbursement on when it comes to municipalities and what they're expecting municipalities to bear on their own when it comes to that cost breakdown just so that we have all the information and we're not finding out down the road that there was an expectation that a municipality take on a large chunk of this, so. But that's my last question. Thank you.