Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly feel for any residents right now that are, you know, anywhere in the South Slave dealing with some variety of natural disasters or any other personal circumstances. I'm not going to be in a position to speak to what whether or not NorthwesTel and Bell need to sort out their billing in a different way. I can certainly raise it to the counterparts at NorthwesTel that I do meet with on occasion and see if there is a path forward or, you know, perhaps try to support provide us some information about online banking opportunities. And if that's in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we don't need to do things the way the Yukon or the federal government do. I know the Yukon process wasn't necessarily greeted with a hundred percent pleasantness from the Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories or in the Yukon nor from their businesses.

Where we are on this one, Mr. Speaker, an Indigenous procurement policy has gone to the Northwest Territories Council of Leaders and our modern treaty and selfgovernment tables. This is where it belongs. These are the groups that are going to be impacted. These are groups that need to have a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't make everybody whole. The Government of the Northwest Territories can't make everybody whole. I think more several of my colleagues have already spoken about how heartbreaking this is, to hear on late Sunday night that this community was being evacuated yet again. Mr. Speaker, my first thoughts were to children who were being woken up in the middle of the night to have to leave their houses again. So, you know, it's not for lack of awareness of how tremendously difficult this must be to the extent that someone who is not experiencing it can even...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not answering any more questions today; I'm done.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following four documents: Plain Language Summary for Bill 83, Liquor Act; Plain Language Summary for Bill 84, An Act to Amend the Northwest Territories Business Development and Investment Corporation Act,

2022 SocioEconomic Agreement: Social Data Report; and, Let's Talk Agriculture: Have Your Say Online Survey Results. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let me sneak this one in first and just say that there is the GHG grant program for buildings and industry that does give a 25 percent eligible project cost for business and industry applicants. I want to sneak it in so that the business community does hear that and does access those funds.

Mr. Speaker, we've asked, other governments have asked, a number of Ministers have asked, hasn't gotten us very far in terms of being exempted from the carbon tax. So the Minister here has heard it himself. What I'd like to do, though, moving forward, let's get...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's not my place necessarily to speak to what is or is not in the federal budget. What I can say, Mr. Speaker, having spent a lot more time studying in depth what was in Budget 2022 of the federal government is that there is still opportunities to use that money towards addressing the fact of the carbon tax. In addition to which is they're only just starting to roll out what's happening in Budget 2023. We want to strike while we can, Mr. Speaker. I am glad there's a minister in the House from the federal government. We want to use all of the resources of...

Mr. Speaker, this one we've tried. We've tried. I've tried. Other jurisdictions facing similar situations have tried. Other territories have tried. And we haven't gotten very far. Mr. Speaker, I want to look forward, and I want to find solutions that's going to reduce our carbon tax costs in the North because we have less reliance on fossil fuel use. And that's the point of the carbon tax, is to get people off of fossil fuels. We don't have alternatives in the Northwest Territories. But if that's the federal government's goal, then the federal government needs to help us get off of fossil fuel...

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I'll be doing that as well. But more than that, Mr. Speaker, it's about the fact that there are a total lack of alternatives to fossil fuel use here in the Northwest Territories, and if this is how the federal government wants to respond is through a carbon tax, then they need to help us find the alternatives to it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the availability of healthy, affordable food is a fundamental requirement for a good quality of life and a strong, healthy territory. The Government of the Northwest Territories mandate reflects this and commits to addressing food security while also investing in Northwest Territories agriculture as a growing sector of our economy.

Since 2003, the GNWT has partnered with the federal government to provide financial resources and crossjurisdictional supports to encourage the growth and sustainability of the agricultural and agrifood sector in the Northwest Territories. A succession...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for the Sahtu, that Bill 84, An Act to Amend the Northwest Territories Business Development and Investment Corporation Act, be read for the second time.

This bill amends the Northwest Territories Business Development and Investment Corporation to

Change the name of the act to the Prosper NWT Act;

Continue the Northwest Territories Business Development and Investment Corporation as Prosper NWT;

Clarify when a corporation will be considered a subsidiary of Prosper NWT for the purposes of the act;

Provide the Board with the authority to modify...