Julian Morse

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Great Slave, that pursuant to Rule 9.4(5)(a) that the Government of the Northwest Territories table a comprehensive response to this report, including all recommendations, within 120 days, or at the earliest opportunity subsequent to the passage of 120 days.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you well, I'm just waiting for the clock. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam Chair, I just want to look to the Housing Northwest Territories contribution, $76 million this year. Of that contribution, how much of that was spent on capital for new builds or upgrades to existing buildings, maintenance, etcetera?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Your Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to provide its Report on the Review of the 20222023 Annual Report of the Northwest Territories Information and Privacy Commissioner.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Great Slave, that Committee Report 320(1), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 20222023 Annual Report of the Northwest Territories Information and Privacy Commissioner, be deemed read and printed in the Hansard in its entirety.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That's definitely something I want to dig into a little deeper in the future.

Moving to the low carbon economy leadership fund, or the LCELF I think we're calling it, I won't reiterate comments made by the other Members, but what I would like is an update from the Minister. I know there's kind of active negotiations and discussions going on with the feds. I'm wondering if there's any updates on that. I do want to encourage the Minister to really pursue this one. It's one that a lot of people are benefitting from in helping us kind of move in the direction of our climate...

Thank you for the answer. I was maybe hoping for a little bit more information on what that really means. What does the program do? What, does it provide people cash; does it provide people rebates to replace heating systems in their homes; what are we doing with the $200,000?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, the one that kind of caught my eye here was that, you know, the arts organization operating funding. I know that operating funding  funding for just kind of keeping the lights on, keeping the doors open, is what NGOs and arts organizations alike continue to tell us they need. And so it looks to me like operating funding for arts organizations has been reduced a bit. It was previously $470,000. It seems to be reinstated as $321,000.

Can the Minister just explain, are there any organizations who are losing operating funding through this change? Are there any...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I do yeah, I do note that I actually have notes for myself on Aurora College on the next page. It can be where we're going night after night here, it can be hard to keep track of all our notes. But, you know, the line item is here also so it seems like a fair place to also ask the question.

Just to be clear here, the Minister suggested that Aurora College had almost $2 million in reductions simply with vacant positions that weren't filled, is that correct? Or is there maybe a bit more to that story?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I appreciate those answers. And now kind of to the business plan itself, looking at that business plan it was just the continuing implementation of Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, it just highlighted for me to kind of have a look at those calls, and that number 7 stood out to me particularly considering the auditor general's report that the department is responding to. So I guess my question is on the business plan, I don't see any commitments or targets being sought to reduce the gap between Indigenous and nonIndigenous youth. I'm not seeing...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the interest of time, I'm not going to repeat the compelling arguments made by the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake but did just want to reiterate my support for what he was saying, and I just state for the record I would wholeheartedly support supplementary appropriation coming forward from the department to better fund this area because it's important to my riding also. And, yeah, just want the Minister to be aware that the support is there for it if she's able to bring something forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm excited and proud to acknowledge Frame Lake resident Morgan Stabel who recently won the national youth bowling championship while representing the NWT in the senior girls division. Morgan is the top Canadian five-pin bowler in her category, and she is the first NWT resident to win gold at a national bowling event in Canada in 22 years.

Mr. Speaker, that is an incredible feat and an inspiration for all NWT athletes. Congratulations, Morgan, on your big achievement.