Kieron Testart

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Government Operations has reviewed Bill 8, Emergency Management Act, and that Bill 8 is now ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I agree with the Minister. We need a made-in-the-North system, so I'm trying to explore other options that may have not been considered. I commend the government for actually bringing forward a plan. It's just late in the game, and people are concerned about how it's going to affect families, so can the Minister share the cap-and-trade analysis they've done with this House or release it publicly so we can see the analysis and see exactly what was considered?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as other Members of the House have mentioned, many of my constituents have concerns with the government's carbon pricing plan. I've taken a look at some of the statistics on emissions. If you look at the overall emissions for commercial and residential combined, it only makes up 10 per cent of total carbon emissions, so it doesn't seem like everyday Northern families are really the ones who are creating the highest level of emissions. I'm wondering if there's a way we can better craft a system to shield them from potential economic hardship that comes along...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that there are offsets and rebates in the carbon pricing proposal. However, industry, who are our largest emitters, seems to have many very high rebates built into it. So I'd like to ask the Minister what the priority was in the carbon pricing plan. Was it on the everyday family, the people who are producing only 10 per cent of emissions, or was the focus really to work with industry to lower those emissions and to bring us to the standard that we need to be at to reduce temperatures moving into the future? Thank you.

Did the Minister look into partnering with larger jurisdictions to be part of a carbon market? The province of Ontario was a part of California's carbon market. They joined with Quebec. So was that proposed, or was it just looking at the NWT as a carbon market?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to recognize the contributions of candidates to our local elections. Yesterday, many communities in the Northwest Territories had their polling days, and it was amazing to see the results, particularly because so many women were elected. The Legislative Assembly has made getting women into politics and changing our dismal statistics a key priority of our mandate and a key priority of the 18th Assembly; and if yesterday's results were anything to look at, I think we are starting to turn the corner in the Northwest Territories and seeing more...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the department cannot succeed in hiring this position, what is the Minister's backup plan? Are we still going to move ahead with changes, or does everything stall until we can fill that position? Thank you.

So the social work program as it is, could the Minister make the improvements or some of the improvements that are indicated in that review, which is now public information? Could the Minister implement some of those recommendations now, improve the program and get it working the way it should to fill the much-needed gap in social workers, that are indicated in the government's own Skills 4 Success strategy?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize two of my constituents from the fine riding of Kam Lake, Ms. Heather Nakehk'o and Deneze Nakehk'o. Thank you for being here today.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the committee would like to take under consideration Bill 13, An Act to Amend the Securities Act; Bill 14, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2018; Bill 15, Document Formalization, Service and Notice Reform Statute Law Amendment Act; Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Social Assistance Act; and Bill 17, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.