R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So in the past government, we did take the step of providing two- and three-year contribution agreements to a number of NGOs, which was a big step. You can't plan with just, you know, one year of topup funding assured. And I do recognize the importance of NGOs and the work that they do. I talk a lot about partnerships and the fact that the GNWT can't do it alone. We can't do everything alone whereas NGOs they have a lot of expertise. They do a lot of things the government can't. So going forward, we will have to work more closely with NGOs, strengthen that relationship...

Of course. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So similar to the election period where the public service still continues to exist despite the Cabinet not being active in providing direction, the public service continues to do their work. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize a few members of the team that we've recently brought on. Our new principal secretary, Dr. Joe Dragon; the deputy secretary, Kyla Kakfwi Scott; and Fredrick Bergeron, the executive administrative coordinator in the principal secretary's office.

I also want to recognize Mr. Tony Whitford, former Member, former Minister, former Speaker, Commissioner, sergeantatarms. We're always happy to see him in the gallery.

Another former colleague, Mr. Jackson Lafferty, of course the Tlicho grand chief, former Member, former Minister, and former Speaker when I was...

Mr. Speaker, I must begin by acknowledging the plane crash that occurred in Fort Smith on January 23rd. I send my deepest condolences to the families and friends who have been impacted by this tragedy, and to the entire community of Fort Smith. I visited Fort Smith shortly after the accident, and it was clear that the people we lost were loved deeply and will be sorrily missed. I hope the families are able to find some comfort in the outpouring of community support that I witnessed.

Mr. Speaker, I must commend and thank all of the first responders involved in the efforts that day, as well as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And as I said, this is work we need to do. So they are I think they're well suited. I think they're designed to get that information. The reviews are going to include feedback from NGOs, the NGOs that were participating in the evacuation that were assisting the vulnerable populations. So we need to know the issues that they ran into, and we need to figure out how the government can better assist them going forward. One of the biggest issues that I saw during the evacuations was communicating and planning. Often people didn't have a plan. There wasn't a plan in place...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't want to task the department with a bunch of work at this point. Once we get those priorities in, then we're going to have the opportunity to do that work and we will be looking at positions all across the North, funded positions, unfunded positions, vacant positions, filled positions. We really want a good overview of the positions that we have and how they're working and how they're supporting the regions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so the was decisions made in the previous government. I can't speak to those decisions, but I can say that, you know, as Minister of ECE I know I put a lot of jobs in Inuvik so, yes, I'm a big supporter of positions in communities and in the regions. And I'll say that it's both Members from Inuvik who have brought this to my attention, so it is definitely on my radar and something that I have initiated discussions with the department about. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And similar to the first question, I don't have that at my fingertips. I suspect that the priorities set by this Assembly may impact any timelines that do exist. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, I don't have that information at my fingertips. I'll be happy to get back to the Member. Thank you.