Shane Thompson

With the challenges that we saw last year, can the Minister advise us what MTS is doing to ensure that this doesn't happen in the future and whether MTS has a risk management plan in place?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have heard the barge scheduled to go to the Kitikmeot last year was cancelled in May. Can the Minister explain the rationale for the barge being cancelled? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will try to be quick with this one here. I struggle with this because I have one community that is part of the Intergovernmental Council, but then I have five communities that aren't. Again, it is looking at how we can work together to work with this.

If the Intergovernmental Council included the people who weren't part of the Tlicho and the Deh Cho, and they included as to the process, I think we could be working together, and it would be a positive step. Unfortunately, we have people who have not signed on to devolution, so people are saying, "You have to make decisions that are good for...

Thank you. I just wanted to clarify because I didn't see it in the bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Mr. Steve Nicoll for being inducted into the Education Hall of Fame. Steven has been a teacher at Liidlii Kue Regional High School in Fort Simpson since 2002. He has a passion for hands-on learning and outdoor education and has regularly taken students out on the land to learn survival skills and the traditional cultural way with the support of elders and community.

Along with being a role model to many, Steven is well-respected within the community of Fort Simpson. He is a man who lives by the Dene law, "Share what we have," and a person who...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I know, in my riding right now, I have a community that is looking at trying to get an area protected. They have gone through hoops, and Mr. Nadli is well aware of it and the challenges to move forward. People want clarity. They want to be able to understand exactly what it is, and so, at this point in time, I think we need to be respectful of that. I think this motion does help that.

As for the process, this is part of the process. It is. It was brought to committee. I sat back, and I listened to the committee. It did not pass committee, but it was moved back here...

A question for clarification here. When I look through the definition here, I don't see the Deh Cho Interim Measures Agreement or the Deh Cho land use planning process here. Can the Minister explain where that part of this is? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize Steve Nicoll, and I will be doing an acknowledgement later today. He is an amazing teacher, and I have to thank him as a parent. He taught all my children and he survived, so I give him credit to that. I give him kudos to that as well. My new CA, Charles Blondin, who is a political student at University of Alberta and he's already into politics, so he's helping me out, making me look good. As well, I'd like to welcome Sheila Cook and recognize her. I was a neighbour of hers, and I'd like to recognize her for the award, as well as Tracy, Tracy Cook...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, I am going to support the motion. I took offence by the Minister saying there was no consultation process. I sit here and I have looked at it. If there needs to be changes and there needs to be some work done, there are some conversations and there are some changes and there are some recommendations. I didn't see any of this. What I saw was the report. The committee did a really good job, and here we go. It is about the people of the Northwest Territories. It is not about the industry.

It concerns me that we are listening to a lobbyist group. We had a...

I guess we should just tell our students to quit going to school, or go down south and don't come back, because that's what some of the students are saying, is that they cannot afford what they're getting with this assessment. When we do these assessments, as I said, I had a student who got $120. It's not that she has an elaborate rent, or anything like that; it's not because she's eating five-star meals. This is what her struggle was. She was looking at about $850, then it went down to $120. So this is the problem.

If the department is going to do calculations, then a minimum amount needs to...