Shane Thompson

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently, I had an issue brought to my attention about Student Financial Assistance. After doing my own research, I have some questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Mr. Speaker, some students exhaust all their remissible loans or supplementary grants. They end up needing to access student loans, which need to be paid back. In speaking with students, they don't have any issue with that. However, there seems to be a roadblock in the way. It's called an assessment of a student's income. I had one student after getting reassessed only get $120 per...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's commitment on that. During my research, I noticed that Form F has to be filled out each time a student applies for SFA. Can they Minister explain why this has to be done? Once it's done, shouldn't it be good enough? I mean, their status is not going to change, so can the Minister explain that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I don't think anywhere in my comments did I say anything about how bad our system was. Our system is one of the best in Canada, so let's get that straight. I understand that system. It works well. However, it's about a student loan that they have to pay back. It's right in there. It says how much you get. You get a maximum of this, so all of a sudden the student is put on the spot. We're talking about Northerners, and when we talk about income assistance and assessments and that, we're having struggles.

To streamline the process, can the department have a monthly amount students can access in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Infrastructure in Fort Simpson really should be commended for the work that they are doing to build capacity of residents in Nahendeh. They are hiring local residents and providing the requisite training to obtain the skills, knowledge, and ability to do the job competently.

Mr. Speaker, I have personally heard positive feedback from community members and visitors alike of the exceptional service done by these young people. A prime example of this are the following Fort Simpson residents who were hired as deck hands on the MV Lafferty in 2017: Ivor...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently, I have been hearing rumours and concerns about the MTS fuel resupply from last year. It is my understanding that some of last year's fuel supply that was delivered to the shipyard in Hay River is apparently bad fuel. I'd like to ask the Minister of Infrastructure if he can tell us what happened in this situation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.