Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have heard the Minister beat the dead horse, but this is a new thing that we, as the Government of the Northwest Territories, are imposing onto the municipal governments. I appreciate the Minister, understanding that we have short resources and that, but we have to make sure that we are prepared. I am hoping, and I am going to take the Minister's word for it, that we are actually going to start looking at this, to develop a course that people are able to take. That will be my last question. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My first question is: is the department still focusing its efforts on a pilot project with Fort Providence, Tulita, and Ulukhaktok, and how is the work proceeding? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I understand that you can't make a commitment, but I was hoping that it would be a budget line in future years moving down there.

Can the Minister tell us how much is going to be moving forward with the supplemental, or is it going to be in a calculation going forward? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have one comment, and then one question in this area here.

First of all, I would like to commend the department for making progress on long-overdue legislation updates and that you have completed Bill 1, the Western Canada Lottery Act; Bill 8, Emergency Management Act; Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Cities, Towns and Villages Act; and you are now close to doing 911. I am very happy with that. It has been long overdue, and I give kudos to the department and the staff for doing a great job on that there.

Departmental consultations with partners in the development of...

I think I missed how many cases are out there, not the waiting lists, but I'll go on to my next question. It is my understanding that the department is not looking at placing a speech and language pathologist and occupational therapist position in the Deh Cho. Can the Minister explain how we are going to improve services in this area?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, my favourite topic with this department, multi-sport games, I think I have asked this question every business plan here. Again, it is disappointing to see that there is no appropriation for multi-sports games in this budget. Will the department be providing any funding in this moving forward? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I am assuming this is where we would be talking about the Auditor General's report and from previous. So MACA agreed with the number of recommendations and made commitments to do a number of things, including reviewing and improving contribution agreements by April 2017 and consult with INAC. What has the department done to implement the OAG's findings with respect to designated authorities in these contribution agreements? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Each year, through the Fire Service Merit Awards, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs recognizes individual firefighters and fire departments for the important work they do in our communities.

Previously, the community of Fort Simpson has seen this award go to Roger Pilling and Scott Withmore. In true Fort Simpson fashion, it is no surprise that this award is presented to another Simpsonite.

The 2018 NWT Fire Service Merit Award was awarded to Steve Nichol for his contribution as volunteer firefighter on the Fort Simpson fire department. He continues to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thought that the on-the-land healing was new federal funding, but we have taken $200,000 from mental health and addictions and put it into on-the-land healing? What was the rationale for that decision to move that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess that I will have to kind of disagree with the Minister on that. I understand that other departments are doing that, but those are the other departments. I would have hoped that the government would have put a little bit more money in there from this department.

I know that we did work with the committee last year and the department on that. Will the Minister be looking at that or the department looking at that for not this budget but the next one, if we continue to see this increase or demand of $4 million worth of requests? Thank you, Mr. Chair.