Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that I get to come back and ask some questions of the Minister of Lands. He talked about tax-based, and, yes, the Village of Fort Simpson is a tax-based community. However, the community of Fort Liard is a hamlet, and then the other four are designated authorities, so how is this information made available, since he does not want to share it with us? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for that clarification. There seems to be a disconnect here, because my understanding from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs that they assess the land based on the land and the improvements on it. Now I'm hearing from the Department of Lands here, it's just on the land itself. Can the Minister please clarify: is this the correct process? Is this what they do? Is it based on the lands, and if it is on land, do they have a separate assessment done?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask some follow-up questions not to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, but the Minister of Lands in regards to assessment. In this House, the Minister said that they do their least payments based on the assessments done by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. Can the Minister advise this House if this is the actual process that is being done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Just from hearing that answer and hearing the Minister of Lands in previous sittings here, do improvements on the land help or increase the value of the land that is presently there?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of confusion on how lots are assessed in the NWT. People assume it is Lands. We have now been told that this is the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs' responsibility. Can the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs please explain why the department has been assigned this task? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommend that the Department of Health and Social Services enhance its public communications on addictions treatment. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to have it as a recorded vote. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could the witness explain if this is a one-year thing or if this is a 30-year? Could he please explain the amortization period? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Hopefully, this will be a quick exchange here.

For highway operations, we saw an increase of about $4 million in here, and $1.7 million, approximately, is going to the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway. Where are the other increases occurring? Is it split over all of the other highways, or are we focusing on certain highways? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister for doing that. At the end of the day, I guess the students out there who are looking at the social work program and the teacher's program, what can we tell them that is going to happen? Is the NWT seriously looking at providing this program or are we going to maybe potentially do a modification of it? Because if you look at our Skills 4 Success, some of the hugest needs are social workers or teachers and that, and our early childhood. Can the Minister elaborate on that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate that answer from the Minister. I guess my concern is that, you know, yesterday after the exchange here on the floor, I got a couple of phone calls from students asking me, "Well, it's not what they're being told." I guess the question to the Minister is: what is the messaging that the college is getting, because it seems that the students and maybe some of the staff are not getting the same message.