Shane Thompson

I thank the Minister for that answer. That does help, and, yes, I understand we have the option of using local, and I think that is great, but this facility option is something for the other people moving forward. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain: does the department allow residents the opportunity to attend other treatment centres, and is the government going to pay for those facilities?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I talked in my Member's statement about the four treatment centres that the Government of Northwest Territories contract with. I am going to have some questions for the Minister for Health and Social Services.

My first question: can the Minister please explain how these four treatment centres were selected for the residents of the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize two young ladies in the hall today: Kristine Sibbeston, and I won't tell stories about her except I've known her since she's been a young lady, and who is also part of the Dechinta University, as well, Cathy Kotchea, from Fort Liard. So, I welcome her to the Legislative Assembly. Thank you. All the friends that I know here, I would also like to recognize you. Thank you.

I thank the Minister for that answer. It is actually refreshing to hear that, and I would like to thank the Minister and the department for making that commitment. Another issue we heard about was the growing wolf population. It seems that one of the factors in seeing the reduction of the moose population is because of the wolves. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm if the department has done any studies on the wolves within the last five years and if they are concerned with the population growth of the wolves?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as you heard in my Member's statement today, I had the pleasure of having the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources and of Finance and the deputy minister, Dr. Dragon, Superintendent Lafferty, and Officer Sabourin do a Nahendeh riding tour. It was really good, and the people really enjoyed it, so my questions to the Minister of ENR are about this trip. During the trip, we heard concerns regarding the rules and regulations as it pertains to hunting on the road corridor. There seemed to be some confusion about what was allowed and not allowed. Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I would like to thank the department's regional staff. They do a great job of communicating and working with the communities. Like most trips, Mr. Speaker, you have things that happen to you personally, and you get to learn from these experiences. This trip was no different. I would like to share learning opportunities, but I would like to ask the Minister: what did he learn from this travelling in the Deh Cho during it and gassing up his own vehicle? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for that great answer. However, he drove on the road in the wintertime, and as he talked to the former MLA, he said, "Come drive it in the summertime," so we will get the Minister of Infrastructure to come with you and we will see how it is. However, it is good, and I have to say the workers are doing a great job maintaining it. Previously in the House I spoke about the possibility of the department working with Aboriginal leadership to come up with a plan to stop the hunting of cow moose for at least the next five years to help improve the moose population. Mr. Speaker, I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to welcome everybody back for the third session as we work for the residents of the Northwest Territories and look forward to the next six weeks. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recap and highlight some of the things that I have done since our last sitting.

This past November, the various standing committees had the opportunity to review and discuss the business plans of all of the departments as we prepared for the 2018-2019 budget. I would like to thank the Ministers and their staff and look forward to the debate and discussion for the budget this year.

Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends, should the Government of the Northwest Territories consider change to the daylight savings time regulation in the future, that it engages with its counterparts in Alberta and undertake both broad, public, and targeted stakeholders' engagement. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, stand up here to support this motion. I have had the pleasure of knowing Doug since way back when, playing sports. I considered him a friend, even though we were from Hay River and Yellowknife, and we had some really heated battles on the sports field. After that, it was a really good friendship.

One thing I'm going to really be thankful now is that now he can call me "Shane" instead of "Mr. Thompson" every time he talks to me. His professionalism was amazing. He would sit there. As soon as I got elected, it was Mr. Thompson. I go, "Hey, Doug, it's Shane. You...