Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister tell us how this department and Municipal and Community Affairs work together to work with firebreaks around communities? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank Dr. Kelly for her answer. I’m just struggling with this whole process that there seems to be redundancies they say in the Deh Cho but in some of the other regions, there’s more positions in there. I’m looking at one region where there are four positions combining these two or we’ll have one. I’m struggling with how this works because you talked about water resources is that area. I’m looking at that page and this page here. There seems to be a large number in certain areas. That is a big concern for me.

It also really pushes my concern that it seems to be the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for his answer. I'm a little concerned, though, how the reduction of this position seems to be able to be filled by another position within the department. Does the reduction of this position meet the mandate as set out by this government? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the Minister for her answer. Can the Minister tell us how the department comes up with a job description and a pay range for these positions?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all I'm going to talk about some good things that are happening out there. It's great to see that the government is looking at the Western Canada Lottery Act and actually bringing it into the system so we're not losing the million dollars. Now, give credit where credit is due on that. However, when we come to looking at these -- I know, sorry. Shock to the heart. When it comes to the multi-sport games, we see a reduction of $500,000. We're losing $150,000 to the games. These games belong to the Government of the Northwest Territories, and if the government doesn...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize Jim Antoine, the youngest oldtimer of this last weekend, for standing here today. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I greatly appreciate the Minister and the department looking at this. I know in my smaller communities are getting $14,000 from this pot of money, from the smaller communities, and it goes up all the way up to Yellowknife. The smaller communities are suffering from this. Fourteen thousand dollars, it sounds like a lot of money, but it isn't a lot of money in the smaller communities. I look forward to this. Will the Minister make a commitment to, once this review is done, to share it with the committee? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am very concerned that this government is looking at the lottery funding as an opportunity to get away from our commitment through the money from the $650,000. It is a concern. The money that is in lotteries presently, for the last five years, has been going to the five partners' organizations, which is the grassroots. The other people on the other side can shake their heads and say, no, this is not what we are doing, but this is how I am looking at it.

This is how I am feeling this government is utilizing lotteries, once it comes in the system, that it becomes part of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for his answer. Will the Minister make a commitment, or check with the detachments, that the budgets are being allocated, or actually fully utilized? In other words, going into Wrigley, they have $100,000; are they actually utilizing this funding to provide service? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank my colleagues. I would like to say the fans were entertained with some great hockey, especially the Old-Timers Tournament, where they got to witness those young gentlemen skate their hearts out.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank all the sponsors, community and regional businesses, for their support. I would like to say a big thanks to the referees from Yellowknife, Hay River, and Fort Simpson, who did a great job at all three weekends. As well, to the rec staff and the groups that ran the canteen. A+ job. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.