Shane Thompson

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. I was actually really impressed with those numbers considering I heard numbers lower than that before, so I'm very happy to hear that. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister provide us with what other work went to local companies, small businesses, in that area for this contract? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I again thank the Minister for his answer. It was a little bit short and it could have been more elaborate, but we'll work on that. Mr. Speaker, last session I spoke about how the department was able to guarantee that companies' commitment was upheld for northern involvement. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please explain to this House what mechanisms are used to ensure Northern involvement are in these contracts?

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister. I'll look for the commitment or the update after you give it to the community. I don’t want to be disrespectful to the community and work with them, so after that meeting they can maybe share it with me.

Now, I guess I'm going onto a bit of a wish list or what is not in this, but when we're talking about learning centres and that, and one doesn't fit all, so some of my smaller communities are looking at utilizing the school to use a learning centre. So part of this question there that that Minister is talking about has this been part of it. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank my colleagues for giving me this extra time. Mr. Speaker, the week of construction had a positive impact on the community and people commented on the positive energy throughout the community and region. Mr. Speaker, on September 15th the elementary school and the high school attended a fire-feeding ceremony and drum dance where the community celebrated the construction. During this ceremony they brought in an elder from Wrigley, Angus Ekenale, who sang a special song to honour the ancient spirit of the 750-year-old tree. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for his answer. How is the department looking at this capital project for the disruption of it? So how are they going to look at modular units coming into teach the classes or are they going to be teaching the classes during this time when school is in? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that commitment and look forward to seeing it in committee. So thank you very much, that will be all my questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have one question. We have an update that's costing us a certain amount of money. How many more updates are we going to be looking at until 2024? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm new to this process, so please bear with me as I go through it. I'm still struggling with some of these projects that have been out there. It seems to be not utilizing existing spaces that we have, and I will bring those concerns up later on when we look at each department. That is a concern. It's just a lot of money being used that could be used somewhere else, I firmly believe.

The other concern I have is the Department of Infrastructure. I've heard the Members here and I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it because it doesn't exist, and so I don't know how the...

I understand the phone lines really work good between Yellowknife and Wrigley but, unfortunately, they would actually like to see the Minister come to the community and address the issue. Three other Ministers came there and they heard their concerns: transportation was the issue; the biggest issue there. They had concerns. They're trying to meet with the Minister face-to-face so they can address their concerns. So will the Minister make a commitment to go in and face-to-face meet with these people? Please.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to follow up with the Minister of Transportation. I know he said that the community has met with his staff to meet there, but this is an Aboriginal community, it's First Nations in government and it's part of the mandate, so will the Minister commit to actually meet the leadership to have this discussion about transportation in their riding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.