Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, again, the Department of Infrastructure does manage the Regional Air Transportation Initiative, or RATI. It's a federal fund that is there to help maintain and reestablish regional air connectivity services across Canada that might have been impacted by COVID19. It's being delivered by CanNor, and that money did not all get out the door. But that is not the same it's not the same money as what Department of Finance manages for the purposes of COVID relief.

The RATI money was something that was helping to shore up services, shore up the airports. You know...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is one resource that I would certainly encourage prospective applicants to take a look at. It is on the website. It's GNWT hiring Q and A. It describes some of the information about who's on a hiring committee, what equivalencies what kinds of equivalencies might be considered, how that's defined. But it does not go through job by job providing individual equivalencies.

I had the opportunity to speak with the Member before sitting today. I understand, we don't want people to selfscreen. We don't want people to think that they won't meet an equivalency...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, at this point, I think that's unlikely. And you know, I will say that I know when I had attended in Hay River, and I know Mr. Thompson has been there with the Premier. I think several ministers now have actually attended to Hay River. We were all quite keenly aware of the impacts. There has been an RFP out now to help support and provide shortterm accommodations within the community for individuals who can't return to their homes and who will require those supports.

As far as, you know, providing money into the hands of individuals, you know, again this $10...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, these things do take a bit of time. I mean, the commitment was made at the time of budgeting but then, you know, it does have to get the drafting has to get put through the Department of Justice, as well as ourselves, and in this case, there is an element where we rely on Manitoba for the it's not quite a sticker, Madam Chair, but essentially it's something to that effect. So there's just a few steps to be taken. We knew it wouldn't be immediate.

And Madam Chair, I'm having trouble hearing but I gather there was a question as well with respect to...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 53, an Act to Amend the Liquor Act, be read for the second time.

This bill amends the Liquor Act to continue the Liquor Commission as the Northwest Territories Liquor and Cannabis Commission;

Include the regulation of cannabis in the Commission’s list of duties;

Reinforce the separation of enforcement and adjudication responsibilities under the act by removing the supervision of enforcement actions from the Executive Secretary’s duties;

Remove provisions disqualifying persons from licensing eligibility on the basis of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this I think actually draws on the Department of Finance.

So when there's emergencies of this nature, emergencies of any nature, you know, there's certainly money that gets set aside in our supplementary reserve for requests and issues that come up over the course of a fiscal year. Individual departments, once they have their appropriation on April 1st, may have flexibility. You know, this is depending on what's going on in the department. Projects might get deferred. Different work might get deferred in order to have some flexibility in a budget and to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, I should say thank you to the MLAs from the region who invited us there and invited me to attend and helped arrange some of the meetings that we had. It definitely it helps myself, it helps the department to have that hands on and have eyes on. You know, I my own I'm certainly not an expert so I'm hesitant to conclude that it is inevitable which businesses will or will not be experiencing impacts beyond what's available in the Disaster Assistance Policy. I mean, I can certainly say that there is, you know, some of the businesses were essentially...

Mr. Speaker, Environmental, Social, and Governance, or ESG principles, have become more prevalent over the past few years in the mineral resources industry, with investors, demographic groups, and the general public, demanding stronger ESG investments from business and industry.

A global movement towards ESG investment and social consciousness is good news for the Northwest Territories because we are leaders in ESG measures and performance. We are, in fact, already moving toward advocating for the next generation of ESG through an Indigenous lens, or ESGI, an approach that breaks down barriers...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, Plain Language Summary for Bill 53, An Act to Amend the Liquor Act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's not a standing or standalone program that offers support for lost wages or lost revenue. And as many will recall, early on in the COVID19 pandemic, both not only our government, the federal government had to be creating and crafting those types of programs sort of in the moment and in order to respond. So I can't say necessarily what type of additional programming or programs might become available, might need to be crafted. But I can certainly, again, indicate that we are in touch with the businesses in the community. We'll continue to do so. If...