Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize my constituency assistant, Mr. Taylor Pagotto, who is in the gallery with us today. I couldn't let -- I share him with the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, and he mentioned him in his opening statement so I couldn't be remiss not to recognize him for the amazing work he does for the Range Lake riding to help all the constituents out there. Thank you so much, Taylor. You work very hard every day, and we're very lucky to have you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of Northwest Territories (GNWT) is the primary authority responsible for all ground search and rescue (GSAR) in the territory except for national parks and national historical sites which are the responsibility of Parks Canada.

As the primary authority, the GNWT is responsible for overseeing all aspects of GSAR including service delivery, training and preparedness, and prevention activities. The need for responsive ground search and rescue services is especially key in a territory as vast as ours. Therefore, The Government of the Northwest Territories'...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we -- when the Standing Committee of Economic Development and Environment met with the youth council, one of the comments that was raised was that young people feel like the implementation of the carbon -- of carbon pricing in the Northwest Territories has left some people behind and that there needs to be more done to transition them into a clean energy future with these additional costs, especially in small communities. How does the Minister plan to respond to those concerns that the tax is creating an undue burden in small communities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the Members of the youth -- NWT youth climate change council inquired about the carbon tax annual report and I -- or brought this to my attention. I'd like to ask the Minister of Finance, in the carbon tax annual report there is a $14 million surplus for 2023-2024. In the past previous years, the surplus has been -- surplus or deficits have been within $1.6 million. Can the Minister explain the discrepancy in this year's report? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, have workers been engaged in the people -- in the process to develop this plan? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday in Committee of the Whole, the Minister of Finance was speaking to how they were going to satisfy the concerns raised by this side of the House. Especially -- and on the subject of health care, the three commitments were completing a review of core programs and services in the health and social services system to ensure equitable and sustainable delivery of health and social services programming. Premier's doing that. Conduct a review of the lead policies and their implementation for health care professionals and solve the challenges faced in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, the Minister and I absolutely agree that -- but where perhaps we disagree is that there's two issues here. One is the good value for money and financial management of the health care system, and the other is the operational management where frontline workers are not feeling heard. The common thread here is management. How can leaders be held accountable within the health system, and will the Minister commit to implementing manager evaluations and reviewing organizational structures that aren't working? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one thing I hear from frontline health care workers time after time again is the poor state of their morale. In fact, this is something the Minister and I talked about yesterday in the hallways here. What is -- what it is is certainly tied to the cohesion of their workplaces and the accountability of their managers. Is the Minister of Health and Social Services receiving proper feedback from her frontline staff and does she have the tools to assess morale in order to work on the improvements they need? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, these days we face a challenging global landscape with tense conflicts and political developments around the world. However, while the future may be uncertain, what we can be certain of is our country is safer thanks to the unimaginable sacrifices generations before us made to preserve the values of freedom and democracy during conflicts stretching back centuries.

Every year we wear these poppies over our hearts to remember the sacrifices of our armed service members, all of whom came back from world wars drastically changed mentally and physically, and tragically, too many paid...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as a Member of committee that considered this report and that is making the recommendation, I can tell you we did have a robust discussion of the CEO's report where this was -- this idea was brought forward. Just now speaking with a colleague on the committee as well and we couldn't remember why we didn't include this, so I think this is -- I have no -- so I think this is a good motion. It's not saying that the CEO will insert themselves in, you know, sovereign government electoral processes; many Indigenous governments have custom election codes and they're...