Kieron Testart

Does the Minister believe that there is a sufficient number of court workers to handle the Legal Aid client caseloads that are currently facing the Commission? Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to thank my colleague, the honourable Member for Nahendeh, for summarizing the shared concerns of the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning. I always appreciate the opportunity to talk about my public service alma mater, the Department of Justice. They do some incredible work. In many ways, the department has a unique role in the integrated case management and other restorative justice programs like that, and community justice-based programs where they can take the work of the other social envelope committees and bring them together. I think the...

Nothing further. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I'll just put it a bit more plainly. If there was no reduction exercise asked of the department, would this funding have been cut? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Has the department spoken to Nunavut and seen how they have accommodated the shift in their court services function? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think perhaps that speaks to the state of our economy right now, which is regrettable, but I think we need to ensure we have robust inspections even at a time of economic decline so we can maintain a high level of public certainty that we are ensuring our environment is protected and the people who use that environment are equally protected.

Snap Lake went to care and maintenance before this cut, so is that part of the reason the budget has been decreased, because one of our diamond mines has ceased full operations? Thank you.

I am going to move off this, Mr. Chair. That is a suggestion I will make for future reductions if we are looking at finding efficiencies. Cabinet colleagues, there you go. There is an idea.

I would like to ask about Wellness Court now. Are we still providing the same level of Wellness Court service as we were in 2017? Going forward, I notice a small reduction. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I notice that this section of the department covers inspections. Actually, I'll just get the Minister to confirm if this includes the inspections? Thank you.

Is it the department's opinion that using the contract service is a more efficient use of resources than having our own in-house reporters? Thank you.

Does the Minister have an idea about the range of these subsidies? Is it going to be targeted at lower-income earners or is it going to be a broader range that will capture the middle class as well, people with good-paying jobs but who are still facing a very high cost of living burden? So what's the range, the income range?