Member Range Lake

Kieron Testart was elected to the 20th Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly to represent the constituency of Range Lake.

Mr. Testart was born on March 22, 1985, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He was raised in the Northwest Territories, first residing in Tuktoyaktuk and later in Yellowknife, where Mr. Testart now lives with his family, his diverse background and wealth of experiences have shaped his commitment to community development and effective governance.

Mr. Testart was elected as Member of the Legislative Assembly for Kam Lake in the 18th Legislative Assembly, where he demonstrated a keen understanding of the issues facing his constituents. Beyond his legislative roles, Kieron has contributed significantly to the economic development of the region. Serving as the Director of Economic Development for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation from 2021 to 2023. Mr. Testart’s commitment to education and language advocacy is evident in his role as Program Coordinator for Canadian Parents for French from 2020 to 2021. His efforts have extended to policy analysis within the Government of the Northwest Territories and serving as Deputy Sheriff from 2009 to 2014.

Academically, Kieron holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from the University of Lethbridge (2004-2009) and a Certificate in Parliamentary Governance from McGill University (2017).

Married to Colleen, he is the proud father of Corbin, Eve, and Leander. In addition to his professional pursuits, Kieron finds joy in various hobbies and interests, including a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport, a love for film and theatre, grassroots activism, and an avid curiosity about international affairs.

Kieron's commitment to community extends beyond the political realm. As a dedicated volunteer, he has been actively involved in various capacities, including serving on the NWT Federal Liberal Association Board of Directors since 2011, contributing to the Liberal Party of Canada. His volunteer experience also includes a position on the NWT Branch Board of Directors for Canadian Parents for French from 2014 to 2020 and mentoring youth with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada in 2014-2015.

Range Lake Electoral District

Committees

Kieron Testart
Range Lake
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am keenly interested in gaming in the Northwest Territories and how we can expand our gaming revenues in particular because there is unregulated gambling going on in -- online right now as we speak, which is unprotected, the consumers are not safe from potentially bad actors who are offering those services online. Many of these are offshore operators using dark money, etcetera. It's a very -- it's a very shady space, and we could be in the business of regulating this stuff that's already going on in our communities and bringing in some additional revenues...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Mr. Speaker, if you find yourself stranded out on the land beyond network reach and with no alternative method of communication, how would you signal for distress? Do you shout into the air or run around with your arms waving when a plane passes by? The lifesaving facts are without communication or knowledge of your whereabouts, the pilots of that passing plane would be searching for your signal in the form of threes: Three blasts of a whistle, three lit fires, even three piles of rocks, anything in the shortest of patterns with the resources you have available. In a life-threatening situation...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you. Best lake. Okay, so thank you, Minister. I'm probably going to bring some questions to you tomorrow in question period around this so we can get more of that out on the floor.

So obviously, there's been a big decrease in the funding for this activity because of the extraordinary events that happened in 2023-2024. My concern is we have an imminent afteraction review that's being done by a third party that we should expect this fiscal year. Presumably it will have recommendations. How does the department intend to act on those recommendations? Because if there's no money put...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I'm going to ask about the ground search and rescue. Apparently, we do not provide support to ground search and rescue through the emergency management organization, and this is something that was one of the recommendations of the audit that was held -- or the report that was held to review things. Is there any reason why we can't make changes to the emergency management organization to bring ground search and rescue under its umbrella so we can better coordinate these efforts in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you. So these -- so we're not anticipating that we need to maintain the same level of resource for this upcoming year I guess on -- like, hopefully we're not anticipating another evacuation or something like that. I just want to make sure, like does the department have the resources in these functions that it needs to maintain its level planning and preparedness in case there is an emergency? Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you. I'm on a continuing mission to find out who we core fund and who we don't. So that's helpful.

As to the 2023-2024 actuals compared to the revised estimates, financial services, policy planning and regional management are basically cut in half. Can you explain why that is the case.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So under the partner contribution funding, it's $460,000, and it's provided to them NWT Association of Communities, the Local Government Administrators of the NWT organization, and the Arctic Energy Alliance. I understand the contributions to LGANT and NWTAC. Can you explain the nature of the contribution to Arctic Energy Alliance. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mean, that's concerning, and it's concerning to volunteers who are working in ground search and rescue, and it's more concerning to people who might get lost and need ground search and rescue.

Mr. Speaker, at the very least, can we improve -- can we ensure there's consistent recording of data? Because there's not. This data's lost year on year. We don't have a central repository. Can we at least start to implement some of these things that are low cost options like a central repository for search and rescue data. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you. No, I appreciate the honesty there. And as I said previously, that's exactly where I want the department's focus to be, so I'll just continue to encourage the Minister to reach out, and we'll continue to work on this. There's other ways to move public policy forward in our system, including working with Regular Members. I'm happy to provide whatever support to the department to make this initiative a success and, again, to tax and regulate what's already going on, keep people safe, fund the fight against addictions, and bring some much-needed revenue into government coffers....

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I am alleging that the Honourable Premier broke Rule 3.2(3)(i) and Rule 3.2(3)(j); the first being imputing false or hidden motives to another Member and the latter being charges another Member with uttering a deliberate falsehood.

Mr. Speaker, I've had the chance to review the live feed of our proceedings earlier today, and to quote from the Premier's speaking to the point of privilege raised earlier this morning, and I quote: And from this side of the floor, this post appears to be a continuation of the spreading of...