Kieron Testart

Mr. Speaker, the Minister provided a similar response yesterday, that this is the first opportunity the Minister has been able to see the report. However, on September 7th, the media report reported the deputy minister at the time reporting to have seen a preliminary version of this report and to have made recommendations. In the final report from the Auditor General's office, the department agrees with all recommendations. Although I know the Minister is new in this role, the department has been working on this for at least a year, and that's from the Auditor General's office. If the Minister...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize Lorraine Phaneuf, Samantha Doucet and Annemieke Mulders who have done so much great work promoting women's equity in the Northwest Territories and good friends of mine. So thanks for being here today.

I would like to request a recorded vote.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Has this information got out to the public that this is -- apart from today's proceedings, but has that announcement been made public so people have an awareness, a sense of what's happening at the old facility? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's a line item for 18 extended care beds in Yellowknife, and my understanding is some of those are going to Avens and some of those will be in the old Stanton Territorial Hospital facility. Do we have now a plan for the old facility, the old Stanton Hospital facility? That would be my question. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to reiterate my strong opposition to the use of affordable housing for these units. These are market housing units, and they are designed to produce revenue for the GNWT as stated by the department. I disagree with the use of affordable housing on these item lines. I would encourage the department to re-evaluate its definitions.

I have another question, however. Recently, at the City of Yellowknife's Roadmap presentation, the Minister mentioned that Housing First models were being rolled out in other communities in the form of four-plex units. Are these...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I apologize for my earlier error. This would be on page 70. Again, there are three affordable housing projects in Fort Simpson, Hay River, and Norman Wells. Can the department provide its definition of affordable housing? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the hard work that's gone into developing this motion and I certainly appreciate that our colleagues across the way are in support of it as amended as am I.

I've heard from many residents in Kam Lake, as my colleague has said in his own circumstance, expressing similar concerns. My own son has been in two day homes since I was a single parent many years ago, and the care provided to him was topnotch, so I certainly understand the value of these programs and the value of early education, but we have to make sure it's done right.

The department commissioned...

Thank you to the Minister for that very thorough response. I wonder, though, with all of our legislative priorities and privacy this government in a very large mandate document, do we have the capacity to accommodate a significant shift like this? The Minister just spoke of involving three departments, and if not more, in making all these changes, so is this working group analysing the kind of capacity it's going to take for our government to get up to speed? I would hate for Northerners to be in a legislative lurch while this change takes place and our government to be playing catch-up.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Health. Does the Minister support a marijuana regulation regime for the Northwest Territories that both allows us to capture more taxation revenues and keep our kids safe from a substance that is very much out of control under the current prohibition regime? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.