Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can advise you that the Alberta Minister recognized that there was a failure to communicate on the issue. There was a lot of finger pointing through this whole process and I can tell you she just found out this February. So she was similar into the same boat as us there. We talked about working together to improve how we implement the transboundary agreement. Again, it's about the wording and that so we've made that commitment to do that. And we've also committed to have a facetoface meeting sometime in April, whether it's the 13th or 18th. We're just...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize one of the interpreters Mary Jane Cazon, a resident from Fort Simpson. She does a great job, and I thank her for that.

I guess I'm going to jump on the bandwagon here and recognize Michael McLeod, former boss. He was my Minister way back when, so I thank him. I consider him a friend, mentor, and a sounding board in the work that we do for residents of the Northwest Territories. As well to Jackson Lafferty, a friend, mentor, colleague, sounding board, and now he's the grand chief. So welcome to our Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I rise in the House to talk about a Secret Santa who gave some youth late Christmas gifts this past January in the Nahendeh and Deh Cho ridings.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you I received a phone call from a friend to see if I would be interested in receiving two pallets of toys worth approximately $20,000 for some youth in the Nahendeh riding. Of course I said I would be interested. I did ask who donated these toys and was advised that, in true Santa fashion, they wanted to remain anonymous.

As the January 16th News North article stated, "Christmas came and went...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 74, Forest Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Member for the question. Getting your dogs vaccinated for rabies is an important way to reduce the risk for you and your community. Responsibility to immunize your dog with a rabies shot or provide any other vaccination is the responsibility of a dog owner. To date, MACA has not heard from community government leadership that is an issue. If this is a concern for community governments, Municipal and Community Affairs would work with NWTAC and LGANT to understand the community's desire to make rabies immunizations mandatory. Depending what we heard, MACA...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Member for the questions. Rabies, as the Member said, is a natural occurrence occurring, and it's always present in Arctic Foxes in northern Canada, particularly above the treeline. The disease goes through cycles, and more cases seen in some years. We have more cases in the BeauDel this year and a case in the Sahtu. ENR regularly monitors rabies in wildlife across the NWT and will continue to track numbers of cases where they occur if rabies occur. Cases are confirmed near communities or in domestic animals; ENR provides information and support to the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is kind of a MACA and ENR question. So I'll give him kind of an answer from both as the Minister for MACA and the Minister for ENR. Some communities have access to fulltime or visiting veterinary service for their pets. But access to veterinary service remains a challenge in many small communities, as the Member talked about. In areas where rabies is common, including parts of the Beaufort Delta region, ENR has worked with the Department of Health and Social Services to help support access to rabies vaccination to communities that don't have local or visiting vets...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, given the vast geographical scope of rabies in the NWT, vaccination of wildlife is not currently a practice or an efficient option right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present the 20232024 Main Estimates for the Department of Environment and Climate Change. Overall, the department's estimates propose an increase of $2.671 million or 2.2 percent over the 20222023 Main Estimates. These estimates support the mandate objectives for the Department of Environment and Climate Change while continuing to meet the GNWT's fiscal objectives to prioritize responsible and strategic spending.

Highlights from the proposed estimates include:

An increase of $1.7 million for barrenground caribou research and monitoring offset by a sunset of...

I'll start, and then I'll turn to the deputy minister. So I know what the premier of Alberta said. We don't have an agreement with the industry. We have an agreement with the Government of Alberta. And I've made that very clear it is with them that they need to be sharing this information. So I need to make that very clear. I've had that conversation today. And so sharing it here today but for further detail on the process, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.