Alfred Moses

The decision was made, a legislated decision, and I stand by that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can't speak of my predecessor and the decisions that they made. I can speak for the decisions that I make in this House, and I just answered the question earlier, that it was my decision, discretion of the Minister, and I am very glad to have a long-time Northerner working in this area. Like I said, he is going to do a great job working on the health, the well-being, and ensuring the safety for our employees across the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a few months ago I had the pleasure of signing the bilateral agreement between the Northwest Territories and Canada on the National Housing Strategy. One of the first funding allocations that Canada proposed under the strategy was the Northern Housing Fund, which brought $36 million in funding to the Northwest Territories. However, this is just a starting point.

Through diligent work by both the Government of Canada and the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, another agreement was reached that better reflects the housing needs in the Northwest...

I will have to get the details for the Member. I can inform the Member, though, that the previous workers' advisor did do some crossover work with the current workers' advisor, just for the continuity, as well as working to make sure that the there was a good transition moving into the position. I can get that information for the Member and share it with him.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this point, I don't have numbers in front of me. As I mentioned in the last set of questions, under section 107 of the Workers' Compensation Act, the Minister responsible does have the authority to appoint a workers' advisor. A decision was made, finalized, and like I mentioned earlier, I am proud to have a long-time Northerner in that position working on behalf of our employees. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This is legislated. I did mention in the Workers' Compensation Act under section 107, and I will say it again, section 107, so everyone can hear that. I, as the Minister, have the authority to appoint a workers' advisor. It is legislated. It was a decision that was made, and anybody who is in that position is very well-qualified to do that work.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Under Section 107 of the Workers' Compensation Act, the Minister responsible does have the authority to appoint a workers' advisor. Because, as some Members know, our last workers' advisor was retiring, we needed to fill the position, and the process of the Minister responsible appointing a workers' advisor is left up to the discretion of the Minister. That was what happened. I look forward to the new workers' advisor doing a great job working in this position and working for the safety and the well-being and the wellness and health of our employees. Thank you, Mr...

I have also mentioned in the House that we are going through a strategic renewal process within the NWT Housing Corporation that we should be looking at presenting to standing committee, and obviously, we would always want input on that.

As MLAs, part of our job is working on direction of legislation and policies, but also including our leadership in that. One of the big things about the community housing plans is that we want community and local input into what is best for them, and it is going to be something that is going to be done throughout all of the communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As Members know, I did make a statement in this House about our community housing plans last week, that prompted questions from other MLAs on how we are going to move about that and the five stages that we are going to take. Obviously, we do need a buy-in from leadership and community members. We need to raise awareness in the community and have people speak up about what the priorities are in their community as we build these community housing plans.

In my statement that I made last week, we are currently working on six communities. We signed agreements with three of them. We are working on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, from January 16 to 17, 2019, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs brought community government leaders together to discuss cannabis. This was our first opportunity for such a gathering since cannabis became legal in Canada on October 17, 2018.

Mr. Speaker, the legalization of cannabis presents challenges for northern society. The purpose of this conference was to look for local solutions for community governments as they deal with this new reality. Our focus was presenting as much information as possible for local leaders with the right experts...