Julie Green

Thank you to the Minister for that answer. It doesn't give me an idea of the size of your stockpile, but let me try to get at it another way. How quickly could the department wrap up testing and provide results if there was an outbreak within a facility like a school or a jail or a small community?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We in the NWT are experiencing a much-needed pause in the pandemic. It's time to reflect on what has happened and to plan for the second wave of COVID-19 which we are told is coming.

Mr. Speaker, I wish I printed my statement out. We ended up sitting in a time of high anxiety. In my family, both my daughter and my partner were tested for COVID and quarantined until the results came back negative. Our family business, the funeral home, has had to adapt to a new way of helping families, because funerals are not allowed. It has been difficult for us and for grieving...

Yes, I'll just finish with a comment. This is really a hopes and prayers section of the budget. We hope that we will be able to advance these three projects to the business case that there will be northern contracting, there will be Indigenous partnerships. I feel like we don't have anything that is super sturdy, here. We just have a lot of hopes and prayers. For something that is so vital to our economy, I would like to see a more proactive or, at least, show me that it's a proactive approach to obtaining more infrastructure money from the federal government. I don't see that now. I hear it's...

Yes, thank you for that information. It doesn't answer my question. My question was that the premise was for funding infrastructure is that there has to be a surplus in the budget; and the surplus is forecasted to go down to a double double at Tim Hortons at 2023, so how is the government going to continue to pay its share of these three projects in the life of this Assembly? Thank you.

Making one project a priority.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I was astounded to hear from the Minister that there is no additional money required for the three infrastructure projects she is promoting, because we only appropriate money a year at a time. Can she reply on that?

I appreciate that answer from the Minister of Health, but it's simply not good enough. If somebody feels that they have symptoms and they require testing, a two-day delay can result in a lot more exposure between them, their families, and the public in a grocery store or any other place. Can the Minister make a commitment to have at least one number that everyone can call 24-7 to talk to somebody in person about their symptoms?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Premier for that. I appreciate that the focus is on health and safety, but I think that there are people and businesses who are stressed about their livelihood because, the businesses they own or the businesses they work for, they don't necessarily have generous sick times or contingency plans to keep people going while they have to be off work for circumstances that are beyond their control. I would really urge the Premier to task the ITI staff with a recovery plan, to use those federal resources when they come through, to see if there is anything that...

I appreciate that response. The ITI Minister previously committed to more robust data collection about impacts. That's important, but it doesn't seem like the highest priority right now. My question is: what can the Premier do to support tourism operators who have had to cancel tours and lay off staff through this spring and summer?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The coronavirus pandemic is swiftly moving and unpredictable. A little more than a month ago, I spoke about the effect of coronavirus on tourism in the NWT, based on the Chinese government directive to halt group travel. Now, travel by almost everyone in the northern hemisphere to almost anywhere in the world is not advised by public health officials. Of course, that includes travel to and from the NWT from outside of Canada. New arrivals will be asked to self-quarantine for two weeks.

Mr. Speaker, visitors are listening to the call to stay home. They have cancelled...