Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I get a commitment from the Minister to help fund this specific pipe burst or pipe issue with Sir John Franklin? And the reason that I bring it up is that I have to wonder that while it's not your department, there was also a break in the main in the parking lot area of Sir John Franklin over this last week which then sent water down 49th Street to then go all the way down in front of a large, like portion of the next street's houses. So I can't help but wonder if some of that is maybe perhaps related. And given the way that the school board is situated and this...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know been a very very long week for all of us. That is great. I am not really reassured, though, by waiting to hear what the federal government says and what they're going to do in a national program. To me, again, people speaking to me that, you know or telling me, and even my mom's own, you know, history and experience as a teacher teaching grades 1 and 2, that when kids are showing up to school hungry they don't learn. And given that we're having such an issue in a lot of our sort of social programming areas and wellness areas, you know, in the North, I think this...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I'm well aware; I've heard this department cite many times that it's the feds, it's the feds, it's the feds. Well, then I look at this again as another failure from our Cabinet and our leadership to properly advocate on behalf of the people of our territory. I think all of us in the discussion around child care are well aware that we are not Vancouver, we are not Toronto, we're not even Edmonton. So all I can say is I'm tired of hearing as this as the rationale. We have things in our upcoming bill that aren't even around the funding so I find this to be just a bit...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your committee would like to report on its consideration of Bill 68, An Act to Amend the Child Daycare Act.

Bill 68 received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on November 3rd, 2022 and was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review.

On March 1st, 2023, the standing committee held a public hearing and clausebyclause review of the bill with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Six motions to amend the bill were carried by committee and concurred with by the Minister. The committee thanks the Minister and department for their...

I think I've got a few more minutes left. So I'm really glad to hear that we didn't just decide to kind of go backwards in time and that we are keeping up with some of these opportunities. And I think that's great if people don't have to travel when they don't need to. Is it safe then to assume that some of this upgrade then is the increase for the materials and supply costs for this unit? There's looks to be about $100,000 that was during the pandemic time versus last year and this year or the upcoming year. I'm just curious to know if that's for that type of service. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Minister was responding to my question before that one. I asked how much of the $20 million that has already been secured and is being used towards all the work that she's listed, like the regulatory and the prefeasibility, how much of that is being retained with northern businesses and how much is being sole sourced to former bureaucrats? Thank you.

Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Power Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we know, building infrastructure across the million square kilometres that make up our territory is a huge challenge. From an economic point of view and from an efficiency standpoint, we should be looking to expand our infrastructure corridors to benefit communities and encourage investment in the territory wherever we can.

As often mentioned in this House, the NWT is largely dependent on diesel and gasoline for heating, electricity, and transportation. Yet, Mr. Speaker, we sit stalled on a renewable energy project that could connect more communities to...

And lastly I guess just a quick question around contract services, which was the opposite of everything else I've been talking about was quite higher during the last year of the pandemic. Dropped again post, and then came back up. What sort of contract services are those? Are they around supports for the actual process there or is it stuff that, you know, is helping with victim services, things like that? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So is that safe then to say are we up to capacity then, and that amount is the amount we actually need for compensation and benefits, or is there still vacancies and some of that money ends up freed up later? I'm just kind of trying to get a gauge if that's, like, the actual number for the compensation and benefits. Thank you, Madam Chair.