Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think this is where the Stanton Renewal Project is located in the capital budget. Can the Minister just tell us: are we still on track to have the project completed? I thought it was supposed to be done in November. We are almost at November. When is the transition to the new facility going to start? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 24, An Act to Amend the Elections and Plebiscites Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this Bill amends the Elections and Plebiscites Act to implement the recommendations of the October 17, 2017 report of the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures on the review of the chief electoral officer's report on the administration of the 2015 territorial general election, supplementary recommendations, and the white paper on the independence and accountability of election administration in the...

Merci, Monsieur le President. [Translation] Another area addressed in the report is emergency alert messaging to the general public which is not available in French. Obviously this is a very important matter. Can the Minister explain how our official languages are going to be incorporated into emergency services, including in alert messages and 911 services moving ahead? [Translation ends]. Merci, Monsieur le President.

Merci, Monsieur le president. [Translation] My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. An October 5th news release from the department says that there has been a significant improvement in French language communications and services, according to an independent audit. However, there are a number of deficiencies identified in the audit. First, what formal mechanism will be used to address and improve upon the services identified as being deficient? [Translation ends]. Merci, Monsieur le President.

Merci, Monsieur le President. [English translation not provided.] Merci, Monsieur le President.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I hear the Minister. I don’t think housing got a fair shake in terms of the money that is flowing to the NWT through the Low Carbon Economy Fund. I think the federal government would be very receptive to increasing the amount that would go for public housing. I am going to leave that to the Minister to sort out. My point here is: we just have to be able to make sure that public housing becomes more of a priority for our Cabinet in the decisions that are made around what gets submitted to federal infrastructure pots like the Low Carbon Economy Fund. I know I bothered this...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, it has been, I think, two months since I have raised this with the Minister. I have suggested other changes in the past to the website because that is the place where the public can find out about what is going on.

I know the intention is to sort of have some sort of a campus atmosphere and all of this about that area, but, if there's nothing available to the public other than if they happen to pick up the capital estimates about what's happening with the old building, that's not a very helpful way to do this. I'll take the Minister at his word that those changes are...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I want to follow up on the municipal funding gap review that was done jointly between MACA and NWTAC some time ago. One of the commitments in our mandate reads, "We will develop a strategy to close the gap in funding levels to meet municipal core needs." Can the Minister tell us when that strategy is going to be ready and made available to the Regular MLAs and the public? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, if I wasn't confused before, in any event, the Minister indicated that probably in the neighbourhood of $100 million on a capital budget of maybe $230 million of our own money. I don't have a calculator. That's 40 percent. It's carry-overs from previous years. That's a very significant amount of money that's being carried over. I appreciate that the Minister has said that he's going to monitor this more carefully. I hope that he can find a way to report that, as well, to us as Regular MLAs.

In the tracking that's done, it's going to be very important to understand...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm not sure I have nine minutes of questions, but I like the idea of wrenches. If the Minister has done those calculations, is that something that can be shared with the public? Thanks, Mr. Chair.