Kevin O'Reilly

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. I guess I would like to thank the members of the commission for the work that they undertook. I did review the interim report, and again the final report. I didn't make a submission as I think there's always some risk in sitting MLAs actually participating in these kinds of processes. But, you know, I think, as I've heard some other Members speak, that the difficult decision of the number of MLAs and how the boundaries should be drawn has largely been kind of put off to eight years in the future when the next Electoral Boundaries Commission would sit and consider...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to pick up where my colleague from Monfwi just left off almost in terms of income assistance. But so my question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

The federal House of Commons announced two cash benefits to offset the impacts of the large increases in the inflation rate. These were passed I think about ten days ago in the House of Commons, Mr. Speaker. Benefits include the onetime doubling of the GST rebate to low income citizens and a onetime $500 benefit for low income renters. So I would like to ask the Minister if he and his staff...

I've done my three.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Now that's a tough act to follow.

My questions, I have three sets of written questions. The first one, my question's for the Minister of Infrastructure.

Please provide a list of all contracts entered into by the Government of the Northwest Territories for work related to the Slave Geological Province Corridor from April 1, 2020 to present, and:

Indicate the date of the contract signing, date of completion or anticipated completion, whether the contract was solesourced, the value of the contract, the general purpose and scope of work, whether there were any financial...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course I might be back here in October asking when it's going to be done. But can the Minister confirm that this information is actually tracked already by the department. So it's not a question of having to go and comb files to find this information. We already have it. It would be just adding additional attribute data to ATLAS. Can the Minister confirm we have this information already. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Yesterday the Minister of Lands made a Minister's statement in the House enhancing transparency and client experience. This was about the administration of lands in the Northwest Territories in something called ATLAS, which is a pretty cool computer based information system about land here in the Northwest Territories.

So I commend the Minister for this effort in bringing more transparency to ourselves as a, you know, manager of lands. But I want to ask some specific questions about whether this new information available through ATLAS includes information about...

For.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for those comments to look at the revenue options paper. I hope to get a new one. And of course the Minister's no doubt well aware of the devastating impacts of the Hay River flooding. And I'm hearing that there could be as many as 350 or 400 applications under our Disaster Assistance Policy. Government infrastructures going to require serious remediation. And, you know, we may even need to relocate folks or West Point First Nation.

So can the Minister tell us whether there is a preliminary estimate for the Hay River flood recovery...

Mahsi, Madam Chair. I move that the chair rise and report progress. Thank you.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Finance about preparation of the 20232024 Operations Budget.

This Minister's carried out budget consultations each of the last three years, and I support that initiative. Can the Minister tell us whether there will be public budget consultations again this with year and whether there will be any serious discussion of the need for more revenues? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.