Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we were going to look at the liquor licensing across the Northwest Territories, and when the Member stands up to ask his second question, if he would take a little bit of time so that I could pull it up in a briefing note, I would be happy to respond.

Again, to the Member's first point about the use of personal cabins, a lot of it is common sense. Some people will leave their cabins open, allowing other people to use them in case of emergency, and they have to respect that person's cabin. It is a practice that has been going on for a long time, but again, it is common sense that people need to respect the personal property of others.

To the Member's second point, the renewable resource officers have no authority to enforce alcoholrelated infractions, but because they are peace officers, they can report the infraction to the RCMP. However...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Wildlife officers are on regular duty from Monday to Friday 8:30 to 5 o’clock. During busy hunting season, schedule can be adjusted to provide additional coverage when and where needed. Also, we can bring in additional resource officers from other communities or regions if there is a need in a particular area. There are renewable resource officers on call 24 hours a day in each region, with the contact information posted on the GNWT website hunting guide. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since 2013, September 30th has been marked as Orange Shirt Day, a day for all Canadians to remember the survivors of the residential school system. Organizers chose an orange shirt as the symbol for that day based on a story told by Phyllis Jack Webstad, a survivor of the St. Joseph Mission Residential School in Williams Lake, B.C. In her story, Ms. Webstad tells of having a shiny, new orange shirt her grandmother had given to her being taken away on her first day at residential school.

We remember residential school survivors and their families on all days...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, one of the reasons we wanted this motion or the Minister to have the authority to grant the exemptions is in emergency situations, there may be exemptions that may need to be granted. I can assure Members that and it is tied to regulations. Bill 27 received assent. I can’t go out tomorrow and start granting exemptions. We have exemptions. I think we had a discussion when we brought this before committee. We have talked about making it a public process and we did manage to get that amendment into the bill where we go through a public process if time permits, but...

As I noted before, what we do with any revenues from the carbon pricing will still need to be determined, and this was one of the questions that we consulted with Northerners. We had over, I think over 300 responses to our online survey, and that was one of the questions that we had on there. We had some very good feedback. As I said before, we had just closed the consultation period, so we would like to have a look at a lot of the results because the government's vision for the Northwest Territories is really not a government vision for the Northwest Territories. It is actually a Northwest...

As the Member noted, the consultation period just ended and we are currently reviewing all these results. We are also working with the Government of Canada to better understand the impact of carbon pricing in provinces on cost in the NWT. There is a lot of our material and a lot of our goods come from southern jurisdictions. Once we have all this work done, we will be in a position to make decisions about the approach that the NWT plans on using. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, over the last few weeks Members of the Legislative Assembly have been working hard on reviewing the departmental capital budgets for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

As part of their review, Members of this House have recommended that investments to capital projects needed to support the implementation of junior kindergarten be advanced in 2018-2019.

I have considered this request with my Cabinet colleagues and offer the following commitment:

$1.255 million to advance projects associated with the implementation of junior kindergarten in 2018-2019. This amount includes...

Once an approach is determined, it will be, of course, very critical that we communicate with the public and Members on the reasons for our approach. We all understand that carbon pricing was a federal initiative, where the federal government has actually developed an approach that will be used if a province or territory doesn't implement. That's why it's very important and very critical that we come up with a mechanism that best suits the Northwest Territories, and I believe we're doing the work right now.

We believe in a Northern approach, along with determining where the revenues will be...

Mr. Speaker, that was one of the core questions, and we have to determine what any carbon pricing revenue we use in the Northwest Territories, whether we use it in green energy programs, and how much will be used to offset the high cost of living and doing business in the North. We all know how expensive it is in the North, so we have to take all that into some serious consideration as we determine a mechanism going forward.