Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table "Appendices for Return to Written Question 19-18(2): Position Vacancy and Overtime Statistics." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the FireSmart program is an important tool in mitigating risk and improving community protection in the event of a wildland fire. Applying FireSmart principles increases human safety, decreases property loss, and enhances wildland fire suppression success. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources continues to encourage communities, agencies, and home and cabin owners to promote and implement FireSmart principles.

Information on FireSmart for communities, cabin and homeowners is available from the regional and local ENR offices or at nwtfire.com. ENR headquarters and...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to my right, I have Mr. David Stewart, deputy minister of Finance, and to my left, I have Mr. Ian Rennie, who is the legislative counsel.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We thank you for the opportunity to present Bill 17, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, to the Committee of the Whole. This bill responds to our commitment approved in the 2016-2017 budget to provide further financial assistance to low and modest-income families to raise their children through an enhancement to the Northwest Territories Child Benefit.

The amendments to the NWT Income Tax Act will allow us to enhance the NWT Child Benefit by providing a total of $2.2 million in direct support for children in families with annual income up to $80,000. This enhanced program...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize two residents from Inuvik, Mr. Paul Komaromi and Mr. Tom Zubko, who will be inducted into the Order of the NWT, I believe, tomorrow. Welcome to the House.

Mr. Speaker, ENR is part of a project team that has been leading the development of the human health monitoring program, and I believe Dr. Rory Chan is working on this. An advisory committee was established, and GNWT's Health and Social Services office of the public health representative sits as a member of the advisory committee providing expert advice and direction.

The Giant Mine Remediation Project team, we're going to be putting together a socio-economic strategy. Its implementation is being designed to address socio-economic impact from the Giant Mine Project, and the upcoming study will...

Mr. Speaker, first of all we are supportive of the surplus funds going to research programs. I'm not sure if there was a mechanism in the agreement that had allowed for that, and I will raise that again. We do have some FPTs that are coming up this summer. We have the Finance Ministers' FPT, as well as the Ministers of the Environment. It is our understanding, though, that INAC is actively working on a solution to address the concerns that were raised, but, again, at the earliest opportunity, I will raise these issues with my federal counterparts.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, no, I am not going to commit to doing that, but I am going to commit to encouraging our departments to try to bring on as many summer students as possible. I think, in the Member's riding alone, with the amalgamation of the new departments, there were an additional 24 positions being brought on into the Sahtu, so the Member has done quite well representing his riding.

We will continue to encourage our departments to try to bring on as many summer students as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. We currently have two, but, as I said, we have 50 more that are outstanding, awaiting signatures. I am not quite sure where those are. I can find out and see how many we put into the Member's riding. As I said before, I will have to get the exact details on the actual advertising for summer students, but this is a program that has been going on for a while, as the Member has said. The numbers are improving this year. Two years ago, the numbers were 341. We are hoping to exceed those numbers.

If you count the other agencies that are funded by the Government of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have set the rates this year based on the 2015 NTCL rates, along with CPI. That is what has given us this rate. We have to do this first year of operations to determine what it will cost us to run this operation and what is going to be the ongoing funding to make this thing sustainable. At the end of this coming season, we will be able to have a look at what the rates are, and, if there is an opportunity to pass on the cost-of-living relief to residents of the NWT, we will do so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.