Robert C. McLeod

That is what I appreciate about the Member for Mackenzie Delta. He just asked "will you." I cannot give you a clear answer. I would like to. I would like to. Again, I would have to work with my department, and we will have discussions with the local officer as well as the local hunters and trappers, and, if they feel that it's a problem that needs to be addressed and if relocation is one of the options, if disposal is one of the options, then, those, we would have to consider. Again, you know, I would be reluctant and I would not just send our folks in there to start disposing of the bears...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct. We have had some incidents in Inuvik with grizzly bears, particularly around the garbage dump. I have seen some pictures, actually, of them right outside an apartment building, just down the road from where I am at. I have actually seen one out at the dump when I was throwing some garbage away three weeks ago. It has been a bit of an issue. I think the Inuvik side is not so much a big of an issue as it has been the last few years with the number spotted there, but this is not about Inuvik. This is about the Member's constituency.

I know there have...

My office, myself directly, have had no discussions with Northwestel. They may have had discussions with my officials, and I will follow up to see if those discussions have taken place, but with my office, personally, I have not had any conversations with them. I will reach out to department to see if we have had conversations with their officials, and, if I am able to, I will share that information with this Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have raised concerns both with redundancy, with the provider Northwestel and with CRTC, and we continue to work actively with industry partners to explore viable and affordable redundancy measures. I think, with some money that has been made available by the federal government in improving northern broadband, I think one of the industry partners, Northwestel, has accessed on that money to possibly run a redundancy line down the Dempster Highway to serve that area. I take the Member's point that there needs to be redundancy looked at for this part of the Northwest...

We work with a DFO researcher who leads the Arctic salmon research project in partnership with the local and resource boards to track salmon in the Arctic. The Member is absolutely correct. The NWT CIMP that I announced before actually supports the project and has promoted research through its regular, northern research bulletins.

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents entitled "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 718-18(3): Nutrition North and Cost of Living in Nunakput"; "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 730-18(3): Northwest Territories-Nunavut Bilateral Meeting on Transboundary Caribou"; and "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 738-18(3): Affirmative Action Policy." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can get back to the Member, but there are few, if any, jurisdictions that have been as successful as the GNWT in increasing Indigenous employment. We share best practices amongst provinces and territories. I am not sure if there is a model out there that we can actually use; I think that ours is the model that they can actually use.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The policy is one tool related to recruitment of Indigenous employees. We have introduced a number of programs that will assist with increasing Indigenous employees within the GNWT and will help employees advance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to oral question asked by the Member for Kam Lake on June 4, 2019, regarding the NWT Carbon Tax Implementation Plan.

On June 5, 2019, I provided a statement to the House stating that the Implementation of the NWT carbon tax would be postponed from the original date of July 1, 2019, to September 1, 2019, as the Standing Committee on Government Operations required more time to review the legislation. Based on the legislative calendar, we expect the legislation will be ready for consideration during this August session. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.