Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I'd be remiss not to mention ORC. I'd just like to know what is happening with that contract, if it's coming up for renewal or is there an extension on it? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And has there ever been any interest shown from any of the Indigenous organizations with respect to looking for funding for the Michif language? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to, I guess, talk a bit about MTS, and I'm hoping this is the right section, or maybe we passed it. But nevertheless, I've got ten minutes so.

There was a loss shown for MTS of around $5.8 million and of that, about $4.3 million, I think, was with respect to operating losses. Can the Minister just talk a bit about that, and I think it was partly because of the properties and that, just give me an explanation to, you know, why that loss was there. Can we expect something in the future with the number of properties that they took over from NTCL? Thank you, Madam...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just looking at these numbers, and I notice that if you add up the arts council support to northern performers, arts organization operating fund, and there's one more in there. But anyways, they come out to about $1.6 million. And then we have heritage centres. Like, I understand, you know, putting a lot of money to the a lot of funding to the art councils and to the performers and organizations. I think it is very important. But just as important as well is heritage centres.

You know, we have in heritage centres throughout the territories, we have, you know...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I will.

The next item is Students Against Drinking and Driving. You know, we talk about drinking and driving. Is there any I guess program that's equivalent to that for drug use? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I think it's important that, you know, that we we try to ensure that we're using northern businesses and we're using northern labour, we're maximizing that.

The other thing, I guess the question is, when we do bring it over the top and we transfer it to other barges there in Tuk, are we using MTS barges, or are we using somebody else's? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the community and residents of Hay River are very concerned with the events over the last several months that resulted in a number of overdoses and alleged drug offences. It has become a crisis.

Can the Minister confirm that he is willing to have his department set up a meeting with the RCMP, Town of Hay River, and NGOs, to discuss solutions to address the issue of the drug trade? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Martin. Member.

Thank you. Member.