Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A question for the Minister of Justice: can the Minister confirm if additional staff are required to be on duty SMCC during this pandemic period, above what was there prior to it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I just want to touch on what MLA Bonnetrouge alluded to, which is, you know, fairness I guess in the department when it comes to advancement, job opportunities and that type of thing. We are in the smaller communities. We know the BS that goes on. We know the reality of what happens. The fairness, sometimes it's there. A lot of times it's not. It can still be an old boys' club, for lack of better words, and I would like to know how your department is looking at addressing that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

We saw how fast the Department of Health responded to COVID, and we saw what the government could actually do, how fast they can react. I am hoping that the Department of Infrastructure is going to be the same way, and not kind of drag this out with, "Wait until we get panels in place," and coming up with more excuses.

One of the problems that I see is that the staff, no doubt, are working hard, whether they are at home or not, but one of the problems that I see is that we don't have a lot of people in the offices. We have office buildings in the communities that have separate offices, and we...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think the Minister made a comment or somebody made a comment on lessons learned on projects. We have seen the Deh Cho Bridge, the highway out at Behchoko is going ahead, and we hear problems there, and there are probably other ones out there, as well. Over the years, we seem to always go back to lessons learned, but I don't know if we ever learn any lessons, to tell you the truth, or, if we do, we forget them pretty quickly. I just want to know what your department is doing; what are you doing with the information from lessons learned? Give me some examples or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are all well aware that, because of the pandemic, our economy is being hit hard. We have to find a way, I guess, to get it back on track. One of the things that I see is that we have three departments, probably: Housing; Infrastructure; and Education, Culture and Employment. Those, I see as the three departments that are going to provide contracts and provide the employment and training for our residents and for our businesses. We also talk about, you know, having panels, like blue-chip panels and that, of businesspeople, and I guess what I see with that, if we're...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Basically, that is what I have been hearing, too, is that contractors want to work because, if they are taking loans and they are taking deferrals and that, really they are just putting themselves further in debt, and that does not help their survival. The other area is in engineering opportunities. We have a number of larger engineering firms here in the territories, but we also have in Hay River a smaller one. It was born here in the North. It was born in Hay River, and it is owned by local people, but again, there they have problems trying to compete because they...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to confirm. I guess I received my final "yes" with respect to the funding for the dialysis expansion for Hay River. Is that included in item number 6? Thank you, Madam Chair.

We know that the departments have tools and legislation and policy that can assist small businesses. We don't have to go to the federal government; we don't need anything from them right now. What is this government doing with the tools that each department currently has to lessen the impact COVID-19 will have on small businesses?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions, I think, will be for the Premier. The Prime Minister of Canada stated that no one should have to worry about paying rent, buying groceries, or finding childcare. I recommend that should also include not going without electricity in our northern communities, whether it's for five minutes, 10 minutes, or the day, during this time, and I would hope that the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation would stand up and take a stand on that. Also, we shouldn't be evicting people from their houses.

The Prime Minister also stated that the federal government is...

Thank you, Madam Chair. That's all.