Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd ask the Minister, considering that we've had much lower water levels in the Hay River I guess and in the lake as well to the point that where we had people actually, you know, from the K'atlodeeche, ride bicycles across. That's how bad it was. So with these lower water levels, are we going to be looking at an extended area that's going to be requiring dredging beyond what we're doing? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And these questions will be for the Minister of Infrastructure. And they're fairly easy questions so she'll be able to answer them off the cuff. I can see here getting ready. I'd just like to get an update on the status of dredging in Hay River since we did have, you know, approximately three weeks where people were away from the community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, incorporating the HRHSSA into the NTHSSA, I see an opportunity to formally expand health services to those communities outside Hay River, which I expect would result and I would hope it would result in an increase in staff in Hay River. Can the Minister confirm if this is something the department would consider in such an amalgamation process? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess as I sit here and I listen to, you know, the comments and the answers from the Minister is that, you know, there's no doubt that you know, there's no doubt that we need housing. And it seems like the only game in town is the housing corporation and I think that's you know, it's a good approach but I think we have to expand that, and we you know, we talk about it you know, we talk about Indigenous governments. I don't see them in front of us to tell me personally what they're doing to increase housing stock. You know, we've got to tie housing into economic...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister of health and social services what are the barriers to incorporating the HRHSSA into the NTHSSA? And I ask that question as residents of Hay River are concerned that this separation is, in part, one of the reasons the community cannot attract doctors or fill vacant health positions which in the end impacts timely and quality health care for our residents. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure that you know, that we talked about, you know, fire damage and the impact on tourism. So I'm glad that, you know, your department is on it and watching it and understand the importance of tourism in the South Slave and throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to you know, we had the fire here this you know, I guess in the spring and in the you know, this last one here and some of it impacted some of the parks. I'm just wondering if any of this infrastructure any of these infrastructure projects have been impacted by the fire. Are we seeing anything being pushed back because of that? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, you know, I went through the budget and, you know, what's in there is in there, I guess. Well, we're never all going to be happy with what's in there but, you know, we've got a little bit for all our communities and for, you know, highway work and that type of thing. But I guess what I would just like to state, I guess, is that, you know, we are going into election, you know, government's going to kind of slow down here a bit. Contractors, some of them have been, you know, impacted by the fires as well so they've been out of work, some of them for for, you know...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I asked the Minister if we are using the property acquisition option, has consideration been given on how the acquisition would be calculated. Would it be based on fair market value or like what is currently done under DAP? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on September 20th, 2022, after meeting with residents individually, MACA shared their process document entitled Process to Rebuild or Purchase a Home on a Different Property for Residents of the Town of Hay River and the Hamlet of Enterprise. In early March 2023, some residents, not all, were advised the GNWT was no longer pursuing a buy back or property acquisition option as originally explained by MACA staff.

So, Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister responsible for MACA, has his department reconsidered its decision of not using property acquisitions as a...