Rylund Johnson

Mr. Speaker, many of us know here Mr. Dunbar is the director of research for the last three years, but he has served in various roles in this institution on both sides of the House.

He was an executive assistant to the Premier, a former Premier, a long-time special advisor to Minister of Health and Social Services. He has worked in this building inside and out.

Mr. Dunbar also has one of the few published academic documents on consensus government. He is an expert. He is a long-time volunteer with the Yellowknife Ski Club, and I think we all know the vast importance in the role of the chief...

Thank you. I know this is a lot of questions, but it is $70 million.

One last question: I don't quite fully understand what having something on your books means and, you know, putting it in the operations budget, it kind of in this $8.5 million for every year doesn't mean that we're, like, putting it in the bank and then when the fuel tanks need to be moved, we have that money. It's just kind of taking up space, is my understanding.

Can I just get the Minister to explain how having something like this on our books actually makes sure we have the money on hand when it comes time to retire...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a mandate commitment and a priority of this Assembly to increase employment in small communities, specifically, in the mandate, by 125 jobs, Mr. Speaker. I will have some questions later today for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about exactly what that looks like and what that means. It's a hard number to put in context.

But I think firstly, Mr. Speaker, in developing this work, we have to realize what we're up against. The Northwest Territories is not immune from the globalization that affects all communities where somehow High Liner fish bought...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess, can the Minister assist me in a bit of how we reached this $70 million. I'll just you know, I'm thinking of some of our more remote communities that inevitably have assets that have hazardous materials, and then they have landfills that actually are not set up to dispose of hazardous materials.

Was there some consideration given when calculating this figure to the reality that we just don't have the tools to dispose of many of the current assets?

So were we actually doing costing, like if a building is in Ulukhaktok, what it costs to get it to Alberta. Was...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I also heard that there was $8.5 million in the operating budget. Can I just clarify that we are now required to have $8.5 million every single year going forward, or was it a onetime $8.5 million. Thank you.

I guess can we just start by getting an explanation of the $70 million we see here for asset retirement obligations. I have a general sense that this is under the new P3 accounting standards. So I guess I'd like to get a sense of whether this is a onetime figure we will now just carry on our books as a debt, or whether this is a thing we will kind of expect to see in future capital budgets and how exactly that works financially. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So when we built the Mackenzie Valley fibre line, I remember speaking to one of the internet service providers in Inuvik. And he said once that was built and he wasn't having to purchase broadband off of Northwestel telephone infrastructure, his costs went down about 99 percent. And I just think that is one of the success stories of the GNWT actually owning the backbone to telecoms infrastructure is we can allow competition and we can, you know, create a competitive internet environment that ultimately reduces costs.

I'm just curious when we extend it to Tuk, do we...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today. That is the motion for mandatory vaccination, Mr. Speaker.

---Unanimous consent granted.

The motion of requirement of proof of full vaccination by Members of the Legislative Assembly, I will read this again, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS COVID-19 is a communicable disease which has and continues to put the lives and livelihoods of residents of the Northwest Territories at risk;

AND WHEREAS the chief public health officer of the Northwest Territories has recommended that all eligible residents become fully...

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Wednesday, November 24th, 2021, I will move the following motion: Now therefore, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Hay River North, that each Member of this Legislative Assembly must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to attending and participating in a sitting of this House, its committees, or any proceeding of the Assembly.

And further, that a Member who is fully vaccinated where two weeks have passed since the person's final dose of a COVID-19 vaccine approved by Health Canada has been administered.

And furthermore, that Members must...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that. I think that was almost a yes, and it even led into a bit my next question.

Mr. Speaker, I really do believe there is potential to leverage this money we're being spent by getting creative with our leasing portfolio, by approaching Indigenous dev. corps and saying listen, if you want to build us a building or buy an asset, we will give you the long term lease. They can go and then finance such a project. We could do a similar thing to nonprofits with the 160 housing units we presently rent from one landlord. Why don't we distribute that to...