Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. I recently saw the announcement that we got a contractor for the new fish plant in Hay River; I'm excited to see that. I've heard less about the remote fishery collection stations, and I see the million dollars is being carried over here. Can I just get an update on where those are at and when we can expect to see that work start? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does everyone have a right to housing, a right to a place to sleep at night, a roof over their read, and a secure place to store a few possessions with access to privacy? Well, Mr. Speaker, from the actions of this government, it's clear that they do not. Mr. Speaker, less than three percent of our capital budget was spent on housing this year. Mr. Speaker, and even our own processes don't guarantee a right to housing. Mr. Speaker, once again, the Spruce Bough, formally the Arnica, future's is uncertain.

Mr. Speaker, the Yellowknife Women's Society has been running, what...

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I feel that there is some public interest here in reiterating the facts here that Clark Builders sued us for $16 million on the Norman Wells health centre, and I believe that is public knowledge; there's a court case. And then we settled for what is now appeared to be $4.75 million. And a lot of the delays, my understanding, were on the GNWT and a number of change orders and disagreements with the contractor. And I believe the Office of the Fire Marshal also caused some number of those delays, which we are also in court with. I don't yet believe that has...

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I'm going to try and get one more commitment out of the Minister. We have spoken before about the GNWT online services program. I see phase two is in here. There are a number of great services. We are moving online and I know that has been delayed. Can we get a commitment out of the Minister to get an update on the GNWT online services program? Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. You know, and I get  I understand the building of infrastructure climate in the North and that it is very difficult and that the federal government flows on multiyear funding. I don't understand the software climate in the government. But as far as I can tell, information systems shared services cannot seem to get its projects done on time and on budget and there's $7 million here to purchase software. So I don't know how we can blame COVID or a barging system or anything else. So can I just get a bit of an explanation of why we are seeing a lot of these programs...

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I guess this is just a comment for Finance and Infrastructure. I believe the last time I asked about our deferred maintenance deficit, it was about $462 million of deferred maintenance to get our assets up to par. I just don't understand when we have such a massive deficit, and the Department of Infrastructure has consistently, you know, stated that they need more money for deferred maintenance and if we're going to get our assets up, we need to be maintaining them. I fully support that. I just  it becomes harder to navigate the Financial Management Board and...

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, June 4th, 2021, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, and notwithstanding Rule 4 that when this House adjourns on Friday, June 4th, 2021, it shall be adjourned until Thursday, October 14th, 2021.

And further, at any time prior to October 14th, 2021, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that this House shall meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, or at a time later than the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I recognize that it can be frustrating for the Minister to, you know, try and answer questions about a federal program, but I think everyone has had frustrations with that CMHC funding. I guess more broadly, there were a number of organizations who applied to the rapid rehousing funding. They put together applications. They hired architects. They went quite far along in the process, and they weren't successful. And I believe a number of those were then moved into the coinvestment fund. Does the Minister have any insight as to whether there is another round of...

Yes, thank you. I guess the Ombud Act is an interesting piece of legislation, in that the responsibility seems to lie both with the Department of Justice and the Board of Management. It's a shared piece given that they're a statutory office, similar to the ATIPP Act or similar statutory positions.

But I guess so that's I give the headsup to Board of Management to take this one, and I guess I would ask the Department of Justice in their response to consider why exactly the GNWT has any control over this legislation. I'm a little confused as to why this isn't just solely within the Board of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to respond to some of the comments the Government House Leader made. This bill is not requesting public disclosure of royalty information, which is already something you can access through the federal legislation, although there's some issues in how that's reported, and but the Standing Committee on Economic Development working with the department wants to be part of that royalty review. I'm sure the Indigenous governments and the intergovernmental council want to be part of the royally review and the work ITI is doing. But right now, the government is not...