Rylund Johnson

Mr. Speaker, to be quite honest, I have more faith in our community governments than our own. I believe the structure of community governments allows them to be more nimble. I believe the services they provide their people every day on the ground are more important than much of the work we do in this House. Yet, Mr. Speaker, the GNWT continues to have a paternalistic relationship with its communities. This is no more apparent than with the relationship with our capital city.

Inevitably, Mr. Speaker, in every Yellowknife election, some city councillor decides to talk about a land value tax, a...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Does the Minister have any insight where Alberta is with that? I know they went out for consultation actually. I believe they actually had a bill ready at one point, and then COVID came. Do we have any update on where Alberta is with that, with this change? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think that reason alone is to get rid of the time change. It's also one of the most common sick days in the private sector, costing private businesses millions of dollars every year. When Alberta went out, 93 percent of Albertans wanted to get rid of it; BC, 90 percent. In almost every jurisdiction, it's been well over 75 percent to 90 percent of Canadians want to get rid of time change. Yukon went and did it. They went to permanent Daylight Saving Time. The Alberta government is ready to go. They're going to get rid of it. Can we just do this already? Is the Minister...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. I am looking forward to seeing this, and hopefully, we can get a few of our Red Seals to also get Blue Seals. I am just wondering if there are any plans for Aurora College to provide the training required for a Blue Seal.

I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on Friday, March 12, 2021, it shall be adjourned until Monday, March 29, 2021;

AND FURTHER, that, any time prior to March 29, 2021, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, or at a time later than the scheduled resumption of the House, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at...

One of the reasons the City of Yellowknife wants to see a city charter, and I want to see it, is it's a fiscal arrangement. The City of Yellowknife is the only jurisdiction where a percentage of their taxes have to fund the education system. It's the only city that has a property tax base that could actually fund municipal services. There's a reason we have tax-paying communities and non-tax-paying communities. Whenever the City of Yellowknife asks for a change to how they can administer taxes, they are told no because the conversation is only relevant to the City of Yellowknife. In part of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The department's four-year business plan says that the Waters Act will be introduced in quarter four of this fiscal, along with the Environmental Protection Act. Can I just get clarification that that is not actually the case? We will not be introducing those as per the business plan because we are waiting to see what happens with the MVRMA negotiations? Is that what I just heard? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There has been a lot of talk about biomass and a lot of questions to Infrastructure previously and different departments. As part of that kind of longer-term vision is the idea of communities developing their own, whether it is cord wood or wood chips and kind of these community wood lots, can I just get a sense of whether forest management has any role in that work or money in that budget for that type of work or whether that is a question best left to the biomass people? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. In regard to the accepted waste sites, the ones that we still have negotiate for devolution, is that the responsibility of this group? Who is responsible for those sites and negotiating whether they are federal or GNWT sites? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I just get a little bit of an explanation of what is going on with the fire operations suppression budget here, noting that it was $14 million, then $18 million, then $22 million, and now back down to $18 million. Is this just the nature of it's hard to predict how much fire suppression we need or what that $4 million is? Thank you, Madam Chair.