Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. I get that there are a lot of directions you can go with the Fire Prevention Act and that this started in the 17th Assembly, but I heard the Minister say that we are looking for an LP in February of 2022. I just cannot help but think that there is a systemic problem in the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs in getting legislation done. Even if it's piece-mealing it and doing it in a phased approach, I am concerned that we yet might go another Assembly, three in a row, without seeing the Fire Prevention Act. I hear the LP is scheduled for February 2022. When...

Thank you, Madam Chair. My first question is: I believe the NGO stabilization fund used to be in EIA, and then it was moved to MACA. Previously, there was reporting every year on who receives that money. If we take any other fund like this in the NWT, there is actually usually a press release, the recipients of the poverty fund, and then we list them, or I believe GNWT does a grants and contributions report every year that shows all the SEED winners. Can I get a commitment from the Minister that we will start reporting on who gets the NGO stabilization fund money and that all of the previous...

The reality is that anyone who is looking to brew beer in the NWT is never going to do it with local northern labour and get to a price point anything comparable to the large producers in the South. There are simply too many input costs to be competitive. When we look at the generous discount, as the Minister frames it, the price per litre that we are taxing beer at that is locally produced in the Northwest Territories is still not comparable to Ontario's microbrewery rate, for example. We are taxing them at a higher rate so that that beer will never be competitive with the Molson Canadians of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Is the Minister willing to do some sort of evaluation or, if there has been one, share it? I'm just a little confused about what we're doing. I have no sense of whether the School of Community Government is worth $3 million; whether the 37 staff here are giving training to 100 people a year, 400 people a year; or whether this should be consumed by the college. I just want to try to get a sense of whether this is good value for money, so if there has been an evaluation of the school and all of its work that could be shared or if there are plans to do one. Thank you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Finance regarding the liquor pricing review that is currently being undertaken. My question is: as part of that review, will the Minister increase the small brewery discount, thus lowering the cost of beer taxed that is produced in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I get, if the Minister doesn't have it now, a commitment to come back with how many people take and have taken School of Community Government courses, essentially? I know there are lots of courses in different areas, but I want to know how much it is utilized. The number of students, I guess they would be called. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. When I look at the School of Community Government, I've heard tangentially from a few communities that it's good, but it's $3 million of the budget that I don't really know much about. My question to the Minister is: I know it doesn't necessarily operate as a school, per se, but is there an annual report or some sort of document where I can find out more information about the School of Community Government? I've looked on the website, and it seems that it's kind of sparse in the reporting. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Listen, I fully support the engagement work. I fully support working with Dettah to bring their fire services online. I support working with every other community. I think there's a big question of how taxes work on the Ingraham Trail and where that money goes, whether there should be a fire levy for services. In the past, the city used to charge, if you called a fire truck, you actually paid the City of Yellowknife a few thousand dollars. There are options. Those options and that work is not going to be completed in the next few weeks, and there is no way that this...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I understand that, in our capital budget, there is a relatively fixed amount that goes to the communities every year and that's based on the funding formula, but from what I'm hearing, then, if $18 million disappears over a budget, it doesn't actually affect the funding formula, given that it's federal money. Can I just get a clarification if that's correct? Essentially, with the exception of the gas tax, federal infrastructure money does not then feed into the need assessment that we make for municipal infrastructure. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to read from Hansard where the Minister has repeatedly said, "I am confident that we will reach something by that deadline," that deadline being April 1st. I recognize there are needs outside of all of the territories. I fully support us finding those agreements with every single municipality that has to provide services outside of a boundary. In this case, people's insurance is either going to either expire or go up on April 1st. I have repeatedly said that the only possible solution now, given we have about five weeks, and I don't even know if it is possible...