Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do look forward to the implementation of the Public Land Act and finally having one piece of land. I think it is a huge step that will help us deal with the issues of finally getting the outstanding land claims settled. My question is, though, for the Yellowknife periphery area. I have the Ingraham Trail on it, and I have no shortage of constituents complaining about the Department of Lands and the lack of planning and the mishap way that we have rolled out leases in that area. In regard to agricultural requests that have come from constituents, can the Yellowknife...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Sorry, I actually don't even know who the Fire Marshal is. I'm not speaking about the specific Fire Marshal; it's an office with procedures and policies in place, and people run into them. I know the Chamber has talked about appeal mechanisms. People have talked about adopting the Building Code to be more flexible for the realities on the ground. There are a number of ways we could amend the current policies and procedures under the Fire Marshal. I'm not speaking of the Fire Marshal as a person. I'm just wondering: has there been an increase in complaints stemming out...

I quite often hear that Lands is working on things, but I rarely hear that Lands has completed things. The issue with going through the commercial lease process is that you cannot live on a commercial lease. If you're going to farm, you should probably live there. My question is: is the Minister willing to review the commercial leasing process to see if agricultural people can live on the land?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll remember to do that. I appreciate looking at the dispatch times, because I recognize people are going to continue to call the old numbers, and the goal is to eventually get everyone on 911 and make sure we are all having conversations about dispatch times. I look forward to those conversations. My next question is to consumer affairs. I, in time, would like to see a new Consumer Protection Act with a little more teeth, but can I get a sense of how many complaints the consumer affairs department deals with? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize my constituent from Yellowknife North, Irene Hache, here with us today. It's always good to have visitors. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The concern I am wanting to address is that I know 911, due to the certification, adds some extra steps, which means, at times, when a person is calling 911, as opposed to the old number, the time is actually taking longer. I am wondering if dispatch times will be part of the report.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will reiterate my colleague's comments that the NWT SPCA does do work in all of the communities. I think, more and more, we're realizing that animal health is just a part of human health, and if you see rabies transmit between species, it can have devastating effects. It's a huge public health thing. I'll just reiterate that. That is the aspect that I find most concerning about the gap.

I wanted to switch. I heard the Minister say that, currently, all calls are being answered in the NWT. My understanding is that there were some dispatch centres, and that may actually...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I struggle with this because I see the 13 positions in the directorate, and there are only a few in policy and planning. I recognize how hard those people work, but MACA has a legislative backlog that really needs to get done. I've mentioned multiple times the hope of a building standards act, the hope of a Consumer Protection Act, a city charter. I know we're finally getting to the Fire Prevention Act, which is going to be a lot of work. We're also getting the Property Assessment and Taxation Act, which I'm very excited about. I've asked the Minister to look into...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I see that this is the area regarding responsible assessment. I recognize we provide some funding to the City of Yellowknife to do their assessments, and we have recently had this issue with the Yellowknife hospital. There have been a lot of different interpretations of exactly how that money got missed. Could I just have the Minister explain what exactly occurred there and how we are going to ensure that we budget for assessments going forward?

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.