Rylund Johnson

I would like to begin, on behalf of Frieda, saying the headquarters will remain in Fort Smith. Also, I think I would like, on this issue specifically, to move on from the number of conversations that have happened around the president and begin to look to the future. I am very excited about this. I have been to a number of university towns across the circumpolar North, and the key is they are economic drivers. They employ hundreds of people. They are very inspiring. Yukon College, unfortunately, is going to beat us and will become Yukon University in two months. I am going there in two weeks...

Thank you, and I am glad to hear that. My other concern or one I would like to see with this is: I have raised a number of times some more flexible positions, some more part-time positions. I have a number of constituents who are retired nurses. They are not willing to go out for a full-time nursing position, but they would gladly come back at casual or part-time. I think that is another one of those things is that we really have to do whatever we can to retain people, and that may involve being a little flexible in our hours or creating some different positions. I am wondering if that is part...

Once again, we seem to force the Yellowknife Women's Society to do all of the work, and we are not in a position to help them or assist them. My question is: have we committed to providing our 25 percent, our $680,000 if that application is approved?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In listening to the responses from the Minister responsible for NWT Housing Corporation regarding the Arnica project, it is clear the Minister does not understand the situation. The current agreement to purchase expires on March 31st. The CMHC turnaround time on a re-application is 300 days, Mr. Speaker. This project cannot go forward on a re-application. My question is: will the Minister contact the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation and ask them to change their rejection of this project?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am going to hold Cabinet to account here and say we have already made one error, and this will be spring 2020 is my guess, if we are getting this to $1.1 million, or perhaps ITI finds something. Anyways, sorry, I have lost my train of thought. No further questions, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am looking at the line that says: "Increase [...] the mining incentive programs by 50 percent over the next four years." I see "Winter 2020, increase by 10 percent," and then I am going to the main estimates tabled today and see that the Mining Incentive Program has not increased by 10 percent, $100,000. Will we see a supplementary appropriation for $100,000 to increase the Mining Incentive Program in this session? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to speak to the mandate commitment here, "Encourage entrepreneurship by reducing red tape and regulatory burdens on small businesses." I am very happy to see that we kind of snuck this in under this one. I believe every ITI Minister for the last few years has committed to this. There is actually a measurement for red tape. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business provides a Red Tape Report Card. The Northwest Territories has received an F on that report card every single year. Then the 2020 one came out, and we weren't even on it. They just seemed to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My concern here is that we seem to be spending 20 percent on administration for every dollar we give out, and then we're requiring all of these people to monthly report. Do all of our Income Assistance programs require monthly reporting?

Can I clarify those numbers I just heard? We spent $6.5 million on administration, and then the remainder of the $32 million is actually direct payments to clients? Is that correct?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It seems I failed to get a single "yes" once again. Have we committed to providing our 25 percent should the CMHC change their decision and approve this? We said earlier that we support the project, but if we have not committed to providing the financial support, I don't understand how we can say we support the project. My question is: have we committed to both CMHC and the Yellowknife Women's Society that we will provide our 25 percent if the CMHC brings their 75 percent to the table?