Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to let everyone know I will be voting against this infrastructure expenditure, Mr. Speaker. I think if you support building infrastructure in the Northwest Territories, then a supplementary appropriation which lapses $125 million is a very concerning sight. And I think if you believe that when the Assembly passes money and tells the GNWT to spend it and they don't, that's very concerning. And I know there's much debate about what exactly is being lapsed and will never come back versus what is being carried over and will probably make itself back on the...

In favour.

In favour.

For.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm very happy that the last Assembly in the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act put on an emphasis on proactive disclosure which requires every deputy minister to go look through past ATIPPs and look through their records and see what can be disclosed without an access request. A number of MLAs in this Assembly consistently ATIPPed the same documents and often they come back unredacted.

The scope of what is ATIPPable and what is public is widely disconnected. So to date, departments have not complied with the act and complied with proactive disclosure of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member bringing this motion forward. And I do think that much of this information exists, but the GNWT needs to make sure it is put together and there's some sort of coherent vision.

As often is repeated in this House, the NWT is in a labour shortage. We have more jobs than people. And the extent of that labour shortage is truly unique. This territory, if you take our GDP per capita, we have one of the highest in the world. No doubt, because we have three diamond mines, but we all know that those diamond mines operate with a large fly in/fly out...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I've had the honour of moving a number of motions in this Assembly to eliminate fax machines, and they each get a little more specific as the department tries to make progress in this area.

And I want to clarify, this is not just some vendetta against outdated technology. The Information and Privacy Commissioner has consistently raised that, still to this date, a number of health breaches are arising from the use of fax machines. So I think the preference here is to completely get rid of them and perhaps the new electronic medical records will assist in that. But if we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for Housing. About 18 months ago, her and the Minister of Health opened the Fort Good Hope Seniors Centre, but then it didn't open. And the Minister said she would open it in the summer, and then it didn't open. And then in the fall, the Minister said it would open in the new year, and then it didn't open. And in the last session, the Minister didn't give a date when it would open next, but it was clear the lawyers were getting involved.

So my question for the Minister of Housing is when will the Fort Good Hope Seniors Home...

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's quite clear that all of our policies on personal devices and handheld devices are quite outdated, and this is both an access and a privacy issue. And I guess this needs to be a reminder to the public service that please do not conduct any personal business on work cell phones and computers, and certainly do not conduct any work business on personal devices. These lines should not be blurred. They make both yes, the amount of information, private information that cell phones can collect these days is truly remarkable, but it takes it outside of ATIPP and it has had...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that answer from the Minister that we're looking at this. One of the issues that I've heard from Yellowknife's LHO is that they would like a little bit more autonomy to apply for federal funding, and they've been approached by Indigenous governments who have asked if they would maintain and operate their buildings, something that, you know, would be doing work outside of the purview of their agency agreement with the NWT Housing Corporation.

So I think we're kind of in the worst possible situation where the LHOs do not have autonomy to go out and get...