Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the mover and seconder for bringing this motion forward. Medical travel is a huge issue in the Northwest Territories, and as our primary care system continues to face challenges, medical travel becomes all the more common and not just for small communities but for Yellowknife as well.

In my previous term as an MLA, I dealt with, I'd say, a handful of medical travel issues over the course of four years. Now I deal with them, if not weekly, you know, multiple times a week. It is an incredible volume of concern coming forward, and often it is the gaps that we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table a CBC News item posted March 5th, 2026, titled Yellowknife Family Calls for Changes to Medical Travel Policy After Troubling Experience. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to stand in support of my colleague's motion. You know, I'm -- when I worked at the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, you know, I walked into the Chief Drygeese Centre and saw the motto every day As Long as the Sun Shines, the River Flows and the Grass Grows, so will the Treaty and the land and the people be sustained. And water is life, land is life, and doing what we can to protect it and ensure that the rights -- the treaty rights of Indigenous people are intact, especially in government to government relationships, in this case with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So how -- again, the Minister just committed that timelines would be shortened with new staffing with the success of this new communication. How much shorter? Because time is of the essence. Again, we are expecting transformational, generational change, massive investment from the military. We need to be ready. So is the Minister -- can the Minister tell me how much shorter that timeline's going to be?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think I wouldn't be -- it wouldn't be wrong to say that the number one issue related to affordability in the Northwest Territories for MLAs is power, is the rates of power second closely only to the high -- or second behind the high cost of housing. Power rates are the highest in the country despite our abundant hydro resources. And as the motion mentioned, we have many unique challenges that create a perfect storm of an unaffordable electricity system and one where ratepayers are forced to shoulder the brunt of those costs, and those costs continue to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table a British Columbia government News Article titled Expanding Cancer Coverage for Firefighters. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just to correct the information, some of these projects are the Saskatchewan energy/power corporation, SaskPower, developing linkages between northern and southern Saskatchewan; the B2Gold project in Nunavut; the clean energy design which is doing a pilot in the Northwest Territories is also doing a pilot there. So I don't -- those don't sound like foreign companies to me. So can the Minister take a look at this fund and see how it and other critical mineral funds are working and ensure that some of that investment is flowing here and support our local...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These are kids and their families; these are not people filling out passport applications or opening bank accounts, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, given that the Minister is not inclined to exercise any kind of oversight to fix this, it seems like we need a more systemic approach. So will the Minister work with Sport North to ensure that there's an appeals process in for when one form wasn't signed, Mr. Speaker -- every other form is signed, one isn't -- can he commit to a process that will ensure errors like this will be caught, can be resolved in a way that ensure no child...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, refusing to allow slight accommodations for late paperwork not only excludes individual children from sport but also goes against the best interests of youth and the spirit of the Arctic Winter Games. How does the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs justify upholding a decision that penalizes kids rather than supporting their participation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Members, most of the Members who spoke to the bill, especially those who said they would support it. And I want to give a special mention to the Minister of Finance who gave the response on behalf of the government.

I am not -- this is not a situation -- like, you'll note there's not a whereas clause that says whereas the government is not providing leadership on this file. You know, that's not in the motion because I don't think that's the case. There's areas that we -- of course, we are advocating for that are in the motion that maybe aren't being...