Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And yet they keep getting sued, Mr. Speaker. So clearly something's not working. So will the Minister commit to a full evaluation of this system? And let's take one aspect of it, the 85 percent capacity threshold for enrolments, will she convert that to a capacity threshold on non-rights holders as they have in the Yukon so we can allow these schools to grow, to thrive, these students to thrive, and Francophones to have their rights respected in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

[Translation] Mr. Chair, I have questions for the Minister of Education regarding French language education as a first language.

[Translation Ends].

I won't do them in French because I am a product of the immersion system, so I will spare the House that.

Our French, how we manage our commission scolaire is very different than our neighbouring territory, the Yukon. The Yukon government gives far more flexibility to the commission scolaire to make their own decisions within the policy set where our government has very restrictive -- restrictive models of controlling admissions and other aspects of...

Merci, Monsieur le President. The Northwest Territories is home to a strong Francophone presence that has long been part of our territory's diverse multilingual tapestry. Since the earliest days of the fur trade, the Franco-Ténois community has carried their legacy forward through generations of our shared northern history. This is no easy task in our smaller and more remote communities where French language services are often limited. Yet despite these challenges, Francophone families continue to pass on their language, culture, and pride, keeping this living heritage strong across the North...

Thank you. Well, I suppose I will have to take questions to the Premier. But this emergency supports framework, how does the Minister understand this working then? Because it sounds like it's not a system-wide framework that's going to change things. It sounds like these are still up to individual things, at least according to his understanding. So can he clarify what this framework is supposed to do from the perspective of his department? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake has brought up the loss of funding to Arctic Winter Games. This is a real hit to our kids, to sport. How much longer are we going to lose money as a territory due to revenue leakage by not regulating iGaming in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Minister saying it's a call to action and she's going to address this. Those are the right words to say; we need more than that. Will the Minister put the results of this audit and addressing the results with an action plan, will she tie those to performance pay, to promotions, to some sort of internal metric at Housing NWT that will have real consequences for staff if they're unable to address the concerns of these audits, which I'll remind you, go back now to 2008. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the Auditor General's recently released housing in the Northwest Territories report, there's some shocking findings, actually. And I think it deserves it's -- what the press are calling it, scathing, which is unfortunately all too often what we hear about Auditor General reports in the Northwest Territories. So as these findings were very similar from reports of 2008 and 2012, how is the Minister going to do something different? Because both times, housing has responded to these reports, they have failed to make progress. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And this is an easy motion to support, and I expect it will be an easy motion to pass. But it is fitting that someone who left such an indelible mark on the history of the Northwest Territories receives a lot of debate in this House about what he did.

Tony Whitford was not someone I knew as well as perhaps members of his family. I was, of course, much younger than Tony but, you know, I almost -- it's weird not to see him sitting at the table of this Assembly when in the 18th Assembly it was -- you wouldn't have a sitting of this House without Tony coming in for one day...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I've listened carefully to what the Minister of Finance spoke of in terms of working with a standing committee process, and I've listened to what the other Members have said both for and against the government -- sorry, the budget, rather, the capital budget, and I have some thoughts and some takeaways as well.

You know, the housing money is really seen, I think, by many Members as a centerpiece for this budget, and certainly for the last round of budget negotiations. My concern with this is we often get ahead of ourselves with ambitious capital...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And the RTA has -- I mean, it's almost a third rail in politics in the Northwest Territories. It is constantly brought up as needing reform and yet elusively remains unreformed. And the committee feels very strongly that this needs to change. And, you know, whether you talk to landlords or tenants, no one is satisfied with the way it's currently drafted. It allows a great deal of latitude, and perhaps too much latitude to the rental officer, to come to decisions without a lot of guidance that could be put towards a more tenant-centered approach, founded in the right to...