Kieron Testart

Thank you. So is there a -- same question, I guess, around the calculation. Like, when's the last time we looked at this and to see if it's meeting the needs of northern families? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, day homes are also required to complete a mandatory 80-hour course, the Alberta essentials course, but they don't get any time off to do this. It doesn't count as a training day. They're being told they have to use their vacation days to do this training. Why is the department not allowing these to be counted as training days and why are they not -- and let's just leave it there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I wanted to ask about the Northwest Territories child benefits. The limits are -- or when a family exceeds $30,000, the benefit is reduced and then it's completely eliminated after $80,000. Why is the limit set so low? Of course, the Canada Child Benefit is much higher and benefits a higher income bracket and has been a key instrument in reducing child poverty in this country, to the lowest it has ever been. And now I acknowledge that this benefit helps greatly. I was pleased to support increasing it in the 18th Assembly. But it still is quite low. And any...

Mr. Speaker, we certainly have our work cut out for us here in this chamber. From mine closures to the housing crisis, Arctic sovereignty to Indigenous reconciliation, there is no shortage of complicated issues we've been elected to find solutions for. Today, however, I want to speak about a problem that is much simpler to understand but just as serious to the safety and well-being of the public - crosswalks and intersections.

The problem is clear-cut. Motorists are going to drive, pedestrians are going to walk, and children are often going to be a little less predictable when they appear. Yet...

So $11 million is not a lot in the grand scheme of things unless you're $3.2 million away from your debt ceiling. So is the government prepared to lose this revenue -- how will this impact the DAT, the fiscal responsibility policy, the sustainability policy? Like, have we factored in this very likely scenario into our financial projections? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

So just to confirm, the consumer carbon tax is worth $11 million to this government? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the public administrator have a schedule the Minister's aware of when he'll conclude his consultations with regional health advisory councils and authorities? Thank you.

Thank you. So I mean, I think it's impossible not to draw the inevitable comparison to the other two territories which are at $700 million and their borrowing limit at $600 million and, you know, if everything goes as planned, we'll be at $3.1 billion. Has the Minister had any -- well, I guess we have a lot of smart people at that table. Is there, beyond the historic infrastructure deficit and all of that, is there a reason why they've been able to kind of stick to their borrowing limits without requiring an increase versus our circumstances where we keep running up the credit card? Thank you.

Nothing further, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NTHSSA has had deficit reduction plans. They've had independent third-party consultants review their operation. So, again, what is -- what will the public administrator do differently with these plans that the board didn't do and that the current administration of NTHSSA is not doing? I just don't understand why this is -- can the Minister just explain why this is such an important decision that is going to move things along when the old board and council could not do so? Thank you.