Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories holds significant authority over lands within community and municipal boundaries;

AND WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories could support the economic development of communities by enabling community control of community land via block land transfer;

AND WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories initiated a block land transfer with the City of Yellowknife in 2021, as a pilot project to guide the rest of the Northwest Territories community land transfers, and this block land transfer remains...

Yeah, thank you. Well, just do it. So in the I mean, I was part of the I was one of the MLAs who passed the statutory review, so I think it's important to do it. I think one thing we learned from COVID is when kids are out of class, education results suffer. All the evidence, all the science is showing us that, that if I could have, like, ten more seconds just to conclude my thought but, like, that is where the science is showing us that when you pull kids out of the classroom, academics suffer. And they still have not recovered from all that time that was lost during the pandemic. So I am...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on the questions raised by the Member for Yellowknife Centre on the Aurora College transition.

In the media, it has been reported, there was a very prominent headline, it is a concern of my constituents that the transition has been paused. There is some confusion whether it is a pause, if it's a delay, if it's still ongoing. Yes, there's a new mandate letter coming, but what is the state right now and why are representatives of the leadership of the college start like saying that this is paused, this transition is paused? Thank you.

MR...

Awesome, Mr. Chair. That's great news. I wish you the best of luck. And if you need any letters written, I can certainly help out.

I just want to point out with this as well, often when there is an announcement around minority language funding for French languages, for French language education in the Northwest Territories or other programming, there seems to be a tugofwar between Indigenous language funding and in a sense that Indigenous languages are being left out of that, but these are completely separate programs and separate funding streams. And I think it's really important we support...

Mr. Speaker, I am sure the Premier is aware of how important jobs are in regional centres and small communities. Especially centres that provide a lot of employment. How is the government going to make up for the loss of jobs and employment in Fort Smith as result of the closure of the facility?

HON. R.J. SIMPSON:

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you. So I think I made my point around this. I think often we see the solution to a lack of a a lack of a wholeofgovernment approach to public policy issues be solved with a new ADM. I don't know why it's an ADM, but it always seems to be a new ADM that will dramatically improve service delivery. And I don't know if that's historically been the case. I'm very and I'm skeptical if it will be the case here. But if you know, if this is how the department wants to expend its resources, then I wish them the best of success. But I hope that they can return to this House and clearly...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you, Mr. Chair. Your memory's been better than mine because I had forgotten where we left off. And I've also forgotten what questions I asked and what the answers were, so I will go again. I could check Hansard, but I'm too lazy.

Mr. Chair, for this particular item I'm too lazy addictions treatment facilities, so there's a drop in the budget from the revised estimates to these main estimates. Can the Minister explain why we require less funding for something which I think is a high need service of this government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay, how, I guess is my question. Like, I understand what the Minister's saying. This position is going to fundamentally improve service delivery. But how? Because, you know, it's one it's the addition of one person to provide leadership over the entire division or the entire key activity and all the staff that deliver those programs. So how is this one person going to make a difference? Thank you.

Yes.

Thank you. Yes, and I appreciate that that is a requires more than one department to come up with a solution to that problem, and presumably working with municipal and Indigenous governments as well.

I will move along to the addition of a new assistant deputy minister for the language and culture division. The department has been quite capably providing this area of public policy for many, many years without this position. Why do we need it now in a time of fiscal restraint? Thank you.