Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to thank the residents of the Nahendeh riding for giving me the privilege of representing them for the past four years. I am and always will be humbled for being elected to this job. It is about the people. I am representing their voice and their ideas.

To the community and regional leadership, these past four years, I enjoyed your honesty and frankness as we tried to address concerns and issues with the GNWT, federal government, or others. I would like to thank you for opening your homes, offices, and community to me as we work for the residents of Nahendeh.

To...

When I've been talking to the residents in both those communities, they talked about the opportunity to maybe increase the number of tags for outside the region, not just the community. Has the department looked at that potential opportunity?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions are for the Minister of ENR. Mr. Speaker, in the Nahendeh riding, in particular Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte, we've had some issues with the buffalo. The community has reached out and asked: what are we doing there? Can the Minister please provide us an update on what plans they have to help mitigate the problems that these animals are causing? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This will be the last I'll ask for unanimous consent to conclude my statement this session.

From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank all the legislative staff and the Executive Branch staff. You were so helpful and supportive. They were very important as we did our work, and they helped give us good direction.

To friends and family, thank you for your support throughout these four years. I know I've missed some important life events, but you are very understanding of this.

Finally, I'd like to thank Ms. Grace. I know I'm not supposed to thank her, but I'm going...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table three documents: "The Gordon Foundation - Policy Memo: Ways forward in addiction programming in Fort Simpson, NT. Dene Gogondie, Voices of the People" by Kristen Tanche, Jane Glassco Northern Fellowship; "The Gordon Foundation: Creating Ethical Spaces for On-the-Land Learning" by Chloe Dragon Smith of the Jane Glassco Northern Fellowship; and the last one "The Gordon Foundation: Negotiating the Dehcho: Protecting Dene Ahthit'e through Modern Treaty-Making" by Don Couturier, Jane Glassco Northern Fellowship. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. I appreciate the Minister for his answer. The community of Sambaa K'e was looking at this as an issue moving forward, and I see that the government has been dealing with it. I think that the Minister of Infrastructure is willing to clarify for us, if the Minister is willing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your Standing Committee on Social Development is pleased to provide its Report on Transition Matters and commends it to the House. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that Committee Report 38-18(3) be deemed read and printed in Hansard in its entirety. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister, for the update on that information. We did the feasibility study, so when is it going to be starting, shovel in the ground? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I agree with the Minister. I think that it should be a priority for the 19th, but we will have to wait and see who is here in the 19th Assembly. Looking at the "what we heard" report, I didn't see any specific proposal to create advocate positions, but I have heard this idea talked before, even before I was an MLA. It is good to have the legislation, but we need to be forward-thinking about putting these positions out there. Is this part of the discussion moving forward?

Thank you. That was Sambaa K'e. I apologize if I misspoke. I was talking about Jean Marie River. Sorry. They were looking at a couple of sections that need to be enhanced. I know the government spent some quality money on it this past year, but they are looking at a couple of other spots. Thank you, Mr. Chair.