Shane Thompson

I thank the Minister for that answer. It is actually refreshing to hear that, and I would like to thank the Minister and the department for making that commitment. Another issue we heard about was the growing wolf population. It seems that one of the factors in seeing the reduction of the moose population is because of the wolves. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm if the department has done any studies on the wolves within the last five years and if they are concerned with the population growth of the wolves?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as you heard in my Member's statement today, I had the pleasure of having the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources and of Finance and the deputy minister, Dr. Dragon, Superintendent Lafferty, and Officer Sabourin do a Nahendeh riding tour. It was really good, and the people really enjoyed it, so my questions to the Minister of ENR are about this trip. During the trip, we heard concerns regarding the rules and regulations as it pertains to hunting on the road corridor. There seemed to be some confusion about what was allowed and not allowed. Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today in my Member's statement I talked about summer employment and the program that the government offers and is doing a better job. I have to give credit where credit is due. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Finance please tell us what the department is doing for potential employment for smaller communities in regards to the Summer Employment Program? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For the record, our committee took this seriously. Our research department looked into this matter quite extensively. I guess the biggest challenge that we found is that we are connected, really, with Alberta, and when Alberta is not going to change anything, that has a huge impact on us. I respect the opinions of my colleagues who voiced their concerns. They are very valid. However, at the end of the day, we have to make sure that we are consistent with our partner, which is Alberta, in how we deal with things, so when we made this recommendation, it was based on the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On October 19, 2017, the Standing Committee on Social Development presented its report on Motion 32-18(2), Referral of Petition 6-18(2), Elimination of Time Change in the Northwest Territories, to the Standing Committee on Social Development. The report involved one recommendation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that answer. I totally agree that the Government of the Northwest Territories is trying to do what's best for their staff, and at no point in time am I saying they're not. However, I guess my concern is, in listening to the constituents out there, there's a variety of challenges that people are dealing with and they're getting counselling out there, so they're not getting the needed support out there. Can the Minister please advise the process if the staff feels that their supervisor is not treating or understanding their challenges properly...

I apologize for not directing my question to the Finance Minister. Thank you for that. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister for his answer; however, when I am talking to these people and we're talking about the treatment and that, they've informed me that they have to take sick leave to attend counselling and stuff like that, and this is now an added stress on to people who do not have the sick leave available to them. Can the Minister confirm if this is the process, and if it is, why?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that answer. That is very encouraging. I would really love to see ENR being number one. ENR has a real impact in my riding. I would encourage the Minister to do that. Can the Minister, if they are not going to put a budget line in there, work on developing a plan to encourage the departments and work with us as Regular MLAs as an opportunity so we can find these opportunities for our summer students? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi cho to the Minister for his answer. I greatly appreciate that and understand the importance of that, but again some of my smaller communities don't have LHOs and don't have these opportunities. Some of them don't even have students who are going on to university. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister get back to us or tell us if he is able to work with his department to look at hiring some students that are in high school that go back into these smaller communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it will be another opportunity for me to talk about summer student positions here. Mr. Speaker, summer student positions are a great way to get the youth to come back to their communities during their time off from school. This program will also reveal to the students how important education is, especially for securing jobs and potentially a career.

The students employed by the Student Employment Program are already beginning to benefit from their education by way of obtaining a summer position, which is very encouraging. In addition to promoting education...