Shane Thompson

I would get her to write my Minister's statement because that's exactly how I feel about this.

Mr. Speaker, what happened is we went out. Nobody bid on the contract. Nobody did. So we had to cancel it because there was nobody interested. Fortunately I can say that we have somebody that's interested or a company that's interested. We're very happy with the people that are doing it. They already started the work. So we're hoping it's going to be successful and we're hoping that it like I said this year, hopefully, be able to get this SPAR framework done and ready to go. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Member for the question. The abandonment agreement with the contractor was signed on December 9th following a procedural process authorized by the court. The work is being undertaken by the receiver to carry out the order issued by the regulator of oil and gas regulations. The cost to complete this work is $15 million but as the workers or the contractor gets into the site, there may be additional costs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member's correct that MACA is currently doing engagement and has met or is planning to meet with sport and recreation organizations, Indigenous governments, NGOs working with underserved populations, community coaches, and territorial sport organizations. After engagement, the department will publish a “what we heard” report by June 2023 follows the release of the SPAR framework. If the engagement work advances positively, my intent is to approve the new SPAR framework this Assembly, but it will depend on what we've heard or what we've heard through the...

Mr. Speaker, this government is committed to working with Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations on conservation in the Northwest Territories. The Department of the Environment and Natural Resources has spent the last three years implementing establishment agreements, drafting sitespecific regulations, and establishing management boards for existing territorial protected areas, Thaidene Nene and Tuyeta. The network of protected and conservation areas in the NWT comes with many benefits:

Conservation areas protect ecological and cultural important space;

They help to maintain...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the new policies will consider to account for the cost changes in utility prices, not just the carbon tax. The water and sewer funding policy already uses actual power in heating fuel rates in the communities when we do its calculations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that amount of money that I talked to you about, it was a quarter million, there's also programs out there through contribution agreements that the communities are able to access that there. But as the Member said, I can have those conversations with the federal Minister to see what funding help the federal government is available to give to our jurisdictions. The biggest challenge is when we talk to the federal government, it's about Canada as a whole, how the NGOs work. And when we talk about some of the challenges that we face, that's where we have to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's a good segue to actually I'm going to be meeting with the federal Minister this weekend. I'll bring it up with her there. But right now what our department has been doing, through the lottery dollars and through the BDSRA, we do provide funding for the youth, an opportunity to participate in that there. Again, it's with the organization. I know there's a group that's doing a hockey tournament, sort of kind of interchanging between communities up in the Beaufort Delta and they're organizing that right now. So that money is some of that's happening...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I need to clarify. The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, that's their regional job, is to get into the communities. The communities, as soon as they ask, we get in there. The school of government's willing to come in and offer courses there. The school has a calendar of events but if there's specifically one area that they need, we work with the community to do that. So we're more than willing to do that. The staff go in there. They are working with the communities. As soon as the communities ask, the regional offices work with them to get...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, the Member talks about a very difficult and challenging situation in the communities. The department has regional assistant fire marshals out there that work with the communities. The communities just need to reach out to them. We can offer the training through the school of community government. The Member talks about the lack of volunteers. That's one of the challenges that we see a lot of, but we are working with the communities. So if the communities in his riding are looking for support, we are more than willing to bring in our staff to come in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that's a unique way, I thank the Member for talking about that but, unfortunately, we have a process that we work with the communities and we develop their capital plan. A few years back, we got away from us, as the government, building facilities and so the communities get the money through that there. But what I can tell you is we've reached out with NWTAC and we've reached out to the federal government. So we're trying to get these funding opportunities to be able to bundle things, work on getting increase in funding so we can help communities build...