Vince McKay

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Tuesday, February 10th, 2026, I will present Bill 41, An Act to Amend the Real Estate Agents Licensing Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said earlier, this is ongoing work with the Department of National Defence, and the Department of Infrastructure is constantly working with them. I would hate to say that we're going ahead to do something at the Yellowknife airport that goes against their plans and definitely puts us back. So, again, this is an ongoing working thing with the Department of National Defence, and we continue to work with them in order to achieve their goals and what they're trying to do in the Northwest Territories, Yellowknife and Inuvik. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member is probably aware that the Yellowknife airport is going through strategic planning sessions on the type of work that needs to be done at the Yellowknife airport. Those are ongoing. They've completed public engagement and are continuing with the engagement. So the Department of National Defence and the Department of Infrastructure and the Government of the Northwest Territories have all been communicating on the types of assets and resources that are required for their projects at the airports. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's something we can discuss with the Housing NWT; however, I'm not going to commit to anything on behalf of Housing NWT. And radon testing and mitigation in private residential dwellings is not an area that MACA holds responsibility for. As such, MACA is not lead with coordinating work on radon testing initiatives. The federal government has a lot of information for action plans for municipalities, and also the Department of Health and Social Services has a great website on radon information in the Northwest Territories, and I've also asked the department to share...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The strategic planning and the work that's been going on has actually been slowed down in order to wait for DND, essentially a What We Heard was coming, and now that we know a little bit more, the work is ongoing and there is plans with the strategic planning and everything else that's been going on with the Department of National Defence to build that all into the Yellowknife airport. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, again, I appreciate the interest on radon mitigation, you know, and I will review the jurisdictional scan that is going to be tabled. However, radon mitigation in private homes, again, is not the responsibility of Municipal and Community Affairs. And as a former municipal councillor and government official myself, I -- you know, I'm always happy to hear from municipal leaders on the issues that are important to their communities. Any discussion on radon would focus on sharing information, helping direct communities to possible external resources rather than...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So radon testing in private homes is not within the mandate or authority of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. And do I appreciate the Member's desire to coordinate; however, MACA does not oversee environmental health issues and this is not in the area that MACA has any funding for or staff supports for. However, I will say, though, just because of, you know, the concern that we have, you know, I'm interested in collaborating with the Member to try to get resources available for residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I am the Minister, I'm not directly involved in that process, so I'd have to find out more detail on it on exactly who's all involved in this. And just to be clear, the EIA is heading a lot of this work with that stuff, so it's not necessarily all municipal and community affairs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, I'm aware of this, and there is a commitment to continue this process; however, obviously, with priorities of the government, things do change and do slow down different lines of work however we know that there's a need for this, and we'll continue to work on it. The Department of Infrastructure, municipal and community affairs, department of housing have been reviewing all the existing regulations, and we're hopefully going to advance some of this here in 2026. And, yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Motion 63-20(1): Creation of an Emergency Management Agency for the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.