Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things I've certainly advocated to counterparts in the federal government now, several of them indeed, has been exactly on this issue that we face where we not only have a lack of infrastructure to deliver the services, we then have a lack of affordability and we have a lack of redundancy, which for us in the Northwest Territories isn't just a luxury; it means that when one line gets cut, entire communities go without services for significant periods of time. We've suggested ways that the federal government could change their subsidy programs...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Annual Report 20222023 Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a lot there and our submission to CRTC was around 70 pages or so. So let me try to sum up. The statistics of the 63 versus 94 comes from the Northern Canada Internet Use Survey, NCIUS, and that's done by Statistics Canada. This one was from 2021. And, Mr. Speaker, the I would say the public hearings were productive. One very discrete and specific outcome was we saw that NorthwesTel, in fact, agreed with the proposal that we've been advocating for, both at the federal government and publicly, around the Connecting Families 2.0 Initiative.

This is an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do meet with NorthwesTel periodically and they and frequently well, and the purpose of those meetings is to get an update on achieving 50/10. That is their mandate through CRTC that they are to be providing the availability of 50/10, even if not with the affordability that I also continue to advocate where availability doesn't do much if we can't afford it.

Mr. Speaker, I have on those occasions asked them and encouraged them to also reach out to standing committees to make their presentations available. I will certainly follow up to ensure that they are reaching out...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, leasing does fall a little bit out of the wheelhouse for me in the Department of Finance but certainly in terms of understanding what's happening as a wholeofgovernment, infrastructure and the Department of the Executive do confirm that they do want to look together at the improved real property policy. They do want to do that once the formal procurement processes for government procurement and public procurement are done, but also in line with the Indigenous procurement policy that I had just described a few moments ago. So that work will be underway once...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly feel for any residents right now that are, you know, anywhere in the South Slave dealing with some variety of natural disasters or any other personal circumstances. I'm not going to be in a position to speak to what whether or not NorthwesTel and Bell need to sort out their billing in a different way. I can certainly raise it to the counterparts at NorthwesTel that I do meet with on occasion and see if there is a path forward or, you know, perhaps try to support provide us some information about online banking opportunities. And if that's in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we don't need to do things the way the Yukon or the federal government do. I know the Yukon process wasn't necessarily greeted with a hundred percent pleasantness from the Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories or in the Yukon nor from their businesses.

Where we are on this one, Mr. Speaker, an Indigenous procurement policy has gone to the Northwest Territories Council of Leaders and our modern treaty and selfgovernment tables. This is where it belongs. These are the groups that are going to be impacted. These are groups that need to have a...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 83, Liquor Act, be read for the second time.

This bill repeals and replaces the Liquor Act, SNWT 2007, c.15 to make significant changes and updates, including to

Provide for the appointment of a registrar with responsibility for liquor licensing matters including the issuance, renewal, transfer, suspension and cancellation of licenses;

Allow for the creation of new classes of liquor licenses in regulations;

Allow for the creation of classes of retail vendors in regulations;

Allow for the imposition of monetary...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not answering any more questions today; I'm done.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following four documents: Plain Language Summary for Bill 83, Liquor Act; Plain Language Summary for Bill 84, An Act to Amend the Northwest Territories Business Development and Investment Corporation Act,

2022 SocioEconomic Agreement: Social Data Report; and, Let's Talk Agriculture: Have Your Say Online Survey Results. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let me sneak this one in first and just say that there is the GHG grant program for buildings and industry that does give a 25 percent eligible project cost for business and industry applicants. I want to sneak it in so that the business community does hear that and does access those funds.

Mr. Speaker, we've asked, other governments have asked, a number of Ministers have asked, hasn't gotten us very far in terms of being exempted from the carbon tax. So the Minister here has heard it himself. What I'd like to do, though, moving forward, let's get...