Jay Macdonald

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right, I have assistant deputy minister, attorney general Brad Patzer. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, once again, those aircraft would not be able to land on those small runways. There's a certain requirement, and typically they do not land on gravel strips due to the potential damage to their amphibian gear. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm here today to present Bill 23, An Act to Amend the Children's Law Act, for consideration by Committee of the Whole.

Family law in Canada is an area of shared responsibility between the federal, provincial, and territorial governments. Bill 23 proposes amendments to the Northwest Territories Children's Law Act that will bring it in line with changes to the federal Divorce Act that came into force in 2021. Recognizing that family breakdown is a difficult experience for everyone involved, especially the children, Bill 23 will bring cases of common law and other non...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the issue that the Member is referring to was related to our fixed-wing scooping aircraft and retardant dropping aircraft, and those are fueled typically through a contractor at one of our airports that are able to accommodate that size of aircraft. Our primary focus when it comes to fuel from the department perspective is helicopter fuel. We have a number of dispensing units in different communities across the territory and in other locations. We have drum fuel operations that are contained in storage buildings. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I've said in this House before, I'm committed to moving this forward, and there's certainly a lot of work that is required to work with the different municipalities. There are requirements for bylaws, etcetera, land use plans. All of these components come into play as we talk about this type of land transfer and committed to continue to work toward a solution. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the software development upgrades are an ongoing process. That type of software and how it interacts across the country is an ongoing evolution, if you will, and there is work already underway towards updating that software and will be incorporated into the new fire centre once it's built as part of our standard procedures. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I currently have a meeting scheduled with the mayor on October 30th to discuss the memorandum of collaboration and how we can ensure that all of the interests of all of the parties involved are addressed, and we can address some of the challenges that we faced over the last while and find a path forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the direct inspections and addressing of these things are done by the officers on the ground who have a mandate to do such work. As Minister of Justice, it's not my mandate. I certainly do have regular conversations with the folks at justice, you know, to ensure that we are considering these, but, once again, those things fall directly under the specific agency or department that have the mandate to enforce that, and I do not directly involve myself with the enforcement part of that work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of ECC does have officers that will do paroles to ensure that when requested that if there's a site that specifically has a potential issue and they're asked to do an inspection, they will gladly go and do that inspection. If there are issues that seem to be evident at the site, they will attempt to work with the folks that are there and resolve those and, if required, there are other legal avenues that could be pursued to come to a resolution. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time there's no essential prioritization of the items from the audit. Many of the items identified in the audit, as well as the outstanding items from 2020, are quite crosscutting and involve a number of partners that really don't all have the ability to participate at the same level. So as a department, we are certainly committed to the recommendations. And within the audit report in tab D I believe, it does lay out our commitments to those recommendations as well as lays out specific timelines and whether we are fully committed and fully agree...