Julian Morse

Thank you again, Mr. Speaker. Your committee would like to report on its consideration of Bill 32, An Act to Amend the Public Service Act, No. 2.

Bill 32 received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on October 21st, 2025, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review.

The committee is still reviewing the bill and has not yet conducted a clause-by-clause review; therefore, Mr. Speaker, in accordance with Rule 8.3(2) of the Rules of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, I move, seconded by the Member for Great Slave, that the review period for Bill...

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Members will note, my colleague from Range Lake made reference to the Olympics, I am wearing my Team Canada colours today. Certainly appreciated seeing our men's hockey team win yesterday and I look forward to watching our women tomorrow morning and wish them all the best. But I thought I'd wear a bit of a thematic outfit today. So getting to my reply to the budget address.

Mr. Speaker, as we have been considering our 2026 Budget, the theme of both the budget address itself and the replies to it have focused on whether we are adequately responding to the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee would like to report on its consideration of Bill 29, First Responders Workers' Compensation Amendment Act.

Bill 29 received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on May 29th, 2025, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review. A motion extending the committee's review of Bill 29 by 120 days was adopted by this Assembly on October 16th, 2025.

The committee is actively continuing its review of the bill but has not yet conducted a clause-by-clause review; therefore, Mr. Speaker, in accordance with Rule 8.3(2...

Thanks. That's it for me, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Appreciate -- I would love to deliver two Member statements a day, but that would be a lot of work.

My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure. And in the last sitting, I was asking questions about establishment of building standards legislation. I am just wondering, the Minister had committed to follow up on that, if the Minister has any updates on progress on that work with his department. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that follow-up -- or I will appreciate that follow-up.

The main estimates propose a $1.68 million decrease in amortization for court services. Can you explain why this adjustment has been made.

Mr. Chair, I don't know how to -- I am certainly not going to start throwing my own dad jokes and puns on the table.

Yeah, I just say in response to that, no, I do appreciate the department doing the background work. Certainly, we've seen lotteries funding declining over the years and, you know, gambling's changing, and so maybe this is a part of that and insofar as it funds so much of our sports activity, it would be nice to see us be able to stabilize our -- oh, it's on the tip of my tongue. But our -- it's on the next page. The fund that funds the sports. Sorry, Mr. Chair. But thank you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly appreciate the Minister's responsiveness to the pressure in this House about this issue. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister feel that there are specific components of the department's review and approval processes that could be streamlined or conducted in parallel to reduce processing timelines for municipal level housing and development applications? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Appreciate that tip from the Minister, and I will save my questions for then. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I appreciate the thoughtfulness and caution on the part of the Minister. But I would also just note that, I mean, in conversations like this I think there's trade-offs to consider and people's cost of living is probably the thing I hear about the most and is one of the areas that us politicians, I think, struggle the most to address but it's certainly one that I get at the doors any time I go out. And I think the public would appreciate us, if nothing else, just having the conversation, putting ideas out there, considering the pros and cons of expanding a reservoir or...