Julian Morse

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that clarification. So, Mr. Speaker, daycare operators are telling me that this new system is restrictive and preventing them from hiring staff and helping the department achieve their goal of creating new daycare spaces. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to sit down with these operators and work with them and figure this out, find a solution that works for them, that works for the department, something that can help us move forward? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am encouraged to hear about that information from the Minister. Some of those things are things that I wasn't aware of.

Mr. Speaker, is the Minister concerned, considering the news that came out about the Inuit Nunangat University recently, that the NWT is falling behind our neighbours, that is a competitive environment that the NWT wants to stay on top of; is the Minister concerned about the progress that we are not yet making on moving this project forward? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee would like to report on its consideration of Bill 12, the Business Day Statute Law Amendment Act.

Bill 12 received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on October 30th, 2024 and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review. The standing committee completed its clause-by-clause review of the bill with the Minister of Justice on February 10th, 2025.

Mr. Speaker, the committee reports that Bill 12, the Business Day Statute Law Amendment Act, is ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding of anything related to Canol is those would have been federal contaminated sites. I'm just curious how the GNWT ended up with them.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess, yeah, is the Minister able to provide us any detail, though, on like what exactly -- you know, it seems like the department has some information. They were able to give us kind of a high level idea Cameron Hills was $21.2 million, but can we know kind of what project are we talking about? How did the government end up with this liability? I'm just seeking to understand a bit better, you know, something that just appears as a line item in a budget and, you know, once the narrative starts to emerge, one wants to know more about it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is certainly good news, and it's something that I've been advocating for, mostly by email of course, outside of session, and so it is really nice to -- it is nice to hear that. I have some constituents that will be very pleased to hear about that so appreciate that information from the Minister and encourage the department to keep working with the department of health on coordination and certainly hope that those extra staff help to alleviate the burden a bit.

To turn back to the line of questioning that the Member for Great Slave brought up, that Cameron Hills...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that's it for questions for this section at this time. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, that's news to me, Mr. Chair, that the heritage fund annual report is tabled every year. I was under the impression that hasn't been happening and that they've been effectively relying on the public accounts for reporting. So can you just clarify for me -- I mean if an annual report, which follows the kind of rules and the final planning and accountability framework for annual reporting, you know, an auditor's report, management discussion and analysis, and -- yeah, analysis providing an overview of the previous year operations, how the year will influence decisions...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I get the point, and I understand what the Minister is saying here, but I guess, you know, there's lot of initiatives that we spent a lot of money on year after year. This is one that could help us eventually figure out what programs we need to change or potentially even let go of. I think -- you know, I think this is kind of a -- one of those scenarios where we might need to spend a little bit of money to save some more. And, yeah, it's something that I'd like to -- I'd like to kind of run up the flagpole as an important initiative and I think something that could be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, the Minister in her response to my first question kind of alluded to the fact that she's waiting for some direction from the Aurora College board. Has she received any indication that this is going to be the year that we go out and start championing this project? I appreciate her saying that she's willing to go with them to Ottawa, that she's willing to go out, and I definitely think we need that kind of Team NWT approach since we like to talk about teams like Team Canada, but, Mr. Speaker, has she received any indication that that's happening and is...