Julian Morse

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think that point necessarily leads to another question, and that is, you know, I think it's very clear that the NWT can't do this alone. What kind of progress have we made at the negotiating table with the federal government considering they are -- you know, they just recently announced a very generous amount of funding to Nunavut. I'm curious where NWT lands in terms of the fed's plan to increase housing in the NWT -- or in Canada but also hopefully the NWT. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance this time. Mr. Speaker, in the government's response to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment's report on the regulatory framework, they spoke to the Building Capacity in Indigenous Governments Program. Mr. Speaker, has this program been fully subscribed since establishment?

Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, I just wanted to say how pleased I am to see the announcement from the Minister on the large capital projects, and that's what I want to -- well, I want to ask questions about both, really.

So my first question is just about the O and M deficits. So I understand from chatting with the Minister's staff over a number of different briefings that there's this $50 million a year O and M deficit that housing has been facing. And I was perhaps a bit mistakenly under the impression that a good portion of the $50 million for this year -- of the $150 million annually...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm just noting a bit of clarification. In the response, they spoke to establishing that web page as an interim measure and then moving on to a one-stop shop. It sounds like the two are being completed as one, and if they are, that's fine, and I've got a timeline. I just wanted to make sure we're all on the same page. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess you could call $2.5 million a bit of a deficit.

I guess the next question I would ask is the status of the FFMC, the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation, I mean, my understanding is NWT is effectively the last participant in this beast, and I'm curious whether it makes sense to look into other options we might have for marketing, selling our excellent quality fish from the NWT, which I think is quite a higher standard than most other places and I think it could really stand to be separated from other stock. And so I'm curious if we've made any progress on kind...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last sitting the Standing Committee on Economic Development published its report on the review of the NWT regulatory framework, and today I want to highlight the government's response to that report. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to note the government fully accepted seven of the committee's recommendations without caveat and partially accepted the rest of the recommendations. While there are some areas I plan to keep pressure on the government for improvement, I am really happy to see the government take committee's recommendations seriously and consider this...

That's it. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And, yeah, the Minister dovetailed perfectly into -- or segued, I guess, into my next question which was going to be what are we doing about this problem. So resiliency study, I'm glad to hear that we're taking some action. I'm assuming that the -- is the resiliency study -- the purpose of the study, of course, I'm hoping is going to be to develop recommendations for how to make the system more resilient. It seems to be implied in the name, but I just want to confirm.

Okay, thank you. That's a fairly simple answer. Can the Minister help us understand the need for this additional funding, why it came about, and just the basis for it. Thanks.

Sorry, I'm done.