Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the cost of -- I believe it was the cost of living subsidy. So will that directly impact the bills that my constituents are paying? Because that's what it -- because that's where the rubber meets the road. Are they going to see increasing costs, or are they going to see a stabilized cost going forward where they're not going to see these shocks month on month; that's what they want to know. And I am hoping the Minister can tell me. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not getting some clear answers so I will have to come back to this. But, Mr. Speaker, one of the partners the Minister left out is municipalities. Will the Minister transfer land requests from municipalities, particularly the city of Yellowknife but also Inuvik, Hay River -- will he transfer those lands that they've requested for by, let's say, end of Q2 this year? We need this land now. We need to bring the investment forward. It's time for these decisions to be made; will he make those decisions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, dovetailing on my colleague's comments about the economy, crucial to the economy, especially a natural resource economy, is land tenure. I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change how is his department moving expediently to ensure that there is comprehensive land tenure reform so there's certainty in the Northwest Territories for investment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

And are these increases at all driven by increased fees at academic institutions, or is this merely driven by the number of students who are enrolling in the program? So I guess is it more expensive to go to university and that's why the rates are going up, or is it just because we have more students applying? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And are -- these student late fees from the last academic semester, are they covered by this increase? Thank you.

No, thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do have some specifics more or less. I won't use names, but these are files that have come across my desk that I have asked for exceptions for on their behalf.

I have a constituent whose husband passed away, and she was dealing with the grief and trauma of learning to become a new single mother. She needed medical travel, and she was told because her kids were under the age of 18, the medical travel system would be providing her with free child care. This is wrong on so many levels, and it prevented her from getting an extremely necessary diagnostic...

Thank you. I am going to take that as a yes. But what is the point of an exception policy if the Minister isn't making exceptions to the policy? What is the point of this whole process if the answer's always going to be no, Mr. Speaker? Because constituents who go to the Minister expect help; they don't expect to be told no. That's why they're asking for an exception to the policies in the first place, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize my mother- and father-in-law who are visiting here from Saskatchewan, Ruth Welbourne and Wes Welbourne. Thank you for being here today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've already asked the Minister to deal with this. I've already had that conversation.

Mr. Speaker, I've got another constituent. The mother was sick. Stanton had to fly -- has always had to fly her out with kidney stones but they got so bad and she was told to wait. She went into septic shock and almost died. They refused to get her son to go as an escort. Instead, they had to pay thousands for hotels and accommodations, and medical travel ultimately paid for the days that they would send him down to pick her up and take her home but wouldn't pay for the...