Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to remind the honourable Members of this House that, although we occupy these seats for now, we are holding them in trust for future generations.

Young people in the Northwest Territories and Canada live in very different circumstances than I did or my parents did or my grandparents, and those changing circumstances give a different perspective. It is a perspective that decision makers are often disconnected with, which is why we must work very diligently to connect with young Canadians and young Northerners and to understand their perspectives on the issues...

I am disappointed, but I will look forward to further discussing this both on the floor of this Chamber and in committee. Nothing further. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will just say for the record that I am always hesitant to appropriate money to MTS when it does have that established revolving fund, but I appreciate that this appropriation contemplates more than that in other labour relations capacities.

Our Standing Committee on Government Operations in its public accounts role will be taking a look at this and making sure the government is meeting its commitments to use the fund appropriately and to not use appropriations to support MTS, so I am putting the Minister on notice. I have no further questions apart from that. Thank you.

Thank you. So any changes or any development of tax credits that you would see in the mains normally, if we are to have those discussions, they will happen at a later date and any financial implications to this budget will be discussed at a later date. Can the Minister confirm that?

When will this House be able to evaluate those casebycase bases? Is this something we are going to see in the public accounts? Thank you.

Thank you. Is that also a function of case workers and income support and that kind of social services side of things? So are we getting into more than just the service centres and service operators but actually case managers and client officers who are working with people in impoverished circumstances? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, to one of the items the witness just provided on that list, marine transportation services, as we all know, a revolving fund was established for the purposes of supporting marine transportation services. I am wondering if it's appropriate to use that fund to support labour relations, as it relates to MTS. Thank you.

I would hate to start speculating, but does the Minister have any other suggestions for what it could be? It just seems like, if everyone is eligible for this tax benefit, then, if we are paying less into it, it must mean there are fewer people in the territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This department does not do any coordinating activities apart from what is contained under its own mandate; is that accurate? Thank you.

I will just conclude with my remarks. I respect that we need to do work on this. Again, I acknowledge the Minister has made that commitment. In considering the budget, which is the work that we have put ourselves to, I just want to make sure that, if we have known costs coming at a future date, that we are accounting for them in this budget. That is my number one concern, but if the Minister is going to do it by way of supplemental appropriation, we will deal with that at a later date, and I accept that. Thank you.