Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And that sounds like a great experience. I was -- had an experience with a US film production in my previous employment in, Mr. Chair, your community of Dettah, and it was really significant to see how much opportunity brought to the community and to see the late Chief Eddie Sangris shake Hilary Swank's hand was really exciting as well. So this can really bring Northerners -- or bring the North to Hollywood or to that larger film industry and bring, of course, film industry here locally.

The issue is this rebate is -- like, no one's going to complain about it. This is good...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the transportation of patients via emergency ground/air ambulance and highway rescue to health facilities does not fall under the Government of the Northwest Territories medical travel and there is no current policy basis or provision possible for non-medical escort or supports provided to these patients;

AND WHEREAS promoting, protecting, and providing for the health and well-being of the people of the Northwest Territories is the mandate of the health and social services establishment policy;

AND WHEREAS access to health care and addressing the effects of trauma...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have the following questions for the Minister of health and social services concerning the productivity of operating rooms at Stanton Territorial Hospital:

How many scheduled surgeries and day procedures were completed in 2024, broken down per month;

What are the total hours worked by all surgical teams for the year 2024;

How many surgeries and day procedures were cancelled over the same time period;

Will the Minister provide a full cost accounting of all scheduled surgeries and day procedures completed in 2024; and

Will the Minister provide a full cost accounting of all...

Mr. Speaker, the spotlight is on the North as the circumpolar world takes stage in the geopolitical arena. Manmade climate change is causing Arctic ice to melt rapidly each year opening up shipping routes merchants died trying to forge ages ago and unlocking resources which were once unreachable. Now, rival powers like China and Russia are militarising the region as their posturing becomes even more hostile. As our Arctic seas continue to melt, the open waters beckon them to escalate their challenges to our sovereignty in an effort to establish an even greater foothold in the region.

If those...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so these -- we've heard that there's -- we've heard directly -- Members have heard directly from people working in some of these facilities that they're seeing clients, you know, there's some that are very productive. So is there a pathway that the Minister can take -- can keep these facilities going under a different mandate, keep the staff going, doing the work they're doing of offering programs, and then, you know, the ones that are less productive, maybe hand those over to the local authorities, whatever they may be. But, like, I think what Member --...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, allow war packaging that way but unfortunately these projects -- else I'm mistaken, and I invite the Honourable Premier to correct me, but these don't count toward our NATO -- or 2 percent of GDP NATO spending. They don't count. So what I'm trying to do is if we're moving to 2 percent, or maybe even 3 percent now, if we're going the way Europe's going, to divert some of those, if not most of those dollars, into the Northwest Territories. So defense spending is crucial. It's more nuanced than just repackaging our current asks. So can we get a commitment to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mean, I'm curious as to why the Yukon feels they need to do this, but maybe that's something the Minister could speak to her territorial counterparts. I'm sure businesses would be assured by that. There are a number of other things we can do by eliminating the red tape, reducing fees and services, make it cheaper to do business for northern businesses and Canadian businesses. Will the Minister undertake to do that work, to find ways she can cut those fees and barriers to doing business in the Northwest Territories to protect Canada's interest in the NWT? Thank you.

Thank you for that. Thank you, Mr. Premier -- thank you to the Premier, Madam Chair. The men's healing program, real quick, how are the numbers looking for that? I know this is something the Minister and I worked with -- worked on way back in the day, and it's definitely important to our communities and to -- and in particular Indigenous folks who are, you know, as much victims in the system and cycle of violence as anyone else. This is a really good thing. I'm glad to see it in here but is it seeing success? Thank you.

Thank you. And on the matter of trucking, we have trucking businesses in the Northwest Territories. They have access to these kinds of fast passes to get through provincial borders without paying dues they can reconcile at the end of the month. It expedites the whole process. Unfortunately, we can't certify that process here in the Northwest Territories, so businesses are looking -- have to base their operations outside of the Northwest Territories. Alberta seems to be the case in most areas. Is this something the Minister can correct and allow northern-based trucking companies and moving...

Thank you. And I appreciate that -- yeah, especially that youth piece is really important, and I'm glad to see that we are finding ways to use funding for gang prevention and it's targeted towards youth. But I guess my concern is, like, we have -- war zone's probably too much of an embellishment but, like, we have an increasingly -- increasing incidents of violence on the streets of Yellowknife. I see it all the time because of here, in the apartment buildings, especially where there's concentrations of poverty. So on the gun part of this, I guess the organized crime front, are we doing more -...