Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I left my house today, I looked up and for the first time in my life I saw a new horizon in the skies of Yellowknife. The Robertson headframe, the longstanding and iconic landmark of this community is no more. Now, like the 11 former headframes at one time surrounded the city is merely history. This is a bittersweet moment in the history of the NWT, a sentiment I have seen shared by many Northerners over the last few days. Though it is no longer standing, the legacy of the headframe and the strong community the mining industry built here in Yellowknife...

Thank you to the Minister for agreeing to look into it. If not the sheriffs, then can G Division officers be used for court duty rather than Yellowknife RCMP officers?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, public safety in our downtown core is always of great concern to the people of Yellowknife. I'm wondering if the Minister of Justice can answer some questions today. Recently, Nunavut has made a decision to allow their sheriff's officers to provide for escorts from the courthouse to the correctional facility. Here, in Yellowknife, the RCMP are responsible for that function, and it keeps the RCMP off patrol duty at peak times in the downtown, which puts additional pressure on the RCMP to provide public safety.

Can the Minister make a commitment to review the...

I'm looking forward to that report and I thank the Minister for his answer. Does the Minister agree that preserving our heritage is a boost to our tourist system and creates more opportunities to show off the North to visitors and that that is an important economic aspect of heritage promotion?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, what heritage funding exists to preserve unique heritage sites in our communities?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and perhaps I'll clarify. Instead of using the local detachment resources, which would be the Yellowknife detachment, the territorial level resources for this function, so pulling officers who are not involved in patrol duty in our downtown core. That's really the crux of the issue, and that's what I'd like the Minister to consider. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now, I wasn't sitting in this House on the last Assembly, but I did pay attention. I feel like some deja vu. The last time this was attempted, surveys were sent out, consultations were done, and a plan was still adopted that left many schools outside of the ability to provide exactly what the school board is looking for, which again, Mr. Speaker, is providing best resources and the best schools for our kids which is exactly what we and the department agrees with and what the resolution puts forward, but to get to there we need a clear and costed plan and resources...

I just wanted to ask the Minister some questions about those numbers on capacity. This is of course the Ecole St. Joseph School which is in my riding of Kam Lake, and the school board is reporting 522 students for 90 per cent capacity for the 2016-2017 enrolment year. The Minister's quoted some other numbers. Can he explain the difference between the school board's numbers and the Minister's numbers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know last week was Small Business Week, however when you represent Kam Lake there's always a good reason to talk about business. Mr. Speaker, today I'd like to acknowledge the achievements of one of my constituents who recently won the Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Award at the Yellowknife Chamber's 70th Annual Business Award Gala, Garth Wallbridge and his firm Wallbridge Law Office. Mr. Wallbridge is a Metis public speaker, lawyer, and a leading northern entrepreneur.

Having over 30 years of experience in the North and operating the only 100 per cent owned...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I was going to speak to the amendment that my colleague just spoke of, but it seems like there's no need for that, and I'd like to applaud the Minister for being progressive on this issue. You know, in following suit with Quebec, the North is on the progressive edge of this issue and moving forward, and it's always nice to feel like Canada's catching up with you rather than us catching up with Canada. So I applaud this decision and I think it very much supports what the standing committee heard when this bill was reviewed in public.

The other component of this bill is...