Shauna Morgan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what should the government be doing about the economy? We sometimes hear that we should be running government like a business. If only we elected business people, then we'd get the territory booming in no time.

Historically, it has been easy to confuse business with government because of places like this that were founded as company towns. The gold mines built much of Yellowknife's early infrastructure. Imperial Oil built Norman Wells, you know, back in the good old days when we got things done. Now, the land corporations and dev corps connected to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have to admit that my least favourite budget to deliberate is the capital budget. It seems to have the effect of dividing us into separate communities and regions, all vying with each other to get a greater share of a limited pot. My ideal, and likely naive vision, is that we would all be thinking about the good of all residents across the entire Northwest Territories and that as a group, we would try to prioritize the projects that meet the most urgent and greatest needs wherever they may be. But, naturally, each of us feels an obligation to fight for...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to flag, I recognize that as soon as we talk about sort of training programs and trades, usually the answer is that that's Aurora College's decision and, you know, this government can't direct the college what to do and that's sort of the end of it. But I would argue that there is a desperate need for a more organized territorial trade strategy that doesn't just kind of leave it up to Aurora College to decide whatever they're going to decide. And certainly they should be a partner in this, but I would urge the government to consider providing more clear, you...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just briefly I wanted to flag the importance of this one. I know it does sound like a large and overwhelming request. It is difficult and expensive to come up with supportive living and transitional housing options, but it's also so necessary as even a preventative measure. We know that as soon as you let people fall into homelessness, like a spiral of other problems tend to follow from there and those problems also get really expensive for government in terms of how to care for people when they don't have homes, the health problems, the other kinds of societal problems...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that is discouraging to hear. Can the Minister clarify, if there are individual children requiring these supports, can individuals still apply for Jordan's Principle funding to fund, say, speech-language pathology services, or is that no longer available to any NWT students? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First, I just want to say I have such great respect for the legacy of Tony Whitford. Before he passed away, he was a Yellowknife North constituent, and I had the great pleasure and honour of visiting him, meeting with him several times, and he certainly has made a lasting impact on me.

I also certainly wouldn't want this to become a debate about how great of a man Tony Whitford was. First of all, I think we would be here for days but, also, I don't think it's probably an appropriate debate for this House. And I also just want to recognize that I understand Cabinet does...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For my first set of questions, I want to ask the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Now, we know that a significant problem holding back the development of land and new housing in the city of Yellowknife, as well as broader economic opportunity, is the lack of an arrangement for timely and efficient transfer of Commissioner's land to the city of Yellowknife. The Minister mentioned earlier this sitting that there's a memorandum of collaboration in place with the city that allows this transfer to go ahead, but there remain a number of barriers that make it...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on my statement yesterday about housing as a human right by speaking about how we can better hold landlords and tenants accountable. When your landlord is an investment trust based far away that sees your building as a tiny blip on a balance sheet rather than a home or a community, it's very difficult to hold them accountable.

It is positive that over the past few years Housing NWT has been moving towards owning its own buildings and away from leases with monopolistic real estate trusts, but there are also local landlords violating people...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just would simply request that the Minister also keep me informed, and then I can try to keep constituents informed and those who are using that area just so everyone's aware of what's available and not available. And I know there's a number of people who, yeah, live out there as well as use that area frequently. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table correspondence from the Mayor of Yellowknife to the Minister of Finance regarding the City's Budget Submission Supporting the Transfer of Commissioner's Land to the City of Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.