Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Our continued thoughts and prayers for the family and community at this time.

Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize my constituent Julie Thrasher who, unfortunately, I can't see from where I sit. But Julie is a Great Slave constituent, also originally from Inuvik, and also a strong supporter in the community, often feeding and helping the vulnerable population. So I just wanted to say thank you to Julie for that work; it's well needed. So thank you; welcome.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Tu Nedhe Wiilidheh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to recognize the drummers that were here earlier at the beginning of the session. And I'd like to recognize Cody Drygeese, Lerory Betsina, Cody Liske, Daniel Liske, Randy Bellageron, Ethan Sundberg. I also want to recognize my CA Shirley Tsetta, and all the translators; it's good to see you all back again. And GNWT staff and the ledge staff. And also Pascal Erasmus who was here a little earlier. And Kieron Testart, former MLA for the Yellowknife area. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd also like to recognize Mr. Kieron Testart who is a constituent of Range Lake and I believe is putting his name forward, so welcome to the gallery. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Range Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral Questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Member for Range Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd ask the Premier to confirm what programs and associated funding amounts are in place to specifically support businesses impacted by the wildfires, and how quickly can we get that support out to alleviate the financial burden on our local businesses? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Madam Premier.

I think I'd like to defer that to the Minister of Finance. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Minister responsible for Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at present, there's two programs already operational, and they were both stood during the midst of the evacuation. The first one I'll speak to out of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. We changed the SEED program that a lot of businesses that are familiar with, added on a directive relating specifically to the wildfires. Under this program at present, there is a contribution amount of up to $5,000 for eligible costs that were incurred. There's also, under the BDIC, they've also had their board -- brought their board together and established a program that they're calling the Wildfire Assistance and Relief Measures Program. It's very similar, and it provides up to $5,000 again for evacuated communities, businesses, and $3,500 for those that are in business -- or in communities that were otherwise affected. And the two are working together just to ensure that they can try to maximize benefits for businesses that might be eligible under the program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's good to hear that we do have some programs. It's not a lot of money because for Hay River and, you know, Enterprise and K'atlodeeche, you know, we've been through, you know, three major events here in the last 15 months, and it's really taken its impact -- it's really impacting businesses. So I think we have to take another look at that. But anyways, Mr. Speaker, I'd ask the Premier if any requests have gone into the federal government for additional financial support for businesses impacted by the wildfires; if so, and what has the response been? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That one, Mr. Speaker, really does lay largely in the purview of the Premier's office. But given the multi-department nature of the evacuations and the emergencies, quite a number of departments are working together to be in touch with their counterparts. I know ITI officials are in touch with their counterparts. But beyond that, we've also all been contributing to work that's happening out of the Premier's office. And with the invitation of the federal government, knowing that we're going to have some asks, to prepare a very thorough and complete look at what kind of asks we might have and what they would be. So that is going out. If it hasn't gone out in a formal sense but, again, that's coming because of the conversations happening both out of the Premier's office but with a lot of our officials. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that answer. You know, however, you know, like I say, we've gone through three major events in Hay River and, you know, a year after the flood, we're still -- you know, we still got a number of files that need to be actioned. And when I see what's happened here, it's going to be -- this is going to be still existing after the next Assembly, the way things are going. So I think we need to be really proactive and forceful when we're dealing with the federal government to try and get additional funds, otherwise we're going to lose residents, we're going to lose businesses, and we're going to see, you know, the NWT kind of end up being almost a third world area. So anyways, Mr. Speaker, what percent -- I'd ask the Premier what percentage of wildfire and evacuation costs will the federal government reimburse this government and how quickly can we expect to see that reimbursement? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at a practical level, that's Department of MACA but, really, from a government fiscal perspective, I can say that the Department of Finance is looking quite closely at what we might get. There's a sliding scale for -- under the disaster financial assistance arrangements. That's the federal program that applies to all provinces and territories. When you get to a certain level, which we most certainly have hit, you can get up to 90 percent of eligible costs. And that's the tricky part, Mr. Speaker, is that I don't get to determine what the eligible costs are. What we do is we ask for everything. But it certainly is unlikely that we will be getting everything. And whatever we do get will come at 90 percent amount. But, Mr. Speaker, we certainly will continue to adapt the response of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Twice now in the sort of preambles of questions, the Members sort of mentioned if there's insufficiency. Mr. Speaker, just like I said in COVID many times, the government continues to monitor their response, and we'll continue to do its best to adapt as we go forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, you know, it's important, I think that -- I think that we as government, and the future government, really take a look at what happened here in this last few years because when you look at what happened with the flooding and also with the fires now, the impact it had. It had -- for Hay River, it impacted the fishing industry. For communities along the waterways, it impacted access to their cargo. You know, it just goes on and on. It -- you know, basically it really impacted businesses, individuals, health -- people's health, everything. So I think it's very important that this government and future governments really take a look at it. But, Mr. Speaker, over the past four years, this territory has experienced major disaster -- disasters, and there appears to be a pattern emerging.

Going forward, what is this government, in terms of planning and costing, doing to prepare for climate change and future disasters as they occur? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the wildfires, the floods, COVID have certainly impacted every single sector large and small. Larger businesses might have the ability to weather it better but that certainly doesn't make it any easier. It's also impacted all levels of government and it has impacted this government.

Mr. Speaker, we can't necessarily -- if I could plan for a large scale natural disaster, you'd see a budget line item for -- you know, to plan for the large scale emergency. We aren't able to plan for a large scale emergency by virtue of the fact that it's an emergency. What we can do, Mr. Speaker, is keep our fiscal House in order so that we have the capacity to provide relief and we have the capacity to provide funding, we have the capacity to support these emergent events as they occur, and to be able to stand and say look, we'll continue to adapt that response. So, Mr. Speaker, we were lucky to have forecasted a significant operating surplus this year. That has given us a cushion from which we were able to then provide a response to the emergency, and we're going to have to continue to be mindful of how we get back to that place of having large operational surpluses so we have that financial flexibility to be able to respond if or when an emergency occurs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Premier. With regard to the recent evacuations and adequacy of government supports, it's my understanding that evacuation costs are eligible up -- for up to 90 percent reimbursement under the federal guidelines for the disaster financial assistance arrangements. Page 19, eligible response costs include temporary relocation, shelter, food, clothing, rescue, transportation, and related social and inquiry services. End of quote.

So can the Premier confirm whether evacuation costs for NWT residents, including any GNWT initiatives such as the Evacuation Travel Support Program, are eligible for federal reimbursement? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.