Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to kick off debate as I did earlier, but I probably won't spend as much time going through this one. This motion speaks for itself.

Communities, whether you live in a large one or a small one, are all starved for resources. We talked about the municipal funding gap at length. And this is just one more thing piled on to them that they need to respond to.

Mr. Speaker, the challenge is, of course, we know, first of all, it's money, so the resource of money is not there for these communities. Then you have the skills and abilities to do this. I mean, these are specialized expertise. This motion really does talk to the issue of MACA coordinating them for all communities, and then looking at them from a regional point of view and help -- and then tieing them together so they're consistent and then giving them, the communities, all communities, in a draft form, so then they can say, hey, my needs in Trout Lake are way different than my needs in Colville Lake, or my needs in Inuvik are much different than Yellowknife, or my needs are different in Smith than they are in Norman Wells. So, like, every community is very different but the concept and the expertise about asking the important questions, such as make sure you have this, make sure you know where these are, considering this an enormous undertaking. But it's the financial and expertise that, you know, when it comes to the money and know-how to build these things and give them to communities. We have to set these communities up for success. And that's the critical part about this, is leading and coordinating these initiatives and then giving them to the individual communities and say hey, this is important to me, these are our key resources, these are our partners, we agree with this. If they don't want the draft plan, Mr. Speaker, I wouldn't stand in the way of a community that says we don't want the draft plan. I mean if MACA -- but the thing is they go it alone then, and I don't want to see that. I want them to work in partnership. This is about collaboration and leadership. And it takes leadership from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs to help support and initiate these processes so they're ready, so they're done in a timely way, so we're not waiting too long. I mean, the complaints about our plans there, why are they different, why are they missing things. I mean, this would help resolve some of those issues and resolve confidence in our northern concerns, which is is my region, is my community ready? If it is ready, what does ready mean and what does ready look like? What does is it sound like? How does it trigger? What triggers this? How do we respond? So that's the kind of concept here.

I should stress it's not intended to force this on anybody and that's not the intent of this motion. So if anyone feels that their community, this would force it, this is not. It's meant about working in collaboration. And the bottom line is is it's about MACA picking up the tab, which really it belongs to, rather than on the individual citizens on that. So whether you live -- I mean, where do you get extra money when you live in Fort Providence? It's not sitting around there. That community government is struggling to keep water moving in those streets and, you know, doing the important things that communities do. There used to be an old saying dogs, ditches, and dumps. That's what communities should be focusing on. You know, the infrastructure of towns. But as times move on, processes become heavier and heavier, they give them more and more to do, and MACA says this is important, you must have these things. Well, when you say these things are important, they must be done, they must be funded too.

So, Mr. Speaker, that's to start off discussion. I look forward to the insights and ideas and suggestions my community members have. I'm open to them. And I certainly think that they would be help in any form to help get this motion through with the intent of this is about supporting communities, which ultimately is supporting people and making sure we're safe.

And lastly, Mr. Speaker, of course I'll be asking for a recorded vote so I may as well put that -- let the public know now. Cheers.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. To the motion. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Member for Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a friendly amendment to bring forward for this, which I'll speak to after reading the motion into the record.

I move, seconded by the Member for Great Slave, that Motion 35-20(1), Emergency Plan Support for Municipalities and Community Governments, be amended by replacing the word "direct" with the word "offer", adding "'s" to the word "organization", followed by adding the word "assistance", and adding "in need of assistance" after the words "Northwest Territories community" in the ninth paragraph of the motion.

Member from Frame Lake.

I was just saying we're going to direct the emergency organization to do these plans on behalf of. It'll simply give communities the option. I think we need to be careful not to take autonomy away from our communities when we're passing motions such as this so that we ensure that our communities still hold their decision-making authority. So in the words -- I'll just quote the Mayor Alty of city of Yellowknife on this one.

As a policy principle, I don't want to regress into the time when the GNWT came in and did everything for communities and we didn't have a say. We are an order of government with responsibilities, and we are able to do them when we are provided the adequate resources.

So I think this motion is -- the motion as a whole as amended, if the amendment passes, is about getting communities those resources and so insofar as that is the intent, then I do support it. And so, yeah, the amendment is just to remove the wording and put the decision-making back in the communities' hands as to whether they would like support drafting the emergency plans as opposed to saying it has to be done.

Thank you -- and, you know, I would appreciate the support of my colleagues in moving this amendment forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. To the amendment. Member from Great Slave.

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. I don't have much to say to add to my colleague from Frame Lake aside from the fact that it is important that our municipalities have the ability to fully realize what they want to do and the way they want to do it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. To the amendment. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to save a lot of time by saying I agree with the amendment. So I'm not going to oppose it. It's not exactly the direction I was going, but it speaks to the exact intent of what I was going with, so I have no problem. I should point out there is no such thing as a friendly amendment. They are amendments, and I'm pleased to accept this one. So if you want to call that friendly, that's fine too. So no problem. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a second to the motion, I do support the amendment as well. Mahsi.

To the amendment.

Question has been called. Show of hands, please. Opposed? Abstentions? Motion has passed.

---Carried

To the motion, with the amendment. Member from Range Lake.

To the motion as amended, yes, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think we will have to wait for the afteraction review to come forward, and then we'll have more comprehensive recommendations on how we can improve the operation of the emergency management system, inquiry or not, I think everyone supports that exercise, and it's something that we're looking forward to seeing come forward.

Yesterday I raised the issue of requiring, through regulation, that emergency management organizations follow a common system of command and control. These are the kind of things that the department could offer support -- planning support, as this motion contemplates. So I think the idea of it is good. I think this is the role of a public safety department of which MACA is responsible, but it's the role to provide that kind of support. And I think the messaging that's out there now, unintentionally, is that not that you're on your own but it's your responsibility, and you have to go seek the resources to get it done right. And I think this is just a bit more directly explicit in showing that the department has an obligation to ensure the correct functioning of the emergency management system. They have a statutory obligation, of course, but more than just to say, yeah, yeah, you've got a report -- or you've got a plan and it's good; rather, to take a look at it and say well, does the plan work, does the plan meet the needs of this community for improving public safety. I presume that the Minister will abstain but I would like to hear his comments on this as well. Because it's important that we are moving forward and we are moving forward without delay. So I look forward to see how we respond to this both through the afteraction report and through incorporating the suggestions, such as this motion, to improve the emergency management system in the Northwest Territories. I will be supporting it. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. To the motion as amended. Member from Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Cabinet will be taking the 120 days to consider the motion and responding as requested if it passes. Thank you. And we will be abstaining.

To the motion as amended. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to speak to this one shortly. I think, you know, just when bringing motions forward, I think sometimes the desire to get ideas onto the floor gets ahead of the work needed to fully assess the problem, engage with those affected by it, and hear their needs, and work through the necessary and often difficult process of figuring out the most effective way to address those needs. I don't believe that responsibility lies solely on the shoulders of Cabinet. We do have tools at our disposal on the Regular side. We have our committees. We have an excellent team of research staff. We have the ability to engage and collaborate with Ministers. We have the ability to engage with NGOs who have expertise and often a mandate on these items that we're speaking to. And we have the ability to engage with our communities, with mayors, with councillors. And it is through the effective use of these tools, the Members can be most effective in our work. So I am becoming concerned about the relative efficacy of individual motions as their collective volume increases. All of that said, I have been hearing from my community that funding is needed to support emergency planning. And there was a clause related to that in yesterday's motion, which I did support. I think there are definitely gaps between what communities are capable of and what MACA is saying they are responsible for, which I made a statement about earlier in this session.

So on this, I think we need to hear from the NWT Association of Communities on what supports they need, what changes may be needed to our emergency management legislation and framework, and I do hope to hear from the NWT Association of Communities on that. I went to their website, checked their standing motions, checked the motions that they put forward. I haven't seen a motion so far from the association on this matter, but I think they probably will have something to say on it in the future.

So all of that said, I do support, again, the intent of the motion. I support the motion as amended. As I said, I put forward an amendment and I appreciate colleagues supporting that, so I am in support of the motion. I do think that some communities are going to need help, some probably more than others but, most importantly, communities need financial assistance from the government to take on this responsibility. This is something that, I think, you know, came out in a very stark way that we weren't quite prepared when big evacuations hit last summer, and we've talked about that a lot in this House already and I think, you know, that problem is well defined at this point, and then we've got afteraction reviews looking at it right now.

But to the point, you know, I do think assistance to the communities will be helpful in this. I think financial assistance, in particular, is what I've heard from the mayor of my community that is needed in order to take on this responsibility effectively. So to that end, to the motion itself, I do support it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Colleagues, when we're talking to motions, please, to the motion. We need to focus on the motion on the floor. Thank you. Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, will be supporting this amended motion. After working on a number of job sites, safety is paramount. So now we got to think, as legislators and public officers of the communities that we represent, community safety. With climate change so much different and various impacts over the last several years, more so than several decades ago. So given all the elements, I think we need to act as good managers and have our efficiencies and safety manuals, safety precautions, safety procedures, and this is only increasing the safety of the community and the safety of the whole community, whether it the elders, middle-aged, or the children. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. To the motion as amended. Final, close the debate off, Member from Yellowknife Centre.