Yeah, thanks. Well, I'm not going to try to answer my colleague's question directly. But I guess the expectation coming into an Assembly is that Regular Members, Members who are not on the Cabinet side, would sit on two committees. This wasn't a requirement. And then this Assembly, that didn't happen, which increased the workload for the remaining Members. So this is, I think, in response to just try to lay -- not just lay out that as an expectation in the future. This is more of a requirement, dare we say, that if you're going to get elected here, you serve as a Regular Member, you're automatically on the AOC but you have to sit on two other standing committees so that we have a more -- tried to do a fair distribution of the workload. I think it's a good rule, and I'll be voting in favour of it. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Madam la Presidente. I move that consideration of Tabled Document 974-19(2), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2023-2024, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 974-19(2) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Mahsi, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I love clarity. I want to thank the Minister for that. And, yeah, it'll be up to the next batch of MLAs to watch that line going forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. I think that was a detailed explanation of yes, this is a one-time increase. But maybe I'll just turn it back to the Minister. Thanks.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, sorry. I misspoke; I'm really tired. But is this a one-time increase to the short-term borrowing limit? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. I've got a couple questions if I can. Is this a one-time increase, or is this a permanent increase to the borrowing limit? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Madam la Presidente. I move that consideration of Tabled Document 973-19(2), Capital Estimates 2024-2025, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 973-19(2) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Mahsi, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I just -- a few things I guess I want to say that -- having sat eight years on this side of the House, one of the few points of leverage that Regular MLAs have is in budgets and -- both on the capital and O and M side. And, you know, I think Regular MLAs can and should and do use that leverage to negotiate what we believe sometimes should be priorities for our residents as well. Sometimes we maybe have a slightly different take than our colleagues on the other side, but that's how consensus government is supposed to work. People don't elect us here to agree with each other. They elect us here to get work done and try to find ways to work together.

I do want to say that it's been a privilege to represent the Regular MLAs for at least probably two -- two years in the budget negotiations with the Minister of Finance. It was definitely a lot more collegial in this Assembly than it was in the last, and dare I say, and sometimes even fun if you can believe it. So -- no, you know, very seriously, I think it's been a good collaborative process on the budgets that I've been engaged and involved on in this Assembly. We have a responsive finance Minister who's prepared to go out and do work and work with her colleagues on the Cabinet side. And likewise, on my side, I bring, you know, reports back to colleagues on my side of the House and, you know, we manage to reach agreement on a bunch of additions to budgets. We even manage to agree on cuts in one case. I think it was the travel during the COVID pandemic as well. So we -- you know, it's not that we're always asking. Sometimes we try to find ways to save some money to pay for some of the things that we would like to add into the budget. And I would say that the things that we tend to try to add into the budget are for the residents of all of the Northwest Territories because we -- that's why we're here. We do represent our constituencies, but when we try to secure improvements in programs and services, it's for all of our residents.

So I want to thank the Minister for the commitments that she's made in terms of the -- you know, it's no secret, Members on this side of the House have raised a number of situations and experiences of our residents. You know, over half of our residents were evacuated. And I think it's fair to say that most people are quite thankful that we got evacuated. They're thankful for the work that people did to stay here and save our communities. But in some cases, residents didn't always get the supports that they needed when they were away. And in the cases of businesses, they've come back and they need our help now to try to recover. Some of them had not quite even recovered from COVID. So I do want to express my personal appreciation and thanks for the work that the Minister has done, certainly within her own department, with ITI on expanding the SEED program, increasing the amount of assistance that's available to communities, making it a tiered approach so that the communities that are more affected for a longer period of time, those businesses can access more money. I think the increase in food security's helpful. Perhaps it could have been more but it's a help. But I think it did highlight the need for some more work, perhaps in the next Assembly, on food security. The expansion of the period that can be covered, the eligible expenses that might be considered, those are all good things. And I would encourage the Minister to -- and I know that she would do this, is to encourage her staff to actually reach out to applicants that are already in the system to work with them proactively to ensure that they can maximize the funding that they can receive under this expanded program.

So the one area that I guess I would have appreciated some more from my Cabinet colleagues is in making for a more adequate and equitable set of assistance for individual evacuees and their families. I know that the Evacuation Travel Support Program, $750 per vehicle, that was a good start. And as the Minister, I think has said, we can never make everybody whole again but I think there's problems with the equity of that program not addressing some people that flew out, and those people that were on government charters, or drove out and could not receive assistance because of a whole variety of situations, not able to access evacuation centres or the programs and services there and so on. So a number of us have raised these issues. So I would encourage our Cabinet colleagues to continue to do some work on those areas. And, of course, all of this is rather unusual because we are talking about O and M expenses in relation to a capital budget. But that's, I think, something that this Assembly has -- that the Regular MLAs have had successes not just in capital and O and M budgets and, maybe getting some leeway in other area -- sorry, in a capital versus an O and M, but also in policy issues. I think that's something that's been a significant development in this Assembly. And I would encourage the colleagues that come after us, as Regular MLAs, to continue to use the leverage that they have to get policy changes that will improve life for all of our residents.

So, Madam Chair, I think that's all the comments I have. Again, my appreciation to the finance Minister and her Cabinet colleagues for trying to meet some of our interests and the collaborative approach that we've had in place for much of the budgeting in this Assembly. Thank you, Madam Chair.

All right. So I don't know, Mr. Chair. I would like to get some clarification of this. But my reading -- and I'm only a lowly Regular MLA that doesn't have access to the law clerk right now. My reading of this is that it's the next part of the bill that actually would remove dental hygienists under the Dental Auxiliaries Act. And the Minister, in moving, the motion talked about how the profession would be completely unregulated if this amendment is not accepted. And I don't think that that's the case. So I think -- if there's something the Minister wants to do about the next clause, that might be the place where that is dealt with. But I don't -- my reading of this is that I don't think that this is the case. But I can't ask anybody about it. So thank you.