Mr. Speaker, I want to start off by first congratulating Wab Kinew of the NDP on being elected as the next Premier of Manitoba. I know he will be a great leader for the province and its people.

Mr. Speaker, over the last 16 months, businesses in the communities of Hay River, K'atlodeeche, and Enterprise, have been affected by floods and fires. They are now asking for reasonable and timely financial support to rebuild or reopen. Mr. Speaker, to put some perspective on this, I want to provide examples of affected businesses:

Firstly, Castaways Cottages & Campground, a tourist destination, was flooded in 2022 and now lost several cabins because of the wildfire.

Patterson's sawmill and Patterson's firewood businesses were decimated by the latest fire. The damage was so extensive, not only did they lose their businesses, but all the homes along Patterson Road were consumed by the fire.

The heart of our agriculture sector, Paradise Valley, experienced damage from flooding last year, now it was wildfire damage; the more reason to use the property acquisition program offered by the federal government.

In Enterprise, we have Sunrise Cabinets, a supplier of cabinets throughout the North and a major supplier to this government. Their building and equipment is gone.

The Gateway Motel was also consumed by the fire along with the building housing Winnie's Dene Art Gallery and Darcy Moses Fashion Designs.

Mr. Speaker, there are other businesses that are still standing but nevertheless were impacted because of forced closures. These businesses, in a sixteen-month period, lost approximately two to four months of revenue, however, fixed business costs continued and needed to be met. As government, we must do our part. It is our responsibility to assist those businesses whether it is with general advice, DAP, BDIC, ITI, or ECE financial supports.

Mr. Speaker, I ask this government to consider the overall impact and severity that flooding, wildfires, and evacuations had on Hay River, K'atlodeeche, and Enterprise over the past 16 months. We need financial supports that take that reality into consideration. It was not once; it was not twice; it was three times that our communities have been dealt a blow by Mother Nature. We need that financial support not to be limited in scope but must consider the effects of lost revenue, lost labour, lost equipment, lost infrastructure, and the reality of business devaluation. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, due to the magnitude of financial support required for businesses in Hay River, K'atlodeeche, and Enterprise, these supports cannot come from the GNWT alone. We need the federal government to step up and provide some serious investment to support those business impacted, and we need it now. And I will relay that message to our MP as well. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker -- oh, sorry, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Here I was wondering what the Member was doing standing. Anyways, yeah, I'm -- you know, I'm in support of this motion. And I guess as an engineering technologist, now I can belong to an organization actually in the Northwest Territories. And it's good to see that there's a number of other people in the same boat as well. And we can participate in the organization that -- with like minds and hopefully do some good. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, I look at this motion here, and I guess I think back to, you know, when the fire started and what happened throughout. You know, I spent most of my time in Hay River during that period. And you know, I saw what was going down. I saw the interaction, I guess, between government, between volunteers, you know, and with the community as well. And you know, at that time, I was thinking, you know, what we need is -- we need some better coordination with all these groups because in the three disasters we've had, what I found was everybody sort of kind of walks away and then you don't really hear much of it again until next time. And as an example, you know, you had a -- we had a fire in the spring and then we had this big fire and in between, there wasn't -- I there didn't appear to be too much discussion.

We also -- the other thing you got to realize too is that in the community, you know, we have, you know, staff and the community governments but they may lack the qualifications when it comes to firefighting. And that's a big issue. They lack qualifications when it really comes to, you know, emergency measures and looking after that in evacuations as well.

So somebody has to take a lead role. And I know that what I find is that, you know, the GNWT will say oh, the community has the lead role and the community says well, the government kind of has the lead role, and there's that confusion. And when you have that confusion, it takes away time and valuable time. And we saw what happens, you know, in Enterprise. We saw what happened in Hay River when we lost valuable time, you know. And so what I'd like to see, I guess, is -- within the Department of ECC is a section that deals with, you know, emergency measures more so. And not just with fires but also with -- you know, the flooding and anything else that we may -- that may come our way. And we need experts in that field. Just like when we -- you know, you talked about doing a review before. You know, we need experts to do those reviews. We don't want just somebody kind of off the street. But we want to listen to people as well who actually -- you know, that went through some of the fires that were on the highway and that. The big thing is that better coordination, better communication. We need a special section within ECC to actually deal with emergencies and preparedness. And we need staff that are actually qualified, and we need that staff to help the communities qualify to make sure their staff are qualified as well. Like, we do in Hay River, we've got firefighters and that. A lot of them are volunteers. And, you know, there's only so much you can learn. You know, we're lucky they were there. We had -- you know, they were looking after structures while the ECC staff were looking after the wildfire. So just -- and those are just comments and things that I guess I saw while I was on the ground in Hay River. I just don't like to see some of the confusion that does happen. And it could very easily be avoided. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've got a couple of people who are actually in the temporary accommodation right now and they've been told they might only be there until the end of November. And the Minister alluded to that it would be end of -- or in January. So can extensions be granted, or can the Minister at least let the department know or let -- so they can tell these people that they're good until at least January and then, you know, they'll be given some time; it won't be, you know, a week before that they're told no, the extension's not going to be there or they are going to get an extension, because people are pretty anxious right now and they're worried they're going to be out in the cold this winter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm if there -- and I think he alluded to it. Is there a limited time these temporary accommodations will be made available to people who lost their homes and if there is a limited time, what criteria will that be based on? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've had a couple of calls, people asking about accommodation, and I'd like to ask the Minister who it is that residents need to contact to access these accommodations? Thank you. Is it the Pathfinders, or who is it? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I see the Minister for MACA is smiling over there, so.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of MACA confirm if temporary accommodations are available for those persons who lost their homes during the wildfire will be made available and under what criteria? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, residents who covered their own evacuation costs continue to request financial support. As such, I have requested each to provide me with copies of their receipts and to sign a statutory declaration stating they have not received funds from other sources to cover those costs. These documents will be provided to this, and the federal government, for reimbursement consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I will provide context as to why residents may have covered their own costs and not followed MACAS's direction to use a designated evacuation centre. Mr. Speaker, let me start off by saying that on August 12th, Fort Smith residents were in the process of evacuating to Hay River where they were registered and were provided temporary accommodation and meals. At the same time, the hamlet of Enterprise was hosting their annual Gateway Jamboree. There was no concern of fires as it was understood the fire was still a long way from the community and posed limited risk - how mistaken we were - as what was to be unleashed can only be likened to a terrifying nightmare.

Mr. Speaker, for residents of Hay River, K'atlodeeche, and Enterprise, it was on August 13th, an evacuation alert was issued and soon followed by an evacuation order at 3 p.m. Residents, along with evacuees from Fort Smith, were directed to leave as soon as possible and all were told that ground and air transportation would be provided for those who had no other way out. All this was unfolding very quickly.

Mr. Speaker, some residents who were able to leave immediately with their own vehicle made their way out prior to the nightmare that was about to be become all too real. Day turned into night quickly as smoke blackened the sky and made visibility nonexistent. Drivers were unable to see as they headed directly into the path of the fire and had to drive with their vehicle door open as they tried to find a center line to confirm they were still on the road and not in the ditch. The heat from the fire was so intense that it melted the plastic and paint off the vehicles. Vehicles that hit the ditch were quickly enveloped by flames with passengers barely escaping with their life as pets and possessions were consumed by the heat and fire. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, as the fire was rolling over the treetops and consuming homes and equipment in Paradise Valley, residents were forced to take refuge in the river by sliding down a steep embankment and standing in the water for safety while others drove into the firestorm. Along Patterson Road, a similar picture emerged. With the fire burning all around them, residents were quickly gathering up personal items to take with them, all facing a darkened sky and flames which caused breathing and visibility issues and forced residents into the water while others jumped into their vehicles and drove onto the highway and into an inferno.

Mr. Speaker, if you were not there, if you were not one of those leaving by vehicle, if you were not one in the heart of the fire, and if you did not see the aftermath firsthand, then you would not understand why evacuees, at their own cost, took shelter at the first safe place they came to. Shaken and traumatized, with their lives at risk, with the mental and emotional anxiety of it all, their first thought was preservation and the safety and well-being of their families. They had no idea how long this evacuation would last. The sad part is that this government expected these evacuees to be thinking rationally about accommodation and meals.

Mr. Speaker, this was the reality that took place on August 13th, 2023. I will not have questions for the Minister of MACA or the Minister of Finance on this issue today but I do ask them, and all of Cabinet, to reflect on the terror these evacuees went through and come back prior to the end of this session showing compassion, empathy, and a commitment to support those left out of any financial compensation. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess as I sit here and I listen to, you know, the comments and the answers from the Minister is that, you know, there's no doubt that -- you know, there's no doubt that we need housing. And it seems like the only game in town is the housing corporation and I think that's -- you know, it's a good approach but I think we have to expand that, and we -- you know, we talk about it -- you know, we talk about Indigenous governments. I don't see them in front of us to tell me personally what they're doing to increase housing stock. You know, we've got to tie housing into economic development. When we're looking at -- when we're looking at providing land and resources to companies -- or maybe part of the component should be providing housing to communities, to communities where they're getting workers from. You know, those are the -- we've got to look outside the box and find other ways to do it.

The other thing we've got to do is jobs. You know, we've got to be able to -- if we can provide jobs to people, that's another way to do it. We can -- you know, we can assist people and make it -- you know, buying their own homes. I don't really care how people get their homes. We just need them to get it, and we have to look outside the box. I don't -- you know what, I understand housing has a role to play here and, you know, we have -- you know, and they have HELP units that are -- that go sit empty for -- you know, for months or years. We realize that. Our utilization rate for public housing units should be near a 100 percent all the time. If we're doing retrofits, we should be doing them quickly. And we should be using local and northern contractors to do it. But those are the type of things we have to do. But, again, this is -- you know, we're caught up in bureaucracy and government is slow. We know that. So we've got to find other ways to do it. You know, I realize government has, you know, to do something. And then we've got the federal government on the other hand. You know, we're counting on them to provide us the money. You know, that's where the money comes from at the end of the day. So we've got to -- you know, we've got to kind of look at everything and we -- it's always the same story, you know, housing is not doing this, or housing is -- you know, houses are sitting empty and all this. We've been preaching that for four years and other guys been -- other people have been preaching that before that. So, you know, I'm kind of getting tired of it, and we have to do something different. And this next government has to do it. We're not going to do it in this next week, I tell you that. So somebody has to do it, and whoever is in here for the next government, I hope that they take a look at other approaches because that's what it's going to take. It's not going to take just this government doing it.

You know, to me, you know, if it's looked after in the communities -- you know, I feel the Indigenous governments could probably build houses and I know they build houses and provide housing a lot faster than we can do it sometimes. So, you know, it's just a comment that I want to make because we're not going to -- we're not going to solve this problem. We're not going to build a house for every person in the Northwest Territories even though we'd like to. You know, some people are going to have to buy their own. You know, maybe we can get, like I said, resource companies, you know, when they come in here and extract resources to help buy houses. And the federal government will provide us money so we can provide houses. But everybody has to do their part and, you know -- and that's the way -- at least that's the way I see it, so. Thank you.