Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. An aging population and aging family support system have major implications on our health care systems but, more importantly, on our respite services that are provided throughout the Northwest Territories and in our communities. I’ll take it a little bit further than that. It’s not only the aging population but we do have people in the Northwest Territories, whether it be a child or an adult, who are living with a disability or a chronic health condition. It could be physical, mental and, in some cases, cognitive impairment, and they need assistance in their home, and...

I have always been a strong supporter of the Disabilities Council and I’m glad there is funding that our government provides to do some of these services.

I want to ask the Minister, has he had any talks with these NGOs on how they are spending their dollars in terms of in-home respite for people who are stuck in the house with these disabilities? Has he talked to the NGOs and if they are providing those types of services? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions today for the Minister of Health and Social Services in regard to respite care. As I mentioned, when you look at it, respite care is actually more beneficial and could be less cost to government keeping the individuals in their homes rather than having to put them into institutional care, putting them into long-term centres or sending them down south into other institutions that provide services that we don’t have here in the Northwest Territories.

So, my first question to the Minister is: Can I get an update or see what the department is doing for in...

As I mentioned, and as the Minister knows, as mentioned in some of the ministerial statements, our economy is slow and in some of the regions and some of the communities there is hardly any work or no work at all. If we can start looking at when we are delivering contracts, we do in fact try to increase the local content or increase the amount of work in that project that a local business can do.

Has the Minister consulted and looked at what businesses we have out there – I know we do have a registry – that can focus on doing the business that we put out RFPs and contracts and they ensure that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the goals of the 17th Legislative Assembly is a diversified economy that provides all communities and regions with opportunities and choices. Going back to my Member’s statement with the Business Incentive Policy, I threw out a solution there in terms of looking at increasing our local content in the Business Incentive Policy. One suggestion is, when I’ve talked to local businesses back home, maybe flipping it, flipping the local content to 15 percent and the northern content to 5 percent. You’ll still get the northern content in your local content for the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have stood up in this House before and spoken, and other Members have spoken, on the Business Incentive Policy that continues to have some concerns from businesses in the Northwest Territories. I’m only bringing it up today because we have missed opportunities in the past. There are businesses that have missed opportunities in this government and previous governments.

If you look at the application for the bid adjustment that is recognized in the policy on contracts more than $5,000 and less than $1 million and also any other contracts that are over $1 million, there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s my case in point. I mean, that wasn’t a contract; that was out for public tender. But if we did have a contract out for public tender and we increased the local content, then we get more people working in that community and then we get people from all over the regions, the Sahtu, Yellowknife, even from the Yukon, and all the communities in the Beaufort-Delta benefitting.

That is what I’m trying to say here. If we change this, not the sole-source or the negotiated contracts, but if we put it in the contract, in the BIP, we would see those results.

I would like to...

I appreciate the history of the review of this Business Incentive Policy, and maybe in future I can look at those findings. In that review, or even now since it hasn’t been reviewed since 2010, has the Minister spoken to some of our key stakeholders in our local communities? I’m not talking about key stakeholders like the NWT Chamber of Commerce, NWT Construction Association, none of these territorial stakeholders. We need to hear from the local stakeholders that do business in our communities and provide jobs for our local residents.

Has the Minister consulted with the local businesses to see...

As I said, a lot of these businesses in the small communities cannot make the bid on the contracts around $1 million or over $1 million. If you get a business of a high local content of 10 or 15 percent, we will get more people working in that community or migrating to that community from the region or around the Northwest Territories and we’ll build the economy wherever the work is happening. So, it’s an option I want to explore more.

I will ask questions of the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment later on, looking at these options that can help our local businesses, help our local...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize and acknowledge all our inductees into the Education Hall of Fame. I appreciate all the work you’ve done over the years in your position as an educator, as a volunteer, as a contributor to your community.

Ms. Marja Van Nieuwenhuyzen wasn’t able to join us today because she is in Holland attending her mother’s 90th birthday celebrations with her family and friends. So, on her behalf, I’d just like to say thank you to the Department of Education, as well, for recognizing her. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.