Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, this mandate, the priorities were set by the Legislative Assembly, 19 Members that are in this House. Also the mandate was set by the GNWT. So it's only an internal document for us as this Assembly.

However, in saying that, I agree that it's really important to work with the Indigenous governments, and that's why we've started the Council of Leaders table. And in my opinion, one of the most progressive things we've done, not only the Council of Leaders, but also the modern treaty and selfgovernment tables that are looking at implementation of their agreements. A big...

Chair, that'll go to the Minister of ENR, Minister Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, so the food security is a concern for everyone in the North, no matter what your income is. It's one of the highest things that we spend our money on; it's just the reality of being here. And so when you're low income, it's even more dire. So I agree with that. There's different components. The Nutrition North Program is about getting food. It's a federal government program. It's about getting food into the communities that don't have access to highway systems 24/7. And so that is federal government, and that I took on, and I when I asked, I mean, we got...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are actively engaging with the NWT Metis Association and Canada and ourselves around negotiations. We're talking about flexibility, what we can do. And that process will continue throughout. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If you look at the mandate that was done from this, the increase in regional decisionmaking, it will be done by the people that are in the regions. There was feedback that they felt that they couldn't make decisions, that they couldn't they couldn't be the final say, that everything that they had to do had to come through headquarters, and then when we did the review of their job descriptions, it's not true. So I don't know if that's a perception that's come from they're thinking that or somebody that was a supervisor in headquarters that got too heavy handed, but that...

I will either make a commitment to either provide it to the Member in a public fashion or to provide an explanation of why we can't give that to the Member either with a why we can't give it period; why we can't give it in a public manner. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, that is a federal program. I'm willing to take feedback on it. But, you know, we have problems with our own programs. So a lot of times when we go in, we don't ask them everything. We I ask them general, you know, what are your concerns, what do you want me to address, what do you want me to talk about, and then they bring those to me. I could spend the whole four years just asking about our own programs. So this one is about food security. It's something I care in my heart about, and so I will I've made a commitment that I'll ask about a federal program...

I mean, I have the same concerns as the Member. I mean, I I'm old; I'm 61 years old, and I don't like to borrow money. I learned a long time ago don't borrow it because if you can't pay it back, you're in trouble. And if you can't live within your means, you're in bigger trouble. So I think that we have learn that. It's not as simple as just going and asking for more money every time we hit the limit.

We're going to have to make tough choices, not only this Assembly, in the next Assembly as well. There's going to have to be really tough choices. When you got 22 priorities, you're not making...

Mr. Chair, what can I say? Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The process of the budget negotiations is just that. It's a process of negotiations with Regular Members. I think that the Minister of Finance, myself as Premier, and all the Cabinet, have heard directly from Members in this session about the importance of housing. I know that in the last budget that there was an increase; thank you to Members for further increase with this hearing now again.

I'm not going to say that I'm going to just put in an amount. I have one vote in finance; I don't have seven votes, you know. And so I know it's a need for us. But what I would like...