Caroline Cochrane
Range Lake

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 21)

Those who were here in the last Assembly would remember one time I had been asked in the House about where I stood. I said people have called me many names, but they haven't called me a name, but people have called me at times a socialist. I don't think I am really that radical, but people have said that. I am all about universal childcare and guaranteed living wage. I think it is part of the answer. I do not believe the perception that people will just sit back and be lazy. I think that would tire people very quickly. I have already started to put the fuel in the fire.

As I meet with our...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 21)

A couple of months ago, when COVID-19 hit us, it was early March. Towards late March, I started to realize that life was changing really quickly. We were having to supplement areas that we had never put money in before; programs were closing up; offices were closing up; we were looking at a new way of doing business. It made me wonder, Mr. Speaker. We spent months going over the mandate, making it based on the priorities, and I started to wonder, "Do we have the money? Is it still the priority?"

I gave direction, actually, at the end of March for the departments to start looking at the mandate...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 21)

[English translation not available] ...2020. Robin was an incredible woman who touched the lives of many. She was an example of a true Northerner, one who gave her all, but, no matter how busy, she always made time for others.

Robin was an inspiration. [English translation not available] ...starting in 1976 as an 11-year-old figure skater. She also represented the NWT in both the Canada winter and summer games, making her one of the most accomplished Team NT athletes. In 1985, Robin helped start the first women's hockey in Yellowknife, and she is recognized as one of the NWT's greatest female...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 21)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following three documents: "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 104-19(2): Closing the Municipal Funding Gap"; "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 113-19(2): Sexual Abuse in Sports"; and "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 161-19(2): Building Standards Act." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 21)

I'm going to kind of guess the answer, because the last part of that got quiet and I couldn't really understand what the question was, but if the question is what we're actually looking for the federal government for supports, I'm going to go with that and you can correct me after. Again, it's, like I said, flexibility. The federal government, at each meeting that I meet with the Prime Minister, I'm told, we're at an opportunities gap to start with. We did not come in at the same place as our southern jurisdictions. I respect them. They are all fiercely fighting COVID-19, but they have the...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 21)

Mr. Speaker, you said to make our answers short. The answer is: Yes.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 21)

Things have been going really fast over the past few months, really fast the last few weeks, so I was under the impression that we had already done it. My commitment is, if we haven't already done it, that I will be providing those this week. I know my staff is listening. They're jumping on it right now.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 21)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, absolutely. Mandate letters were done, painfully, again. At the beginning of this Assembly, first of all, it was identified which Ministers would take over the priorities in the mandate, and from the mandate exercise we developed mandate letters. We had made a commitment that we would be sharing that with the standing committee. When we were almost ready, it was in my inbox waiting for me to give final, and COVID-19 hit. With COVID-19 we stepped back and we said, "Do we need to add in this COVID-19?" My first gut was just to add in COVID-19, you've got to do it...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 21)

Again, most people, when they talk about COVID-19, people have seen the economic impacts and people across the world, across Canada have been talking about economic recovery. I think we are one of the only jurisdictions that is talking about economic and social recovery. Perhaps because we are a small population, we had the benefit of actually seeing what we could do in a short amount of time. So I think that involving MLAs was a commitment that we made at the beginning of this session. It has been long. It does take a lot more time, but I made a commitment that it would not be Cabinet plus...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 21)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Looking for a plan of our response for COVID-19, absolutely, we are looking at it. However, I do want to be careful with that, because COVID-19 is still here. We are still experiencing things at a rapid rate. It has slowed down a bit, but, by the second wave, we are expecting that changes will come pretty rapidly.

We have been in the process now of changing our services, providing services that we needed and programs that we needed to accompany people, but some other things will need to be done. For example, the municipal and community government, EMO is the one that...