Caroline Cochrane

For businesses that are a little bit worried or need some extra assistance, they can contact our Department of ITI for assistance. We do have the Business Development Program that might be able to assist them in some long-term plans. We're looking at bumping up; we're working. Right now, the priority is on health and safety. I have to put that. Right now, we're scrambling to figure out how we're going to take care of our residents, our long-term care, our most vulnerable in society. At the same time, we're looking at the economic detriments, so we're looking at increase, probably, in Income...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have current statistics on where, exactly, the tourism industry is within the Northwest Territories; however, it doesn't take very much research to look outside our doors and see that the numbers are going down. There are two things that are happening. One, the numbers are going down, and the public is concerned that we still have tourists on our streets. I'd like to first of all say that all tourists have been asked to self-isolate when they come into Canada. We have brought up the concerns to the federal government in talking about international travel. It's...

Again, I am not going to want to notice on this question. I'm going to try to answer it. If it's not the right answer, then the next session, if the Member can bring it back to the Assembly. My direction to all Ministers was: try to engage stakeholders as much as possible. A five-year review tells me that there would be more than one opportunity, ideally at least once a year, that all stakeholders would be engaged with this. I would ask the Member to ask the appropriate Minister when she returns for a more concrete answer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly, the nine Indigenous governments that did sign on to devolution will be taking part in this review. We also will be developing a plan for how to engage with the other Indigenous governments that didn't sign on.

As stated in the first question, there be discussions coming to Cabinet not only on care packages, whether we are going to go there or not, but also how we deal with the fears of our seniors, our elders, and their care, because they are the most vulnerable population within this pandemic. Those are conversations that we will have, but again, reinforcing, at this point, we have zero cases in the Northwest Territories. I am begging all residents, please, I know that people are panicking, but it's important that we remain calm, that we follow good hygiene, and we follow the advice from our chief...

Cabinet will be meeting every day throughout this duration. I should let everyone know that now, because we need to keep on top of this, so I can commit, Mr. Speaker, that we will have conversations on the evictions, on the power rates, on the supply chains, all the impacts that will come to the residents of the Northwest Territories. I am not going to commit on what the solution will be. What I commit to is that we will have those discussions and we will be looking at the least impact possible relating to COVID-19. We cannot just shut down every collection, every business happening in the...

I have already given direction to all of our departments to look at how we can support all of our residents in the Northwest Territories, including our business partners. ITI and Infrastructure are looking at how we can do the procurement, make sure that people are paid timely during this crisis, et cetera. All departments are looking at the influx of additional costs that are going to come. People who are going to be laid off of work will be impacting our systems, so income support is on that. We have asked for every department to now do tabletop exercises to see how they will react if people...

The Member is correct. Once the health crisis is done, whether we end up with a huge incidence of a number of residents with COVID-19 or not, this is going to impact our businesses in the Northwest Territories. It's not only the tourism business; it's all businesses that we are worried about at this point. We are working diligently within our departments and across jurisdictions with the federal government to come up with an economic plan. At this point, though, it would be irresponsible for us to just start bailing out one or two businesses, because my instinct is telling me that more...

We are concerned about our economy. We're concerned about all businesses in the NWT, including the tourism industry. Right now, at this time, like I said, we're waiting for the federal government. They are in charge of travel airlines. We are asking for them to actually confirm how they will ensure that our residents are safe with the amount of tourists, which does imply that we're asking them to support not having travellers come to the Northwest Territories internationally, as well.

It's already impacting. We've already got letters from the tourist industry. We've got letters from airlines...

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Members of this Assembly for taking the step of suspending its current sitting after today to allow Cabinet and the public service greater opportunity to prepare for the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Although there remains no reported cases in the NWT, our government continues to prepare for the impact of this pandemic. Hour to hour, we are monitoring the state of the COVID-19 situation as it continues to evolve. I want to share with this Assembly some of the actions and planning that is under way.

Our health system has been preparing over the last few months...