Frieda Martselos

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister believe that a new or modified disaster assistance policy tailored specifically to seniors would benefit the people of the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker?

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell us if a single flatrate rent system for seniors would work in the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to provide its report on Bill 61, An Act to Amend the Ombud Act, and commends it to the House.

Bill 61, An Act to Amend the Ombud Act, (Bill 61) received second reading on November 2, 2022 and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review.

Bill 61 is a private Member’s bill, sponsored by the Member for Yellowknife North, to amend the Ombud Act. Many of the proposed changes derive from recommendations in the Ombud’s 20192020 Annual Report and in committee’s review of that annual report...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Finance Minister explain why finance is providing recruitment bonuses to brand new eligible health staff but is not providing any retention bonuses to longterm healthcare staff in similar positions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

No, I don't.

While we're on this subject, you know, I would Madam Chair, I would really appreciate if the housing corp would adopt a policy where they're more clientbased rather than administrativebased. You know, we're serving people that most of the people are either underprivileged, or have many problems with addictions, many things that happened with residential school, and we seem to be more administrativebased. And, you know, this should be a clientbased department. I just want to ask if that's true or false. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Well, that's not my understanding, Madam Chair. I think that the housing corp has a kind of a lease back pay payment to the Government of the Northwest Territories for building these homes. And the cost of building each unit, whether it be a duplex or whatever, is much more than that. For $1 million revenue a year for the amount that has gone out, that is not a good business deal, Madam Chair. True or false?

Of the 2900 units, there's only 56 applicants, and most of them will be subject to a means test and all these other things and so that's not a very good rate of success. But, you know, I looked at that whole renewal initiative. It sounds great. But there's one important part that is missing from that renewal program, and that's the Seniors Aging with Dignity program. You know, we talk about this in the House. We talk about our seniors all the time. And that hasn't been addressed in the renewal initiative. And I'm going to be doing a statement on that tomorrow. But I just want to make sure that...

I just want to make sure that I don't lose time waiting for them to find the answer.

I also would like to know about the homeownership program. How many homeownership programs have gone to individuals in the entire NWT is my second question, Madam Chair.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell us if the Union of Northern Workers considers the parameters of these recruitment and retention bonuses to be fair for their NTHSSA members? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.