Julie Green

I appreciate the Minister's willingness to go back and look. For what it is worth, the income threshold is also too low for the Canada Child Benefit. Mr. Speaker, the point of the living wage is not to ask government to legislate the living wage, but rather it is to encourage employers to see the benefits for themselves of paying a living wage in order to recruit and retain and encourage greater productivity from their work force. We are not looking for legislation of the living wage.

I want to talk about how the cost of living has been gone up in the last two years; 5 per cent each for shelter...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. As I mentioned in my statement, the NWT Child Benefit is not helpful to the lowincome family of four that we surveyed for our living wage calculation. Their income, which is for the two of them for the year, $92,518, qualifies them for just $14 a year from the NWT Child Benefit, but the intention of this benefit, the Minister told us, is to help working families with their expenses. My question is: will the Minister revisit and revise the income threshold for the NWT Child Benefit? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, February 15, 2018, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on February 15, 2018, it shall be adjourned until Tuesday, February 20, 2018;

And further, that any time prior to February 20, 2018, if the Speaker is satisfied after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday during Committee of the Whole the Minister told us he had signed off an agreement with the federal government on childcare, and he didn't provide any other detail on that, except that there would be money carried over into the next fiscal year. Could the Minister please advise us what this agreement says about affordability and access ability of childcare? Thank you.

I just want to reiterate that the living wage is to enable to families to earn enough money to stand on their own feet. We hear all the time in this House that the best remedy for a social program is a job. These are people who have jobs, but they are not earning enough money to make ends meet, unless they are getting $22.24 an hour in Yellowknife. To that end, how is the Minister going to reduce the secondlargest expense that these families have, which is childcare? What can he do to help working families afford the cost of childcare for their families?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm sorry, I didn't make my question more clear to the Minister. I am not asking him to index the minimum wage. The methodology for calculating minimum wage is something entirely different than calculating the living wage. What I'm asking him to do is index the NWT Child Benefit. Is that possible? Thank you.

I thank the Minister for his response, but I believe he has missed point of the living wage. The point of the living wage is that people work fulltime to take care of themselves and their families out of their employment income. They don't need food banks. They don't need public housing. They need to earn a decent wage so that they can pay their way.

To that end, the NWT Child Benefit could be very helpful to working families. That is the reason that I am interested in knowing whether the Minister will look at revising the income threshold to make it more useful to low-income families.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, living wage calculations have been undertaken across the country, including here in Yellowknife. The premise of the living wage is that no one who is working full-time should be living in poverty, yet many do. Tax filer data says that one in three single-parent families, and one in eight two-parent families, don't earn enough money to meet their most basic needs.

The living wage is calculated for the most common family type. That's two parents who work full-time with one child in school and one in licensed childcare. It won't surprise anyone that this family's...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to table the following documents entitled "Yellowknife 2017 Living Wage, November 2017," and "Recommendations Based on Yellowknife Living Wage Calculation - Nov. 2017." Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister reveal for us whether this contract is going to be retendered every year or whether this will be a multiyear offering? Mahsi.