Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, look, where the money comes from, I understand it's from the feds, it's for another year. I think we're going to have to look at making this a permanent program. But I wanted to ask about the page 203, home care and support services. You know, back in 20212022, it was almost $24 million then it went down. It's going back up a little bit. What's happening with this line item? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Madam la Presidente. Committee wishes to deal with Tabled Document 81319(2), 20232024 Main Estimates, Health and Social Services. Mahsi, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. A few questions here. I'm just wondering if what's happening with the paid family caregiver pilot project, and is it still going; is it going to be expanded? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I'm going to get the Minister a ride on an ebike. You know, the Yukon is really ahead of us. They allow for retailers to offer rebates directly to customers and online purchases in the Yukon are also eligible, so and we have at least one retailer of ebikes in the NWT. But can the Minister tell us whether the NWT whether NWT retailers will be able to offer the rebate directly to customers and whether online purchases will be eligible for the NWT ebike rebate? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Okay, yeah, no, thanks, I appreciate that. You know, I guess once an individual is diagnosed, what sort of support are we able to offer? Are there, like, case workers assigned or other staff within the system that can provide support and assistance? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I'm pretty charged up, thanks to the Minister. Great news. My statement also dealt with reprofiling of funds between programs offered by Arctic Energy Alliance. I'm not sure that all the ontheland evehicles fund is going to be subscribed so I'm hoping that the Minister's going to allow for funds to be switched around within the ebike or sorry, the eprogram.

So will the Minister ensure that funding within Arctic Energy Alliance for electrical vehicle rebates can be reprofiled to where the need is greatest? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Yeah, okay. Thanks. No, and I expected that would be the case. Is this service offered in the correctional centres as well? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier this sitting, my colleague from Yellowknife North gave a statement promoting the virtues of electric bicycles, or ebikes, and questioning the government's level of support for their introduction. I'll add to that endorsement today with some further thoughts received from a resident.

The main point is that the very limited $10,000 devoted to ebikes compared to electrical vehicles fails to put the money where it will do the most good. Electric cars are great but ebikes have a more significant environmental benefit, don't require expensive charging...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the committee defer further consideration of the estimates for the Department of Health and Social Services at this time.

Yeah, thanks. Well, I agree with the Minister's assessment. I think part of this is because we signed onto the agreement late. It was late in the financial year and one of the things that had to be done was to make sure that parents had reduced fees, which meant capping the ability for daycare operators to capture revenues.

So if that kind of analysis hasn't been done, it's not a good we're not in a good place. And, yeah, if I if it could be rolled out again, I'd probably start with the carrots rather than the sticks. So how is the department going to provide some reassurance and confidence...