Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Madame la Presidente. I want to thank the Minister for that. So I had a chance to look at the discussion paper that was released around learning from the response to COVID, and there didn't seem to be anything in there about continuing care or longterm care standards or how the pandemic response relates to seniors in particular in longterm care.

So can the Minister tell us whether there was any public engagement as part of that review of our COVID response that dealt with longterm care standards and whether any public concerns were raised as part of that review? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm going to ask for your indulgence; I've got two more questions.

The SEED program I understand went through some kind of a review in 20212022 but no changes have been made. There's no increase in funds. What's going on with that previous review; and the Minister alluded to another review, why are we doing another review and when is it going to get completed? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So on 234, there's Minerals and Petroleum Resources Act implementation. In 20212022, the actuals, it was almost $200,000 overspent. But how much total have we actually spent on the Mineral Resources Act implementation as a government to date? Maybe to the end of the fiscal year. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Madame la Presidente. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. First off, is the Minister aware of the release of the new federal longterm care standards, and are these under review in light of our 2015 continuing care standards? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

Mr. Chair, yeah, I guess we're going to have to agree continue to agree to disagree. So where does the remediation economy fit into all this stuff? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Madame la Presidente. The federal government recently announced the creation of a new national longterm care standard said to be aimed at addressing systemic problems exposed by the Corona virus pandemic. Canada as a whole had the worst record for COVID19 fatalities in nursing homes among wealthy countries during the first wave of the pandemic. So the standard, while not mandatory, is an attempt to awaken jurisdictions to the need to review and adjust regulations and practices.

I cannot determine whether any COVID deaths took place in NWT longterm care facilities, although an exposure...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Okay, I got some specific questions about some of the funding programs here if I could.

Let's start with advance the knowledge economy. Yeah, there's a big drop there from 240 to 100 this year. And I see that there's actually an ongoing engagement that I think ITI seems to now have the lead on this. So why has this dropped, especially when, you know, there's this public engagement going on and probably looking for some money to maybe start to implement and do some things? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. And thanks for that response. So I take it then that if you're not community futures, community transfer initiative well, you know, I don't want to you know what, maybe I'll just wait until we get to some of the other activities to raise this again to find out who got the increase, who didn't get it. Yeah, I think I'll just do that. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yeah, so I guess in the last fiscal year there was a review done for OROGO in terms of looking at their needs and so on given that oil and gas activities are way way down. In fact, I don't think there's anything happening other than some oil abandonments, maybe M18 perhaps if it ever gets going. But has ITI actually ever done kind of a needs assessment, a review of its oil and gas resourcing, and, you know, the staff levels and so on in that part of its department you know, activities, to look at whether there might be some efficiencies there? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Committee wishes to deal with Bill 57, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2022; and, Tabled Document 81319(2), 20232024 Main Estimates, with Industry, Tourism and Investment. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.