Rylund Johnson

The way that works in most jurisdictions is: the tips do not bring you up past minimum wage, then their employer must make up the difference. It's not a matter of: you don't get tips, you're working at a lower rate. Another exemption that I think would allow us to go higher is a lot of jurisdictions have a training wage. They have a wage for people in their teenaged years. This is the other argument that's often said why we can't raise the minimum wage because people have first-time jobs or they're just training. Is the Minister willing to implement a training wage for the minimum wage?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Presently, our minimum wage is $13.46. Presently, we are subsidizing everyone in the territory such that no one should be making less than $18 an hour. Will the Minister raise the minimum wage? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This is really the heart of the problem is that the federal funding is sitting there. Someone can access it. It reduces heating costs, but we are asking municipalities who are already underfunded to essentially take that on and then start providing heating to people, which requires setting up an entire utility. I really don't think we can put that ask on our underfunded community governments right now. Fortunately, the Minister of Infrastructure is also the Minister for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. Perhaps we can give that board of deputy ministers something to do. Is the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have no issue with the $110,000 allocated here and the replacement of a chiller. It appears to be necessary infrastructure. However, I have a question about what is not in here. Previously, there were plans for the Legislative Assembly to work with a number of other buildings -- I believe the City of Yellowknife, Joint Task Force North, the museum -- to create a district heating system. I recognize we just replaced the pipes to that area. Was any work done on that, or are there any plans to advance that capital project? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Speaker, I am now seeking unanimous consent to waive rule 73(2) and have Bill 11: Legislative Assembly Officers Standardization Act moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I believe we are in a massive trust deficit with our Indigenous governments, and as we in Canada negotiate how much land, how much royalties, how much cash they get, this process drags on for decades. Then, little issues such as small parcels come up, and we have no method for resolving those and building the trust, such that we will never settle the claim. We are just stuck in this cycle where we can not build the trust. Mr. Speaker, I think this is also reiterated in the lease-only policy. We administer leases; they are very costly, but we do not reach out to Indigenous governments and say,...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, I asked a series of questions of the Minister of Lands, and he rightfully said some of them should go to EIA. I apologize for my often frustration with the Minister of Lands, but it is a mandate issue. They often do not have the tools they need to resolve issues. Mr. Speaker, one of the responses from the Department of Lands was that an Indigenous government can get land outside of a formal land claim process by a lease application. I think the idea of asking an Indigenous government to lease their own land from us is insulting. My question for the Premier is...

I look forward to that response. One of my concerns is the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has a large legislative backlog, and they need the resources from the Cabinet to make sure they get ahead of that. One of the mandate commitments is that MACA will work with NWTAC to update funding policies and options. However, this mandate commitment is to be completed in 2023. Whenever I see a mandate commitment completed by 2023, alarm bells ring as these are the commitments that will be at the end of this Assembly. I'm not at all convinced that MACA will get this done, let alone review...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said earlier in my statement, I am grateful for some of the work we have started on closing the municipal funding gap. However, we are a long way off. Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, I believe we need to increase the capital funding this year by $5 million. In the grand scheme of things, this is approximately a quarter of a percent of our $2 billion budget. Mr. Speaker, if we can't find a quarter of a percent in our $2 billion budget, then we're truly not in charge of our budget as an Assembly. My question for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs: can we...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I echo many of the comments made by my colleagues, and when I look at what we're planning to spend on infrastructure, we're spending $450 million this year. Then, it's going to decline to $364, $282, $275. It's clear we're planning to decline our infrastructure investment because, as the Minister points out, our operating surplus is declining. We are marching toward our debt wall, and we are expected to hit the second debt ceiling we asked for in this Assembly.

I guess what this reflects is a Cabinet presenting a budget where hard decisions have not been made. I...