Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, so that is a wage subsidy. Does that mean that the small community employment would be job creation? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to move on to a different topic, Mr. Chair. We were dealing with the small community employment support program and for quite a while in discussions with the department, and then a decision was made by the government to put an additional $3 million into that program, which is excellent. We were under the assumption, however, that the budget was $1.3 million, but we can see from this budget in front of us that the actual budget last year was $339,000 and was carried into this year. Our request initially was to have the overall budget at $5 million, but it seemed...
Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Human Resources. Mr. Speaker, the government has proposed three separate amalgamations in this upcoming fiscal year and Infrastructure and the amalgamation of the Executive DAAIR and also Finance, Human Resources. My question for the Minister of Human Resources is: is there work being done with those departments that are amalgamated by him, as the Minister of Human Resources, to ensure that the affirmative action is being followed if there is to be any reduction in positions? Thank you.
Anti-poverty is a big issue in the NWT. What new money is being invested and targeted to anti-poverty in 2017-18?
Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I talked about poverty. I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for Poverty a couple of questions on that.
The federal Minister of Family, Children and Social Development has said that provinces and territories have provided ideas on how to engage the federal government differently. How will the Minister, our Minister, ensure the needs of the Northwest Territories are represented in the new Poverty Reduction Strategy under development at the federal level? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, just a few items that I also want to speak about in my opening remarks on this department. First, the one that's having the greatest impact upon the communities I represent is junior kindergarten. The Minister has indicated that it is fully funded, but the amount doesn't fully fund junior kindergarten. At the outset, there was $2 million taken out of the school boards' funding to address junior kindergarten the first year of rollout.
That $2 million doesn't seem to be in the framework anywhere anymore, and I believe that these decisions were made by the...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not necessarily talking about filling positions. What I am referring to is, during the amalgamation, sometimes when you amalgamate you get two positions at the same level. When those positions move forward and there are two positions of the same level moving forward, does this government apply the Affirmative Action Policy when they figure out which one of the two candidates is going to be receiving that position? Thank you.
Is there work being done on ensuring that the affirmative action is being followed?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to increasing work and continuing to meet with the other social development Ministers of the GNWT to reduce poverty in the NWT?
I'd like to ask the Minister how he is exploring options to leverage funding for increased investment in anti-poverty initiatives?