Caitlin Cleveland

For.

[Remote] Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Some people experience with accessing or working to access support services feel that support services from NTHSSA are at an alltime low and are very siloed in today's environment. Schools are currently trying to find funds to pay outofpocket to secure access to support services like speech language pathology, occupational therapy, but this is incredibly costly.

So will the GNWT work with schools to fund access to support services if it does not have the capacity to...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So I'll move down, then, to the address home repair barriers to assist low income seniors and disabled individuals with aging in place. And then I'm happy to see that there were policy changes, then, that took affect that were implemented by the NWT Housing Corporation.

One of the big barriers to housing repair programs in the Northwest Territories is really the cost of the programs. And without an increase, then, to the budget of the NWT Housing Corporation, a policy change is only a portion of that barrier. And so will, then, the Premier commit to ensuring that...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'll accept fulfilled and ongoing on that one. So thank you to the Premier for that.

One of my points of that one is, for example, the $60 million carveout that is identified under progress to date was a commitment that was made during 2018. So we weren't even within the 19th Assembly at that point. And so this is something that we are thankfully reaping the benefits of, of work that was achieved in the 18th Assembly for that $60 million carveout. And so I'm wondering if there is a commitment from Cabinet to pursue additional carveoffs like that from the National...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. My first question for the Minister or sorry, for the Premier is in regards to the very first status on the first piece, which is working with including federal and Indigenous governments to increase funding for housing programs that currently that reads as fulfilled, and given that accessing or working with people or different partners to access funding is an ongoing and kind of a constant within the housing portfolio, I'm wondering if the Premier is willing to change that to ongoing and maintain that as ongoing for the life of this Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Sorry, I've got feedback from my earphones.

So I just wanted to start off by saying thank you to my colleagues for the opportunity to speak to this, and I know that some of what I have to say will be somewhat repetitive a little bit. But I think it's important for residents for the Northwest Territories to hear, and I think one of the most important pieces of that is that piece on the number of priorities. And this was something that we talked about a bit in the very beginning of our time together, was the number of priorities that were appropriate for an...

In favour.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Your committee would like to report on its consideration of Bill 40: An Act to Amend the Medical Profession Act.

Bill 40 received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on November 26th, 2021, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review. Near the end of the Committee's review period, the Government of the Northwest Territories' Department of Health and Social Services identified issues with the bill that could require substantial amendments. The committee is willing to work collaboratively with the Minister of Health and...

In favour.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that this is a bigger conversation, and I welcome having a larger conversation with the Minister for sure. And one of the things that might be helpful for both schools and residents alike is having a public reporting mechanism where people can really see what the realistic wait times are for different specialty services in the Northwest Territories. And then from there, are able to either make alternate arrangements or look at other interventions in the meantime, especially when it comes to learning and development of students across the...