Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know the Minister wants to minimize rates as much as possible across the Northwest Territories, and a big help for that would be increasing third party funding. So I'm wondering if the Minister can confirm whether NTPC has its own dedicated team to source federal funding or if a dedicated position to source innovation and partnership dollars can be implemented within NTPC staff? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if the Minister can indicate what ratepayers can expect to pay for power as a result of the general rate application and how they can get involved in the process? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if I had to make a list of sentences I heard my dad say the most during my childhood "turn off the lights" would make top three. Now as a parent myself, I get it.

Northerners pay the highest electricity rates in Canada. According to Energy Hub, a social enterprise, the 2021 average cost of NWT electricity was 38.2 cents per kilowatt hour. That's more than twice the national average and even 2 percent higher than Nunavut.

High electricity rates put pressure on residents' cost of living and constituents tell me they can't keep up. Sky high power rates will...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'd love the opportunity to respond to each of those points, but I think you'd cut me off.

It sounds to me like what needs to happen is a reassessment of the priority point system that's allocated to residents whose names are on the waitlist so that all of these issues, that the Minister is stating that add to fairness, are the ones actually being evaluated.

So will the Minister remove the community residency policy and instead look at revising the point system? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of the Housing Corporation. I'm wondering if the Minister of the Housing Corporation will remove the community residency policy? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I've been bringing this policy up in this House since February of 2020, and so I appreciate that the Minister's willing to go back and talk to the department and bring it back to me but after two years, my patience is wearing thin. So I just want the policy, really, to be reevaluated for what it is, because it isn't fair.

So I guess my next question for the Minister is how is it fair, then, if the Housing Corporation cannot stipulate how a waitlist is used however ECE can stipulate that anybody who wants access to income assistance must put their name on a housing waitlist even if...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have the opportunity to go and talk to all of the different LHOs and let them know how this policy is inadvertently affecting residents of the Northwest Territories. So will the Minister have that conversation with LHOs and remove the community residency policy from the Housing Corporation's policy network? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are always talking about connection connection between economic and social success, culture and climate, and people. Small world stories with roots in the North are my favorite, and I love to learn of the familiar connections between colleagues, constituents, and Northerners. The North is vast in land but small in personal connection.

So, Mr. Speaker, it is frustrating that the government upholds a policy that dismisses the connections that exist across our territory and our reliance on one another. The Housing Corporation community to residency policy...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm looking on page 240 under transportation, and during the 20202021 actuals, there was quite a significant increase to the cost associated with transportation. And then that number has now come down again for the main estimates for 20222023. I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to what caused that large jump in the actuals for last year. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, one of the things that I think is really exciting is the opportunity for young kids to hear the languages that they're learning in schools or from family members on TV, on the radio and such. And so I'm wondering if there is a I know there's not a line increase this year. I'm wondering if there is intent to add to this line item or grow this line item in the future? Thank you.