Caitlin Cleveland

Mr. Speaker, I was wondering if that question could be addressed to the Minister responsible for Youth.

Short is not my skill set, Mr. Speaker. No, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that we can't bind the next government but this is an opportunity to really call on the government to focus on housing and addressing youth homelessness for youth aging out of care in the legislative proposal that comes forward from the government. And I think that this is something that's needed when asking - you know, we heard a question today about whether or not this homelessness strategy is actually going to solve homelessness. This is something very specific and very strategic that the government can do to address...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that from the Minister. Mr. Speaker, other jurisdictions have acknowledged the challenges of youth exiting government care by creating legislation, policies, and resources to directly help youth transition from care. There are some creative solutions out there that help address this. One example that I wanted to highlight in the House today is agedout.com. It's a web page dedicated to BC young adults who have aged out of government care, and I really highly recommend people take a look at it.

Even within this website, Mr. Speaker, youth can...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, two years ago, this government tabled a procurement review report published by an independent review panel. The report highlighted the concerns of northern business about communication and procedural fairness of how bids are administered, advertised, or requested, and how the government is evaluating value for dollar. Businesses identified concerns about being shut out of opportunities to apply on bids and do not believe their BIP status is giving them the intended advantage.

Mr. Speaker, we have yet to see a response from the GNWT to the procurement review...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, to my left is Glen Rutland, Clerk of the Legislative Assembly.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I am pleased to speak to Bill 90, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, No. 5, in my capacity as a Member of the Board of Management.

Members accepted the recommendation of the independent commission on Members' pay and benefits to reduce the base salary for Regular Members by $4,000. A Regular Member can earn back this $4,000 through participation on two standing committees. This bill allows for this $4,000 to be increased at the same rate as the base salary for Members to ensure that the base rate between Regular Members and...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I would like to say thank you to the other side. I think that there's great opportunity that can come from this, especially for youth who are aging out of care. I'm wondering if the Minister will commit to tabling a status report on this in the following sitting? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would really love to see a portal created for youth so that youth have access to information that they're looking for. So I'm wondering if the Minister responsible for Youth is willing to work on a portal so that youth can access stuff like applications for housing, low income housing, applications for identification; there could be a link to information on student financial assistance. The options are endless. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in this day and age about 40 percent of youth between the age of 20 and 29 still live at home across Canada because it's very expensive cost of living out there. Housing is hard to come by. And some youth just need to stay at home longer for educational purposes. And some youth, our kids just don't want to leave home, Mr. Speaker, and that's fine. Not all youth have this ability to stay at home or to stay with their foster families. And so I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for Homelessness if he's willing to work on a youth portal that...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question was specific to youth aging out of care. Even when I was putting together my questions for today, I actually spent a lot of time looking around on the health and social services website. It's information about what youth have access to as far as funding support, access to housing; none of this is available online. So any youth who is exiting care that wants autonomy in being able to figure out what services they have available, this doesn't exist right now. And it certainly doesn't exist in a venue that is targeted directly to these...