Julian Morse

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to join my colleagues in speaking to the theme of the day which is housing. I intend to put a bit of a different spin on it.

Mr. Speaker, housing is a priority of this Assembly and also one of the most pressing concerns of our residents, which many of us have been speaking to over the past few weeks. Some may not realize it, but the GNWT is actually one of the largest landlords in the territory. The government owns the land on which many of our residents' homes sit, especially in our smaller communities, Mr. Speaker. About one in three...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. With the short little period of time I have left, I just want to say that, you know, I appreciate the answers from the Minister.

Does the Minister or the department have  or I guess the new department that's taking it on, have any plans, you know, over the next four years to increase funding to arts organizations to help them kind of increase that multiplier effect that can come from leveraging funding into the territory knowing that this is just a piece that I feel helps to contribute to our priorities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So just for clarity, I believe the Minister is saying that some organizations are actually seeing an increase in operating funding as a result of these changes. Is that correct? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, just following up on a previous set of questions, so I'm looking at kind of the arts as a whole on these pages and note that we've got $1.271 million in cuts. We got $1.271 million in adds. So it's not  nothing's technically being cut, it seems, but there's a whole redistribution and reorganizing. Program funding, I quote from this page here, is redirected towards a set of new programs that better supports the creative sector.

So can we  can we just get a description as to how we are better supporting the creative sector? Has the creative sector been consulted...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I think that I I'll just make the comment that I think it would be nice to see the department speaking to outcomes they're looking to reach in the business plan just because this one, I believe, is quite an important item, and I think it's something that has been, you know, recently audited in the department. There was definitely some gaps found and so I think it's something that should be top of mind for the department in terms of the plans that they're making and the outcomes that they're trying to achieve. So I'll leave that as a comment for future updates to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I want to refer to business plan, page 11, just give the Minister and her staff a second to find that. In particular, the item that speaks to continuing implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action. So I note that that Call to Action, particularly action number 7, speaks to closing the gap between Indigenous and nonIndigenous education outcomes in the country. And that one is directed at the federal government. But, of course, there was an audit done by the auditor general recently of this system, came forward with a bunch of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly won't need 20 minutes to speak on this one.

Mr. Speaker, I'm also rising to speak in favour of the motion. Mr. Speaker, when I served on Yellowknife city council, the issue of access to lands was on ongoing frustration. When I asked staff at one point, you know, in a particular moment of frustration, whether any other jurisdictions in Canada have systems like this where lands within municipal boundaries have multiple layers of jurisdictional management? The answer that staff gave me at the time was no, that the NWT is unique.

Mr. Speaker, I understand that we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, although I have felt a strong sense of responsibility since the day I was first elected, I must say, the weight of what our territory is facing in the near future has felt heavier still as I have been considering the 20242025 Budget and the new reality of the Government of the Northwest Territories. At the time when our territory is most in need of investment in housing, education, critical infrastructure, health care, and climate change adaptation, amongst other things, our government is at the cusp of hitting its debt ceiling and has little to spend on...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Continuing on the arts theme, you know, as was raised, the switch to ITI has been announced as part of the Budget Address, and so I think that there's  you know, there's reason for a little bit of concern from the arts community that, you know, the optics of putting the arts under ITI as opposed to, you know, a cultural department is that it kind of indicates that what we're moving toward is trying to kind of treat the arts as sort of a monetized or economic development initiative. And I would say that I think that, you know, investments in the arts is a big piece of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that what was being desired and what was being spoken to in this case is hoping that, you know, care can be provided in such a way that people could be kept at home and not necessarily we're not necessarily talking about people who need to be in a bed or, you know, being provided medical care so to speak but sometimes just kind of some social support. I'm wondering if the Minister could kind of speak to that kind of care, keeping people at home, giving people support where they are, where they need it, so that they don't have to be in the hospital or sent south...