R.J. Simpson

Thank you. I am very familiar with this. I have had constituent businesses who have brought this issue to my attention time and time again, and I have had discussions with the department about what we can do to address this issue. Questions earlier in the House today reminded me of this. You know, dental hygienists can't perform their work because there are no dentists around. Similarly, apprentices can't get their hours and can't move to journeypersons because there are no journeypersons around. We have discussed some different approaches, and, in the mandate, we have an item in there that...

The subsidy rate is $8 per hour, to an annual maximum of 1,600 hours per apprentice, and the maximum wage subsidy support is $25,600, because it's over two years; so it's for two years, $8 an hour, 1,600 hours a year.

Thank you. I would like to hand that to my deputy minister if you don't mind.

Thank you. Absolutely. This has become vital. I think the feds see a need for it, and I can't speak for them. I can't say if it is entrenched. We could have a new government, and they could get drastically slashed. When I speak with the appropriate ministers, I will definitely be speaking to the value of this. Thank you.

Thank you. Just one moment if you don't mind, Madam Chair? My apologies.

Thank you. The territorial support team does go into the communities. They don't travel there on a regular basis. There are referrals. Based on those referrals, I believe there's been 42 in the last year, so there's been nine from the Beaufort Delta; there's been four in the Sahtu; the Deh Cho, Tlicho. They've been all over the entire territory. The largest number is in Yellowknife, but that's just because of the size of the population, but they do travel to every region. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to hand this over to Mr. Saturnino who can, perhaps, provide a bit more detail. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My first set of questions from the Member for Hay River South. It's a big day for me. The total amount budgeted in the previous main estimates was $1.072 million, and that's for the Trades and Occupations Wage Subsidy Program. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. We have a number of programs that we are undertaking. I might as well just hand it over to my deputy minister, I think. She's very involved with this one, and she might get a more detailed answer. Thank you.

Thank you. I think this would likely be more of a repeal-and-replace than a few amendments here and there. One of the main considerations is the fact that the Member just referenced that we need a piece of legislation that allows Indigenous governments to devolve the authorities that they have that our legislation currently doesn't allow. Thank you.