Député de Hay River Nord

Premier ministre
Ministre de l’Exécutif et des Affaires autochtones

R.J. Simpson a été élu à la 20e Assemblée, représentant la circonscription de Hay River Nord. Le 7 décembre 2023, M. Simpson a été élu premier ministre de la 20e Assemblée législative des Territoires du Nord-Ouest.

M. Simpson a été élu par acclamation à la 19e Assemblée législative et élu pour la première fois à la 18e Assemblée en 2015.

M. Simpson a été élu pour la première fois à la 18e Assemblée législative en 2015. M. Simpson a été président adjoint de la 18e Assemblée législative, vice-président du Comité permanent des opérations gouvernementales et président du Comité spécial sur les questions de transition. M. Simpson a également siégé au Comité permanent des priorités et de la planification, de même qu’au Comité permanent du développement économique et de l’environnement.

M. Simpson a habité à Hay River toute sa vie. Après avoir obtenu son diplôme d’études secondaires à l’école secondaire Diamond Jenness en 1998, il a décroché un baccalauréat ès arts à l’Université MacEwan et un diplôme en droit à la faculté de droit de l’Université de l’Alberta.

M. Simpson a précédemment travaillé pour le gouvernement du Canada, la Northern Transportation Company limitée, la section locale no 51 des Métis, et Maskwa Engineering.

Pendant ses études en droit, M. Simpson a été président de l’association des étudiants en droit autochtones. Il a également siégé au conseil d’administration du Centre d’amitié Soaring Eagle, à Hay River, et donne de son temps au projet d’éducation Canada-Ghana.

Committees

R.J. Simpson
Hay River Nord
Bureau

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Boîte
1320
Bureau de circonscription

62, promenade Woodland, bureau 104
Hay River Nord NT X0E 1G1
Canada

Ministre
Premier ministre des Territoires du Nord-Ouest, Ministère de l’Exécutif et des Affaires autochtones, Ministre de la Justice

Déclarations dans les débats

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)

Yes, I do.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)

Thank you. And I had the same thoughts as the Member. So these changes that we really have not discussed publicly will take effect for the upcoming so the 20232024 academic year. So students going to school in September would have access to some of these changes that we're making. The increase in the budget is about $1.4 million. As well, we've made some other reallocations internally to adjust the program as well. So some of the changes are the basic grant. We are increasing that for first of all, this program, again, is supposed to cover 80 percent of the cost of attending school in...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)

Thank you. So I'll have to admit I am not as familiar with this particular issue and school maintenance as I could be. So what I will do so I can't commit to anything right now but I will commit to actually talking to the chair about this. You know, I have regular contact with the chairs of the school boards, and I know we have a new chair at YK1, and he's not shy to share his thoughts and concerns. So I will have that conversation with him and then work with the department. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)

Thank you. We have a limited budget, and you can only cut it so many ways. I would love to see that fund increased. I think going forward that is may have to happen. We are at a point now where we have been receiving proposals for this fund, and those proposals have resulted in grants to the organization and then new spaces being created. We've seen it across the territory. A lot of the organizations who were on that path to, you know, or thinking about developing child care centres have already accessed this funding and so now we're finding that there's not as many organizations out there...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)

Yes, thank you. So in 20222023, there were more than 1,650 applications. And of those, 49 percent were from Indigenous Aboriginals or Indigenous residents of the Northwest Territories, 51 percent from nonIndigenous. Students from the Beaufort Delta make up 14 percent of those students, 3 percent from Deh Cho, 4 percent from Sahtu, 16 percent from the South Slave, 58 percent from the North Slave. And I know that the Member likes to have the Tlicho region broken out and so in addition to those, there's 5 percent from the Tlicho region. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, March 6th, 2023, I will present Bill 72, Opioid Damages and Healthcare Costs Recovery Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)

Thank you. The goal of the senior home heating subsidy is to subsidize heating. So it's not to cover the entire cost, and we aim for 80 percent. There was a topup early in the life of this government to the program to ensure that we hit that 80 percent. Given the dramatic increases we've seen, we're no longer at that 80 percent. So what we did earlier well, I guess it was last year, was we provided a onetime topup to the program, and so that's reflected in the 20222023 revised estimates. In the upcoming fiscal year, we will look at our budget and look at the cost of home heating fuel and see...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)

Thank you. And this is one organization that's receiving those inflationary increases so that's why they get the whole $2,000 more. And going forward, I expect that will stay. I understand they do receive funding from other departments I think more than we provide. And I agree. I mean, they provide great experiences. I can get the deputy minister to speak a bit more about this but I will say that from the anecdotal evidence that I've seen, that students benefit greatly from this and it is an amazing program. Thank you. To the deputy minister. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)

Thank you. So day homes are forprofit businesses and nonprofit organizations are, you know, by definition nonprofit. And they have higher operating expenses. They generally have to rent or lease a space. They have salaries. So the parent fees that come into the day care centres versus the day homes don't go quite as far. And so day – child care centre employees are not paid don't earn as much as day home operators. So what we want to do is raise the wages of the child care workers so that we're going to attract more people to the sector but also to try to get everyone on par with each other...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)

Thank you. I know that I think I'm travelling every week after session for maybe a couple months. But if we're talking if the Member's talking about Fort Resolution, that's an easy day trip for me from Hay River when I'm in town so I'm happy to find the time to do that. Or if the Member's talking about other areas, then we'll work that into our schedule as well. Thank you.