Debates of February 22, 2022 (day 94)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This is the third budget of the 19th Assembly. It is an opportunity to restate, and reset, our vision for the economic future of the Northwest Territories.

The first budget came only months after this government was sworn in and was an occasion to describe our approach to managing the government's finances and, more important, our vision for how we would work to improve the overall fiscal outlook for the Northwest Territories. Before that first budget session was even concluded, the COVID19 pandemic began.

Our second budget in 2021-2022 was focused on stability: Both in terms of supporting the health and wellbeing of residents and the economy through the pandemic but also by ensuring that government continued to do all the many and varied things that are expected and needed of us during times of uncertainty.

Keeping to, and delivering on, that vision has not been easy in the last two years.

We have, and will, continue to support residents and businesses through times of crisis. We have worked with the federal government to identify needs and secured flexibility in federal funding programs. Moreover, we have filled gaps not addressed by federal funding through creative and unique programming. In doing this, we have assisted residents and businesses through a pandemic that has been unprecedented in my lifetime. At the same time, we have supported communities through a devastating flood season.

Even while providing relief and recovery from a once in a generation crisis, we have also managed to maintain the vast breadth of government services across all regions and communities. As well, despite these unprecedented challenges, all departments are largely on target to advance and achieve the mandate priorities of the 19th Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, the GNWT will continue to be bold when it comes to supporting our people, communities and businesses. However, bold does not necessarily always mean easy or popular. Nor does it necessarily mean immediate.

Making flashy announcements, hoping that new money will solve longstanding problems, is often the easier political path. But what sometimes most needs doing takes time. Changing an organization the size of a provincial or territorial government takes time; changing a society takes even longer. The goal is not headlines to last the next few days or the term of this government. The goal is to influence the path of the Northwest Territories for the next five or even ten years.

This budget is not flashy, but it offers stability in a time of continued uncertainty. With that stability, we will continue to deliver on our original promises of building, fostering, and supporting innovation, creativity, and efficiency both within government and the private sector.

One might say that the themes of this budget are consistency and patience, but that is only true because those values allow us to continue to pursue the core values I have spoken of in the two previous budgets: Using innovation and creativity to find efficiencies and also to build a strong economic future that benefits Northwest Territories residents. Today's budget address will provide examples of where we continue to build on key initiatives for the future while also remaining present in the needs of today.

This budget includes operations spending of $2.1 billion. This is an increase of 3 percent from 20212022. Additionally, the Legislature approved a capital plan in December that included $502 million in capital spending for 20222023. Revenues are projected to be $2.3 billion in 20222023. This is an increase of 2.3 percent from what is projected for 20212022. After including the supplementary reserve and other adjustments, the 20222023 Main Estimates show a projected operating surplus of $131 million.

In addition to the budget, I am also pleased to present an Economic Review. This review shows our economy is poised to experience modest growth in the coming years as we emerge from the COVID pandemic. However, economic risks which may dampen economic success need to be managed.

Mr. Speaker, in this address I intend to outline our plan to use this government's third budget to build on the work we have already undertaken to fulfil our mandate priorities while also managing and providing relief from many unforeseen challenges.

I will first provide an overview of the economic outlook, then outline how the economic indicators will affect our fiscal results and, finally, I will outline some of the specific initiatives this government will undertake in 20222023 to both fulfill our mandate and ensure the longterm vitality of the Northwest Territories.

Our shortterm economic indicators are positive: Preliminary projections suggest that the Northwest Territories grew 7.3 percent in 2021 and we are forecasting the economy to remain close to this level in 20222023. Moreover, investment in the economy is increasing. New investment in the territory was 13 percent higher in 2021 than in 2020 with private investment rising 18.8 percent and public investment increasing 11.5 percent.

The employment rate also continues to trend upwards, rising 5 percent in 2021. The unemployment rate decreased from 8.5 percent in 2020 to 5 percent in 2021. Residents earned more in 2021 as well. Average weekly earnings remained high compared to the national average with Northwest Territories employees earning on average 35 percent more than other Canadians. Average household incomes continue to be higher in the Northwest Territories than in any other jurisdiction.

However, there are nearterm difficulties that threaten economic growth. Although the Northwest Territories is rebounding, the recovery has been uneven across sectors, industries, and demographics. Industries such as retail, construction, and public administration have all returned to prepandemic levels, while hardhit sectors such as tourism, hospitality, mining, and wholesale trade continue to struggle.

Longterm challenges, such as maturing diamond mines, an aging population, a lack of economic diversification, and declining private sector activity will depress future growth unless there are substantial changes. Most pressing of these longterm challenges is that the diamond mining industry, which has been the engine of the private sector economy for the last two decades, may see all existing diamond mines close by 2030.

We cannot let the fact that these challenges are still in the medium to long term allow us to not begin responding to them today. Rather, the fact that there are these challenges on the horizon should motivate action and innovation. The Northwest Territories has the potential to grow and contribute to economic resilience within the rest of Canada. Indigenous governments within the territories' boundaries are poised to play expanded roles in economic diversification and infrastructure development; environmental, social and governance are already factors in the way the Northwest Territories resource industry does business; and, the fact that our territory is on the front lines of climate change makes us an obvious place for research and investments in initiatives that can help green economies.

Potential is just that; it will be realized and flourish sooner and stronger within healthy and welleducated communities. These communities support opportunities for the opening of new businesses, foster the growth of local enterprise, nurture a healthy and welltrained domestic labour force and encourage overall investor confidence.

Mr. Speaker, all of these goals are reflected in the priorities and mandate of the 19th Assembly. That is why it has been important to ensure not only relief and recovery but to also keep a steady eye on achieving our mandate priorities.

Mr. Speaker, last year I said that I was cautiously optimistic about our longerterm fiscal outlook. As I just observed, there are significant challenges that we need to be prepared for but so far I believe my optimism has been justified as we saw our economy grow and employment rebound.

This positive economic outlook is reflected in our fiscal situation. We closed 20202021 with a

$67 million operating surplus instead of the $31 million deficit projected last year due primarily to improved revenues from federal supports and savings in program delivery.

For the current fiscal year, direct federal supports to businesses and individuals have greatly improved our own source revenues, which are $86 million higher than we forecasted in the 20212022 budget. Although there were additional costs related to emergency support, an operating surplus of $28 million is projected for the current fiscal year.

We are forecasting a surplus of $131 million in 20222023 and continued surpluses going forward to 20252026. We plan to use these operational surpluses to help fund planned capital investment of $1.34 billion between now and 20252026. However, the surpluses won't be sufficient to pay for all this needed infrastructure. We will continue to need to borrow. We expect to end 20212022 with total debt of $1.5 billion, $345 million under the federallyimposed borrowing limit. This debt is expected to grow to $1.7 billion by the end of 20222023.

Good fiscal governance comes from deliberate actions, not ad hoc reactions to a snapshot in time. We still need careful expenditure management. In our fiscal planning for 20232024, we are proposing to limit forced growth to $10 million and new initiatives to $5 million annually. If we want to do more, we will be calling on departments to find the means from within existing resources.

Mr. Speaker, we are not introducing new taxes in the 20222023 budget. In keeping with past practice, property tax rates will be increased with inflation. We will undertake the scheduled fiveyear fee review which could yield changes in fee amounts for 20222023.

The financial hardship faced by many residents and businesses and the ongoing economic uncertainties owing to the fallout of COVID19 make this not a time for increasing income taxes to improve our fiscal situation. We will continue to monitor the data on who is paying taxes in the territory and on what kinds of income. At the moment, we have only a small number of individuals who could be potentially in a higher tax bracket. This will bring minimal benefit to the government but substantial risk to our competitive position compared to other jurisdictions who also compete for skilled labour.

We will honour our commitments under the PanCanadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change and raise the carbon tax rate to $50 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions on July 1, 2022. Our current carbon pricing system was implemented to encourage the reduction of fossil fuel while not adding to the cost of living or providing barriers to economic development. These carbon tax rate increases also come with an increase to the cost of living benefit of $260 per adult and $300 per dependent under the age of 18 years effective July 1, 2022.

Further, $5.9 million will go to rebates on heating fuel, diesel used to generate electricity for distribution, and for the large emitter program.

The 20222023 budget continues our commitment to using our resources efficiently to deliver needed programs and services in times of uncertainty while keeping an eye to ensuring that we unlock the strong future potential of the Northwest Territories.

Our $2.1 billion operating budget includes new funding of $95 million which will go to the key mandate priorities.

Before I provide the details of new spending, I want to talk about how the other $2 billion in proposed spending in the 20222023 budget provides stability and encourages innovation. Not all things that we do, and should do, needs new money. To make this point, I want to first highlight, not the biggest expenditure items in this budget, but rather some of the changes we have been quietly making to improve without incurring significant or new expenditure lines.

We are already seeing notable progress under the Government Renewal Initiative announced in the first budget. Departments have been coordinating in their efforts to gather the information that decisionmakers need to be able to effectively allocate limited resources in a way that provides more value for the dollars we spend. Largely funded internally, the Government Renewal Initiative is already producing meaningful evidence for decisionmakers to make better choices about how to allocate government resources. More important, this information gathering stage is paying dividends in changing how we think about service delivery governmentwide.

Movement towards greater wholeofgovernment thinking is perfectly exemplified by the Integrated Service Delivery initiative. Integrated Service Delivery makes government services accessible in a timely and flexible manner, recognizes that not everyone starts from the same point, and ensures all members of the community are treated with dignity and respect. Multiple departments are advancing this work together without new resources by trying to find ways to work together differently and put Northwest Territories residents at the center of service delivery. Making it easier for people to access services allows for greater support for people and families and more effective and efficient service of GNWT programs.

How we use the half a billion in capital dollars is as important as the capital budget itself. We are working on our mandate promise to ensure that GNWT spending maximizes benefits to Northwest Territories residents and businesses by reviewing our procurement policies and practices. We are also working with Indigenous government partners to increase their opportunities for equity participation in future territorial projects so that together we can encourage the development of northern skills and trades and provide more opportunities for local contractors. This collaboration without new spending will help achieve the end goal of ensuring that more of GNWT infrastructure spending stays in the North.

The Red Tape Reduction Working Group has provided some recommendations that, again, do not require more financial resources to help reduce the regulatory barriers that cost businesses time and money. I am pleased with departments' acceptance of their recommendations and proud of the way they have embraced an examination of their program delivery from the end user's perspective. For example, one department agreed to change the way it processes different types of applications to speed up the time in which the end user gets a certificate. The GNWT has also launched an eServices portal for greater online access to government services and is working to develop the necessary policies and assess the technical solutions required to enable electronic signatures within our programs and services.

The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls initiative was from the outset a truly collaborative effort and an example of what we can accomplish when we work together. We are working with Indigenous governments and organizations, communities, nongovernment organizations, and people with livedexperience to develop an action plan. This plan makes the Calls for Justice an integral part of how we operate as a public service and begins the necessary process of addressing colonialism and racial and gendered discrimination from all levels of government and public institutions. This will result in meaningful change, again without new funding but, rather, a change in how we approach what we do and why we do it.

Implementing the Public Lands Act involves every Department of Lands' employee and a temporary reassignment of nine staff to a dedicated project team to bring the legislation into force. The department is also reorganizing the land administration division. Both of these initiatives will be achieved without additional dollars. By the time they are done at the end of this year, they will have rolled up a lot of red tape by merging the territorial and Commissioner land administration units and establishing quality customer service standards for land authorization transactions.

I would be remiss if I neglected to state my deep appreciation for the ways departments covered additional demands for COVID supports from within budgets and while doing their regular jobs as well. For example, the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources and Health and Social Services worked together to use existing staff and facilities to conduct COVID wastewater testing in addition to their regular duties. Similarly, public servants from across departments accepted transfer assignments, voluntary redeployments, and cross appointments to help us respond to COVID19 such as renewable resource officers stepping up to be public health officers. The Wage TopUp Program, which provided temporary financial assistance for over 3800 lowwage workers between April 2020 and August 2021, was delivered by a few people in the Department of Finance in addition to their regular duties. The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment amended its entrepreneur and business support programs so businesses could quickly pivot to safe operations during COVID restrictions and prepare for success after the pandemic recedes. The department also increased the flexibility of the Mining Incentive Program to make it easier for exploration work to continue.

Mr. Speaker, improvements from within, and without new money, has been our approach as a first resort. This is the kind of creativity, combined with efficiency I have spoken about in previous years, that is starting to bear fruit. One benefit is that even in times of fiscal uncertainty we have the flexibility to spend money to protect our existing programs and services and to make enhancements to better serve Northerners.

For starters, we cannot deliver government programs and services without excellent and conscientious public servants. To properly compensate our public service and maintain the Government of the Northwest Territories' reputation as an employer of choice, we have included $20 million in this budget to address wage and benefit increases under collective bargaining agreements for public service employees and increased remuneration for judges.

Using Northwest Territories land and water resources sustainably and protecting these resources for future generations is a key priority of this government. We propose to spend over $120 million, or 6 percent of our annual budget, next year to manage Northwest Territories' natural resources.

Adapting to climate change is woven into everything we do, from maintaining and improving existing capital assets to building new infrastructure. We are aided in our efforts by federal funding under the Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund since 2018. In next year's budget, we propose to use $4.7 million to further the various programs under this initiative. Some of this funding is reallocated from previous years when projects were delayed.

The drastic decline in the Bathurst and Bluenose barrenground caribou herds since 2015 is a major concern. The GNWT is working closely with its comanagement partners to support recovery of these herds using the best available scientific, local, and traditional knowledge. In this budget, we propose to add $1 million to support recovery of these herds through actions on harvest, predator and habitat management, protection of caribou habitat, and enhanced research and monitoring.

We spent $31 million last fiscal year and expect to spend a further $34 million by the end of this fiscal year on our COVID response. We are pleased that the COVID Secretariat is expected to spend $6 million less than budgeted this year but are naturally disappointed that our hopes that the pandemic would be over in 20212022 are unlikely to be realized. The COVID Secretariat budget for 20222023 is $11.9 million. We continue to hope that this year the coronavirus will fade from pandemic to endemic and become more like an illness that we can guard against with vaccines, treatments, and improved capacity in the health care system to respond to case demand. We will assess what resources this shift to endemic may require over 20222023. Federal funding of $265,000 under the Health Services Agreement will provide additional support for activities related to COVID19 related immunization activities including increased vaccine coverage.

We are all aware of human resource and financial pressures on our health and social services system that existed before the pandemic and will continue after it ends. Excluding the COVID Secretariat and pandemicrelated measures, next fiscal year we propose to spend $569 million on health and social services to provide a stable system that can deliver programs whenever they are needed.

This dedication to our resident's health is evidenced by our proposal in this budget to include $23 million in additional resources for our health and wellness priorities and to reduce pressures in the health care system. We have allocated an additional $1.7 million for mental health and addictions that will enhance funding for external organizations to hire counsellors and continue to support activities that are being designed to reflect unique community needs. New funding of $2.9 million under the Northern Wellness Agreement, and $1.4 million for Indigenous wellness and patient advocate services, will also help support this priority in different ways.

This budget will also advance progress on our priority to help seniors age in place. Recommended in this budget is an additional $645,000 for increased demand for the senior citizen supplementary benefit and $884,000 for various services for seniors in home and community care, respite and elder day programs, and chronic disease management.

This budget also proposes $5 million to further our objective of increasing resident health care professionals by at least 20 percent, including $1.33 million for additional physician specialists to ensure that life sustaining internal medicine, general surgery, obstetrics, and pediatric services are available in the territory.

Additionally, $1.03 million is allocated to maintain four territorial positions and related services for cancer prevention and care; and $1 million is committed to support additional new midwife positions in Hay River, Fort Smith and Yellowknife.

We are fortunate to have $7.1 million in federal funding under the Territorial Health Investment Fund to help close special health care gaps and address challenges faced by the territory for medical travel, primary health care reform, and system sustainability. The fund will deliver system sustainability to transform the territorial health and social services delivery system into a wellfunctioning system focused on continuous improvement of quality service delivery at affordable cost.

In November 2019, the 911 system went live in all 33 Northwest Territories communities and although telephone subscribers are charged a monthly fee, we are still subsidizing the program. We propose additional onetime funding of $507,000 to assist with cost pressures in the 911 system pending a review of longterm needs.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are key partners in supporting safe communities. We are asking for almost $1.9 million in this budget to provide the RCMP with additional officers in Behchoko and Tuktoyaktuk. We are also directing more resources to the Internet Child Exploitation Unit and have increased funding for the Northwest Territories Guns and Gangs Strategy by $150,000.

Recent enhancements to service delivery in Legal Aid have increased demand for services beyond the ability to provide with current resources. This budget includes $442,000 for additional positions in Legal Aid and Court Services to address increased workloads.

There is a request in this budget for $478,000 to buy more winter road salt, and $135,000 for an additional highway transport officer to help improve road safety.

Mr. Speaker, included in our mandate is the commitment to reduce the municipal funding gap by $5 million by the end of this Assembly. We are working towards this goal by proposing to add $922,000 to our contribution base funding to community governments in budget 20222023. This will bring the total community contribution funding for operations and maintenance to $57.6 million, leaving us to find another $744,000 during the term of this government to achieve the total $5 million increase.

Mr. Speaker, this budget also gives us further resources to reduce poverty. We are asking for $860,000 in additional funding to combat poverty through the AntiPoverty Fund. We are committed to the success of our programs to support healthy families and are recommending $984,000 more in this budget to expand the Healthy Family Program into two more communities, address increased demand for services in the office of the public guardian, and for child and family legal services.

Enhanced programs at day shelters and sobering programs pay dividends by reducing the demand for other government services. We are proposing $1 million in enhanced funding for shelters in Yellowknife, Hay River, and Fort Simpson.

The $260,000 requested in this budget for enhancements to the Hunters and Trappers Disaster Compensation Program will help support harvesters when natural disasters happen.

This budget includes $11 million in capital funding to help the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation continue its work in support of the 19th Legislative Assembly priority to increase the number of affordable homes and reduce the core housing need along with other actions related to housing. We are also proposing $947,000 in increased funding to the corporation for increased operations and maintenance costs for the new federallyfunded public housing units.

Mr. Speaker, education in all its forms has always been the key ingredient in ensuring viable futures for Northwest Territories residents to fully participate in a vibrant and diversified society. Access to education is critical if residents are to take advantage of higherpaying quality employment. We need to continue to improve education attainment levels to ensure our children have every opportunity to lead fulfilling and productive lives. We propose to spend $211 million directly on educationrelated programs in next year's budget, including $7.3 million in new funds.

We cannot educate our children for their futures without teachers. This budget includes $4.7 million for increased teachers' salary and benefits. We are also allocating funding for training for teachers to teach multigrade classes and for enhanced supports for principals in small schools. Furthermore, we have committed $1.8 million for inclusive schooling and education for children with complex needs and for modernizing the K12 curriculum.

Mr. Speaker, we know from experience that investments in affordable and quality early childhood care and education reaps multiple benefits. It helps prepare children for K12 education, enhances equality of access to educational opportunities, and gives parents improved employment options. It also increases economic growth and productivity. For that reason, we are also proposing an additional $500,000 to increase access to child care spaces, and $298,000 to improve the quality of learning for our youngest children who use these child care spaces. This is part of a broader strategy to move towards universal $10aday child care in the Northwest Territories within five years.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that the fundamentals of the Northwest Territories economy can be made solid over the longterm by the investments we are making now. There is no doubt that an economic recovery is underway but continuing global economic uncertainty suggests that our attention now should be on supports to help the economy grow for the benefit of Northerners. Taking care of what we can do with certainty now will continue to pave the way for more strategic actions in the future.

We are asking for $1.1 million for the tourism 2025 Roadmap to Recovery Strategy to help the tourism sector get ready to welcome back travelers on March 1st. The tourism industry has experienced unprecedented challenges over the last two years and this strategy lays out the roadmap to assist with that sector's recovery. This investment will provide support for community tourism coordinators in four additional community governments and strengthen tourism capacity in these communities.

Along with more resources for the tourism strategy itself, we propose to add $169,000 to the base funding for utility costs at territorial parks so that our parks continue to be a welcoming place for visitors.

The Makerspace YK in Yellowknife and the Arts, Crafts, and Technology MicroManufacturing Centre in Inuvik have proven their value and we propose to add $389,000 to extend makerspace services to other communities. These funds will also support an action plan to guide building the knowledge economy through research, entrepreneurship, connectivity, infrastructure, collaboration, and capacity building.

We are taking action on our priority to increase food security through locally produced, harvested, and affordable food by including an additional $188,000 to increase our participation in the Canadian Agricultural Partnership Program.

We are unwavering in our commitment to support resource development in a responsible way. This support starts with attracting interest in mineral exploration. To further the Mineral Development Strategy, we are asking for $100,000 to support Indigenous capacity building and participation in the resource sector. We also propose to expand the Mining Incentive Program with an additional $300,000 to attract and increase support for early stage and advanced exploration projects.

Our support for resource development includes clear and transparent rules to ensure that we work together to maintain a sustainable industry. We will continue our work to develop a modern suite of regulations and systems to effectively implement the Mineral Resources Act and are including $304,000 in this budget to respond to federal policy initiatives, including regulatory changes under the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act.

The budget includes the first $12.2 million for annual services payment for the Tlicho AllSeason Road publicprivate partnership. These annual payments will pay for the road's construction over time and annual maintenance for the next 25 years. Building the Tlicho AllSeason Road was an innovative partnership and proof positive of our commitment to use our capital dollars as an opportunity to build capacity in the Northern labour force.

We intend to further strengthen our efforts to bring innovation into investments in the economy. We are advancing three critical infrastructure projects: The Taltson Hydro Expansion; Mackenzie Valley Highway; and The Slave Geological Province Corridor

The 20222023 Capital Plan approved last December includes $463 million for the government's own investments and $29 million for community infrastructure investments. When we include the $11 million in this budget for the NWT Housing Corporation investments, our total planned infrastructure investment in the next fiscal year will be over onehalf billion dollars.

The 20222023 Capital Plan also includes infrastructure investments that support program delivery. This includes $47 million for longterm care facilities, health centres, and the Stanton Legacy Building renovations, and $22 million for investments in schools.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my Cabinet colleagues, the Standing Committees, the business community, nonprofit organizations, and all the other groups and budget dialogue participants for the input and advice they have provided in putting the budget together. It is with this kind of civil engagement and dialogue that we continue to define ourselves as a consensus government.

[Translation] The territorial economy is poised to emerge from the COVID pandemic different but stronger and this budget serves to help manage the uncertainty that may dampen future economic success. Rather than holding to our pledge that the investments we do not [sic] make build on the work we have already undertaken to fulfil our mandate priorities and our demonstrated commitments to provide relief from many unforeseen challenges. [Translation ends].

The Northwest Territories is, ultimately, a small community of people although spread across one of the largest geographic regions of Canada, made up of different nations, and cultures, with 11 official languages.

These times of crisis have put potential challenges faced in this territory front and center in everyone's minds. It has also shown us that it is possible to come together as communities and as a government to adapt quickly and take measured risks in the face of uncertainties. It is time to use that motivation and that confidence to work together to ensure the Northwest Territories remains a place that is dynamic, full of opportunity and committed to equity, compassion, and reconciliation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Applause

Thank you, Minister. Colleagues we'll take a short recess.

SHORT RECESS

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I am happy to announce that, starting immediately, we are resuming labour and delivery services for all NWT residents.

This means that any NWT resident who is due to deliver a child can now expect their delivery to happen in the Northwest Territories starting today. This represents a more rapid reopening than announced at the end of last month. The improved staffing outlook through March and April has made this change possible.

At this time residents from Nunavut, who are normally served by Stanton Territorial Hospital, will continue to travel to Edmonton but I am assured that the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority is working to resume services also for these individuals as soon as possible.

Mr. Speaker, I recognize the impact this service reduction has had on families; it hasn't been easy. I want to thank all of the individuals and families who travelled to deliver their children to create space for emergency and urgent care at Stanton during this period of low staffing. Your sacrifice helped us ensure continued care for those who needed it locally in urgent and emergency situations.

I would also like to recognize the staff at Stanton who have worked diligently throughout this reduction to continue providing services while planning to resume them. I would like to thank the casual and agency staff who have come in to fill shifts and add capacity as we move toward delivering additional services.

I want to again emphasize that the top priority for our health and social services system is safety. Current staffing levels will ensure safe care for our patients and clients; however, if there is any point in the future where staffing levels are limited and safe care is not possible, we will adjust services as necessary.

It's worth noting that the recent obstetrics unit shutdown is the first since 2002. In other words, once in 20 years. It's a rare event.

Stanton and Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority leadership will continue to do everything possible to avoid any further service reductions, but the current realities of the nationwide shortage of skilled healthcare professionals, coupled with the impacts of COVID19, particularly isolation requirements and illness for impacted staff, are a reality we must manage within.

As we proceed with resuming services, Stanton will continue to recruit staff through a variety of means, and is committed to addressing the concerns raised by current staff. We know that retaining the great staff we have is even more critical than attracting new talent.

Leadership will continue to work to ensure adequate staffing in this area by exhausting all possible avenues for recruitment, including pursuing indeterminate staff, casual and agency nurses, and training and development of local staff to gain the skills needed to work in this specialized area.

In closing, I would like to recognize and sincerely thank our permanent local staff who continue to be the backbone of the obstetrics unit and who have worked incredibly hard to orient newcomers and continue to deliver the highquality services residents have come to expect and deserve. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to speak about restrictions and a postpandemic economic strategy for the Northwest Territories.

More than ever, we need a working plan beyond the budget address.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is now safe to say that many, not all people, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, are tired of living within those restrictions currently in place. They want to know what is being done to move past them. We currently have existing orders in place but orders without effective monitoring and enforcement are only recommendations at best. This is where I see us at this point.

Business owners and their staff are tired of trying to monitor and enforce restrictions this government put in place. Business owners and their workers, who have no training around monitoring or enforcement, are being harassed and threatened by customers. It is having an impact on their mental wellbeing, which is transferred to their home life.

Mr. Speaker, as we transition out of this pandemic, it is imperative that this government increase its focus on the economy. Access to goods, supplies and labour is limited, all which impact the cost of living and doing business in the NWT. Our communities, residents, and businesses know what is needed. We must listen to them and follow up on the promises we make.

Mr. Speaker, needs throughout the NWT vary, so our focus on the economy must be multifaceted and consider the artisan in the community that cannot sell goods as there are no tourists; the small motel owner in a community without customers; contractors struggling to find work and the security needed to take it on; the resource sector which contributes to our GDP. Jobs, training and businesses was in decline prior to the pandemic and we must find ways to turn that around.

Mr. Speaker, we need to focus on what we can control, and that is physical and social infrastructure. As well, our current legislation and policies limit not only small businesses but severely impact those larger projects that go through rigorous regulatory review.

Mr. Speaker, as current COVID business supports come to an end and the Government of Canada turns off the tap, it is important that this government revisit the Emerging Stronger document and revise as necessary. We have heard little of it since it was first made public. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, if we expect to strengthen our economy, we must first start with ending the public health emergency and restrictions which have been a barrier to some sectors over the last two years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Premier at the appropriate time.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Members' statements. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Supportive mental health postCOVID19.

Mr. Speaker, it's been a long two years in the Delta. Public health orders limit social gatherings, the activities in the Nunakput riding across the territory. My constituents are the most isolated communities in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, following the health orders after the shutdown of bingos and down of sports activities for the kids shut down, you know, the six weeks of darkness that we put up with, it's been really tough on the communities. At the end of the day, the community hamlets have lost revenues in regards to the only way they get a chance to fundraise is through bingos and they stretch all their monies to host different gatherings and stuff like that, but we're putting them in a catch-22 now.

We're the ones that with COVID19, we shut down everything. Now we have to try to reallocate money where there's no money there. We're shutting down community ice rinks. We're looking at community halls in my riding. Mr. Speaker, that's not right.

We have to look at more important and the shutdown of the people who stayed home with each other under COVID19, we're now important to building back relationships we rely on and life as a whole, keep our children safe, our families, our elders, our youth, and the social circles that we keep using in the community.

It's been a tough two years. You know, in the Beaufort Delta, we have the highest rates of teen births, highest level of heavy drinkers in the NWT, highest number of people hospitalized in selfinjury, highest rates of suicide in the NWT in the Beaufort Delta, Mr. Speaker.

We need help. Our people need help, our constituents. You know, we're all in a tough position. We live it every day because I know when I was in the pandemic, I was at home in Tuk. I see people suffering every day.

You know, and another big one was the stresses of people and the youth and everybody like that, and then it got to, you know, to become social media, the means of, you know, it ended up sometimes people being bullied. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, again, social media has become the means of lateral violence in our communities. That's got to stop. And that's right across the whole territory. Mr. Speaker, people are not mentally healthy. We need to help them. We have to provide, getting the health care system to bring people in to help people to get through it because the epidemic time is coming now. And, you know, our government is talking about the public health emergency pandemic to an endemic, the great deal of healing that needs to happen in our communities, Mr. Speaker. We can't just it's not just going to stop. We got to heal together as a whole, and that's our nine communities in the Beaufort Delta have to do that together. And we need help from this government and our Health Minister to not just give a 1800 number to call. We have to have boots on the ground in the communities. Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Health Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Members' statements. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to let you know how frustrated I am. I can't even keep track of how many times the Members in this house have talked about the vital importance to increase Indigenous hiring and the concerns that hiring managers are not even using the programs that have been created to increase Indigenous recruitment and retention.

Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Government Operation has set the following priority: Identify the systemic barriers to increasing the prepresentation of Indigenous people in the public service and review GNWT's human resource practices and policies.

It's 2022, Mr. Speaker. This is a territory of over the half the population is Indigenous. Why are we still having to do this.

This government makes statements, writes reports, offers recommendation to guide hiring personnel to do this, yet we are worse off than ever. The most recent public service annual report shows that in 2020 Indigenous representation in the GNWT reached an all time low of 29.3 percent. Mr. Speaker, how can we be going backwards? It is because of the barrier of systemic racism.

Mr. Speaker, this is a huge problem across the whole GNWT. But I want to focus on the problems at the Department of Justice.

While Indigenous people are overrepresented in the justice system, they are vastly underrepresented in the department staff. In fact, statistics from the public service annual report show that Indigenous representation has dropped significantly at the department. In 2013, there were 155 Indigenous employees making up 30 percent. In 2021, there were only 132 Indigenous employees making up 24 percent. In eight years, Mr. Speaker, Indigenous employment dropped by 23 while nonIndigenous employment increased by 61.

There are a lot of things that should be done but aren't and aren't being done but should.

One big issue I keep seeing is that entry level positions are posted while programs to train and provide Indigenous applications are not being used. For example, in the job ads today, court worker 1 position posted currently for meanwhile, Indigenous applications just sitting in casual pools and in the Indigenous career gateway pool with the department failing to reach out with opportunities for training that could lead to a career at the Justice department. Mr. Speaker, I request consent for unanimous consent.

Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, it is time we quit talking about it and start doing something.

As my colleague from Nunakput likes to say, the Minister should use his power and write down in his little notepad for ministerial directive so that hiring managers have to use these programs before advertising. There must be clear direction for hiring managers if we are going to achieve the vision of a public service that is truly representative of the population it services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have questions for the Minister of Justice.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Members' statements. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le Président. I raised the issue of discharges from the Alberta tar sands tailings in our last sitting. I was very pleased to hear the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources say in the House, on December 7th, "we're not supportive of this presently or even in the future." By the way, I am still waiting for the research on the impacts of potential discharges that the Minister promised back then.

It is hard to get a sense of the scale of these tailings ponds. They cover 220 square kilometres and the volume would be the equivalent of Olympic swimming pools that would stretch from Edmonton to Melbourne, Australia. These tailings are a mix of sand, salt, clay, and residual oils and solvents and toxic compounds known to cause cancer and other health effects. If released untreated, the tailings would kill fish and other aquatic life, and probably people too.

The federal government has announced it is going to develop regulations under the Fisheries Act to allow discharges from these tailings ponds. Discharges, whether controlled or not, are inevitable so I am not opposed in-principle but these wastes must be treated first to an acceptable standard. However, there are no known costeffective treatment options that are commercially available or that have even been field tested yet. Even if technology was available, there are also the issues of cost, what to do with any sludge or byproducts, and the impact on water, aquatic life, and people. We are downstream of this mess, Mr. Speaker.

GNWT has been strangely quiet about all of this until I raised it in the House. I have no idea what resources have been dedicated to this effort, whether we have the necessary expertise and what work has been done to engage Indigenous peoples and the public. This government owes it to our residents and the environment to tell us what it is doing with regard to the development of tar sands discharge regulations. I will have questions later today for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources about GNWT's involvement and position on discharges from the tar sands. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, member for Frame Lake. Members' statements. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the GNWT's 2011 Caribou Management Strategy for 2011 to 2015 reports that in 2006, caribou tags for resident hunters in the North Slave region were reduced from five of any sex to two males only. In the following year, 2007, tags for outfitters to hunt in the North Slave region were reduced from approximately 1600 to 750. And by January of 2010, all hunting closed on the winter range of the Bathurst herd. A limited Indigenous harvest of 300, plus or minus 10 percent caribou, was established in December of 2010.

As a result, there is currently no commercial source of caribou meat in the NWT, which is concerning given the importance it plays in the diet of Indigenous people. With the rising cost of food, subsistence hunting has never been more important. For example, the cost of ground beef in 2020 ranged from $11 per pound to $21 in the Northwest Territories, which can only be higher now as COVID continues to impact the supply chain. Never has it been more important to establish stable access to country food than it is currently, particularly as rates of nutritionrelated disease like diabetes continue to rise.

In the NWT, country food can be difficult for residents to access. If a hunter's harvest is confiscated, elders, children, and vulnerable people from their community may not have any traditional food for that season and could be at risk for going hungry.

Mr. Speaker, just look at yesterday's paper from News North with its large headline "Hunger, a Growing Concern in Hay River." And I know from listening to residents this is not just Hay River's problem but is widespread across the territory.

In addition to the issue of hunger, the hunting restrictions placed on Indigenous peoples creates a loss of culture. As less Indigenous people are able to hunt, the skills associated with the butchering, cleaning and scraping of hides, and the preparation of meat are lost. Raw materials for crafts and clothing become less available, and traditional knowledge is at risk. We only have to look at the legacy of the residential schools to see how quickly in one generation so much can be lost.

It is imperative that the GNWT continue to work with Indigenous hunters and organizations, that we utilize GPS technology and other modern methods to ensure that there remains access to this vital life source for our residents. Access to country foods will ensure the maintenance of good health and the continuation of traditional knowledge for generations to come. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Members' statements. Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for my statement topic today, I want to talk about a new mining project in the NWT, which is the NICO project in the Tlicho region produced by the company Fortune Minerals. This project will be built near Whati connected to the new Tlicho AllSeason Road and will be extracting important minerals such as cobalt, gold, bismuth, and copper. These minerals have a huge and increasing demand within the modern industrial economy. Cobalt is particularly a key mineral in the production of lithium ion batteries which is used to power many common consumer goods such as cell phones, tablets, laptops, wireless headphones, and electric vehicles, among others.

Mr. Speaker, the NICO project will provide the NWT with a much needed economic boost within a sector that has weakened greatly in the recent years the mining sector.

However, there are two aspects to Fortune Minerals' plans regarding this mining project. The first is the extraction of the minerals, which is happening near Whati, and the second is the refining of those minerals which will be done in Lamont County, Alberta.

Mr. Speaker, I find it very curious and see a lost opportunity that Fortune Minerals decided to build a refinery for this project in a different province of where the minerals are being extracted, which hasn't been finalized yet, so it can still be renegotiated. Why didn't Fortune Minerals consider the NWT as the location to refine the minerals from the NICO project?

Fortune Minerals stated early on that their either was to build the refinery either in Saskatchewan or Alberta but no mention publicly whether the NWT was considered.

Mr. Speaker, given the state of the NWT economy and the overall decline of mining that the territory will be facing in the coming years, I think this overall project was a missed opportunity for the NWT.

The same can also be said about the Nechalacho Rare Earth Mine project at Thor Lake in Akaitcho Territory, which is extracting rare earth ore and shipping those rare earth concentrates to a production facility in Saskatoon.

In addition, it was announced recently that a new rare earth processing facility will open in Alaska which will separate the rare earth concentrates from the Saskatoon plant into rare earth oxides which are the valued items in consumer goods. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are looking for new ways to diversify, expand, and maximize the economic opportunities for the NWT, yet we fail to provide more desirable economic conditions to attract and secure greater investments. We must do better to have a stronger longterm economy, especially within the recovery of the COVID19 pandemic.

Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge two concerned individuals who sent me information on this topic Darryl Clarkson, a former principal at JBT School in Fort Smith, as well as Robert Beaulieu, a Salt River First Nation member who worked as a liaison officer for Indigenous hires at one of the mines. Both these men still care about what goes on here. I will have questions for the Minister of ITI later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Applause

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Members' statements. Member for Kam Lake.

Mr. Speaker, our children have such a small amount of time to be children. As a parent, politician, and community member, I have found it difficult at times to balance childhood and public health measures, especially with teenagers.

Worldwide, more than 1.6 billion students missed school during lockdowns. Some countries have found that over 70 percent of 10yearolds are unable to read or understand simple text. Education is a worldwide concern in Yellowknife and Yellowknife school representatives share concerns about the impact of COVID19 on the social and educational developments of our children.

Three school years have been interrupted with inequitable access to education, unequal capacities to pivot to online learning, and public health measures whose footprints, good and bad, will be studied for decades to come.

American educators have already started publishing snapshots of the effects of COVID19 on student learning outcomes and potential solutions. To catch students up to where they are expected to be, the American school system determined that accelerated learning with additional school days in small groups of 8 to 12 students would carry a $42 billion price tag, or $66 billion for intensive daily tutoring with a twotoone studentteacher ratio with increased study time packed in to each day.

But Mr. Speaker, after considering what this means for NWT students, I reflected on the 19th Assembly priority to increase education outcomes of NWT students. The mandate of this government identifies that NWT education system will require modernization and fundamental changes to focus resources and systemwide efforts on student learning and wellbeing.

Cabinet committed to lead work to ensure distance learning opportunities are available in all NWT communities, implement a pilot program to support training for classroom assistants, and implement new programming to help schools and parents make decisions on student placement and retention.

Before COVID, teachers were already identifying solutions for improved student outcomes: Smaller class sizes, increases to inclusive schooling resources and supports, and as we heard yesterday from my colleague from Frame Lake, internet capacity.

Since March 2020, Yellowknife schools have been closed 105 days, 77 of which were remote learning days with varying participation and instruction.

Mr. Speaker, we don't have the luxury of hindsight or experience with pandemic recovery yet, but we do have the ability to listen to what northern educators have consistently already asked for to improve student outcomes here in the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity on our second day of session to congratulate the Minister of Housing and Minister responsible for Seniors on the one year anniversary of the grand opening and ribbon cutting of the seniors home in Fort Good Hope that they both were at on February 16th, 2021, Mr. Speaker.

The opening of this seniors home addressed one of the priorities set out by the 19th Assembly of seniors aging in place. I was happy to hear of its opening, and I am sure many of the seniors in the region were happy to have a facility built for them to reside in and continue to be cared by with facilities nearby. And Mr. Speaker, not only was this facility built to house seniors, it was going to be housing for a new community home caretaker fulfilling another priority of this Assembly by creating new employment in small communities.

However, Mr. Speaker, at this oneyear anniversary of the opening of the Fort Good Hope seniors centre, it has not, in fact, opened, Mr. Speaker. It was supposed to open in summer and then the new year and here we are one year later, and it is not open. Despite asking many questions of multiple Ministers, I'm not really sure what is going on here.

There is some dispute between the contractor, the Housing Corp., and the office of the fire marshal. It's a very technical dispute about the building code. It's not at all a problem I understand or know the solution to, but I'm not at all convinced that this is a onetime problem that the GNWT has solved, and I'm not convinced this is the last building we are going to open that is actually not opened. I will have questions for the Minister of Housing about when this building is going to open. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, I'm going to be addressing on the lack of funding in the communities.

Mr. Speaker, the lack of funding for communities is well known. It is mandate priority for this Assembly to address the municipal funding gaps. The current state of water services in Behchoko is exactly what happens when government chronically underfunds communities. They end up in a state of crisis.

In 2014, the community of Behchoko was known to be underfunded by $1.9 million. Mr. Speaker, seven years ago, the community was shortfall nearly $2 million annually to provide basic services. How much of a funding deficit does Behchoko and other 23 communities face today? How is the GNWT going to address the municipal funding gaps if we are not tracking funding deficits by communitybased needs.

For example, every year the community of Behchoko has had to absorb $1.9 million growing deficit. It has prevented the community from improving infrastructure and services.

Mr. Speaker, since 2007, the capital budget allocation for all communities for all community government across the NWT has not kept up with requirements. This is not sustainable.

Mr. Speaker, we all know that when people are stressed financially, they are forced to make sacrifices and to make choices they would not make if they had the money. This result, as a result, community members leave, move to other communities due to lack of program and services. This threatens the very basis of communities' existence.

Mr. Speaker, how can the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs expect our communities to be developed, operate, and maintain all required services to manage healthy communities when they are facing chronic funding shortages.

Mr. Speaker, community cannot run an operational deficit. They have to balance their book at the end of every year. There is little finances available to communities to address major infrastructure challenges when there is little to no surplus funds. I will have questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs at appropriate time. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, demonstrating her strength of will, independence, and sass right to the end of her welllived 48 years, Sherri Lynn Thomson passed away Monday, December 6th.

Born in Yorkton September 15th, 1973, the third child of Graham and Linda's four children, Sherri spent her earliest years in southern Saskatchewan with her family before settling in 1977 on the PFRM farm.

Sherri developed a passion for hockey, participated in minor hockey programs, and from grade 10 to 12, played for the Fort Saskatchewan First Team culminating with a trip to the Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island in the spring of 1999. Her involvement did not end there. After playing, she transitioned to coaching the Select Midget Female Hockey Program.

Sherri had her sights set on teaching and pursued her dream immediately after high school, attending the University of Saskatchewan and completing her education degree in 1996. Starting her career close to home, demonstrating the streak of independence, she worked a total of 19 years in the Northwest Territories with the Dehcho Divisional Educational Council teaching in Fort Providence, Fort Simpson as a teacher, principal, and later on as literacy consultant.

In those two decades living in Canada's North, Sherri truly embraced the lifestyle and people, as did they. This is where I got to meet her and appreciate her commitment to the North.

Sherri enjoyed travelling and was able to do major trips during her time in the North. She took time away from her work to do a European tour and a trip to New Zealand, Australia, and Tonga.

Her initial diagnosis of ovarian cancer came in 2014. A second diagnosis in 2017 led her to retire from her career and move back back home in 2018.

Not one to sit still, Sherri fulfilled another dream. After some wrangling with her dad, she bought land from Graham's immediately east of her childhood home and proceeded to oversee the construction of a beautiful home, perfectly placed to capture the prairie sunrise and sunset.

With her mom passing away in 2010, that was Sherri's biggest loss in her family's life. An indication of her strength, the kind of strengths they needed and held, would also draw upon with Sherri's third diagnosis later on 2020.

Thanks to tremendous support from her family, friends and neighbours, she was able to stay home until late November. Sherri passed away as she lived, letting her feelings and emotions, options known, and facing her challenges without fear or complaint. It would only be appropriate that Sherri gets the last word and final blessing.

Taken from a recent Facebook post featuring a splendid sunset behind a row of her lovely horses, "I was reminded today of the blessings and simple pleasures of time spent with family and friends. No commitments, no plans, just the joy of each others' company. When the crisis has passed, we will remember to do those simple things or get caught up in the web of busy that we have been forced to live without. Please let it be the former." Mr. Speaker, she will be sadly missed.

Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and community at this time.

Mr. Speaker, what do we have to do around here to get some more housing money? Mr. Speaker, I have never seen real consensus on any issue amongst this group except for housing. It is clear in this Assembly that housing is a priority. We are committed to improving housing for our residents. Yet despite that, the actual core budget for the Housing Corporation just won't increase in any meaningful way, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, for this budget, what I would propose is that we add $20 million to the Housing Corp. budget, and not onetime money. Longterm, real, permanent funding so we can stop talking about 2038 when CMHC funding expires and talk about now. That is what the housing crisis demands. I think with partnerships, proper mobilization, and lobbying, we, in this House, could end chronic homelessness and end our housing crisis. You know, we could stop having citizens literally freeze to death because they have a lack of shelter. That seems a noble goal to me.

So with that in mind, Mr. Speaker, I am going to say some things that I believe this House should have heard today in the budget address.

The first step to me in the budget reply is the narrative we are trying to sell. We need a hook. We need to sell the legacy of this government. To the Minister's credit, we grabbed an easy first narrative, the narrative that we mobilized for COVID; we took action, and the light at the end of the tunnel is here. This gives people hope. However, Mr. Speaker, we didn't finish that narrative. We didn't say that we learned from this pandemic that bold political vision is needed to bring us forward, to keep up the pace and demand that we address our housing crisis.

Mr. Speaker, this budget may as well have been a surrender flag that we've given up on bold political vision with the Minister stating flashy announcements hoping that new money will solve longstanding problems is often the easier political path.

Mr. Speaker, we all know our housing crisis is a longstanding problem. And do you know what solves it? A flashy announcement about new money, Mr. Speaker. And finding new money is not an easy political path. If it was, we would all march down it. There's not some other solution where houses appear without money, Mr. Speaker.

Continuing on this thread, the Minister went on to say, The goal is not headlines to last the next few days or the term of this government.

Firstly, Mr. Speaker, we need some headlines. The complete lack of politicking occurring here is embarrassing. We have been losing the communications battle in this Assembly from day one. To somehow dismiss that governments need to belittle political capital in the media is to remove an entire check on political power and how politics work, Mr. Speaker. We need to sneak in some flashy ways. It's the opportunity for this government to build the political capital to make those tough decisions.

Mr. Speaker, here are some suggestions that I would suggest as flashy headlines.

Coming up in this fiscal year, the GNWT will introduce five paid sick days for workers. Mr. Speaker, our pandemic has taught us that forcing people to choose between missing pay, where they struggle to buy groceries, or going in to work sick and putting their coworkers at risk is a decision that no one should have to make. Look at that flashy headline, Mr. Speaker.

Another suggestion, Mr. Speaker, we have decided to tie minimum wage to inflation. Mr. Speaker, during the pandemic, we called those frontline responders heros. We topped all of their wages up to $18 an hour, and then we removed it. But now we have the second highest minimum wage in Canada, and let's make sure it keeps that way. An easy solution is to tie it to inflation, to make sure that those currently nonliving wages keep up somewhat with the cost of living. Another great flashy headline I would support.

There's lots of options, Mr. Speaker. We could create a holiday. We could remove Walmart from BIP. I don't know. We could rename some things. The Mackenzie River or the mountains, does anyone even know that both are named after men named Alexander Mackenzie, one the explorer, one the prime minister? I don't know. Does it matter? Let's name some things in an interest of reconciliation. Perhaps we can merge ENR, MACA, and Lands to save us a few million dollars. They all have one minister. It seems like a great thing to throw into the budget reply.

If none of these are acceptable to Cabinet, Mr. Speaker, I'm sure they could find something.

Mr. Speaker, the next the Minister said, The goal is to influence the path of the Northwest Territories for the next five or even ten years. And I agree, Mr. Speaker. But the way you influence the longterm path is by changing the core budget.

This entire budget is simply a continuation of the last budget. And we passed Bob McLeod's capital budget in the fall, and we're continuing to pass his operating budget, Mr. Speaker.

If we truly want a longterm, five to ten year plan that influences the future, let's add $20 million to the Housing Corp's budget.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister also stated that they are optimistic we can control future spending through internal savings and continuing to find more value from the $2.1 billion that we spend without having to reduce programs and services. This has been the fiscal goal our first year in the 19th Assembly and is the cornerstone of our government renewal work. End quote.

Mr. Speaker, this is a noble goal. I know that we don't want to talk about reducing programs and services, but I think that is the wrong frame. It is not a reduction in programs and services. It is a shifting of priorities. We look at one pot of money we are already spending and say a better priority would be housing. And I have not seen the evidence to date that government renewal is truly going to get to the level of spending we need to be talking about. We need to be talking about 10s of millions of dollars, and I'm not convinced there are easy, magical efficiencies or pots of money to be found by scrutinizing government budgets. If they were, I think we would have found them by already, Mr. Speaker. We need to be talking about hard tough choices that we need to make.

Mr. Speaker, I believe where we have landed is, in fact, the most valid and true criticism of consensus government. We have landed in a budget that is designed by committee. It is compromised until the status quo budget is reserved again and again.

I've said this before, Mr. Speaker, that the Cabinet plus three is a problematic view of consensus government. But even worse is to never have a single close vote in this House. Even worse is to never propose things that we will be divided on and ultimately might just pass with a slim margin. Those are the kind of proposals we need to see to end homelessness and get our fiscal house in order. Anything that we all agree on is not meaningful action, Mr. Speaker.

Firstly, Mr. Speaker, I'm going to speak to some ways I believe we could find $20 million to add to housing and end homelessness in this territory. They are not easy decisions. I know all of my colleagues won't agree with them necessarily but I believe they have the majority of support of these Members, and that is the budget we need to put forward to show the people we can mobilize.

Firstly, we need to put a freeze on public sector hiring. Perhaps with the exception of Health, but every single year the budget adds a few more positions here and there and the demand for more staff is endless. We know this. And it's hard to remove three or four or five or six positions at a time. But it adds up. And the way I view it is every one of those GNWT workers is six people we could house. That's using a metric of $25,000 operating cost per housing unit, with a bit of an exception, that housing unit can house multiple people, Mr. Speaker. That's the way we need to look at this. Do we want one finance officer or six more housing units, Mr. Speaker?

Next, Mr. Speaker, Yellowknife gets everything. Yellowknife gets everything. It's like a broken record at the side of my head whenever I speak in this House. Well, let's do something about it, Mr. Speaker. Let's do what the majority of MLAs clearly want and put forward a plan for decentralization. I suggest we start with an email. Let's email headquarters staff and ask if any of them want to relocate to the communities. If they do, we have a remote work policy, we can find a way to make it work. I would say a great target in this area is a hundred jobs. And if we can't find a hundred people, I'm sure we can relocate some units. Lawyers are flexible, Mr. Speaker. Let's just move the Department of Justice to Fort Smith.

Mr. Speaker, at some point we Yellowknife MLAs have to ask ourselves does Yellowknife really need more GNWT workers? We're half a step away from renaming the town Yellowknife or GNWT town. I'm asking my constituents, do we need more GNWT workers in Yellowknife? I see a majority of MLAs in this House who want decentralization and let's put a path forward so we can end that fight and find consensus on our true priority which is housing, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, some other ideas I have, which you don't have to take all of them, but I'll throw a few out.

As I said, merging ENR, MACA, and Lands. Corporate restructuring comes with removing some duplicate positions. It saves some money.

Mr. Speaker, I think we need to just end the COVID Secretariat. Perhaps we have to give a few more positions to Public Health to manage the pandemic going forward, but there's $14 million for the COVID Secretariat in this budget, and I don't believe we need that, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, next, I believe we need to create a high income tax bracket. If we are truly committed to ending homelessness, I think we can ask those who make over $180,000 a year to pay a little extra in tax, Mr. Speaker. I'll note that many of those people are, in fact, GNWT workers.

Next, Mr. Speaker, I believe we need to increase corporate tax by one percent. We in this House, rightfully so, lowered our small business corporate tax rate. However, Mr. Speaker, we could raise our corporate tax rate for those companies that make over $500,000 a year by one percent and still be below Yukon and competitive across Canada.

Next, Mr. Speaker, we have a collective agreement. I am not proposing anything like legislating pay cuts or not bargaining in good faith but we know we have to go into the next round of collective bargaining with a very tough position. And here I am speaking directly to the UNW, Mr. Speaker. At some point, the UNW has to reflect that if we keep giving raises to the public service, which is majority southern and majority based in Yellowknife, the public trust will be eroded, Mr. Speaker. We need to drive that bargain with the union. And every time we get a $10 million forced growth for collective bargaining, that is significant money that is not housing people in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker.

At some point, $430 million we are currently spending on compensation and benefits for a majority southern workforce is just not a good idea.

Now, Mr. Speaker, this is not necessarily a cost savings, but I believe the Department of Finance budgets a few percent based on what they anticipate collective bargaining will be. So a hard bargain frees up some room in our debt ceiling that we are very quickly approaching.

Next, Mr. Speaker, I believe we need to reduce our contract services budget by two percent for about $4 million savings.

Now, Mr. Speaker, we have seen contract services increase over the years. Some of these are completely warranted contract services; other, I believe, are departments contracting out key government functions such as consultation, engagement and policy work, work that should be done by public servants. Additionally, I believe we are increasingly turning to contractors and consultants, a lot of them exGNWT workers, because we have created too burdensome processes. We all know the process, Mr. Speaker, because what we heard report strategy, action plan, implementation plan, oh and finally, sorry department, we don't have any money.

Mr. Speaker, we need to stop talking to people if we're not actually going to fund the 25 point plan. Stop reviewing things when the todo list we already have is a mile long. I believe in reviewing our government processes, we can end a lot of bureaucracy and find a 2 percent cost savings in contract services.

Next, a pet project of mine. I don't know if this will actually save us any money but I believe we need to end the contracts for all the fax machines in the GNWT, Mr. Speaker.

Second, Mr. Speaker, a few years ago when I worked at the GNWT, there was a proposal to adopt a completely paperless GNWT with cost savings. The GNWT has moved in this direction but there is still far too much paper flying around, and we are not a digital government we should be. Additional cost savings.

Next, Mr. Speaker, we have three men's correctional institutes. We have one in Fort Smith, Hay River, and Yellowknife. We do not need three prisons. What I would rather see than cost on prisons and money spent imprisoning people is housing them, Mr. Speaker. I don't care which one of these facilities we close or how we do it or how we move them around, but we do not need three prisons, some of which only have a dozen people in them, Mr. Speaker. They are simply there to create jobs in communities. We could probably take that budget and turn them into treatment centres, Mr. Speaker.

Next, Mr. Speaker, I believe that we can have a 10 percent reduction in office space and reduce for a savings of $3 million. I have long time talked about the way leasing is spread out across all departments, there's no centralization, and the vast majority of that money goes to one company Northview. We have remote work standards. We need to conduct a serious review led by one person about how to reduce office space. A 10 percent reduction in leasing costs would be $3 million a year, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there's a couple other proposals presented. We have a health efficiency group where staff are going to find some efficiencies in our health care system. I'm not convinced that this is worth it. I believe we'd be better off cutting those positions and simply governing the money to our health care system.

There's probably some other smaller cuts related to the proposals in the budget but if I was giving a budget reply, Mr. Speaker, I perhaps would not focus on them too much. I would propose the spending on housing, in combination with our Indigenous governments, to end chronic homelessness in the NWT, ending homelessness. That is what this budget should be doing. And by not doing that, we are saying it is not something we are willing to do and it is not a priority. Housing people saves lives, and it saves the government money in the long run but we have once again decided to present a status quo budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Colleagues, we will call a short recess. Thank you.

---SHORT RECESS

Replies to budget address, day 1 of 7. Reports of committees on review of bills. Reports of standing and special committees. Returns to oral questions. Acknowledgements.

Colleagues, before we get into oral questions, I just want to remind everyone to please be mindful of how you're presenting yourselves. I know sometimes we have a lot of heated discussions in here. I know when we first start, we're told we can say anything we want in this House, but it's just on how we say it. So please respect one another, and let's have some fun here.

Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these questions will be for the Premier.

Mr. Speaker, this government has been talking about postpandemic recovery since early last year. Then we finally saw the Emerging Stronger document. A lot has changed in a year, and I'm hoping those sitting across from me have revisited that document to make sure it is relevant and includes all areas of the economy and social systems with emphasis on those that were hit the hardest.

Can the Premier please tell the businesses and residents what, if anything, has changed in our Emerging Stronger document, which I understand to be a living document and will see revisions. When or will we see something new based on lessons learned? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Emerging Stronger document was tabled on May 31st, 2021, and we made a commitment then to update and review it annually. We are going to meet this commitment and will be tabling a revised document in the spring.

When we tabled our first document, we invited the public to provide feedback and input. While we did receive a fair amount of feedback, a lot has changed since then as we shift from a pandemic to an endemic.

This is a subject that will remain a shared interest with the Indigenous and community governments, the business, and the NGO community, and a continued focused with our federal government as well. So I'm looking forward to a new tabling as we go forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our GDP fell approximately 6.6 percent in 2020, mostly due to lower production with resource development. We saw losses in the tourism industry which impacted tourism operators, regional airlines, accommodation establishments, restaurants, and others. On the flip side, we saw an increase in retail sales, such as food, building supplies, and liquor while government and government contracts sustained much of our work force through this pandemic. Can the Premier explain what the real financial impact of the pandemic has been on our economy so far? Should residents and businesses be worried going forward? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the full financial impacts of this pandemic aren't known at this time. What we do know, as the Member stated, that there's been some sectors that have been particularly hit hard, such as the tourism and the hospitality sectors. But there's reason to be optimistic.

We do expect that there's a pent-up demand from Canadians and international travellers to come see the North. So as restrictions are eased, we're expecting our tourism industry to pick up again. And one area of financial impact that we don't really know, and we're seeing lately, is the extension and duration of the inflationary pressures caused by disrupted supply chains and high demands, particularly for the construction industry. Many jurisdictions around the world are trying to stimulate their own economies through infrastructure investments. So this is going to impact us. So we'll be making our best assessments on these pressures and adjusting our own plans accordingly as we go forward.

But should residents be worried? That's what I think the Speaker wants to hear.

I'm really optimistic that no, I'm optimistic that we'll continue to work with our partners and engage the industry in ways that will further promote our economic recovery. There's encouraging signs that people want to travel again. They want to spend money in hotels and restaurants again, and they want to get back to a new sense of normalcy with residents where they can mingle, and they can invest, and businesses can once again thrive. So I am optimistic, Mr. Speaker, that things will improve. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Emerging Stronger document talks about lessons learned. Now a year later, can the Premier tell this House what lessons were learned, what gaps have been identified, and how are they being addressed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.