Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a recent report by Statistics Canada has shown that the gender gap between a man's earnings and a woman's earnings has shrunk by $0.10 since 1981. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the Status of Women what response this government has to shrinking that gap even further here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Status of Women.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories has done a few things, actually, to address the wage disparity between males and females. It was the last Assembly that actually increased the minimum wage. I hate to say that, but the majority of people making minimum wage happened to be women in society, so we have addressed that by slowly increasing that. I did hear from the Minister the other day as well that they were looking at more increases to that.
The other thing they have done is, many, many years ago, the Government of the Northwest Territories did a gender equity pay throughout all of the employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories to ensure that women who are working for the government actually are paid the same as males. Equal work for equal pay. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Those are concrete steps. I know this is a complicated topic. Another issue is that Canadian women are less likely to be employed. Nearly 10 per cent are less employed than men and are four times are more likely to work part-time compared to men. Often, this is due to child care. Does the Minister have any suggestions or proposals that this government will do to improve access to affordable child care in the Northwest Territories?
Child care is a huge issue for women throughout the Northwest Territories, throughout Canada, and internationally, actually as a barrier to accessing employment and other opportunities as well, but employment is what we speak about today here. To address some of that, the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment did do an increase to the child care subsidies that daycares are getting. He did a reformatting of their formula funding to address that. I am and always will continue to be a strong lobby for child care.
We've talked about universal child care for the Northwest Territories. There was a study done on this. Does the Minister support universal child care as a potential project or policy for this government to take on and will she access the feasibility of that in the life of this government?
The Government of the Northwest Territories does recognize universal child care as a very proactive option to address the obstacles, one of the obstacles, for women entering employment. As such, the Minister of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is looking at universal child care as an option and seeing if it can be realized within our government.
Masi. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Some analysts have taken a look at these, the most recent statistics, and seen that improving women's participation in the labour force might actually offset some declines. This could be an economic drive for getting more women into the work force. Will the Minister commit to applying that kind of gender-based analysis to things like Skills 4 Success and other government initiatives in her role of Minister for the Status of Women so we can start to see those benefits roll out in across the government approach to empowering women in the Northwest Territories across government portfolios? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Gender-based analysis, gender-based plus analysis, is critical to looking at all policies and procedures that impact. One policy does not apply equally to every situation and every person, so it is important to look within that lens to actually see how different programs, different policies affect individuals, women, people of disabilities, etc.
Yes, we are currently in the process of working with the Northwest Territories Status of Women to look at how we can start to implement gender plus based analysis within the government policies.
Masi. Oral questions. Item 8, written questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll try again to request unanimous consent to go back to Item 5 in the orders of the day, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Unanimous consent granted
You may proceed. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I always envisioned that my first nay was going to be in opposition of a hot button issue, and it turns out it was to go back to recognition of visitors in the gallery. It's all good all the time.
Mr. Speaker, I got caught up in the emotion of my Member's statement today and all the action going around introducing all the visitors in the gallery. I have to apologize. I didn't take the opportunity to recognize and welcome to the House today, the executive director of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, Deneen Everett, and the president of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, Renee Comeau. I just want to take this opportunity to welcome them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd also like to recognize Ms. Deneen Everett and Ms. Renee Comeau from the Yellowknife Chamber. I think we've been talking a lot about women and leadership in the Northwest Territories on the occasion of International Women's Day. This is the perfect example of strong women leadership in our business community whose advocacy is tireless and a huge benefit to the residents of the Northwest Territories and to Yellowknife. Thank you.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to recognize the manager of the Yellowknife Airport and a constituent of Yellowknife South, Lee Stroman. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action, March 2017." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, March 10, 2017, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on March 10, 2017, it shall be adjourned until Thursday, May 25, 2017;
And further, that any time prior to May 25, 2017, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact its business as it has been duly adjourned to that time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 23, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2017-2018, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The motion is in order.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion is carried.
---Carried
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that Bill 23, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2017-2018, be read for the second time. Mr. Speaker, this bill makes supplementary appropriation for operations expenditures for the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2017-18 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion carried.
---Carried
I will call the Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee wishes to consider Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act, Committee Report 6-18(2) Report on the Review of Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Revolving Fund Act. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will consider the documents after a brief recess.
---SHORT RECESS
I will call Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we have agreed to consider Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act. I will ask the Minister responsible for the bill to introduce it. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to introduce Bill 7: An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act. The proposed bill would amend the Revolving Funds Act to establish a new revolving fund for the Yellowknife Airport with an authorized limit of $36 million. The purpose of this fund would be to support the ongoing capital and operations and maintenance expenditures of the Airport.
With the establishment of a revolving fund, all revenues generated by the Yellowknife Airport would be retained by the airport, eliminating our reliance on Government of the Northwest Territories subsidies to improve this critical piece of infrastructure.
Currently, operating expenditures for the airport are paid from the Department of Transportation's annual appropriation, and capital expenditures are approved through the capital budget planning process. As such, the airport competes with hospitals, schools, and all other Government of the Northwest Territories programs for funding. This model does not allow for sufficient financial resources to support the effective long-term infrastructure investment, economic development, and business the airport needs to grow.
Air transportation in the North is vital to keeping NWT residents connected, brings economic benefits to people across the territory, and acts as a catalyst to enhance business and tourism growth.
Although we continue to work with and lobby the federal government for additional infrastructure funding, there is no guarantee. We need to act now to make improvements to ensure a safe, secure, and efficient Yellowknife Airport.
A dedicated source of funding for the airport means we will be able to invest in various improvements to the terminal building enhancing the traveller experiences and attracting new business. Making airport security more efficient, expansions in and outside the terminal such as de-icing and services after security are upgrades that key stakeholders and members of the public have repeated they want at the airport.
Bill 7 is the next step in working together with air carriers, tourism, businesses, and the public to strengthen the Yellowknife Airport in support of better passenger services, the delivery of essential cargo, and the development of northern businesses. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Do you have witnesses you would like to bring into the Chamber?
Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.
Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Typically, we would go to the chair of the committee that considered the bill for opening comments, but as the report on Bill 7 was read, the Chair has indicated that is sufficient. Minister Schumann, would you please introduce your witnesses to committee.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left is the deputy minister of Transportation, Russell Neudorf, and on my right is Michael Conway, superintendent of the North Slave Region. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
