Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Are there any other general comments? Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a different mandate-setting exercise than we experienced last time, and, mostly, that's for the better. I am particularly grateful that it was developed through an iterative process, which the Premier outlined in her comments today, the times that she met with us after we, as all 19 Members, had set the 22 priorities.
The mandate has many strengths in terms of the topics it covers, and reflects the needs and wants of my constituents articulated during the election campaign. It doesn't contain everything that I want, but I am going to choose not to focus on the things that are not in this mandate, which is already too long, and instead look at the things that are here and to say that, in consensus government, you don't get everything you want. That's a reality that I've come to terms with.
I appreciate the use of the SMART goal tool, where SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. I don't think it has always been successful in this context. Some things just don't fit within that measurement tool. I think that using it and trying to quantify 100 new houses, 100 new homeowners, 30 new jobs, I think that kind of specific attention to detail is useful. I think that what we have been able to do by using this SMART goal-setting tool is to create a document that is not primarily aspirational but one that has specific actions that will happen at a particular time and for which we can measure progress, and that is what we are going to do.
I appreciate Cabinet's willingness to collaborate. In the Premier's statement when she tabled the mandate, I trust that all Members of this Assembly will see that their insights, ideas, and suggestions reflected in this mandate would not have been spoken by the Premier of the last Assembly. I appreciate the inclusiveness that it suggests. I want to acknowledge that many of these mandate items are not going to be affordable. I think that there are too many of them, that we are going to end up whittling some out simply because of the cost of trying to do everything that is in this document. Having said that, I think that we can make real gains in policy, such as increasing Indigenous participation in procurement, addressing benefit retention, and better service coordination, among other issues. Even while I don't expect us to have a lot of money to spend, we can make the lives of Northerners better by improving the policies that we have as a government and how they are implemented. With that, those are my opening remarks. I look forward to discussion of the document as a whole. Mahsi, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to reiterate the comments that my colleagues have been making. They have kind of taken my opening statements from me. I think we are speaking at the right level, that this is pragmatic realism in what we can accomplish. I also think there is a recognition in this House that there needs to be more service-oriented government. I will have a number of questions regarding the substance of each item in the mandate, but I wanted to speak to form.
I think there is no doubt this is the best mandate the Government of the Northwest Territories has ever seen. The Government of the Northwest Territories is a rather new government, and it has been evolving from these kinds of vague priorities. Now, we have finally gotten into wording where things are measurable; they are clearer. This is our job as politicians, to hold the government to account, to provide clear direction to departments. It also allows the public to hold us to account. I would like to thank all of the people in the departments and my Cabinet colleagues and the Premier for the hard work that went into this, making sure this is clear and measurable so that everyone can play the role that is required.
I struggle a little bit with the substance in that I think everyone here knows if I was going to write a mandate, it would look a lot different than this. Each individual Member could say that. That is consensus government. I have made a pledge to myself that I have bought into this mandate. We set those priorities in Caucus. We agreed to this process. We gave it to Cabinet to go and develop. I will ask lots of questions, and I will hold the government to account to accomplish this mandate. Although I may not agree with everything that is in here and although it may not include some of the things I would like to see, I am committed that this is the guiding principle for this government for the next four years. Let's get this done. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Member for Thebacha.
I don't have anything written because I think I can speak from the cuff. I know that the 22 priorities were put together by all of the Members of this Assembly. I may not agree with some of it, just like some other Members, but I want to stress some of the things that are dear to my heart and some of the things that I think sometimes people talk very loosely about, the Aboriginal and Indigenous people of the North.
As a former leader for 10 years, I think that the settlement and the implementation of the outstanding land claims must be a priority if we are going to move forward. I feel that mandates have to be given to the negotiators, and we can't be a barrier. I think that it is very important because there are possibilities that we would move forward if we settle these claims because most of the money comes from the federal pockets. Then our people could move forward with us. It is a very important part of the whole pie.
I also want to ensure that we have to balance the economy with the social envelope. If you don't have an economy, you can't do all these other programs. I hope that we project that we are going to be open for business. I am very excited, and I don't see something on the Taltson expansion up to date on this House except something very brief in the document. It is 75/25 it says, but it could be 100 percent if we have the Indigenous governments taking part in the other 25 percent. We have to be innovative, and we have to look forward to making sure this is clean energy. I think that it has to happen, in order for larger proponents and for jobs in the future, with Aboriginal and Indigenous buy-in so that there is ownership instead of IDAs. I think that this is the way to go. We talk very loosely in this House about "Indigenous." Lots of people get up and say it. I lived it. There are always those barriers, just to get the federal government to recognize two reserves in the Northwest Territories as reserves north of 60, and they still do not. That is unacceptable. This government should be making sure that this happens.
The other thing I want to say is, the increase in the regional decision-making authority, I think that is a good thing. I think that it is time. I think that people in the regions feel that we shouldn't have to come to headquarters every time a decision has to be made. It benefits the smaller communities, and it benefits everybody in the community. This is the way to go, and I am very happy that this is one of the priorities. I really believe in reducing the municipal funding gap because the municipalities have a lot of infrastructure that hasn't been addressed for many years. Hopefully, in due course, we are able to do that within our mandate. Most importantly is to create the polytech university, a polytech university that will be at arm's-length from the Government of the Northwest Territories, with it is own board, and that we all buy into, and everybody benefits from, and the whole of the Northwest Territories and the students and the people who work there will be very happy with. I look forward to that.
There are many things that I could talk about, but we are going to be asking questions. I am proud to be part of these 22 priorities, even though some of them are more important than others to me, just like everybody else. I will always make sure that I speak on behalf of the people of Fort Smith. I celebrate that they are my members of the community that are very dear to my heart. We have to be more compassionate in delivery of services. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. I will now turn it over to the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Mahsi cho, Madam Chair. After much thought and deliberation about the mandate and our list of 22 priorities, I personally feel like I would have done things a little differently, like you mentioned. We're all very strong alpha males and females in this room, and we wouldn't be here if we weren't. We all have 19 different ideologies and 19 different ways of doing business, but I'm very happy we came to a consensus and came to this document.
For me personally, I think it would be extremely helpful to have knowledge of our current financial state before going into this exercise, but that's how we learn. We learn and we move forward and do the best with what we've got. I know, as newly elected MLAs, a lot is expected of us; and, in fact, there are a lot of new faces here. People wanted real change, and we have to give it to them. They deserve it, but now we have this mandate, and I think, for lack of a better word, this is really our paddle for the canoe that we've got in this uncertain time. I'm going to believe in that and get behind it, and I'm going to think about that single mom who might be living in an isolated community, you know, struggling to support their kids. They could be in Lutselk'e. They could be in Lidlii Kue. They could be in Thebacha. It could be an elder who is having trouble getting by on their old age pension, and that's who we have to think about.
Overall, there are some items in this document that I'm glad to see and I'll be supporting; the Joint Committee on Indigenous Reconciliation, for example. It's a very good idea. However, there is one aspect that I would like to see added, and it's more inclusion with elected Indigenous leaders. If we really, truly want to reconcile, from the inside out, we need to invite our fellow Indigenous elected leaders to the joint committee. The same goes for "establish an internal working group" which this government plans to create. I hope to see, at some level, involvement with Indigenous leaders or Indigenous governments with the creation of that working group.
Regarding employment in small communities, I would like to see a higher number of jobs that will be created by the end of the 19th Assembly. A figure that was listed, I think, as a fairly low number, but nonetheless, I expect to see at least a few more jobs being created within my riding. Something that really, really angers me and frustrates me is how we always seem to have outside entities, like the Americans, southern companies; they come in and they take some very good business opportunities and jobs away from my community. I will say this until I'm blue in the face: any money that leaves the territories will hurt the Northwest Territories. We have to keep our money here. Again, our people deserve it.
In regard to tourism, I'm happy to see that there is an effort for increasing tourism to the regions outside of Yellowknife. That makes me happy. One aspect that I would like to see included is something about expanding our tourism market. Given the recent outbreak of this coronavirus -- I'm not going to go too much into that -- our tourism industry is probably going to take a hit for this. I hope to see efforts by this government to try to get people from newer markets.
On climate change, I wish there had been something regarding Indigenous guardians of the land. There is no mention of it anywhere in this document, and that is something that all regions would have appreciated. I think, overall, we need a balanced approach. You know, you can't just organize one group or sector over the other. We need a balanced approach going forward, and we can't do that without a healthy economy. We need a healthy economy to go forward. We need jobs, it's important, and more self-sufficiency for our Indigenous governments. That is how, I believe in my heart, we're going to achieve success.
I got a little bit emotional there because I still think about my great-grandmother when I saw the elder, the one prior to me mentioned about elders, and letting elders age in place with dignity, because we still have a lot of work to go in that direction. I'm hoping, if my great-grandmother is still watching, I'm hoping she's giving me a little nudge and supporting me. I'm thinking about her, and I want to say mahsi cho, Madam Chair. That's all I have to say.
Thank you, Mr. Norn. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Madam Chair. [Translation] This mandate that is in front of us today, it's a big document. We have 22 mandates listed. When we first started, we had a lot more issues than this which is not on this list, but we've been on this job for four or five months, now. We still have another three-and-a-half years, when another election will happen. This mandate is here only for three-and-a-half years, so I think we want to tackle the mandate as soon as possible. Sometimes when we talk about issues, we're always trying to find a solution to resolve our issues. When one of the Members has spoken, talked about how their constituent situation is, we want to try to help our people as soon as possible. We don't want to do any more research; we want to work on the issues right away. Madam Chair, I'm not going to say too much. All the MLAs have touched on the issues I wanted to say. We know that we all don't agree on issues, but, in order to go forward, we all need to work together. We need to respect each other and each other's words. That's the only way to go forward.
Madam Chair, if you notice, I seem to be the only one speaking in my language, but sometimes I hear a little bit of language from some of the Members, but I especially always speak in my language. This document is not translated in any of our languages. Even if I spoke in my language, they're not listening to me. As an MLA on this side of the table, I will try to speak on it as much as I can. Even though my issues are not in here, I will still talk on it. I think our language is very important. It identifies who you are. When we speak our language, they hear us and they know what we are talking about. When we talk about the Northwest Territories, we're losing a lot of our languages, especially one language group, which is Gwich'in. They are really losing their speakers. We don't have a mandate for that, so how are we to talk about it? Sometimes, we only talk about it. Nothing is listed here as a mandate for our languages. I have spoken on this. I will always speak in my language. That is most important for me. I want to put it as a mandate. In the Northwest Territories, we have 11 official languages. Within Canada, when you take a look at this, we should try to make that as strong as possible. When we look at Nunavut, their language is very strong, and you can see it in their regions. When we look at our own regions, it's like, even though we have 11 official languages, we say we have official languages, but there are not a lot of things happening with those languages. So I can't say anything beyond that, but it is my mandate to talk about the issues of my region.
A lot of my elders have said in the past that I'm speaking my constituents' words. They are the ones who have given me the mandate and the issues. They voted me in. I have to talk on their issues; it's their issues. I will not stop, so that is the reason why we are elected and we are here. We need to be aware of that, and also languages, we should try to speak our language as much as possible. Even though it's not translated in this mandate, I want to speak in my language.
We have 22 mandates, here. We know that we might not be able to complete it, but, when you take a look at this document, there are a lot of big mandates. Where is the budget for it? I don't see the budget in here for it. Sometimes we may think that it's a good idea; it's just only something that's written. We have three-and-a-half years here. Can we complete this mandate? I don't know, but maybe in another two years we're going to review the Executive, whether they did their job or not, so all the Ministers will get their evaluation. Everything that's in here, we have to try to complete it. We'll see whether they can do the job or not.
Madam Chair, as my closing, I did want to speak in my language. I wanted to increase and make my language stronger. That's the reason why I'm speaking. We do have interpreters, and even a lot of the interpreters are really advocating for languages, and Mary Rose is one of them. I'm really thankful for her and all the other interpreters who are here pushing for languages. Masi. [End of translation.]
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. I will go to the Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have any notes. Well, I've got a few little notes here I jotted down, but I guess, when I look at the mandate and, like I said earlier today, as I look at where we are fiscally, we are in a tough position; but, again, this is a new government, new ideas, new hope to make the NWT, I guess I could say "great again," but we're already great, so better with what we have.
My focus, I guess, is going to be on the economy and business. I think, with the 19 Members that we have here, we've pretty well got all the issues covered off. There is interest in every area, and that's what I'm going to count on. I'm going to count on people who have a stronger interest or more knowledge than I have in certain areas to help me make the right decisions; but, when it comes to business and the economy, I'm glad that we have diversification in there. It's going to be a real positive impact on the region and smaller communities, but it's important also that this government takes a look at collaboration between departments, because I think that's been lacking in the past, like with housing and different projects. If the departments work together, there are only 45,000 of us here, there's no reason why we shouldn't all be working, just looking after ourselves, basically.
Having a strong economy, as well, you know, there is some despair out there; there are people losing hope, and it's up to us to at least give them tools to give them that hope back and make it stronger. So I guess, for me, it's all about the people. At the end of the day, I'll do what I can in this House, but, as an MLA, there are people who call me and text me and email me with their issues, and those are important. It's important to them, and it's important to me. Usually, they want you to deal with it right away, and most times you can see why they want you to deal with it right away.
One of the things I find with this government, when I look at some of those coming in and I think it's something this government should look at, is we're sending emails on to you to look at and deal with issues that should be routine and that should be able to be dealt with in your departments, in the communities and in the regions, yet we're taking time away from, you know, you should be doing bigger things, and we should be able to deal with the community issues, but we have to be able to somehow find a way where we can work with the departments and the regions; as an example, the Hay River Health Authority. You know, I guess maybe I'm supposed to be bringing any issues up to the Minister here, but my sense and the way I've always operated is just go to the source, make a decision, deal with it, and get it done, and people are happy.
So I think everything has been said by everybody here already, and I just want to get down and get to work. We have to roll something out to the communities and to the territories, and, if we don't do that, if we just sit here for another two months and they still haven't got anything, you know, we might as well just pack it up and let somebody else take our places. It's that easy. So I look forward to working with everybody, and there is still, I think, maybe one Minister who is giving hugs, I think Paulie; I'm not sure if anybody else is, but that's good. We're still getting along. Thank you, Madam Chair.
All right, thank you, Member for Hay River South. I almost said Yellowknife South. I will now give the floor to the Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Madam Chair. I represent the majority Aboriginal Dene people in my riding of Deh Cho, and I've also got two treaty groups that are at the table, the K'atlodeeche First Nations out of Hay River and also the Dehcho First Nations, which represents 10 Aboriginal Dene groups and two Metis groups, also. I think their struggles have been ongoing for quite some time, as every other claimant group. It's good to see that there are three that have reached self-government and are their own government bodies. I think that's what we're all aspiring to, to get to those points. I know there are difficulties in moving forward on many fronts, but I believe there is progress there, at the same time.
What I'm mostly encouraged about is that, you know, there are a couple of items within the mandate that we have selected that are at the top five that we're looking at, and I'm just kind of concerned that the Regular Members' voices are not really being heard when we want to move forward because, as I mentioned, when I first came to this House, the Assembly, I had a vision. That vision is the GNWT, the government of the day, works and walks hand in hand with all the Dene people of the Northwest Territories, as we are a majority population. All the groups there in the Northwest Territories, that we walk hand in hand to Ottawa and say, "Hey, this is what we have. We're working together. We recognize there is an Aboriginal Dene territory, and we're working with them, and here is what we want you to do," you know, to say that to the federal government, and to put meaning into wanting to settle and implement all the self-government agreements and treaty negotiations. You know, that's what we would really like to see, and we want to see it.
I said I wanted to see a committee at the beginning so that we can direct the negotiations team and not have it work the other way around. That's kind of what I saw, so we can say, "Hey, relax your policy or your demands a little bit and work with the Aboriginal groups." You know, dealing with subsurface rights, let's have a serious talk about this so that we can move forward. It's good for economic prosperity when we look at that picture in that sense. Maybe we have to look at, you know, we're talking about the UNDRIP, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Maybe we should put that first. Let's pass that. I don't believe that's going to cost us any money at all. What it's going to cost, I guess, is probably to look at our legislation and policies and making some changes in there. Those are the two biggest ones that I just wanted to mention at this point here. I probably have more questions as we go along. I thank the Chair for allowing me to speak. Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Madam Chair. In general, speaking to the mandate, I feel lucky because it did list a lot. If you've seen my pamphlet that I was handing out when I was doing my campaign and in my first remarks in the House of what I heard, I feel lucky because I did get a lot of the stuff that I spoke to in this mandate.
Housing was clearly identified in my region, and what we have in here, there's a start. There are a lot of issues. Regional decision-making, being part of a health authority that lost regional power, it is really important that the regions have their voice, and I think having that in our mandate will help give that back. Cost of living, I just recently received another $500 flat power bill that doesn't go along with everything else that I have, so the cost of living and especially in the Territories is driving the people out of here. They can't afford to live. That's in our mandate. We need to fix that. Education, we have early childhood in here. We have programs. We talk about the Polytechnic, and I am glad that we've got the Auditor General report now because we know from those middle years, we have issues. It is not in here, but we, as a government, have to continue business. We've got to provide good education for our students. Whether it's in here or not, I know we're going to work towards fixing that. Seniors: like my colleague from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, I, too, was raised by my great grandparents, and they had the opportunity to live in their house almost until the day they passed. That was something that they wanted to do. They never wanted to live in a facility, so I hear what my colleague from Nunakput says. Our elders do not want to be placed in facilities where they are away from their families, and so, we need to make sure they age in place with dignity and that we come up with really outside-the-box thinking, plans to keep them there. Increase in food: at my last position, I wrote support letters and referrals to Jordan's Principle and the Inuit Child First Initiative for families to buy food because they couldn't make it to the end of the month for their income support. These are things that are the realities in our communities.
Another one is the culturally respectful community and mental health addictions and aftercare. Our people are crying out to get help, but they do not want to leave. Again, like I said today earlier in my Member's statement and yesterday, people don't understand the things that Indigenous people have gone through and what their trauma is, and how is an outsider going to help us fix our trauma. We have to fix it from within. We're not asking for bricks and mortar. We are asking for places like the Indigenous wellness healing camps in our regional centres, in our communities. I spent one hour there last Friday, and, wow, I left there feeling refreshed, and I encourage you all to try it. Another area is residential health. Our people deserve to see the same person when they're telling their story. They shouldn't have to tell their story over and over and over again, every single time they walk into a health centre or speak with a physician. I am glad that we are going to try to increase the number of resident healthcare providers, and I'm just hoping that will help with our people wanting to access care again because that has been a barrier. That's all I have in regards to this. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Seeing there are no further general comments, comment, Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. There was quite a bit said. What I heard, though, was clearly "people, people, people," and I think that that's reflected in our mandate. I think all of the Cabinet is very people-focused but recognizing still that you have got to have a strong economy and to support social programs. Anyone that's in the social program area field knows that there's got to be money to pay for programs. You have to have a balance.
I heard: if everything's a priority, then nothing's a priority. It's a very wise saying that has been around for centuries, and I think it's true. I think that all of us recognize that, if we were provided a different financial picture at the beginning, before we became elected Ministers and Premiers and this mandate became, we would have had a more condensed list of priorities. We can't take back what's done. It's done. My job as the Premier and with my Cabinet was to actually make the mandate and address the 22 priorities that all of us know are probably a little bit too ambitious, knowing where we are fiscally at this point.
I know that good communication is key. We all have to work on that. Even though I am a social worker and was for many years, I have to work on my own issues. If I'm big enough and old enough to admit that, I think that we all have to work to admit that, and we have to work together. Together doesn't mean only Cabinet. It means all MLAs, all of us as MLAs, working together to advance the priorities of the people. That's what we're here for. We are trying to listen better and trying to work better together. I hope that we've addressed, maybe not every single concern, not every single concern of mine is in here either, but consensus model says that we all have something in here.
Working together, it's not about just working together as ourselves as MLAs. It's working with our Indigenous governments, our municipal governments, our employees, and the residents of the Northwest Territories. I had made a commitment that it will be in mandate letters, and that will be in mandate letters. We're just in the process of doing them now, now that this work is finished.
I know that some people have said that the outcomes and the targets are low; example, the housing is only 100 units. Honestly, I struggled with that because we've talked about think big, and we ended up with 22 priorities that are unrealistic. We talked about be bold. I am willing to be bold, but I also recognize that not all Members are on the same page, so some Members are saying, be bold, and we will look at the mandate and see if it's realistic in a couple of years and see if we can get it. I'm not so sure that all Members will actually only look at the mandate and see if it's realistic because I've heard some Members will be evaluating my Ministers to see if they can achieve every one of those mandates. That made it difficult for me as a Premier. My job is to try to work with everyone and make it bold, but at the same time, I'm not going to set my Ministers up as scapegoats and say we're going to solve world peace in four years and then get crucified and all of us taken out of our seats in two years because we didn't do it. There is not one of us that's here that I believe is naive enough to believe that we can solve world peace in four years. We have to do what's achievable. It was a fine balance between being bold and being realistic so that I could actually try to protect on both sides, hear the Members, protect the Ministers from getting pulled from their seats because they can't do everything that is expected.
Keeping our money here? Absolutely. I am all about keeping our money in the Northwest Territories. I think that we have work to do with the federal government, with the people, in our own policies and procedures. Every dollar that leaves the Northwest Territories is a dollar lost. Every dollar we can keep in the Northwest Territories revolves around and around, and that same dollar might end up going from different hands and end up being $10 for the amount of times that it is actually changed hands.
The other thing I want to say is that people say that we want to get it done and get the mandate done so we can get the work done. I want to reinforce that this mandate is a mandate. It is based on your 22 priorities, but the work has not stopped. The work is still going on. I will use my own department as the Minister of Indigenous Affairs. Since I have been elected, without this mandate document, I have phoned every single Indigenous government and had personal calls with them. I have met with the Intergovernmental Council and told them we are doing business differently. I have had biennials and talked about doing things differently. We are doing things differently. I am scaring them, in all honesty, because we are meeting after. Traditionally, it was: we sat there; we did the issues; they went away; negotiating team did the issues; they went away. I have sat with the chiefs myself after we did our biennials and said, "Tell me what the issues are." We are already doing things, and we are doing things differently. I hope that you recognize that it is not all there.
Going to Ottawa with Indigenous governments, that is something not in the mandate. Not every single action is in this mandate. We have already had discussions with Indigenous governments about making a federal strategy and actually going to Ottawa. That is already in place. It is not here, but we are already having those discussions with Indigenous governments. Not everything is in the mandate.
Again, Madam Chair, I think the biggest thing for me is remembering that the 22 priorities were done by 19 Members of the Legislative Assembly with, in my opinion, not the correct financial information. The money was right, but we weren't told about the forced growth and the unions and the costs that would come out. We all thought there all was more money on the table than there is. I am hoping. I believe that myself and my Ministers are committed to working hard. They all came here for the needs of the people. I do not believe any Minister sitting here has come here just for themselves. I do hope that you will hold us to account with this mandate but that you will also recognize when the time comes to review this mandate. You will step back and say, "Our job is to review the mandate and see if it is accomplishable or not. Is it realistic or not? What can we do in the final terms of this government?" versus saying, "Do we take down every one of those Ministers and the Premier because they did not solve world peace in four years?" Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Seeing no further general comments, does the committee agree to review Tabled Document 12-19(2), 2019-2023 Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories, by priority?
Agreed.
Committee, we will begin on page 6, increase the number of affordable homes and reduce core housing need. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. If I could have some explanation of how the 100 units built and transitioned out work. Presently, we have a cap of 2,400 units. If we are unable to transition units out of the Housing Corporation, is it possible that we end up with 2,500 units? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That is the issue. It is an issue I struggled with for many years. That is why I came in to be an MLA in the first place, was because of housing and working with homeless people. This is my passion. We cannot increase the number of public-housing stock. In 2038, the operating maintenance money is gone. On average, we are spending $22,500, I believe, unless it has changed in the last two years. That was when I was two years ago as the housing Minister, $22,000 on average for every single public housing unit is what it cost the GNWT. We can't increase that stock because the money is off the table in 2038.
How we can increase it? That is about thinking outside of the cube, did you say, or box? I would say box, but I think somebody used a better term. That little cubic thing that you move around. Thinking outside the box. If we can't afford it, then why are we stuck with saying they all have to be public-housing units? Why don't we move into homeownership? Treaty people have been saying, "They promised us homes." For centuries, they have been saying that. Public housing is saying, "We don't have the money to maintain. We can't grow anymore." They have been saying that for years. They couldn't even give me an answer on when we stopped adding on to the number. The answer is: give people homes, not setting up people to fail. I do not believe that people who cannot succeed should be left on their own. There are many, many people who can afford to be in homeownership programs such as the lease-to-own. One of the Members talked about single parents, single moms. I was a single mom with two kids and lived in a dump of a trailer here in Yellowknife and so proud of that trailer. When I sold that $40,000 trailer, I bought myself a $100,000 house. When I sold that, I bought another one. It was the start. That is how I say we can do it. We bring in 100, and we get rid of 100 through homeownership. If we keep doing that, we will increase the number of homes for people in the NWT, and that should be our ultimate goal. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you. My question just mostly relates to holding this to account. We are going to get rid of 100 units, and we are going to build 100 new. We will stick with 2,400 units. To me, this is what the Housing Corporation has always been doing. We all recognize the Indigenous governments are much better suited to get federal money for housing. If the Indigenous governments build 100 units in partnership with the Housing Corporation, will we have met this mandate item?
Thank you. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This is the goal for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Again, I am sorry if I get passionate too much, but this is my passion. We will have 100 new homes, and 100 people will be moved into homeownership. The Indigenous governments, that is aside. The previous government with housing was always saying to the federal government, "Give us the money, and we will put it out there." This government, I have met with the federal government; I have met with Ministers; I have met with our Prime Minister. We have a different tone. I want houses in the North. I have been saying to the federal government, "Give it to the Indigenous governments." All I want is housing in the North. We are not in the way. We are not fighting the federal government and Indigenous governments. People have said, "If we work hand-in-hand, we are stronger." If we work hand-in-hand with our Indigenous governments and they can get housing money and we can use our housing money, then we are doing better service. It is not about one or the other. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Premier. I will go on to Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. My first question in regards to these 100 units is: how do you intend to ensure that the construction work done on these units is actually going to go to northern employers? Thank you.
Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am trying to remember. I think northern business was a priority in here. I have looked at this mandate so long it is starting to blend. However, even if it is not clear enough in there, it is a priority of Cabinet. Amongst our Cabinet priorities that I shared with Members, Cabinet as a whole, we have taken a stance that we want as much as possible northern businesses doing northern work. None of us is happy with sending the dollars South. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I have also noticed that in other priorities, there was indication of some other housing units. For example, on page 32, it does say that for mental health and addictions programs, there are nine transitional housing units that will be added to several communities. Will that number of housing units affect the 100 housing units committed in the first priority on page 6?
Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just confirmed with my Minister. Absolutely not. Those are in addition. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you. I think I am good at this time.
I will move on to Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Madame la Presidente. I am convinced of the Premier's passion on this issue. I know she has got lived experience. I have already seen evidence that housing is going to be a higher priority with this Cabinet, and I am very supportive of that. I just question the number here, the increase in 100 units while we're also going to transition 100 units for home ownership. It looks like it's going to be a wash. Maybe I am misunderstanding this. I get where the Premier is coming from. I think most of us share that priority. If she can explain the numbers a little better to me, that would be helpful. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The old model with the housing corporation was we waited till a building deteriorated until it was unusable. Then, we ripped it down and we put another one on. One house, one family.
This model is the same. I have already said, we can't exceed the 2,200. I think it's 22. Is it 24 now? 2,400 and 200 market. The 2,400, we can't exceed that. We're not going to exceed that. Instead of waiting until they deteriorate and ripping them down and then put another one up, which was the old model, why aren't we giving those houses better, in good repair, not junk. I'm not okay with giving away shacks. I lived in a shack. I know the problems with living in a home that's not appropriate. Give 100 homes away, build 100 more. You're right, we stay at 2,400. But if I use it one and one because it's easier. In the old model, we have one house. We wait until it deteriorates. At that time when it's deteriorated, we rip it down, and we put one more house on. We have one house.
This model says, we give 100 homes away. We build 100 homes. We have 200 people living in homes versus 100 from the old one. We're not increasing. We cannot afford to increase our public housing stock. We don't know how we're going to figure it out. We can't leave our future governments in jeopardy and say, well, this government will be done in 2038, which isn't very far if you think about it; that they can deal with that. We have an obligation to protect our future. My goal is to have people in homes, irrelevant of whether it's public housing or not. In fact, I'm not even a big fan of public housing, period. I'd rather have all people in home ownerships. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess I understand the math a little better. What I want to do, though, I want the Minister to think completely outside of the box. There is this glass ceiling of 2,400 units. We have to break that glass ceiling if we are going to ever get all of our residents housed properly. We cannot live within that limit. We are going to have to find more ways to raise revenues. We are going to have to get more money out of Ottawa. If we ever have a hope of actually getting adequate housing, suitable housing, affordable housing, for all our residents, we've got to get rid of that cap. I think it's as simple as that. We just have to find other ways to do it. If we can't house our people, there's no future here. I want the Minister, the Premier to think a little more seriously about that. I understand there are costs associated with this, but if we don't have housing for people, there's no economy. There's nothing happening here. We've got to get rid of that cap. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I hear the Member's concerns, but I want to go back to the philosophy. One, the Government of the Northwest Territories is not the only housing provider in the Northwest Territories. I've already said earlier that we are working with Indigenous governments. Indigenous governments are going to Ottawa and getting money. IRC is a great example of that, that they got money in the last Assembly for housing. I know that Dene Nation is putting their name forward for housing, for money. I'm not fighting those. Those are extra.
What I'm saying is that, out of 45,000 people, 2,400 houses for public housing that people can't afford should be sufficient if we can get people into home ownership who can afford it. There are many people in our public-housing units who are not low-income, and they need to be moved into home ownership. If we had more than 2,200 people forever who are in public-housing units, we have bigger problems. We have poverty problems. Our goal should not be to increase the number of public-housing units. Our goal should be to decrease poverty for people so that people don't have to be in public-housing units. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I don't want to prolong this. I think we share the same objective. We probably just disagree on maybe how we're going to get there. I just think that housing needs to be our top priority, probably, and that we can't let this glass ceiling get in the way of this. I'm not convinced that, even if we increase the housing stock by 100 units, that's even going to start to take care of the waiting list to get into public housing period.
In any event, I think we agree on where we need to be. I read the On Level Ground report from the last Assembly, where it would cost, at least a few years ago, half a billion dollars to get all of housing at a core need. We need to get a plan to do that. If part of it is home ownership, I get it. Getting the Indigenous governments to be partners and do some of it, that's fine. We've got to get rid of this. We cannot let this glass ceiling hamper our efforts on housing. That's all I have. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.
