Merci, Monsieur le President. The advice from the Transition Matters special committee of the last Assembly was that there should be fewer priorities. We produced a list of 22 priorities versus the 25 for the 18th Assembly. Hard choices were not made. We ran out of time and energy after an intensive orientation with a looming leadership selection process.
I do not support some of the priorities set by this Assembly. Some work at crosspurposes with each other. Some of the priorities provide precise direction while others are extremely vague. The priorities provide very little direction for the work of some of the departments, agencies and Ministers.
With two years left in this Assembly, it's past the time to review the priorities. I'll make it easy for my Cabinet colleagues. You should focus on only five things in the last two years beyond what your departments are generally doing. Here's my five picks, Mr. Speaker:
Develop a costed plan to get our housing out of core need to at least the Canadian average. Take that to Ottawa as the priority for the NWT. Drop the big infrastructure projects now but manage housing like it is a big infrastructure project.
The climate crisis. Finally admit it is a crisis, stop blaming the feds, and adopt the international standard of netzero by 2050. Move beyond the ridiculously low Climate Change Strategic Framework and the misguided 2030 Energy Strategy.
Universal childcare. A costed plan to get us there which the last Minister in the 18th Assembly refused to do. No more vague promises of advancing affordable childcare.
Settle and implement treaty, land and resources selfgovernment agreements. Concentrate on Akaitcho, the Deh Cho, and the NWT Metis Nation to get final agreements. Provide new mandates and change up our negotiators where necessary.
Complete the implementation of the Polytechnic University as the basis for diversifying our economy through recognition of traditional knowledge, environmental remediation, and our worldclass environmental management systems.
That's my challenge to Cabinet and to my colleagues on this side of the House. This is the legacy we can and should achieve for our residents. Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Members' statements. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I empathize with the concern that we had 22 priorities, and that was too many, and the future Assembly should aim to have less. But I am still not convinced that if we had less priorities we would be in a much better situation. I think there is a bit of a bellwether, that we're at our halfway mark and then there's a sense of frustration in this House. Notably, we have been in a global pandemic and steering the GNWT ship is a difficult task and COVID has not made that easier. But, Mr. Speaker, I believe we have to pick some of those priorities and get them done. And to be honest, Mr. Speaker, I don't really care which it is. It is whatever we think we can accomplish.
If we walked out of that priority room with one to settle and implement land claim agreements, from what I have seen to date I don't believe the GNWT is willing or capable of doing that. If we walked out of one to get our housing out of core need, I don't believe the GNWT is willing or capable of doing that, because I have not seen an appetite to make hard decisions. I have not seen a system in place that allows us to make hard decisions.
Mr. Speaker, in order to accomplish any of our priorities in a meaningful way, we have to make cuts from our budget. We have to go in to departments and we have remove programs and services, programs and services that people like and that people enjoy, in order to prioritize another priority. That is the reality. There is no way to tax hundreds of millions of dollars out of the people of the NWT. If we want to develop our own priorities, we can't wait for the federal government.
Likely the legacy of this Assembly will be one of internal infighting, Mr. Speaker, unless we do something differently. The other legacy might be getting universal child care but really we can only thank Justin Trudeau for that, Mr. Speaker.
I want to see the next budget not be a status quo budget. I have little faith right now that government renewal will accomplish this. I believe government renewal, at best, is dealing with 1 to 5 percent of the budget and hopefully keeps us just under our debt ceiling. I don't believe there is any efficiency you can find in government without making very tough political decisions about what programs, services, or infrastructure we don't prioritize over others.
Mr. Speaker, that work needs to be done. It needs to be started by our Cabinet colleagues and then we need to have the tough fight to make sure we have some sort of legacy in two years from now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a suggestion as to what that legacy might be.
Laughter
Twenty-six months ago, we stood in this House and made history a milestone defined by our gender. While I don't discount the importance of gender equity and representation in leadership, I refuse to have gender define this Assembly's legacy. I want to be defined by my heart, my actions, and my accomplishments.
On our first day I asked for bold change leadership. Bold change requires leaders to be stirred by injustices, willing to advance transformational ideas, and relentless in the hard work to uplift all residents of the Northwest Territories. It requires us to work collaboratively to build a legacy we can be proud of.
The Regular Members of this Assembly have invested more bargaining chips, Member statements, and committee hours on one urgent long standing issue housing. We have worked hard to collectively acknowledge our housing crisis and have pushed to change this government's role in housing Northerners. We have collaborated to carry the housing conversation and maintain focus.
We have 631 days left to build our housing legacy but it will not engineer itself. To build this, we need tangible change to the Housing Corporation culture through a fresh and appropriate mission, a costed plan to pull the NWT out of core need, public housing legislation, and replace CMHC funding. 631 days is not nearly a countdown to an end, Mr. Speaker, it is a count up to writing the path to our housing legacy.
This legacy will take the continued push from Regular Members, the continued renewable from within the Housing Corporation, and the support of Cabinet. The government's concessions during the 2021 main estimate negotiations and the 90 new public housing units are a good start. But as a government, we spend more on the operations and maintenance on a kilometer of road than an entire capital acquisition plan towards the Housing Corporation. CMHC's national housing strategy is offering more than $70 billion over 10 years. If this Cabinet wanted to transform housing, the money is available to do this, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in 2019, I believed in our potential for change. I still believe in the great potential of the North and the potential of this Assembly to right a legacy worthy of the respect of the people we serve. But it requires every single one of us to push forward as a team, where people are focused on the outcome and prepared to take a stand. For us to see change in this Assembly, we need to see bold policy and legislative change in 2022. There is potential for creative innovation and our NWT builders want to be part of this legacy, a legacy that delivers on the human right to adequate housing for every Northerner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Members' statements. Member for Nunakput.
