Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to recognize two pages from my riding, Kora Ann MacCauley and Perry Pierrot from Fort Good Hope. You've done an awesome job this week, and mahsi and safe travels home. Mahsi.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'd like to recognize the page from Yellowknife North, Mr. Logan Doll. You're doing a great job, thank you
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Frame Lake.
Madam la Presidente. I wish to recognize a couple of pages from the Frame Lake riding, Kayden Halliday and Deagan Lacome. Thank you
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today my Member's statement was on youth, youth and sport in regards to the communities, all 33 communities, getting, I guess, a revamp and looked at again for sporting events across our territory. But the one I'm really looking at is the Beaufort Delta, for our ridings. So I'm just wondering if Minister Thompson would be able to find in regards to I know we have the Arctic Winter Games coming up in January 29th. I'm just wondering if we could try to piggyback with that sporting events with the monies that they do have coming, are we able to use that to bring in kids for other sport, younger youth and young adults? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. So what the Member's asking is to piggyback with Arctic Winter Games. Arctic Winter Games are very trials are very focused on the competition to get the teammate up for NWT. However, the opportunity, if communities want to work and provide opportunities, these communities can work together to provide that opportunity and if they are able to put it in the same weekend, they can do it. Right now the Beaufort Delta recreation association does have money for opportunities to give youth to have competitions within the regions. So they can have that opportunity. So if the communities are willing to work together on that, and they can reach out to Josh McDonald, our recreation development coordinator. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Thank you for that, Mr. Minister. We've been two years now we've been getting through the COVID pandemic. Now we're preCOVID, I've been asking for this 18 months ago, in regards to trying to do something for our adults, for our elders, for our youth, our young adults. So I think that if the funding is there, why aren't they doing it themselves? Why do we have to come forward and do the job for them? If they're able to the monies that they do get, Madam Speaker, for the territorial trials, it's territorials before you go for the main for the Arctic Winter Games. So it could be spread around a little bit and making sure all communities and all students that are able to come in to do that, making sure they're able to come, the commitment from the Minister for that. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the Arctic Winter Games trials are for the Arctic Winter Games. It's like Team NWT. However, what the Member is asking is there's opportunity to piggyback on other regional events, other regional opportunities, then that is something that the regions and the communities work together on. So the money is for the communities to decide how they want to do it. We as the government and we as the department don't tell them well, you got to do hockey, you got to do this. Again, the recreation association, the communities work together, come up with a plan to do what they want to do.
Unfortunately, COVID had an impact on us previously, but we are starting to work together. And so if the Member wants to reach out to me, and we can sit down and have the opportunity to talk with the recreation development coordinator and with his communities and see what we can do, work with Sport North, Aboriginal Sports Circle. We're willing to work with the communities to see what opportunities are available for the residents, for the youth. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I think what we have to do I look back, back in the 90s when we were younger, when we were able to travel around with the education, through the education system, having, like, a putting it into the schools and having a if you're good attendance and if you're able to go with your attendance to give them incentive to go to school, to do travel. And that's what they used to do with us. And I think with the education, I think with the would the Minister be interested in working with the Minister of Education on this as well? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm more than willing to work with whoever we can get our youth engaged on, whether it's the education system, whether it's the schools and communities, the local sports groups. I do kind of disagree with the Member about making sure attendance and that. Sometimes the only reason our youth are coming to school is to be part of the sporting team. I can tell you from my experience as a coach, we lost youth because they didn't make didn't have their attendance. It wasn't 70 percent. It wasn't 60 percent. And what did we do? Those youth when we went and travelled, those youth were making bad choices. So if the youth are wanting to be part of the team, I think we really need to work with them and work with the system to get these youth engaged, because once we got them hooked, as the Member said, once you're hooked you want to go to school. You want to be engaged into the sport recreation activities afterwards. So I'm more than willing to make a long answer shorter, I'm more than willing to work with the Minister and the Member on this. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Yeah, I just for myself, I think like I did last week, you know, I called everybody out on suicide prevention. Now it's the same thing but it's in a different light we're using. We're using our youth now to give them opportunity. We don't give them they're pushed to the side, you know. We have to stop this in regards to making a way for them. We can't just say oh, youth are our future and not do nothing for them. We got to stand up for them and let in this House, and do something for them instead of just lip service. So I will be talking to the Minister, and I look forward to working with both of them to get this happening for this year. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I can tell you the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is not doing lip service. We have youth contributions. We have youth core. We have youth centre initiatives. We also have children and youth resilience program. Youth the regional sports programs. And, you know, the NWT Youth Ambassadors. And we're also working on developing a youth strategy. So we are actually taking it to committee of Cabinet within the next month. Then we're going to bring it to committee to have that conversation. It's part of the youth our youth strategy, but it's also part of the suicide prevention strategies we're talking about, the Member's talking about. So I appreciate the Member's passion. I greatly appreciate his willingness to come bring this to the forefront, and I will work together with him, I can guarantee you that. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the restoration of the Hay River Harbour and Channel is not just a Hay River matter as it impacts all of our communities along the Mackenzie River, along the Arctic Coast and into the High Arctic. It is important that this government seeks support from all persons, businesses, fishers, communities, and Indigenous governments relying on access to the safe navigable harbour, community resupply, and transportation services, to have the federal government support this initiative.
Madam Speaker, before we head home for our mini session break, I would be remiss if I did not ask questions on the Hay River Harbour.
We need the harbour to be safe and operational so that goods can move safely up the valley to communities along the river and into the Inuvialuit settlement area. Madam Speaker, can the Minister of Infrastructure tell me what progress, if any, has been made since I last questioned her in the House. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I can agree with the Member that renewing the Hay River Harbour is very important to the residents of the Mackenzie Valley communities as well as the Inuvialuit settlement area. I can also tell the Member that since we last spoke, an interdepartmental committee is being struck to be able to start the work on putting together the information that is required to get any necessary permitting in place, ultimately building a renewed proposal to take to the federal government. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, that is good to hear. I'm glad to see that at least something was done in the last week. Finally we may have a Minister that will do what others before her were unable to accomplish since 1995.
Madam Speaker, can the Minister outline what the timeframe is for getting this information together in the form of the business case and forwarding it to the federal government for a funding decision? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'll take any compliment I can get right now. So, Madam Speaker, so right now the department's effort is focused on addressing some of the needs of the residents in Sachs Harbour. So I take this opportunity to assure the Member from Nunakput that, you know, that is a priority for us. Having said that, once we are done, we can put additional resources to put to the postmortem of the MTS 2022 sailing season of which continued operation of the Hay River's harbour is a factor. So I can't commit to a definite timeline but be assured the Member I want to be assured to the Member that work is underway. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. We have four days off so hopefully when I ask her next week, we'll have made more progress.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. As the Minister's pointed out, it will be very important, but hopefully not imperative, to get the federal government onside to secure the funding necessary for the renewal of the Hay River Harbour. Madam Speaker, can the Minister outline the efforts to date to engage with the federal government and the necessary federal Ministers? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. So as of right now we are preparing material to bring forward to Cabinet, the Premier, and Ministers to use in any engagement with federal Ministers where the opportunity to be able to discuss the need to ensure that the Hay River Harbour is operational. I've recently wrote to the Minister of Transportation as well as the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans on the need to make sure Hay River Harbour is operational to be able to meet the needs of Northerners. Once we have done a postmortem on the MTS 2022 shipping season, I will be engaging with the applicable Minister in person. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. And hearing her say postmortem, I'm thinking MTS might be dead.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I encourage the Minister to keep pressure on the federal government, seek support of stakeholders, and stress the importance of the Hay River Harbour in moving goods to the residents of the Mackenzie Valley and Inuvialuit settlement region.
Madam Speaker, for my last question is the Minister willing to come to Hay River and hear firsthand the concerns that Hay River residents and stakeholders have on the continued operation of the Hay River Harbour and the need for immediate action? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Just say yes? Thank you, Madam Speaker. So as the Member knows, I've already accepted an offer from both the two MLAs from Hay River to be able to go, not this weekend but next weekend, of October 29th and 30th. So I look forward to meeting with some of the residents to be able to discuss the need to remediate the I'm getting Sachs, Hay River Harbour. So thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, can the Minister of Housing NWT explain why constituents would receive inconsistent information from officials at the South Slave district office versus officials at the local housing authority in Fort Smith? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. The local housing authorities, they run under a service agreement that is provided by Housing NWT, and they operate under our policies. Unfortunately, in the last couple of years we weren't able to provide training to the local housing authorities but we've just recently completed workshops with the district offices, the LHO managers, and we are going to be also providing a workshop for the maintenance employees as well too that run under the local housing authority. We did have issues with this office in the past before, and I'm willing to send the officials into the office to provide further training and further distinctions on consistent information that should be provided to our tenants. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker, can the Minister explain the reasoning why a destroyed and unlivable house would be used against someone who is applying to public housing? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Homeowners are not eligible for the public housing programming. But if those units are deemed not repairable, we do make exceptions with the local housing authorities as well too. And if their income levels exceed for the programming for public housing, we do make exceptions for market housing. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker, can the Minister explain why Housing NWT had failed to reach out to my constituents once their destroyed home was sold and the property it sat on was sold so they could adjust their rental agreement and enter public housing? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. And you know, I just wanted to comment that when these units are sold, we don't necessarily keep track of all of the units that are private homeowners that are selling their houses in the community. But I can have the LHO office reach out to the individual as well too. But right now, I'm assuming that the individual is housed in our market housing units right now but is just not eligible for public housing. I will follow up with the Member. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.
Madam Speaker, will the Minister commit to initiate the process of an independent oversight into my constituents' housing situation, to understand all information regarding the rental agreement they have with Housing NWT, and fix this unnecessary situation for two elders who should not be penalized by this government? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I look forward to following up with the Member. It sounds like the circumstances for the individuals have changed. We are currently under a policy review as well too, and I will commit to looking at that file. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. You know, for the last week or two weeks here now, I've been raising issues about housing in our communities and what I've been hearing from this government is basically there's no commitments; they're just for me, I hear what's been said to me is, more or less, I heard that before; I heard it for a long time.
So I did have questions, Madam Speaker, is that my question is to when I was doing my Member's statement, I was a little taken aback that there was a "nay" coming from the Minister of Health, and my question was to the Premier. I have a lot of questions for Health; that will be next week.
In the mandate status report, 65 percent of the commitments are identified as in progress for the Premier's statement in her message, within the document, that the majority of the commitments identified as in progress or on track to completion. Can the Premier clarify her statement as to what "majority" means in this context on the 65 percent commitment. Is it 65 percent, or isn't it? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'm kind of wondering if other Members besides myself wonder if we could turn back time, knowing that we'd be hit with the pandemic crisis never seen in our lifetime and lasting around two years, would we still have defined 22 priorities for this government. However, in saying that, despite the challenges over the past two years, we continue to work to achieve the majority of our commitments by the end of our term.
The Member is correct, that 65 percent of our commitments were in progress in our February 2022 status report. At that point, we had fulfilled 23.5 percent of our mandate commitments. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Thank you, Premier for your answer, and I appreciate that. And I understand that, yes, we've been through the pandemic and we're hitting the ground running again.
Can the Premier update the House as to the exact percentage of mandate commitments fulfilled? You said 23.3 percent. Also, can the Premier advise the House if that 75 percent of the mandate commitments in progress and in planning will become completed in time remaining before the next election? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I think I'll combine two in one. We've since completed, since the February 2022 status report, we've since completed another 10 percent of our mandate items and moved out of the early planning for another 3 percent. The latest numbers I have for August 2022 are 58 percent of our commitments are in progress and 34 percent have been fulfilled. I don't have a firm percentage on hand precisely to find a majority, but the numbers show that we've made significant progress between February and August.
As for the 75 percent, as stated, COVID did slow the progress but we're still working on them. And I'm hopeful that the work in this House and the work with our public service and government partners, as well as Regular Members, that we're going to achieve at least 75 percent of our mandate commitments.
Madam Speaker, it's not unusual even though COVID hit, it's not normal that within Assemblies that the last term of the government to still have a significant high percentage of inprogress work. New and significant work takes time to plan before it can be completed but we're actually quite pleased with where we are. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. A reasonable person would say concerning 50 percent or less of commitments unfilled to be a failure to implement the mandate. What are the consequences of such failure if the government fails to deliver its mandate? So within by the next session, you will have good understanding of where we're at. So thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Well, the consequence of a government not delivering on its mandate is really up to the public. It's up to the voters to decide the consequences if we don't achieve the results in this House. As I said, I'm confident that we're going to be able to fulfill the majority of our mandate commitments. However, in honesty, Madam Speaker, I think a lot of the public in the next voting will be about the COVID, how we've related to the how we responded to the COVID pandemic, and that's not in our mandate but it was the number 1 priority. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
