Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 89, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 20232024, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Bill 89 has had first reading.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 89, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 20232024, be read for the third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I would like to request a recorded vote.
Thank you, Minister. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The Minister has requested a recorded Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry, I know we call want to go home but I would like to just make some comments about the final budget as we are passing it and the commitments that the Minister made in this House previously.
Initially, I said my support on this budget was contingent on two things. That was some more money for our community governments and some more money for our nonprofits. Unfortunately, I had to vote in favour of the carbon tax to get the money for the community governments as I just did but I'm happy to see that additional approximately $1.8 million combined with $600,000 in this budget. It really puts us we did close the community funding gap by $5 million, including inflation, which was what I thought we always were supposed to do but we had to do a little bit of a political negotiating to get there, Mr. Speaker. Additionally the Minister, in her statement yesterday, committed $2 million for a homelessness fund. I believe that is very good money she committed, that will largely go to applications by Indigenous governments and not for profits. I am very happy to see that. I also want to highlight the $1 million for the sustainable livelihoods fund. We hear repeatedly in this House that our hunters and traps need support for food sustainability and for cultural reasons.
This is our final budget. This is our final budget negotiation. And I just want to thank the Minister and thank all of my colleagues for the pressure we've put on to get those concessions.
I'm a little disappointed in the pace of government renewal. I believe I share that with the Minister of Finance. I do believe there is a way to do government budgets differently. I do believe they really have to take a look at this way we kind of do these incremental budgets year over year. And the first Assembly, the first thing they got to do, Mr. Speaker, is they've got to make some tough decisions about what they're going to cut and where so that they have money to fund their own priorities. This idea that we're operating with about $5 million a year to negotiate with really doesn't mean more control. What's in control is the incremental $2 billion that was decided Assembly after Assembly and year over year, Mr. Speaker.
And lastly, I just want to reiterate something odd about our budgeting process is we don't really tend to attach large policy announcements to it. I do think that is something we should do. That is the standard in almost every other jurisdiction. You announce the money and then you announce a few policy changes, a few kind of ticket items to signal where you're going. I have repeatedly asked for five paid sick days. That is what we need to give our workers. We know that all of our public service workers have great benefits and those in the private sector do not. And they deserve five paid sick days. We heard that during COVID repeatedly. I do believe that should have been with the budget. And those types of announcements should be standard with every single GNWT budget.
But, ultimately, I am in favour for this budget, and for all of our programs and services to get replenished and for the good work they do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
