Are you done, Minister? Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Member from the Sahtu.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for the response here. One of the issues that are really lacking in the smaller communities is trades and skills. Will the Minister promise to recruit and supply a project manager for this project through the community local government? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated the responsibility of the project lies with the community government; however, I will commit that the department will continue to work with the community government to try to assist them in that project as we already have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that reply here. On the continuation of my question, my last one, is that will the Minister provide a report on a spreadsheet format on the schedule for renovations in this project so I can have something to share with my constituent community? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will reach to my department and see what we can do. I know, like I said earlier, the local government is lead on the project, so we'll see what we can do for the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. So the other day in the House I spoke to the fact that in the past the government has had to step in when nonprofits collapse and they're providing essential social services. So if the largest nonprofit daycares in our regional centres are forced to shut down because they're no longer financially viable, is the government prepared to take over the operation of these daycares? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, no, the GNWT does not intend to take over operation of licensed programs and nor do I think it's really needed at this point. ECE is committed to providing sustainable funding, and I am committed to the relationship with child care providers and finding out what it is that they need and how we can support one another. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for making that clear. So can the Minister recommend ways that child care providers can successfully attract and retain staff given that the government's proposed wage grid is well below salaries for comparable positions in early learning in NWT communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it's worth noting that between 2021 and sorry, Mr. Speaker, I want to be able to provide a little bit of extra information for this response.
Between 20212022 and 20252026, ECE, along with the Government of Canada, is investing just over $112 million into the child care sector. I heard the Member during her Member's statement speak about current negotiations. Current negotiations are in regards to infrastructure funding in the 20242025 year. Funding changes will happen where all programs will receive an increase in total funding compared to the current fiscal year. And it's also worth noting that effective April 1st, existing licensed program operators that charge fees below the maximum fee for newly licensed facilities will be able to increase their fees between 0 and 6 percent up to the prescribed monthly maximum.
So one of my recommendations, right now, ECE is working on the wage grid. They did consultations and engagement with the sector last year and also in the beginning of this year, they came back with what they've done so far. And a wage grid is a huge part of this, Mr. Speaker. There is still a gap, and that is acknowledged for sure in this sector between early childhood educators and the junior kindergarten and kindergarten educators as well and education assistants in the school. But wage grid and the new funding mechanism are really going to be those key pieces, and I look forward to continuing to work with the sector to see what we can do together to meet in the middle there. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So given that three large child care providers are considering opting out of the funding formula, does the Minister have concerns that this could leave us with a segregated system where some parents are forced to pay much more than they currently do? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can say that I'm definitely concerned, which is why I'm putting effort into creating a relationship and sustaining a relationship with the NWT Early Childhood Association. I really want to make sure that we're hearing their concerns, that we are doing our best to respond to them within the budget that we do have. And we do have a fixed budget within this program. ECE is a major funding source for licensed programs. So I really hope that we can keep everybody together and working together in order to rebuild or to build a robust system because I think that at the end of the day, we are stronger working together and that we do share common goals, and I think that's really important. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So thank you, Mr. Speaker. So given that fixed amount that the Minister referred to, will the Minister commit to including the NWT Early Childhood Association or child care providers in any future negotiations with the federal government about child care funding agreements? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our funding agreements are agreements that are reflective of what generally other jurisdictions are also receiving. They're an agreement that happened between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Government of Canada. I think that communicating those agreements, once they are set, is really important which is why I really want to continue to work with all stakeholders in this sector, and I'm absolutely committed to those relationships. And I'm also committed to ensuring that our childhood or child care sector is sustainable because I truly believe that we as an Assembly have set this as a priority in that it building a strong economic foundation is absolutely reliant on child care, and so I'm committed to seeing this be successful. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the severe shortcoming of the government's response to the 2023 wildfire crisis and evacuation, my question probably would be more to the Minister of environment is going to the next 2024 fire season, in my riding of Tu NedheWiilideh last year, we had issues with food securities and supply chain, and we also had issues with the airlines couldn't fly into Lutselk'e. My question to the Minister would be what are they doing this in the 2024 fire season to help correct these problems? Thank you.
Mr. Premier.
I'd like to redirect that to the Minister of MACA. Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we're all aware that there was a lot of several unintended supply chain issues that we had last year in regards to the evacuations, you know, due to the Yellowknife airport being closed and other airports and other infrastructure like roads being closed. All the departments are working have worked together to understand these issues, and we're continually working to improve what happened. The Department of ITI has provided their information to the Department of MACA, and we'll be looking at those. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Minister. My next question, probably adding to that as well, is we had issues with communication in our riding where we had no communication for five days. Going into the 2024 fire season, can you maybe elaborate a little bit more about how we're going to improve the communication into our communities of Tu NedheWiilideh and also in the official languages? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT is working with the Council of Leaders to find ways of communicating with the communities in regards to emergency management. Also, we're well aware of the communication issues that happened. To be honest, I was one of the ones running around stealing StarLink so that we could have communication. So I hear what the Member is saying. The departments are working on these concerns. However, local community governments are responsible for local emergency measurement, EMO organizations. Part of that EMO organization is being prepared themselves. And they're the ones that know the area. They're the ones that know the resources. And the local EMOs, I encourage them to keep working on whatif scenarios and having those readily available for their local communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister, for your reply.
My next question is that we in my constituency meeting the other day in Dettah, we have members in our community that paid expenses into the fire season last year, and they haven't been refunded. Is there a way we could go back and revisit that so that our members and our communities can get refunded for the monies that paid during the fire evacuation of 2023? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm aware of the GNWT program that assists people through evacuation; however, I'm not fully confident or fully aware of how that is where it's at, so I'd have to get back to the Member on the date, the deadlines, and everything else like that. However, just be aware that, you know, some residents may have had insurance they could have tapped into also for being evacuated. So there's a few options out there. Unfortunately, through the federal disaster assistance program, we have to follow their guidelines in reimbursements and stuff. Thank you.
Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Minister. Just so you know that the majority of people are in my four communities, a lot of them homeowners don't have home insurance, just so you know. Also, I just want to point out that, you know, the Indigenous governments in my riding have accrued a lot of costs as a result of the fire of last year. So we're looking at what can we do as a government to reimburse these Aboriginal governments for the monies they incurred for the 2023 fire season. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I encourage the Member to reach out to their local government to also reach out to MACA. Maybe there's something that could be done there. However, most recently we did learn of CIRNAC releasing some funds. So there is an opportunity for the local government to also reach out to them to assist. Thank you.
Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member from the Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department has policies and that these policies are determined on seemed to be determined open a waitlist. Policies should be based on family needs. A family of four should have precedent over a smaller family. Will the Minister look at revisiting its current policies in terms of housing allocations to meet the needs of these families? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Mackenzie Delta. Minister of Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. We do have policies in place. It depends on waitlists, housing availability, the size of the household itself, the application itself. So we review these things. I don't know if we need to change these policies, but this is something that we can consider and have a conversation with the Member. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think more of these consultations should be taken out to the residents of the Northwest Territories. Will the department look at meeting with the residents of the Northwest Territories to get feedback on its policies? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, housing in the communities is operated through the local housing associations. So we have housing associations in most of our communities. We also hold annual general meetings with the associations annually. So this is an opportunity for residents, if they do have concerns with housing, to attend the AGMs to have this conversation with the local housing associations so they can talk to district, and they can also talk to the Ministers and deputy ministers about these policies so that message is carried on. If there is concerns, they also can speak to you as MLA and also speak to the tenant relations officer. So there's many opportunities for residents to speak about concerns that they have with certain housing policies. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the general public has lost confidence in the housing local housing authorities because they themselves have to follow these policies. Will the Minister look at doing a consultation round with the residents of the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope they haven't lost confidence because these are local agencies and these are local people that fill these positions, so it's important to have that conversation locally. And I'm willing to talk to residents. We are planning a tour of the Mackenzie Delta in April and I'm willing to have that conversation directly with any residents. So happy and looking forward to it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to the tour with the Minister. Thank you, and that's just a general comment. Thank you.
Thank you. Please, folks, if you don't have a final supplementary just advise me so we can get on to the next one. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member from Range Lake or sorry, Frame Lake. Yes, Frame Lake. Sorry, my fault.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to be clear.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday Members made a number of statements suggesting open collaboration between the regular side and the Cabinet, suggestions for ways to move forward. I certainly made some statements to that effect myself. And then we saw the Premier turn around and go to the media after the motion was passed and state that they don't plan to listen.
Mr. Speaker, is it the Premier and Cabinet's intent to simply ignore the calls for collaboration and suggestions made by myself and my colleagues? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, no, that is not my intention. I have a responsibility when the House brings forward a motion and recommendations to carefully consider those. I also have a responsibility to ensure that we are operating the government in a responsible manner. I think there's a lot of information that there's a lot of assumptions about what a public inquiry is. Even yesterday, even after I tried to clarify some of the facts around what we can and can't do, there was still assumptions remaining. You know, there was comparisons of our Inquiries Act to the federal Inquiries Act without taking into account the other federal acts that interact with the federal Public Inquiries Act and allow them to set budgets. There were comments about independence of certain other reports. So there's a lot of these things that as the government, when we do something we actually need to know the facts. We actually have to do research. We have to look into things. It's a lot more than just, you know, standing up in the House and saying something. There's a lot of work behind the scenes. So we need to do that work, Mr. Speaker, and we intend on doing that work. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate that goodwill from the Premier and look forward to collaboration.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday I spoke to difficulty engaging with constituents on the proposal that the Cabinet had brought forward. Mr. Speaker, why has the Premier not made their proposal and scope of work public so the public can assess it for themselves and decide if it passes muster? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It can be difficult to negotiate in public and through the media, and so when we are trying to work with just the Members, we want to avoid that type of noise that comes with that. It is a difficult balance. I get where the Member is coming from. You know, I struggled with that as a Regular Member. But the fact is that, you know, we are elected to do that work on behalf of constituents. So sometimes the constituents don't have all of the information but they've appointed us to look at that information and make our best judgments. But I understand where the Member is coming from. It's a constant battle between keeping too much confidential and releasing too much in the public at inappropriate times. Thank you.
