Debates of June 5, 2024 (day 21)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was first elected on February 10th, 2022, in a byelection, and I came to the 19th Assembly midway through the fouryear term. Prior to coming to the Assembly and the 19th Assembly, the priorities were already set. The mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories was set. The mandate letters were all publicized and so, anyways, so I came in and thinking that I am able to try to help my constituents in the Tu NedheWiilideh riding. And I looked at the issues and concerns, I met with local leaders, and listened to what they had to say.

So back in the day, I brought these issues up to the Premier of the day, Caroline Cochrane, and I told her. I told her that our riding is not mentioned anywhere in the 19 priorities or 22 priorities and the mandate. And she told me that well, the train left the station, it's going fast, and I'll try my best to throw your luggage onto the train. And so it was tough because, you know, we have a lot of problems in our community. And so at the end of the 19th Assembly, none of my luggage got thrown on the train and whether it be on housing or education or winter road or ice road or anything like that. So there were 22 priorities that were set in the 19th Assembly, and I would say most of them that were worked on were achieved and I had a hand in some of them. But going forward to today, Mr. Speaker, I got to remember when we first got elected back in November, in 2023 as the newly elected MLAs, we brought forward issues from our riding but we all got together with the MLAs with the Circle of Aboriginal Leaders here in the Northwest Territories. And we were able to listen to everybody's concerns and issues and from there, in February of 2024, we met again as MLAs here at the ski club here in Yellowknife and to talk about setting the priorities of this government, for the 20th Assembly. And so we did that, and we came up with four priorities; four from the or 22 from the previous Assembly. And I thought that we did a good job in trying to identify, you know, what the needs were from listening to everybody throughout the Northwest Territories and also the leaders. And sustainability, accessibility, and affordability of housing is number 1. A strong economic foundation was number 2. Access to health care and addressing the effects of trauma. And safe residents and communities. Those are the four that came out of our discussions when we got together as MLAs going in to the 20th Assembly.

Now that the mandate letters, I am assuming it's going to be coming pretty soon, it is going to be publicized and now that we are six months into our term. And I look forward to seeing those letters. But, anyway, I just want to briefly talk about that.

But what's going on now, Mr. Speaker, is that I wrote letters to the finance Minister outlining concerns and priorities from my riding during the March 15th, 2024, and I also further put together another letter addressing what I think needs to happen with housing in my riding.

As you know, the Minister for Housing NWT, they have a policy in place when dealing with communities and homeownership and repairs, etcetera. And I heard it from my community members that those policies really don't work for our people in small communities. Either you owe money, or you have land taxes, or you make too much money, or you don't make enough, you name it. And so that was the problem. So I was able to put together a letter to the finance Minister and hoping that I would be able to try to get some of the priorities from my riding into the 20th Assembly budget. And so anyways I went through the budget carefully. It's a big budget. It's $2.29 billion. We're $1.6 billion in the deficit. We are about $1.6 billion that's coming from grants and contributions from the Government of Canada. My riding, we have 2 percent of the overall population that is for just in my riding alone but yet at the same time, the budget overall, we are getting point 4 percent overall that comes to my riding, and that's a little bit concerning. So, Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to point that out because it's to me, when I look at this budget and now that we go through the, what they call the business plans for all of the departments, they go in front of AOC, accountability and oversight. And we had a chance to review all the budgets and almost line by line, and what I see here is that this budget is coming from all the departments in government and coming from the deputy ministers defending the budgets of their department. And so when I go through this whole thing in terms of what is needed for my riding, I don't see nothing in this business plan because the deputy minister knows best what's for my community. So, going back to the 19th Assembly, we get 23 priorities. The 20th Assembly, we got four priorities. And I sent letters asking that we get probably trying to get into the budget but I don't see it.

So the other issue that I have concerns with too, Mr. Speaker, is that this government also announced that there's going to be a reduction, about $150 million a year for the next four years. And already I think it is just over $8 million dollars in housing they are looking a reducing. And it's going to be very hard for me to trying to understand that because yet, you know, we got priority is number 1 for housing but yet we're reducing our budget but then they until I see the mandate letters coming from this government, it's going to be very tough for me to understand how are we going to deal with the housing crisis here in the Northwest Territories? We got about 10,000 homes short, and we are nowhere near trying to fix this problem that we have.

And so I have been raising this in the 19th Assembly and also in the 20th Assembly. So I do have questions for the Premier on the plan as to how we are going to deal with this issue, but I am hoping to talk to the Minister about this again.

But, anyway, Mr. Speaker, when I go through the budget, the future for my riding doesn't look good for this fiscal year. I am hoping that maybe over the next two or three well, the second and third and fourth year, I am hoping that the Government of the Northwest Territories and Cabinet could really take a look at look at the letters I put forward and based on the feedback I got from the leadership in my riding and see what we can do to try to get that onto the next year's budget because, Mr. Speaker, small communities do matter. And to me, when I read this budget, it's geared for, you know, the status quo, nothing's gonna change but, you know, I want to see this change for all the communities in the Northwest Territories, for small communities, because we have issues on alcohol, drugs, housing, homelessness, you name it. We have to figure a way around this.

So, Mr. Speaker, I just want to touch base on housing just a little bit more. Right now as it is, between the housing budget of what we have right now with the Housing NWT and of $121 million plus the shared financial directed contribution to Housing NWT of $76 million, that's $197 million for this fiscal year. That's just to maintain the status quo that we have. But at the same time, Mr. Speaker, you know, for the life of this government, for housing corporation, by 2036 or 2038, that's 14 years from now, at that rate it went to $197 million times let's say for 14 years, that's $2.7 billion. And when I look at that, for the next 14 years, that's just to maintain the housing corporation as is, as we know it today. It's not addressing the housing needs of the Northwest Territories.

So, I don't know how we are going to address this problem, but I am hoping that we could continue to work with Cabinet and Indigenous governments to figure this one out, because we're in big trouble.

And what I don’t want to see anymore, as well, there was an article in 2022 where the GNWT Housing NWT got $60 million from CIRNAC and that was to deal with the housing crisis here in the Northwest Territories. Instead, they turned that around and fixed up public housing units. And I fwas concerned because when I go back to Fort Resolution, the leaders, the Metis leaders, the chief will come to me and say Rick, what's going on there? They say well, they're competing with us because we're trying to apply for money too to fix up our housing units. And so I say I don't know. I don't know why, or. But anyway that's a big concern. So I am hoping that, you know, we got to put that aside and I think that we need to start working together. That's the only way that we could do it. But overall in this business plan that was put forward by the Housing NWT is that they want to put $50 million for the next four years into fixing up public housing. And just on the operation and maintenance.

So, this budget that was put forward, it was based on the deputy ministers from all of the departments, and this one here stood out to me. And I don't know, like I don't know if I have no explanation as to when CMHC is going to be cutting off their funding to Housing NWT for operation and maintenance but at the same time while that is happening, we brought ten homes from CIRNAC into Lutselk'e but we can't even get money for lot development. And then I go to MACA and they tell me oh, you got to take it out of CPI dollars. But Dettah, N'dilo, Lutselk'e, are not tax-based communities. Fort Resolution is a tax-based community but yet we can't even afford to develop lots in our community. But fortunately Housing NWT has been really pushing housing in our communities the best they can. But, also, they are doing lot development. And I don't know if it's in your budget to do that. So, you know, and I compliment the Minister on doing everything they can to try to deal with this issue, but it's a problem. And something that we cannot overlook.

So the big question is that, you know, going forward, how's Housing NWT going to deal with their units over in the next 14 years, what is your plan? How are you going to work with Indigenous governments? And it's important because we need to know. And the people are asking.

And so, overall, Mr. Speaker, I want to try to keep it short, but we have big issues. Like for example this year, we have MTS, the water is so low that we might not even get the ten units back into Lutselk'e this year. And the high cost of living in my riding is high. And I talk about the solutions by saying let's do a feasibility study on the winter road. Let's do a feasibility study on the probably extending the airstrip, etcetera. But right now, the high cost of living in Lutselk'e is high. And all we're asking for is to be recognized and be included in your plan so that small communities do matter.

So, anyway, I want to just mention that because it's frustrating for me because I am bringing these issues here. I do letters. I put everything on the table, send it in, and then when I get the budgets back to me, none of my stuff is addressed. Or even looked at. So going forward, I am hoping maybe next year or the year after, this government will look at the priorities of small communities.

So Mr. Speaker, I will be bringing this budget back to my chiefs and the Metis leaders in my riding, and I want to get some feedback on that. And I just want to let the government know that it's a big budget, $2.29 billion, and the last Assembly I brought this issue up too, as well, and we had six MLAs stood up and supported me on this motion. Where I stood up and didn't support the motion because small communities weren't included in that budget. And there were a couple MLAs from Yellowknife and all communities. So I am not asking them to stand up and continue to do that. I am just saying that, you know, there is a time and place that in this government we have to start recognizing small communities. And it's important because we feel the impacts in the communities. And you could see it just here in Yellowknife now, in small communities we are dealing with drug issues that is confronting everybody in our small communities.

So I do have a motion that I will be talking about later today. But overall, Mr. Speaker, I will just continue to I just want to bring this up from my riding and continue I want to work with this government. I want to work with the Minister and the Premier and see what we can do to address some of these issues.

So I will leave it that there, Mr. Speaker, and I will say mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, although I have felt a strong sense of responsibility since the day I was first elected, I must say, the weight of what our territory is facing in the near future has felt heavier still as I have been considering the 20242025 Budget and the new reality of the Government of the Northwest Territories. At the time when our territory is most in need of investment in housing, education, critical infrastructure, health care, and climate change adaptation, amongst other things, our government is at the cusp of hitting its debt ceiling and has little to spend on any new initiatives. Getting older seems to accelerate with every passing year, Mr. Speaker, but I am still surprised to find myself wistfully looking back on the good old days of four years ago when the government had money to spend. Alas, here we are.

I have shared a fair number of specific comments on the budget and business plans already and will continue to do so during our deliberations, so I will keep my response to the Budget Address to highlevel commentary on how the budget relates to our priorities.

Mr. Speaker, when I look at the priorities that we set together as a group and at the proposed budget, I perceive a disconnect. My understanding of why we set focused priorities was so we could direct our energy to what we and the public have clearly communicated are the areas requiring the highest attention and resources. The other side of that council, of course, is that we may have to do less in other areas in order to ensure resources are directed at the priorities. This is the very essence and purpose of priority setting.

I think it's important to explore how we got to where we are with this budget and how this has contributed to the disconnect, I'm speaking to. As the budget was prepared, departments were given highlevel direction to implement the Fiscal Sustainability Strategy. This applied to all departments, and I think we've seen all make attempts at following it to a greater or lesser extent. Departments also took the priorities and looked at how their existing programming, or even some proposed programming, would help us work towards them. This is a fair approach for the departments to take individually. But what I don't think got enough attention was the highlevel governmentwide view across departments to look at the overall list of programs and activities we are engaged in, and whether the priorities necessitate shifts in resources or direction in order to substantively achieve movement on the priorities we set. By not doing this, we have arrived at a budget which has somewhat successfully began to implement the Fiscal Sustainability Strategy, and has also resulted in reductions to funding for housing, which is our stated top priority; education, which I believe is integral to a strong economic foundation; and health.

Looking at it this way, it seems evident to me that the top priority of this government is not any of our stated priorities agreed upon by caucus, rather, the Fiscal Sustainability Strategy is the number 1 priority of our government.

This may simply be the reality we have to face, but I suggest that if we had given more thought or time to better align our resources towards the priorities that we set, we might be able to better move towards fiscal sustainability and the stated priorities of the Assembly.

I want to turn to speaking to the individual priorities, what they mean to me, and what shifting resources to them will look like in my opinion. I'll start with housing.

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to see NWT Housing looking to do a territorywide needs assessment for housing, which I understand will inform applications to the federal government and other potential funders for funding towards addressing this key issue. I support this item in the business plans and would like it to lead to longterm planning and costing towards fully addressing identified needs over time as I have discussed previously. Where I think we are lacking, is in addressing the growing O and M deficit for this department and the declining state of our existing housing stock in the territory. This gap is why Members have brought forward the proposal to add $200 million to NWT Housing's budget over the next four years so that we can address required maintenance and upgrading of existing housing stock. If we do not do this, Mr. Speaker, I fear we run the risk of losing stock over time as quickly as we are replacing it, making it difficult to ever get to the point where we are fully addressing needs.

The next priority item I'd like to speak to is the strong economic foundation. Recently, the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment received a presentation from Mr. Graeme Clinton on his Eyes Wide Open Report, which discusses the upcoming closure of the diamond mines, what this will mean for our economy, and encourages leaders to discuss and develop a vision for what comes next. I consider my thoughts on this priority item the beginning of my response to that report.

Mr. Speaker, mining has for many years formed the backbone of the private sector of the NWT's economy, as is highlighted in the Eyes Wide Open Report. I think it is true that private investment and industry in the territory are an important component of a healthy economy and agree that employment, poverty levels, and economic activity are closely tied to social and health outcomes. I agree with Cabinet's mandate item under this priority to strengthen and improve efficiency in our regulatory system and am happy to make contributions towards that item with the experience I bring from working within the system.

I also want to focus on another aspect of our territory's relationship with industry that is highlighted, perhaps inadvertently, in the Eyes Wide Open Report and that I think requires our attention. As noted in the report, of 3100 jobs associated with this sector, 1500 of them have been staffed by NWT residents. The rest are staffed from the south.

While we did get around to establishing a heritage fund in this territory, it has been noted in the past to lose money some years and has failed to maximize longterm benefit for our residents from onetime resource extraction. So I would argue that we have failed to fully maximize the potential benefits associated with this sector to residents of the NWT by not investing more in education and workforce development and ensuring that we are adequately capturing royalties and saving them so that future generations can benefit from resources that they won't have access to because they have been mined in the present. What I don't want to see us do is double down on a model that has gotten us into the scenario we are in now, where we are facing significant economic hardship whenever industry ebbs and flows, or that there is significant economic activity happening but, despite this, many people are not in a position to benefit directly from this activity.

This does not mean I don't want to see us develop our resources. What it means is that I want to ensure that we are working to ensure we can do so in a way that maximizes benefits to people. To this point, Mr. Speaker, when I think of a strong economic foundation, I want to focus on the fact that ultimately people are the foundation of a strong economy. I would also turn that phrase around and state that people are also the reason to build a strong economy, and outcomes for the people of the Northwest Territories need to be the focus of our government. For this reason, for a long time, I have been advocating for significant investment in education in the NWT. I believe that we need to take a holistic approach to this and focus on improving outcomes for JK to 12 students and also round out our academic system by building a worldclass Polytechnic University to help develop our workforce and diversify our economy.

In response to Mr. Clinton's call for leaders to work to develop a cohesive vision for the future of the Northwest Territories, I want to point to the fact that a number of northern jurisdictions, which have previously largely relied on mining, are successfully diversifying their economies and that development of universities, and the knowledge economy is a key component in that shift. We only need to look next door to the Yukon, which is realizing economic and population growth through a diverse economy, to see an example of how this could work here. While postsecondary education is just one component of the Yukon's success, it is where I want the focus to be because of the status of our own postsecondary development project.

I look at our territory in comparison to the Yukon, and I am incredibly concerned about the troubling news that Aurora College's transition to a polytechnic is struggling to come to fruition. When I think of the Member for Inuvik BootLake's comments about us becoming a havenot territory, I worry that if we fail to adequately commit to invest in and ensure that this project succeeds, it will be yet another step towards economic and social downturn in comparison to our thriving neighbor.

We also need to consider the opportunities we are missing out on by not moving forward with this initiative.

The federal government has invested millions in infrastructure and program funding to support Yukon College's transition. It is also interesting to note that NWT diamond money has gone towards building and funding universities in British Columbia.

Mr. Speaker, Chuck Fipke, one of the discoverers of diamonds in the NWT, has donated $17 million to UBC over the years for buildings, equipment, and programming. Stewart Blusson, his partner in business, has donated $105 million to BC universities. By not having an institution to capture these kinds of investments, we are missing out. I find it incredibly frustrating to say that, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we are in a situation where we have to tell residents that if they want to attain a highquality education, they have to leave the territory. We are heading towards a situation where we will be telling residents that if they want to realize a good career in a range of sectors, they will have to leave the territory. At what point are we simply telling people they need to leave the territory? Let's not get to that point, Mr. Speaker. Let's look to our neighbor's example and invest in our people and develop the foundation for a strong economy so people can look forward to a bright future here.

We need to come together and work towards a collective vision which sets aside regional squabbling and seeks to work together to realize benefits for our territory as a whole. I heard Indigenous leaders making this call at the recent economic forum in April and was excited to hear their unity. Let's ensure the territorial government joins them and helps to coalesce around a vision we can all be excited about and work towards.

Lastly, I will speak to health. Mr. Speaker, as noted a few evenings ago, I am happy to see the health department speaking to evolving and investing in our primary care system to ensure better and more equitable access to care. I campaigned on making this shift and believe that while it may seem like a modest goal, it is integral and the key to ensuring better health outcomes in our territory. As noted previously in statements, the omission I see in health's business plans is addressing head on the workforce and management issues in the system which have been causing so many issues that we've seen in the news. For those reasons, I support the recommendations for change brought forward by Members in our budget report, which speak for themselves and don't need to be reiterated here. I also continue to advocate that the health Minister consider the recommendation brought forward by the Standing Committee on Social Development to pause changes to the extended health benefits program.

Mr. Speaker, finally, I would like to speak briefly to a part of how we got to the fiscal situation we are in and its implications on our ability to realize our goals for the Northwest Territories.

Over the years, GNWT workforce growth has significantly outpaced that of the population growth of the Northwest Territories. This trend became particularly acute most recently. In the short span of the past four years, the GNWT workforce grew by 25 percent. Coincidentally, and perhaps it is fair to say consequently, we seem to be less able than ever to provide adequate funding to our NGOs, to infrastructures, to programs which support our residents most in need. Mr. Speaker, I think we need to consider a shift away from answering the problems we face by growing the government and take a more holistic look at how the government can best achieve results for our territory by working with and funding partners, particularly our NGOs.

I do not think we need to take a draconian approach to this conversation and certainly do not advocate for one. Rather, I suggest we consider longterm planning which seeks to minimize impacts to individuals but also seeks to ensure our resources are used strategically and effectively and not continuing to grow the workforce exponentially as we have been. I want to see us investing in longterm sustainability in our NGO sector, to realize the benefits they can help bring. Let's invest in the arts, Mr. Speaker. Let's invest in tourism. Let's invest in diversifying our economy so that we are not in a situation of fiscal uncertainty whenever the sole industry that we're relying on ebbs and flows.

In closing Mr. Speaker, if I can share one overarching message in my reply to the Budget Address, it is that I would like to see us to truly seek to put our resources behind the priorities we have set. As I have said before and as stated in the mandate, we need to challenge the status quo and be bold and decisive. We need to make a plan for what we are going to do in the shortterm future to address the most immediate risks we are facing, make some decisions about what we're going to set aside for now, or not do anymore considering these priorities, and take swift action on implementing this plan. We can move quickly when need be, Mr. Speaker.

This government has demonstrated this ability in the face of several crises in the past four years. I think it would be ambitious to expect us to work as quickly as private industry but how about we shoot for significantly quicker than having plans in place two years from now or goals like developing a plan at some point within the term of the Assembly. Let's move quickly and let's be ambitious. Let's invest in our people, Mr. Speaker. They are the foundation of our economy, and they are the reason we are here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Orin Gwiinzii. Good day, colleagues. Today I would like to give my perspectives on the 2024 2025 Budget of the Government of the Northwest Territories and how it will affect the residents of our communities. Although the government has to make some very difficult choices for the benefit of our immediate future and the continued lifestyle of all our residents who are dependent on the operation of our daytoday wellbeing. We, as a government, and the residents of the Northwest Territories, must play an important role in making this budget work for all involved. Myself, as a Member of the Legislative Assembly, has always and will continue to fight for communitybased programs where I feel fit. There are situations where I will have to side with regional or territorial decisions mainly for the fact that this is where some of these decisions have to be made. Mr. Chair, I will start with the department responsible for housing.

This, the 20th Assembly, has made housing its top priority. In 1967, the government came into our communities and stated that it would make our lives more comfortable and convenient to live. Although we did not find our lifestyle uncomfortable or inconvenient, we let the government of yesterday disrupt our traditional way of life. We have become too dependent on the government and we have to get away from this dependency.

It is evident that this government, or any government, cannot relieve us of the housing crises that we are encountering. The Government of the Northwest Territories cannot meet the housing needs of our communities now or in the immediate future. What we can do is work collaboratively with the Indigenous governments of our respective communities to try and come up with realistic solutions to this ongoing crisis. Financial resources should continue to flow to the communities because it is our community leadership who are the ones that are dealing with the housing issues on a daytoday basis. I would encourage the department to continue to work with the communities on a regular basis.

The renting formula has to be addressed as soon as possible. The current rent scale is not working for the tenants who reside in the public housing units because of the high unemployment rate within the Mackenzie Delta riding.

Most of the employment opportunities are seasonal. With the current rent scale, most of the seasonal workers are getting into arrears with Housing NWT. There are situations where some of these potential employees do not want to work because their rent will increase, or they will not qualify for income assistance.

Mr. Speaker, the health and social services department is also on the minds of all residents of the Northwest Territories and we have to meet the needs of the residents in order to have a healthy and vibrant family, community, and Northwest Territories as a whole.

Addictions is plaguing our residents and our communities throughout the North, and we have to address the crises head on. I have always stated that in order to combat the addictions problem, we must include the whole family in the treatment process because it is just not the addict who requires counselling services. When one person is addicted to a substance, it impacts the whole family and therefore we must help them to cope with the treatment process and be part of the solution.

Mr. Speaker, medical travel and medical escorts is an ongoing issue that needs special attention. We find that there are clients who are elderly, illiterate, or have English as a second language going to southern institutions by themselves. The financial resources surrounding this concern should not restrict the clients from having an escort to assist them in receiving the best care possible.

I know that we are in a nursing shortage throughout the North, and we all have to play our part in adapting to this shortage. In our smaller communities, we must utilize the community health workers so that the clients are given the best care possible and that starts with these local workers who are all well known to these patients. Being able to administer medicine that has been prescribed is very important to the healing process of our elderly patients.

Mr. Speaker, income support has been one of my more concentrated areas of concern. In no way am I trying to punish the recipients of this program. The aim of my concern is to have our residents become more selfreliant and less accustomed to free handouts. There are people who require the use of this program, mainly the elderly and disabled. This group of people are identified, and I will advocate for their continued benefit from the income assistance program. But there are individuals who are able to work or conduct some sort of productive choice in an effort to get them back into the workforce and be a positive example to their families and to their communities. I have been an advocate in trying to find positive measures where the Indigenous governments can assist the Government of the Northwest Territories in developing programs where we can educate our people in becoming less reliant on the government and help the economy grow.

I am enthusiastic in the approach that this government is taking in regards to education. Education is the fundamental part of our communities in having a sustainable economy, a healthy community, and a healthy Northwest Territories. If we can do away with socially promoting our students, we will have a brighter future and this government seems to be addressing this concern. Building the selfesteem of our younger generation will enable the future generation to be productive leaders in the coming years and that tasks starts today.

I have attended too many graduation ceremonies where the celebration is merely a celebration, not one of completing one's grade 12 where they are eligible to move on to postsecondary education, not where these misled students are stuck in our communities with low selfesteem. It is time for this government to honour our treaties that were signed in an effort to provide the best education to our children, now and in the immediate future.

Having a sustainable economy will benefit everyone in the Northwest Territories for years to come. We have to include the Indigenous governments and the grassroots people at the community level. What works in Inuvik, Hay River, or Yellowknife may not work in the community of Tsiigehtchic because the residents of Tsiigehtchic will have their own vision. What we can do as a government is provide the communities with resources to continue to move forward.

Public safety seems to be a concern to the residents since the inclusion of hard drugs coming into our smaller communities. The RCMP are reluctant to assist where assistance is needed because they may not have the resources or may not have the training to address the issue that comes with the criminal activity related to gangs and drug dealers from southern parts of Canada.

It has been over 40 years since the MLA's of the Mackenzie Delta riding have been advocating for a nurse and the RCMP to be stationed in the community of Tsiigehtchic, and I will continue to advocate on their behalf. This government is initiating a community policing program in a couple of NWT communities, and it is my hope that Tsiigehtchic will be considered for one of these pilot projects in the near future. It is very urgent that we see the presence of these resource people because Tsiigehtchic is right on the highway system and alcohol and drugs are already in the community with no preventative measures to keep the residents safe.

In closing Mr. Chair, I am confident that this government will indeed make these tough choices for the benefit of all Northerners. I have a 7yearold granddaughter and one day she may ask why I was a part of this process in trying to better shape her future, and I hope it was the right decision that we as a government are making today. We, as a government and MLAs, have to live with the decisions that we make today but it is the residents that we represent who will have to adapt to these tough decisions. I am confident that we can all work together as a government of this 20th Legislative Assembly for the residents of this great land we call home. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the ideas and intentions behind this budget really resonate with me. Practical and realistic that certainly is my style of doing things. I agree we need to pay down more of our debt and live more within our means.

We heard from the finance Minister that this budget is about value and efficiency, not just reductions. I do appreciate the thought that has been put into streamlining efforts of departments where there was previously overlap such as merging responsibilities for immigration and arts funding that were previously split between ECE and ITI and merging the technology services centre with information systems shared services. I am also excited about centralized mobile fleet management i truly am, yeah, okay. So we can make more efficient use of our large fleet of vehicles. I also agree that it's not sustainable or wise to tackle every problem by adding another GNWT position. We cannot solve our economic problems, including low employment in some communities, by hiring everyone to work for the government. Where I start to get nervous is when I get the feeling that each department is being asked to do more with less.

Now, some people imagine that the government is made up of lazy office workers so of course we should be asking them to do more. They just need to learn how to hustle like their counterparts in the private sector. But in my experience, when we ask everyone in every department to do more with less, the burden usually falls disproportionately on the shoulders of those who are already doing the most; those who are the most dedicated and motivated, who will always take on more because no one else will do it. And most of the burden ends up falling on the frontline service providers that we often take for granted, as well as the nonprofits who take on some of the hardest frontline work that, frankly, no one else will do.

We demand more from our nurses and doctors who take on more and more patients in an emergency room that's bursting at the seams, who cover more and more shifts, and on top of this are expected to train a revolving door of locums and agency nurses.

We demand more from our teachers, who we expect to somehow improve attendance rates and graduate more kids even when facing classrooms where 80 to 90 percent could have language or learning disabilities.

We take for granted that the frontline workers at our nonprofits, our shelters for example, will just keep taking more and more people into the shelters, well beyond their capacity, because they don't want to leave anyone in the cold. Meanwhile, many of those seeking shelter these days are under the influence of harder drugs than we're used to seeing before, there is more lateral violence, and yet shelter workers are supposed to manage it all with the same resources as before, or bounce people over to the emergency room or the police, which are also overwhelmed.

Now we see in the business plans that this government states it will help nonprofits by pointing them towards funding from elsewhere. I suspect that might lead us to hiring another GNWT employee to write funding proposals for nonprofits, which I would note is an example of exactly what we have pledged not to do, trying to solve each problem by hiring another GNWT worker. When the money that would have gone to a salary could just as easily have been given to the NGO to do the work themselves.

Mr. Speaker, I understand that this government is not a money tree. I understand that it is our role to make tough choices as the finance Minister has emphasized. But, Mr. Speaker, our frontline workers in many areas are reaching a breaking point. We talk about the fiscal cliff that we're trying to back away from but what about the cliff that our social services are teetering on the edge of? I am concerned this budget does not lead our health system or our shelter system away from that cliff.

Now, the message from the finance Minister was that this was never intended to be an austerity budget or cuts for the sake of cuts. The problem is that in each department's scramble to find things to cut, we tend to reach for the things that might ruffle the least feathers, the opportunities where we see vacancies or retirements. And that's not necessarily making the tough choices. It gets really tempting to scrap the things that haven't worked out yet, the programs that have turned out to cause frustration and conflict, things that now feel really annoying and we just want to be done with them. The problem is that in some cases we're giving up on important things that we actually need in the longterm even if we haven't yet realized the vision of what they are supposed to be.

A prime example is the transformation of Aurora College into a polytechnic university.

The money seems to have dried up for continuing the transformation process. And this budget is letting the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Innovation fade away even though that was where accredited programs were being developed, and we're reducing general Aurora College funding as well. Now I understand that everyone is frustrated that this project hasn't worked out as hoped. But this territory needs a highquality postsecondary institution for so many reasons. We cannot let this vision die or get distracted by conflicts and rivalries between different communities. We absolutely need an institution where young people from the North can get recognized degrees in anything from teaching, environmental science, trades, Indigenous governance, film things that would open up a world of opportunities for our people. We need an institution where we can do worldclass research in northern issues like permafrost thaw, mining innovations, climate change adaptation, Indigenous culture and language revitalization, remediation. We need an institution that can attract students from around the world because we have something unique and valuable to offer.

This kind of institution can be an economic driver for the territory, both as a source of direct revenues in the form of tuition and research dollars, and as a way to produce a highquality labour force. Mr. Speaker, we are so far from achieving that vision, and it's so tempting to put it on a back burner during a time of fiscal restraint, but it's now more than ever we need to make significant progress towards realizing the vision of a polytechnic university.

Another example of where we are scrapping something with an absence of vision is the proposed elimination of the Office of the Children's Lawyer. I understand there has been frustration with this office and uncomfortable relationships with other government agencies, but I would argue we need to step back and think about why we established this office in the first place. Our system does not always make decisions that are in the best interests of children, especially children in care, and we need to change that about our system. Now, there may be different ways to accomplish this so let's talk about that and get going. But this budget, unfortunately, creates an even bigger vacuum that takes us further from that goal.

We are trying to scrimp and save in health care but without a clear overarching vision of what we're trying to achieve, I believe that if we invest more now in staff retention and in health care workforce planning, we may see an increase to our budgets upfront during these main estimates but we will save vast amounts of money in the longterm because we won't see the huge deficits piling up and the constant requests for supplementary funds. We're failing to properly cost out our needs, failing to determine the right number of positions, the right composition of professionals to make up our primary care teams, but we hang over everyone's head in the system this scolding that they should be saving more money, that our system is too expensive. So managers try to skimp and cut corners, perhaps on staff benefits or not giving people the vacation time they're allotted, or we allow shifts to go unfilled, but then we lose our staff and then we scramble and then we end up paying far more by the end of the year for the agency nurses and locums to fill the gaps.

So this myth that we start out having no money is a dangerous trap, and it can lead us to these costly and shortsighted decisions. So instead our focus needs to be on building up value in the system, and the most valuable thing we have is our human resources.

Now, over the past few months, I had the privilege and chance to tour a number of facilities, the new Liwegoati Building in Yellowknife, the Children’s First Child Care Facility in Inuvik, the Gwichin Wellness Camp, and I've been reflecting that we have invested a lot in truly impressive, stateoftheart infrastructure. But have we remembered to invest enough in our human resources? Because we are struggling to sustain programming and actually staff these stateoftheart facilities.

Now in terms of energy solutions, we are still all about the megaprojects. And then we encounter debacles like the insanely expensive Inuvik wind turbine system with its ballooning costs. And this might be enough to make us want to give up on renewable energy solutions entirely. Yet the most costeffective steps are often the incremental ones, the small retrofits, switches to wood stoves and biomass heating. And I would propose a pilot project on renewable diesel, which I'll be speaking about later this session. But these are not the exciting megaprojects, so they're easy to ignore or reduce because few will notice that they're gone. The problem is we have failed so far to articulate a coherent energy vision. It just seems too overwhelming and expensive. And yet we always find money at the end of each year to subsidize our power corporation, to subsidize diesel through supplementary funding when our use skyrockets due to low water or the price of diesel goes up.

The common theme that I'm trying to point out here is that when we lack a clear vision and clear plans, it costs us more in the end. We need a clear vision for economic development, and I believe it needs to be centered around the how, not the what.

I do not think that it is government's role to pick which is the next industry that's going to save us all. The goal is to reduce dependency, to build up our human resources, and to ensure we don't have so many jobs and contracts going south.

Now, we've talked a lot lately about ending the dependency that stems from colonialism. It's important to remember that we need to both avoid dependency on government and avoid dependency on any one industry. We cannot hand over our fate to a handful of multinational corporations when their decisions are ruled by global commodity price fluctuations, boom and bust patterns, not to mention geopolitical games with China. I'm not saying industry is bad; I'm just saying we have to focus on things we have the most control over, and that is our own human resources.

Now, my colleague from Inuvik Boot Lake spoke to us passionately about being resource rich and cash poor. So we need to turn some of those resources into cash.

Now diamond mines were likely the best cash cow we could ever wish for, one of the few types of resource extraction that doesn't require shipping out massive amounts of material, which is obviously extremely expensive in the NWT due to our transportation and infrastructure challenges. Diamond mines were our chance to finally lay the foundations for real social and economic progress. But we have fallen short. We largely failed to seize the opportunity to make lasting investments in our children, in our education and health systems and, as a result, in our workforce. We cannot afford to keep making this mistake.

I also don't believe that economic diversification is the magic bullet that will save us, at least not when it means sprinkling seeds in every direction, hoping that something will bear fruit if we keep pumping government funds indefinitely into every sector.

I am encouraged that in this budget and business plans we will be developing a Macroeconomic Policy Framework, that the mantra now is not to pick the winners but to create an environment where northern businesses can flourish and be competitive. That includes ensuring housing availability for workers. It also means changing the way we structure our contracts, using our procurement power to help incubate northern solutions and innovations. The big picture of the economy basically comes down to what can we offer that the world is demanding? What can we offer that has a higher value and lower cost than anyone else?

I can't help but think that our best bet is to invest in our ideas, our cultures, our stories, which can attract investment in the form of a university, film, art, tourism. The areas where we face our biggest challenges in terms of our remoteness, the climate change threats to transportation and infrastructure, these also make us unique and so they present opportunities to come up with northern solutions, northern innovations, in partnership with researchers from around the world, and it's these kinds of ideas and innovations that we can be exporting.

So instead of starting by picking an industry, above all I believe we need to cultivate excellence in everything that we do so that we can develop things to offer and sell that are competitive not just in the North but in a global environment. The only way forward is to move away from dependence, from crutches, from excuses about how we can't expect the NWT to really thrive because of all the special challenges that we face. I do still have hope, Mr. Speaker, that we can cultivate a culture of excellence in government. That's how we will develop value and efficiency. So when things are going sideways, instead of making the easy cuts we need to go back to the drawing board, figure out why things have gone wrong, refocus our vision and redouble our efforts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm excited and proud to acknowledge Frame Lake resident Morgan Stabel who recently won the national youth bowling championship while representing the NWT in the senior girls division. Morgan is the top Canadian five-pin bowler in her category, and she is the first NWT resident to win gold at a national bowling event in Canada in 22 years.

Mr. Speaker, that is an incredible feat and an inspiration for all NWT athletes. Congratulations, Morgan, on your big achievement.

Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Acknowledgements. Member from Range Lake.

I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to acknowledge the incredible career of Range Lake's Jeff Seabrook who is set to retire after nearly three decades of inspiring and guiding northern students through his tireless service with Yellowknife Education District 1. Currently serving as principal of Ecole William McDonald Middle School, Jeff is known for his passionate support for French language education and has developed many outdoor student programs such as winter camps and canoe trips. In 2019, he was named as one of the country's best educators when he won that year's Learning Partnership Canada's Outstanding Principal Award. I know I speak for this entire Assembly when I congratulate him on his achievements, and we wish him all the best as he concludes that final stretch of his career and heads into retirement. Thank you, Jeff, for all your hard work preparing generation after generation for their lives ahead. You deserve all the best. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Acknowledgements.

Colleagues, recognizing the time, we will have a brief recess. A brief break.

SHORT RECESS

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member's statement, violent crime in the Northwest Territories is on the rise as is drug crime. Drug seizures are up a hundred percent, I believe, and homicides are up more so than that. This use when I was growing up here, this was a very peaceful place. You know, we didn't see anything like this at the scale that it's happening now. Does the Premier agree that this is a crisis that needs to be resolved? Thank you.

thank you, Member for Range Lake. Minister responsible for Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't like to use the term crisis but, in this situation, the influx of drugs, the increase in violent crime, the influx of handguns, I think that we are facing a crisis. The reason I kept the Justice portfolio this term is because I've seen what happened in my community of Hay River, and I wanted to make sure that I was able to follow through on some of the initiatives that we began to start addressing this because it is a deadly serious issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Premier for his leadership on this. It is something I very much support, and I want to commend him for bringing new resources to bear. Can he just let us know how this new crime reduction unit is going to make a difference. The RCMP say it's a game changer. Can he speak to that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, you know, we see RCMP around the community. We see them around town out on patrol. They're responding to calls. And that's what they do. They don't necessarily have the time to go out and conduct investigations, to do surveillance, to focus on some of these drugrelated issues because they are out doing their daytoday work. And so the crime reduction unit is able to work in those areas where the other constables just don't have the time to do it and aren't mandated to do that type of work. So they will be focusing on drugs, bootlegging, which often go hand in hand, and working with the federal unit as well in terms of dealing with organized time. So this is a unit that's being put together to address the issues that we are facing in the Northwest Territories right now. It is being tailored to the issues that we're facing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are expending the resources in this budget. We are committing to legislation in the future, but I think there are people worried about it now. When will they start seeing a difference in crime rates? When will they start feeling safer communities? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish I had an answer for that. This is a tough situation. Everywhere that I'm aware of, where there's a demand for drugs, there's an influx of drugs. There's a flow of drugs. And so until we address that demand, it's going to be very difficult to stop the increases in crime. But that being said, the Member noted that there have been significant increases in drug busts, in charges, in seizures of handguns, so we are seeing the impact of enhanced enforcement. Unfortunately, there's also enhanced crime. So it's a bit of a it feels like a bit of an arms race right now. And we are making an impact. And I appreciate the Member bringing this up and actually all the Members in this House, it's one of the few things that we can all agree on is the need for more enforcement in this area. And that's really a sad comment on the state of things, but I think that it shows how important it is that we do continue this enforcement and these enhanced efforts. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Justice. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these efforts are largely designed, I think, to combat organized time. What are we doing about community policing to make sure there's, you know, reassuring community safety officers on the streets, providing that support at the local level, connecting with people, especially the unhoused population that make a big difference in Yellowknife. We have a pilot in Fort Liard. Is the Premier willing to bring that pilot into Yellowknife and into other centres, like his community of Hay River, so we have more presence on the streets keeping people safe? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ultimately, I would like to see an expansion of the community safety officer program. I can't comment on where such a program might be most effective. Right now it is being piloted in Fort Liard. And the program will be evaluated, and that evaluation will inform the types of communities where such a program would be the most effective. So we want to make sure we're getting the best bang for our buck. And so maybe it is a small community type of program, maybe it's for regional centres, it could be for Yellowknife. So that remains to be seen, but we are continuously lobbying the federal government for support for these types of initiatives. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

All right, mucho gracias, Mr. Speaker. All right, Mr. Speaker, the Minister of education had mentioned in one of her comments yesterday that the most significant tool at her fingertips is the mandate that is issued to the board. And so the board I'm referring to is the Aurora College board. And she said the next letter is coming out approximately July and even the interim letter may or may not regardless, we're almost at July have the direction of the mandate of which tells the college to work towards switching to a polytech.

My question for the Minister is will the new mandate letter, issued in July or thereabouts, provide direction and instruction for the college to follow through on the transition so Aurora College becomes a polytech? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the interim mandate letter that was issued in the last Assembly by the previous Minister of education expires in July. So that's where the July timeline comes in, is that the existing one expires in July. So that project has been jump started by letter from myself to the board of governors, and that project is currently underway between myself and the board. And it is the intention that, yes, it will continue to outline intentions for the board of governors and Aurora College to continue along with their transformation efforts, but it is really a collaborative process that is done between myself and the board, and so we have to ensure that we are both in alignment on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister define the difference between intentions and direction? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I could definitely provide a difference of definitions of the two. But the reason that I am saying that there is an intention rather than a direction is because I am reminded it is a collaborative process. I want to ensure that both of our voices are in it because we are both agreeing to something in it. But from myself, I do have an expectation that transformation is part of that mandate letter and is part of the marching kind of direction of the Aurora College as well. I think that this I agree with Members, this is a very important project. It has a tremendous amount of opportunity for the territory, not only to attract new students and new Northerners but also to ensure that we are continuing to build a skilled workforce for Northerners. Thank you.

All right, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that answer. According to Global University Systems Canada, it says Canadian universities represent a formidable economic force with far reaching impacts. Mr. Speaker, we can only get to that and achieve those types of things if this mandate for the transition portion is funded. Therefore, if it's going to be part of the marching instructions and directions, will it be supported with some type of financial support specific to transition? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to start off by just first thanking Members for continuing this conversation on the floor of the House and out in public as well because I do think this is a very important project, and having their voices lent to it is very important.

Mr. Speaker, while I am not responsible or accountable to the operations within Aurora College, I am accountable to the dollars that we as an Assembly approve for Aurora College for their running of their programs. When transformation was underway in the previous Assembly, it was agreed by senior management of Aurora College, as well as senior management from Education, Culture and Employment, that the funds for the Bachelor of Education and the diploma of social work would be repurposed for the purposes of transformation to be able to continue to fund that project to go forward. And so if those funds are not enough and are not being used for that purpose, then I would also have because of my responsibility to the dollars that are spent through my department, have the responsibility of going back to the college as well to ensure that they have the dollars that they need but that they are also spending the dollars that they have been provided with a form of accountability and, of course, positive return on investment for Northerners. So that is definitely a conversation that has to happen between myself and board of governors. And less than a week ago, it was the first ask for additional funding that I received from Aurora College. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Member from Yellowknife Centre. Final supplementary.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if I heard that correctly, that was the longest yes I've ever heard, or we'll find a way if it's not available. And the Minister's welcome to correct me if yes wasn't in there but that's certainly what it sounded like. It was difficult to follow, but I think I got it.

So, Mr. Speaker, once the mandate letter is drafted and sent, obviously in agreement I've listened to how the Minister chooses to proceed on this one would she be willing to make that mandate letter public? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely, subject to legislation, I'd be more than happy to make anything public to make sure that I am following the rules of the Northwest Territories but certainly I definitely agree in transparency, and I want to encourage and support the Member's desire to continue to stay afoot on the happenings over at Aurora College, the direction they've been provided, and also the timelines that they intend to adhere to.

Mr. Speaker, the reason why yes, was a little bit longer is because I've answered this question numerous times and want to ensure that I'm getting all the information out there because this is, I know, a subject of great interest to Members. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before I give my question, I do want to have a quick congratulations to Minister Semmler and Minister Kuptana and their Member statements today and congratulate them on this special day as well.

Mr. Speaker, I spoke about the waiting lists and the issues around housing in my community. My questions are for the Minister of housing. The first question is how many vacant units are there currently in Inuvik, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Member from Boot Lake. Minister responsible for Housing.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently in the town of Inuvik, there are five units for occupancy that are in the process of being allocated, seven units with repairs in progress, and 14 units requiring repairs that have not yet begun. While officially we have 26 units vacant in Inuvik, five will be shortly occupied. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Minister for that information and hopefully we can get those repairs done sooner rather than later and that we have the funding certainly allocated to do that.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister provide the current number of clients on the public housing waitlist in Inuvik?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In Inuvik, like many other communities across the North, we have a long waitlist. In Inuvik, we have a total of 80 families on the waitlist, one-bedroom 52 families; two-bedroom, 17; three-bedroom, we have 8 families, and the four-bedrooms, we have 3 families. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Minister Kuptana. Obviously, that speaks to the need, Mr. Speaker, that we need, you know, additional housing not only in Inuvik, and I'm sure that's, as the Minister says, throughout the territory, especially in our regions, smaller communities.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister commit to prioritizing housing for the elderly and disabled? I'm not sure how many of those families or how many on those lists for the onebedroom are elderly or have disabilities, but can the Minister commit to prioritizing for disabled residents on the waitlist and elderly residents, please?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And this subject, with elderly and disabled residents, it's become a discussion item, a discussion point, throughout the Northwest Territories and with the Council of Leaders. So as part of the strategic renewal, Housing NWT has committed to ongoing policy and program improvements and will work with NWT Housing Forum to consider additional changes to the point rating system that may be needed. Housing NWT works closely with the Council of Leaders housing working group to update its policies in the 19th Assembly as part of the Housing NWT Strategic Renewal.

The current point rating system, after input from the working group, includes considering suitability, adequacy, and affordability of the individuals' current housing arrangements, as well as considering social factors such as victims of family violence, individuals with disabilities or medical conditions aggravated by their current living conditions, or those individuals who are homeless.

Housing NWT does design and maintain some homes that are designated for seniors or those with mobility/accessibility requirements and is currently delivering five duplexes to five communities across the Northwest Territories designed for specific clientele. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. Again, it's important that we get this information out there and that residents understand, because myself as well, as I'm sure as many other MLAs, do get a considerable amount of phone calls on the issue and to get this information out there, I think is great.

One final, Mr. Speaker. The Minister signed a collaborative agreement on housing with the Gwich'in Tribal Council, which I think is amazing and it's the kind of work we need to be doing. Can the Minister describe how the department is also working with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and the Inuvik native band? Thank you.