Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance today. Mr. Speaker, as the Member -- or sorry, as the Minister responsible for the public service, what is the government doing to ensure change management principles are entrenched in our processes? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are some efforts underway already. For instance, in terms of the GNWT's core competencies, which is what we use to evaluate the employees that we have in our workforce, we do have within that action management as being one of those core competencies and obviously associated training to try to support that, which isn't to say, Mr. Speaker, that more emphasis and highlighting can't be done, and so I appreciate the opportunity today to do that here on the floor. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what processes do we have in place to assess the effectiveness of changes that we implement at the GNWT? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, there are specialists in change management within the GNWT. Their roles though more typically would be in terms of developing the programs that we have. For example, there's a change management senior advisor within executive and indigenous affairs that's helping to lead some of the whole of government work that is underway within this government around being strength-based and trauma-informed and trying to manage that type of cultural change within government.
That said, Mr. Speaker, I hear the Member's question. It's about assessing effectiveness. That in and of itself is a cultural change that needs to take place. It's part of the government renewal work that we're doing to try to include a more evaluative process, but that work certainly does take some time, and I do acknowledge that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what is the government doing to ensure staff understand how to lead and respond to change effectively in their roles and in the changes that they're working on? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this really is a cultural issue and one that we want to ensure -- I mean, I've certainly spoken in the House many times about having an inclusive and a diverse workplace but having one that also can manage change, lead change, thrive in change, that too is workplace culture. I certainly acknowledge that. Again, I know there's a lot of public servants who are watching and who always watch, and wanting to encourage them to have those skills and to seek out those opportunities. The GNWT's Aurora -- or sorry, leadership development program does include elements of change management within it, and that is certainly one way that I would encourage people who are looking to move through the organization, to go and undertake that program. But if there's other opportunities -- I know that the Member quoted a book -- we want to encourage that. We want to get to that place to have an evaluative and supportive culture. So that's one opportunity here, and I'm looking forward to finding others. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my final question is what steps is the government taking to encourage change resiliency throughout the public service, and does the Minister feel that we could be doing more? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we can always do more. There's always room to improve. There's no doubt about that. And quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, the last five years have had a lot of crises and a lot of difficult times and a lot has been asked for the public service in the last five years. So learning through those processes and managing those changes and managing them into the future, absolutely, we can continue to improve. And, again, whether that's through doing the development training that is already on offer, that includes change management, whether that's in terms of our own processes and how we communicate change, leaning on those folks who do have that change background, those are all areas that I certainly do want to commit. Having had this debate here now, I'll certainly commit to going back to the department and making sure we are maximizing all of those resources. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
Thanks, Mr. Speaker. After that exchange, I have a lot of questions for the Minister of Finance myself, but I'll keep it to the Minister of ECE for now.
So like many issues in the North, the federal one-size-fits-all approach isn't working for the territory, and recent federal limits on temporary foreign workers are concerning to my constituents. Has the Minister formally asked the federal government to increase the quota of nominees? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in short, yes, absolutely. This is our first time -- 2024 will be our first time ever filling our quota for the nominee program in the Northwest Territories. We have requested an increase, and this is similar to other jurisdictions across Canada. We've requested an increase from 300 to 500. In the meantime, I can also -- and sorry, while we have not heard back from the federal government on that one, I intend -- I am expecting to hear back from them by the end of the year. And I could also confirm for the Member that we have asked about an increase to our allotment in this calendar year, both politically and at the officials level, but our allotment currently sits and remains at 300. Thank you.
Thanks, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. That's good news.
I'm also wondering in the solution that she is proposing with her federal counterparts whether there might be part of it that would look like the deal that the Yukon recently secured earlier this month to secure temporary measures to extend work permits. Mr. Speaker, if she could elaborate on that. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, temporary measures that the Yukon joined allows the Yukon nominee program to support the extension of work permits for applicants in their assessment queue that they currently have and who have work permits that expire in 2024. One of the things that we did here in the territory is that we prioritized those applications in 2024 and expect to be able to work our way through them in this calendar year. So the Government of the Northwest Territories did look at the option and opt in program that Yukon is currently partaking in but decided that they would be able to process the applications in this current calendar year and so it wouldn't serve our needs. Our needs are to continue to work as quickly as we can through applications. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we're nearing the restart of this program in January for a new batch of, I guess, up to 500 now, hopefully, but 300 definitely, which brings fears for my constituents about a bottleneck. Can the minister explain how ECE is preparing for applications in 2025 and whether the applicants who are affected by the pause will be prioritized? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, so applicants with an expiring work permit in 2024, as I said, we're still able to submit their applications to the nominee program and are being assessed within the queue based on that priority. Applicants who have not been able to apply because of the pause that was put in place will be able to apply when the program opens up in January of 2025 again. So in acknowledgement of the increase to applications that we have received, Education, Culture and Employment is doing what they can to ensure they have a full complement of staff in order to receive the increased -- expected increase in applications again in the next calendar year.
The other thing that is happening that we talked about during the last sitting of this Assembly was the amalgamation of our immigration programs from Education, Culture and Employment and Industry, Tourism, and Investment and both being placed within Education, Culture and Employment. So that will help in the future with staffing capacity as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary, Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Minister have a handle on how many applications she's expecting for 2025 considering the backlog now and what she might expect in the new year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that would be a hard one to predict. I know that we did receive more applications than our allotment this year. It wasn't a completely unmanageable amount, so I was hoping to see an increase to our allotment in this calendar year to be able to continue to receive those applications and to process them. I would expect that if our allotment remains the same that we would expect to see a similar number of applications come through in the Northwest Territories, if not a little bit more, because of changes that are happening to the program down south as well. But I hope that I will have good news for this House and that we end up seeing an increase to our allotment for the program. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions will be to the Minister of housing and to be clear, it's not about the specific negotiation discussions of the union and the workers but it'll be about the structure and the process and the impacts it will have. So I want to make sure that I don't be viewed as I'm getting into the negotiations. That's between the teams that are appropriate.
Mr. Speaker, let's start off with first, does the Minister recognize and support the employees at the LHO and as such, if she does -- I'm assuming she does -- what is she willing to acknowledge on the record about the impact and important role those workers provide at the LHO for service or people in public housing? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I recognize the important work that the local housing authority employees do every day in all of our communities. We have 24 local housing authorities operating throughout the Northwest Territories in 32 communities, so this is important work that they do. I recognize the impact and recognize what's happening today in one of our local housing authorities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the words of recognizing the important work and the impacts they have; I'm sure the employees do as well. That said, recognizing the important work and the impacts of the work that they do, it must come at a cost that they've been on strike for close to two weeks, a little more than two weeks, and as such, does the Minister know how much the strike has currently cost the LHO and what are they prepared to do financially to deal with this while the strike is going on? So I want to know some dollar amounts the department has been assessing the impacts of this strike. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have dollars amounts this afternoon. I can provide the Member some information, but I don't have dollar amounts in terms of impacts. I have been pressing Housing NWT to provide me more updates, daily updates, on the impact of the strike in Fort Simpson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will accept the Minister's office of updating on sort of the financial impact. Mr. Speaker, I want to speak to the partnership with respect to the bigger picture the department has with the LHO.
Mr. Speaker, does the department through its policy and financial support as the financial agent -- at the end of the day, are you -- are you the ones that will pick up the overall pending costs of any of these additional expenses required through this process while the workers are on strike as the funding agent for the LHOs? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I asked Housing NWT yesterday for an update on how this works locally and territorially. And from what I understand, we as Housing NWT sign a community services agreement with the Fort Simpson Housing Authority to manage the houses, the public housing units at Fort Simpson. So we provide them a budget allotment every year, ask for audited financial statements every year, and that is what we do as Housing NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Housing NWT. Final supplementary, Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was hoping the Minister was going to keep going on her own, but I'll prompt her with another question first -- or the last question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, does the Minister recognize that some of these problems could be solved today if the department would meet with the workers, you, including the officials, and sit down and talk with them to meet their needs? Because I suspect that the financial cumbrance of this whole issue can be easily solved over not only a box of Tim Horton doughnuts but literally 20 or $30,000, we could have good workers protecting our public housing as it needs to be. Would the Minister be willing to reach out to help foster a positive end to this strike for what's considered very little money? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, officially I can't intervene in strike action as Minister of Housing NWT. Unofficially, I can have a private conversation with anybody but, officially, I can't do that. And I can't impact strike negotiations, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Housing NWT. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the 20th Assembly, this government put forward four top priorities, and the fourth priority of this government is safe residents and communities. Mr. Speaker, my community of Fort Resolution, the leadership there approached me about putting in cameras and looking at security guards and that, those issues that they brought to my attention. But in previous governments, I also raised this issue. But anyway, my question to the Minister is that is the Minister prepared to look at making a commitment to come up with a clear action plan as to how we're going to deal with this issue in Fort Resolution while moving the top four priorities? Thank you.
Which Minister are you directing your question to? Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am unclear of the issue that he's speaking of, if he can clarify that.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. The community's been asked to use their CPI dollars and operation and maintenance dollars to look at funding cameras to be put into their communities et cetera, but the money is just not there. And my question to the Minister, can we work together to come up with an action plan to help the communities put these much-needed cameras in place so that we could deter drug activities in our community? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So this doesn't really fit under municipal and community affairs. It's not really our -- in our department. We do fund communities. Our total funding allotment is about $110 million to communities for their -- to operate their communities. How they see fit to operate their communities with those funds, it's essentially up to them. I do know that some of the stuff that he's talking about, the Member is -- you know, the signage for an example, it can be -- about $10,000 of that can be used out of the CPI funding. So other than that, most of the stuff that the Member's speaking about would probably be best suited for the Department of Justice or -- yes, I'll leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Minister. The issues that I brought forward here in regards to the activity that's happening in our communities, not only just in my riding but throughout the Northwest Territories, my question would be to the Minister, in order to meet the top four priorities, is your government prepared to work with Indigenous governments as to how we can work together to fund some of these activities that's not without taking the monies out of CPI dollars and the gas taxes that was paid or operation and maintenance? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So with that, like I said we distribute the funds to the communities. You know, they -- it's not for us to tell the communities how to run their programs and services within the municipalities. At the end of the day, it's up to the communities. We are supporting safer communities. The Department of Justice, I know has done numerous things by adding, like, more officers and also another program to support the fight against organized crime essentially. So the department of MACA does not have the funds available to add to the services of, you know, fighting the drug activities and stuff in the communities. Again, our department has $110 million they distribute to 33 communities and it's up to the communities on how they want to see fit to operate. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, well, then having said that, I guess my question would be is that we're already in year one of the four-year mandate we already are in as a government, but for -- to meet the commitments that is laid out in this government for safe residents and communities, is the Minister willing to commit to work with communities, Indigenous governments, and try to find new ways to get money from either Ottawa, or wherever they can get it, to meet one of the top four priorities because the issues in our community are real, and we just don't have the money to deal with that issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I don't disagree with the Member. You know, these are issues throughout all of the territories and all the communities. My home community is feeling the stress of illegal and drug activities. But the department of MACA, like I said, it's kind of out of our department so this may be -- I do support it. I am -- you know, my moral values tell me that these are things that we need to tackle and as a government it's something we said we're going to do. But it might be something for myself, the Member, and the Department of Justice to sit down and have discussions and try to find a direction that's positive for the communities of Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure. The NWT Association of Communities has called on the GNWT to take a greater role in securing wood pellet supply chains, perhaps in similar ways that we currently secure petroleum products through procurement, transport, storage, and other things for many communities. So is the GNWT considering how it might secure wood pellet supply chains? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
