Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm more than happy to do that in part because although this is a summarized process, the priorities of the government are, as I said earlier, always part of every decision paper that comes before Cabinet or the financial management board, and they govern the work of every Minister through a mandate letter. So in ensuring that we're reflecting that both to the public as well as in our summary documents, it's critical. And if that's not coming through in terms of understanding where those opportunities are for the priorities to be reflected, then we absolutely should find a way to ensure that that's more clear. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Justice Minister. In recent years since marijuana has become legal, the inclusion of hard drugs into our smaller communities has increased dramatically. Every time a known drug dealer is apprehended, they are set free with a promise to appear never to be seen again, and another person is sent to finish the transaction. When is this government going to start protecting the residents of the Northwest Territories by imposing stricter sentences on drug-related crimes? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Mackenzie Delta. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If every drug dealer who was arrested was never to be seen again, we'd be in a much better position I think. But the fact is that they often stick around. So just -- you know, there's three branches of government, the executive, legislative, and the courts. And so in the same way that I can't tell you, Mr. Speaker, what to do or any of the MLAs what to do, I can't tell the courts what to do. To add more complexity, the Criminal Code is actually a federal statute. So that's the federal government who makes that determination. So what we're dealing with here is a situation where the courts, which are independent from the executive, are interpreting the Criminal Code, which is a federal statute, and that's how they make their determinations about bail. And I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, I just met with all of the Ministers of Justice and Public Safety last week, and I met with all of the Premiers earlier this year, and bail reform is a topic at both of those tables. There is a big push nationally, and I'm part of that, to take steps to ensure that what the Member is talking about doesn't happen. If there are people who are negatively impacting a community, if there are drug dealers that are, you know, actively working to get people addicted, are kidnapping people, torturing people, getting them into human trafficking, that we are sentencing them appropriately starting right when the application for bail is made. So, Mr. Speaker, I'm on the same page as the Member. This has been one of the focuses of my time as the Minister of Justice and will continue to be a focus. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Local authorities have always requested the assistance of community members, and the residents are much too eager to lend their assistance and regain their community and feel safe within their own homes. When and how will this government start to join in the fight against alcohol and drugs to ensure the safety of our future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And we are in the fight. We've been in the fight. One of the things that I do in relation to the RCMP is I provide the policing priorities of our government. So the RCMP, again, they are independent. Their operations are dictated by them and by the Department of Public Safety federally, but I provide the policing priorities. The number one policing priority that I provided -- and there's only four. Number one is to disrupt the supply of illicit drugs and alcohol in the Northwest Territories. So we are working on this. I have committed to introduce additional pieces of legislation that is intended to help the communities and the RCMP address these impacts. And, again, I'm working nationally advocating for bail reform and an examination of the laws around search and seizure to ensure that we are giving the law enforcement the tools they need to be able to investigate and arrest and prosecute and put away drug dealers and those who are harming the community. One of the things we need is for people to testify. And I know it's tough in small communities. People's families are threatened. But ultimately, that's one of the biggest issues we have is that it's hard to get people to testify against drug dealers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final: Public engagement is key to finding solutions. Will this government look at reaching and conducting public consultation to find solutions to this crisis that we are facing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Department of Justice has gone out to communities to consult on issues. For my policing priorities, I actually write to leadership across the territory and ask what I should include in those policing priorities. Ultimately I'll say the solution to this problem is a public health solution. As long as there's a demand for drugs, there's going to be drugs. There's no two ways about it. It's been borne out around the world and over the ages. So what we need is for -- what we need is healthy communities. That's really the ultimate solution. And so in my role as the Minister of Justice, we are looking at how we can better integrate health and the law enforcement to try and direct people where they need to go. We're looking at integrating services so that those people who need assistance have an easier time getting assistance and we have a -- we're more effective at delivering assistance. I'm not going to speak to the health file. I know my Minister of health is capable of that. But we are taking a whole-of-government approach to addressing this issue. I recognize the seriousness of the drug issue in the Northwest Territories. We've added RCMP officers every year since I've been Minister. We've just approved a new crime reduction unit that is being staffed right now and I hope to see going operational soon. We have the new emergency response team, Mr. Speaker. A lot of work is happening in this area. Is it going to be enough? If we all work together - the government, the communities, and residents, then I think it will be but it's going to take a lot of effort. And we're putting that effort in and hopefully we're going to see the results. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the 19th and 20th Assembly, I've been advocating for housing in -- affordable housing and housing repairs, and in my riding we have got over 350 units and mostly HAP units. The cycle of those units are reaching 44 years now out of their 50-year life cycle.
Mr. Speaker, I've been working with the Minister of Finance and housing Minister. I just want to ask the Minister of housing if she could give me an update on where things are at on my letter that I put forward to her office. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to inform the MLA that Housing NWT has a contribution agreement for the Akaitcho territory government to complete the home inspection units as requested. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Wow. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, this hard work in the last 19th and 20th Assembly to get this project off the ground, I just want to thank the Minister on that which is really appreciated.
Mr. Speaker, now that we are going to get this money to do the homeownership inspections, I would like to continue to work with the Minister so that we are able to put this proposal forward to CMHC. So I want to know if we can continue to build that relationship with our Indigenous partners. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The intention of this work is to provide data and build a business case for the Akaitcho territory to look for federal funding to increase the supply of housing in the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Minister. And I'm glad that we've been able to put this together and work together, and as this plan goes forward, I'm hoping that we could get our cousin over there in ECE, Minister, to help us out on some training components of that too. So I look forward to do that.
Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to end it there and I just want to say thank you to the Finance Minister, the Premier, and the Minister of housing for helping me on this project. Mahsi.
Colleagues, I would like to remind you this is oral questions, to ask questions, not Members' statements, so please focus on that. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member from Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of health. What health care services are currently available to seniors in their home in the NWT? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, home care provides -- in all of our communities, we have home support workers and they provide bathing and making meals, nursing services for wound care and health checks, help with organization, and taking medication. In some communities, they provide palliative care for those who are dying and want to be close to home and family members. They loan out equipment, such as bathroom equipment and walkers. They do provide respite care to help out in the home so caregivers can get a break. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. And thank you to the Minister for that. What is the GNWT doing to ensure elders can age safely and independently in their homes? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all of our home -- all of our communities have home support workers and in in the larger centres, we have home care nurses. In the smaller centres -- smaller communities that have nurses, they have a task as part of one of their duties is to do the home care assessments for seniors at home. And like I mentioned in all of the other, they're the ones that do the assessments as to what that elder needs in their home and then they assign those duties to the person -- or the home care worker in that community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Will the department or GNWT establish a policy to allow for in-home care during emergencies? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this has come up many times in the House, and NTHSSA's policy was put in place to protect the health and safety of all staff. Under the Northwest Territories Safety Act, the employer is required to take all responsible measures to ensure the health and safety of their employees. And nurses in the health centre may do home care and home care assessments during the day that are scheduled, but they are not first responders, Mr. Speaker. They're not the ones that run out to the emergencies. They are trained to do services within their health centre with the tools that they have. So unfortunately what we see in the smaller communities, and my colleague and I from MACA who is responsible for first responders, we have had our first initial discussion on what -- you know, what can we do and what can we do to work together to look at some options for communities that don't have services like that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for that, that information from the Minister. I think that we can look at setting a time for meetings. We can have a discussion about how we can make that work for our communities. So I'm asking the Minister if she could commit to setting up a meeting so we can have a discussion to make that thing happen for our community. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And you know, Mr. Speaker, I would be glad -- and I know the Member, you know, has previously invited me to visit her communities that she is the MLA for and those discussions that we can have during that time. But just to be clear, the discussion is at a high level right now. Like, MACA does have money for first responders. I can't speak to the details of that. I have enough under my own portfolio, but I know health and social services does not -- like, the nurses in the health centre are not first responders. So we're trying to work together to try to see what can we do together to try and -- so MACA and health and social services can work together to try and come up with some solutions or some options. But I'm willing to sit down with -- you know, with the Member and discuss what, you know, and within her communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity to come back to the questions around the official breach of the fiscal responsibility policy, Mr. Speaker. And so I want to start my first question off surrounding about -- sorry, encapsulating the question about when it was realized. So someone will realize, unofficially, there was a breach of the fiscal responsibility and then they'll confirm it through some analysis. So when were both of those areas identified? So in other words, when did they unofficially recognize that they had gone over and breached section 6(5)(c), and when did they officially confirm that it was in breach of the policy? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Finance does continuous monitoring of the fiscal health of the Government of the Northwest Territories and we do periodic updates to myself, to Cabinet, and to all Members of the House. As part of our capital budget and part of the changes we've made previously, one of those was to do a fiscal update here. And it was in preparations for that that we have identified that, indeed, we would be in a position that we would have to go to Ottawa because we'd be within that $120 million target. That is what led to the letter being sent. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Minister getting towards the answer which was specifically when, but maybe I didn't use the words specifically and hence that was the opening she used.
Mr. Speaker, once the breach is noted, what does accountability look like or should we expect from a Minister who, as she says, they continuously monitor the situation? So in other words, her fingers must be constantly on the pulse of what the debt looks like. So what type of public accountability should the legislature expect that she's now going to Ottawa over this breach of policy? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this House is responsible for the budget of the Government of the Northwest Territories. If there is -- I mean, this is a bit of a hypothetical, what kind of accountability there is. We have made a number of changes in my time in this role, both in this government and in the last, to improve the availability of information, to improve the transparency of the information, to provide increases in terms of the availability of the fiscal responsibility policy, its clarity. This was the first year, the first government ever, that we actually put the fiscal strategy out in front of the public. These are all parts and parcel of the different types of accountability that are available for someone in my role and on the part of this government. So if there's some form of accountability that the Member wishes to see, I'm certainly happy to hear about it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I couldn't agree more with the Minister that accountability can be hypothetical some days, at least from this perspective of the House.
Mr. Speaker, ultimately the question now is recognizing section -- I believe it's 6 -- sorry, yeah, section 6(5)(b) about the strategy on doing this, why isn't there a consultation line in there with Members to inform them immediately when such a breach of major policy happens? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we could certainly go back and look at the fiscal responsibility policy again and reconsider if there's some element within that that we want to look at in terms of changes how and when we report on different elements. The last time we did the review, there were some elements that were rejected by the Members at the time through the conversations we were having. There may be a different appetite from this group of Members as to what kind of responsibility they want to see in terms of reporting or engagements. One of the things that we certainly changed there was to have more of a fiscal update in the fall session with capital planning. So, again, certainly happy to take another look at it. We can see if that's a good use -- or a good opportunity and see if there's new appetite within this Assembly to make some of the changes or different changes that perhaps the last Assembly didn't want to make. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister giving me a recap of the 19th Assembly but officially we're in the 20th Assembly, and we're almost a year into it, Mr. Speaker. So that said, I'm hearing conversations but really at the end of the day what would be helpful is the Minister commits to adding a component that Members are included earlier before decisions are made such as taking on generational debt, especially in a case like this when they're now reaching out with an unknown number that could potentially be any number and the Assembly, including the Members on this side of the House, have to take responsibility for. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister, with great urgency and zeal, add a component of communications in the fiscal responsibility policy that respects our duty of this House? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a lot of conversations that happen in this House. There's a lot of communications that happen in this House. There are briefings that are done in a consensus government confidentially to Members and through caucus processes which we then don't speak about, really to protect everybody's ability to have those conversations. So I guess if I can look back and discuss with the Members through their -- what maybe was missed, what was maybe not heard, what was maybe not seen, to ensure that firstly the processes that we do have are effective, and that the processes that we have are achieving the targets that we want them to. You know, Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to find a way to make it better. I don't think it's appropriate on the floor without talking to everyone in this House to determine what that should be. So I'm not today going to say, yes, this is the way to do it. I'm more than happy to ensure that we are communicating effectively. We have a lot of protocols between MLAs and Ministers about how we communicate, what that process looks like, what kinds of information, what's marked as confidential versus not. And, Mr. Speaker, it's not for mine to say, here standing today, which of those we want to upend or change. I'm more than happy to ensure that Cabinet -- or to take it up with the Department of Finance, that our financial processes are meeting that target and achieving that and if there's something more we need to do, then there's something more that we can do. I almost want to keep going, Mr. Speaker, but I feel like I've ended so I'm going to stop there. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Member from Yellowknife North. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Just under the wire. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions are still about housing but this time for the Minister of Finance. So this 2025-2026 capital budget proposes to allocate about $11.5 million in capital spending to Housing NWT and that allocation is hovered around the same amount for the past four years, from around $10 million to $13 million. So is this allocation based on the actual urgent needs for retrofits and new builds for Housing NWT, or is it based on, like, a predetermined number that was set based on a perception of what the GNWT can afford to give HNWT for capital? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Housing NWT is a Crown corporation and so their process is obviously a bit different than that of a department or a line department within the government. As such, they will go out and determine what level of need they may have. They will do their own assessments. They do their own capital planning. That number does come forward then, ultimately, but it doesn't go through exactly the same processes. They are also then out looking always for other sources of revenue, including GNWT, but also federal government, as well as their own sourced revenue that come in from having rental payments and rental amounts that come back. So, you know, that then filters into that total bucket of what they have does then influence what is in their capital budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that does lead into my next question. So acknowledging that the GNWT's capital needs assessment doesn't include Housing NWT assets, I'm assuming they do their own capital needs assessment, but Members here have not seen it. So how does the Housing NWT capital needs assessment feed into GNWT decisions about what are the priority capital needs for the territory? How do the two capital needs assessments talk to each other or feed in? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Housing NWT does indeed, it's correct, take under -- undertake, rather, its own capital needs assessment process and that then -- and, frankly, starting from their own LHO. So each individual LHO is feeding up into the Housing NWT's system and then ultimately those reports are coming forward to financial management board when there's an ask put forward to support additional funding based on that work that was happening within the housing LHO to Housing NWT and then to determine what the needs might be. So it still is part of the total fiscal financial picture of the government. It's just, as with all the other Crown corporations that we have, from NTPC to the health authorities, they do ultimately come forward for funding, but it does -- it does happen through its own system. It doesn't have the same risk-based analysis that I happened to be speaking to earlier today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So if Housing NWT has its own different way of identifying risk or prioritizing needs, are representatives from Housing NWT in conversation with, you know, deputy ministers at the meetings when -- I guess it's -- I forget the term, is it a working group? But when you're trying to decide overall for the whole government what are the priority capital needs, are we ranking housing needs in relation to other infrastructure needs? And if so, how do we compare or rank those things, or does Housing NWT just get a set amount of money and then they can decide how to rank and prioritize what they need? Does that make sense? Sort of?
