Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the department provide 100 percent of the CPI needs for the city of Yellowknife?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The funding formula is not 100 percent, and it's never been 100 percent. So it's up to municipalities to raise money through revenues in order to provide further infrastructure issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is one we should be spending -- we should be fulfilling our commitments to communities to 100 percent. But this is an extraordinary cost that's well beyond what the city can afford to pay. Every year it gets more expensive. Will the Minister find a way to work with his Cabinet colleagues, with the city of Yellowknife, with the NWTAC, with the federal government, with everyone who has a cheque book, and get the city the money it needs so we can have safe, clean drinking water for half of our residents in this territory? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, I would like to say yes for every community with that same issue throughout the Northwest Territories, but the reality is that I'm sure, he's well aware, we're all fighting for funds over here on this side of the House for every department, and there's a lot of questions for department of health where they need the money, and I'm also asking for some funds also to try to increase funding to communities. But we'll just see how that goes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my statement on trades training, my questions are to the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment. What is ECE doing to ensure that trades training is tailored to regional and communities' specific labour market needs? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Sahtu. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, education, culture and employment, through its regional service centres, engages with communities, the federal government, training program providers, as well as other GNWT departments to discuss their specific community needs. In addition to that, in the Sahtu there are annual career fairs. There's also our small community employment fund that designated community authorities can tap into, and thanks to Regular Members, was increased. And then in addition to that, there's also financial supports that are provided through the community labour market development plans. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that information, that reply. My next question to the Minister is there are federal programs and industry partnerships that could further enhance trades training in the NWT. What steps is ECE taking to maximize these opportunities and create training opportunities in communities? Mahsi.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I just had a meeting yesterday at an FTP table for the federal labour Ministers' meeting where we did talk about labour market agreements, and we continuously bring that up with the federal government. There's also discussions with Canada Council of Directors of Apprenticeship, Skills Canada, and other groups as well who are really strong advocates in their sector and ones that we try to work with to gain additional funding.
In addition to that, we've submitted two proposals to CanNor that were submitted for recent calls. One of them spoke specifically, that I think the Member will be interested in, to alternative approaches to apprenticeship supervision in small communities. As we know that one of the big challenges we have is the availability of journey persons to supervise apprentices across the NWT, especially in small communities, and so we're waiting on word on those proposals and hope for good news. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I too am hopeful and optimistic on a good news reply.
My third question to the Minister is workforce development also requires tracking results and making improvements as needed. How will ECE measure the success of trades training programs to ensure they work for the residents? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've heard a little bit from the other side of the House on the importance of tracking results and measuring our successes today, so I appreciate the Member's question. So recently, education, culture and employment released a two-year extension to its apprenticeship, trade, and occupation certification strategy. Part of this strategy does have a performance measurement planb and so at the end of our two-year extension, those performance measures will be released publicly, and we will be able to track and see how far we've come. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke in my Member's statement about the agreement that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has with the federal government to create 300 spaces by 2026. So last year I think we had 76. My questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and can she speak to -- it seems that the -- we're a little off track. Can the department provide further information on how they plan to meet those targets of 300 spaces. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're always working on trying to work with people who are interested in opening up spaces to try and encourage them and support them in that. We currently have five proponents right now that are working with the department to try and open up spaces that are both in and outside of Yellowknife, and I'm very hopeful that they will see great success.
In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, we also do have our infrastructure funding, and I'm also always looking for creative ways to work with my colleagues who are building things in communities and trying to find ways to incorporate childcare in those new builds. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister spoke about the infrastructure funding. Can she maybe elaborate on that, what that funding is specifically used for, if it's strictly for infrastructure projects, any of that to be used for anything like wage subsidies then as well. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So the early childhood infrastructure fund is solely for builds. It can be used to renovate spaces, and it can be used for new builds as well. And we cannot use it for wage subsidies. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke in my Member's statement about the discrepancy between day homes and childcare centres and that the day homes -- in my conversations with the NWT Early Childhood Association -- are not included in this wage grid subsidy program. Can the Minister commit to taking a look at changing this so that the day home providers can also access this funding. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, it's thank you to Regular Members who negotiated the additional $3.5 million for the wage enhancement that was negotiated last year as part of our budget negotiations. And at that time, it was found that home-based early childhood educators currently had higher after tax net income compared to centre-based facility childhood educators, and so the $3.5 million for wage parity adjustment was used for the wage grid in order to bring up their annual net income so that it was more in line with our JK -- or sorry, junior kindergarten -- sorry, classroom assistants at our junior kindergarten to grade 12 education facilities across the Northwest Territories.
Currently, Mr. Speaker, our day home operators are already receiving more money than traditionally was received by our daycare facility workers in that they received the childcare fee reduction subsidy, the operational funding, and the five-year retention funding. So certainly trying to bring everybody up and starting with those that are currently earning less within the industry. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My first set of questions is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. So the literacy outreach centre here in Yellowknife has been a partnership between Aurora College and inclusion NWT since 1997, and that program even won the Premier's Award in 2023 for its excellent results. So given that enrolment has consistently been high with 39 students in the current winter semester, it came as a shock that Aurora College recently announced it would pull out of the program as part of its closure of the community learning centres, leaving the program to be shut down.
So can the Minister tell us whether the funding that the Department of ECE has allocated to literacy outreach centres will be pulled away from Aurora College and reallocated so that these programs might be able to continue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that Aurora College was provided $350,000 annually to operate literacy outreach programs, as the Member had indicated, and those programs are found in Inuvik, Fort Smith, and Yellowknife. In addition, education, culture and employment was providing $85,000 to Inclusion NWT to also partner with Aurora College to offer those programs. At this time, Mr. Speaker, I couldn't confirm what that will look like going forward, but I can certainly reassure the Member that ECE is looking at options on how literacy programming can continue to be supported. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So has ECE engaged with Inclusion NWT to try to find a way forward for this program given that Aurora College has pulled out of the partnership? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that options are certainly being looked at for how the literacy programming can continue to be supported. I can also confirm that at minimum a three-month contribution agreement will be established to support delivery through the end of June, but I cannot speak beyond June what that will look like as of right now today. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that there's few details available right now and lots of unknowns, but does ECE plan to reach out to Aurora College and its current staff working at the literacy outreach centre, who have been informed that they will lose their jobs, but to see if an arrangement could be made, for example, to continue using the college's classroom space and to communicate the efforts underway to find a path forward for this program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the existing spaces that are being used by this program are not spaces that are owned by Aurora College, and so certainly that space is not one, for example, that I could confirm on the floor of this House but I can confirm that -- you know, first of all, thank the Member for her advocacy and our conversations in regards to adult literacy across the territory. But second, let the Member know that we are certainly following up on this one and seeing what can be done. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, expiry dates of health care cards for temporary foreign workers are tied to their work visa expiry dates. So if a work permit expires, so does a health care card. So how many compassionate extensions of health care cards have been provided since the pause to the nominee program in July of 2024? I realize this is quite a lot of detail, but maybe the Minister could speak to it broadly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have that level of detail. I do know that I have had a few come through my desk that -- you know, from MLAs with their constituents that are in this category. And I know that as soon as they have the documentation, as the Minister of ECE has explained, that our office is able to renew those early enough. But what I will say is is that as soon as somebody is applying and they have their documentation is to contact health services immediately. And they have a pretty quick turnaround for renewing their health care. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that from the Minister. Can the Minister please let me know if she is working with her colleague at ECE to include that messaging in some of ECE's messaging to folks who are panicking right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will commit my office to connect with Minister Cleveland's office to make sure that there is some kind of instructions on how to ensure that they can apply for their health care -- or get their health care renewed. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister of Infrastructure if she is able to consider the needs of the city of Yellowknife for clean drinking water as an extraordinary funding request and the GNWT take carriage of the pipeline -- water pipeline replacement? Thank you.
Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's not an independent pot of money that sits in the Department of Infrastructure. We do manage infrastructure demands that come from individual departments. So, for example, if MACA were to advance an initiative of some sort, then certainly that could come and we could support the design and the build of it, etcetera, but we don't have an independent set of money, like a federal department might, for individual projects of that nature. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is the Minister -- I'm kind of spitballing ideas here. But is the Minister aware of any federal funding pots that this would be eligible for? The city's receiving $25 million right now. Is there something that the department could help them access more money working with MACA, whoever it needs to be, but could we break down some silos and get the city some money so we can complete this project? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Happy to say that the silos certainly are breaking down, in my view, over the last five years or so, and I've actually been recently working with housing and MACA on other funding opportunities trying to get the federal government, quite frankly, to be more flexible with us. So certainly happy to commit to have that conversation with my colleagues if there is anything that we can do more likely to lobby the federal government as opposed to finding things that are sitting there waiting for us to come take them, but certainly happy to commit that we will do that and go shake the federal bushes. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
