Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister of Education, Culture and Employment
The Honourable Caitlin Cleveland was first elected in the 19th Assembly as the MLA for Kam Lake in 2019, and has served as the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment since 2023 after being acclaimed to the 20th Assembly.
In addition to owning and operating a northern business for over 20 years, Minister Cleveland worked in a variety of communications and policy roles in both the public and private sectors before entering politics.
Between 2019 to 2023, she chaired the Standing Committee on Social Development, fulfilling a goal to be a part of the discussions and decisions affecting social programs in the Northwest Territories. Her noteworthy work on the Committee included guiding the considerable review and input into recommendations on housing in the NWT, suicide prevention, and improvements to caring for children in care and building supported families.
Within the scope of her portfolios, Minister Cleveland is focused on helping children grow into successful NWT residents that recognize opportunities and develop successful careers that contribute to a growing economy. She advocates for new approaches to sector diversification and innovation, and ensures the North is welcoming both skilled foreign workers and investment in the critical mineral resources across the territory. She persistently explores solutions for efficient and equitable access to programs and services, upholding a shared vision of an NWT where people are supported in the ways they wish to live, work, and grow.
Minister Cleveland is a lifelong resident of Yellowknife where she lives with her husband and their three children.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment
Statements in Debates
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 138)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, if from that $2 million was the cost of operating roughly the Inuvik shelter, where will that $2 million then be housed within the housing corporation budget to properly fund a thirdparty provider to provide that service? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a decade ago we knew the demand and competition for skilled workers would intensify with an aging workforce and people leaving the labour market in large numbers. Well, we're living in the future, Mr. Speaker, and it's safe to say our demand exceeds our expectation.
Labour shortage is something I hear about every month. Northerners and northern industries have big dreams and big opportunities but can't turn dreams into reality without skilled workers. Mr. Speaker, don't fall off your chair but I need to applaud Housing NWT as leaders in recognizing they have...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 138)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So a Behchoko housing support worker gets $2 million a year? I'm just wondering where else the difference comes from. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 138)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, looking at the 20222023 Main Estimates on page 380 compared to the 20222023 revised main estimates under policy and planning, there's a significant budgetary increase there, and I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to what propelled that budget, which grew quite a bit.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while many of our communities are underfunded, the GNWT is projecting an operating surplus for the next year of $178 million as we heard last week in the Budget Address from the Minister of Finance. So will the GNWT share some of its operating surplus for 20232024 to actually reduce the municipal funding gap in the life of this Assembly? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Mr. Speaker, while the GNWT has increased community funding in the 19th Assembly, the value of that increase has likely been eaten up by inflation. The funding gap is probably unchanged from where it was at the start of the 19th Assembly at $40 million. Mr. Speaker, we've heard that MACA is reviewing the community funding formula in collaboration with the NWTAC. So will MACA finalize the new and improved community funding formula in the life of the 19th Assembly and will the...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 137)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, I'm wondering why the housing corporation would not ask for more money to take that on when, from what it looks like from this side of the House, is housing corporation is already trying to stretch a budget, a very thin budget, farther than they can. And this House has been asking, since the beginning of the 19th Assembly, to please, please, please ask us for more money. We want to give more money to housing. Please, let us pay you. Let us on this side of the House say yes, we agree with the budget that's being asked for by housing corporation...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm very appreciative that the GNWT has a contracts website where we can easily see and kind of keep tabs on what's going on with certain contracts within the GNWT because it now appears that a new tender for the SPAR framework opened and closed in June of 2022, then it changed from closed to cancelled in September of 2022. I'm troubled by this because, luckily, I'm hearing from the Minister that this is supposed to be done, but this is really important work that's being done here. For example, when the Standing Committee on Social Development put...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs in regards to the sport physical activity and recreation framework and thank you to the Member for Nunakput for also raising this today.
Mr. Speaker, my first question is MACA's 20222023 business plan reports that the SPAR, or Sport Physical Activity and Recreation Framework, would be finalized in 20222023 and implemented in 20232024. At this point in time, I'm not aware that MACA has, in fact, released this SPAR framework. So can the Minister clarify by what date we can expect to...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, NWT Association of Community expects communities to take a financial hit from the increase in carbon tax. Our counterparts in the Yukon take the carbon tax into account for community funding. They've estimated that community governments pay 3.5 percent of the tax which is then returned to them in rebates. If we return 3.5 percent of our carbon tax revenues to community governments, they would receive over $2 million in 20232024. So will the Minister consider including carbon tax offset in the municipal funding formula? Thank you.
