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.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the Minister's comment. Some of the problem, though, is that without the service standards, some people aren't receiving that phone call back or that email back to let them know that it's going to be a year or a year and a half or two years before a student receives services. So the schools are really unable to make alternate arrangements or alternate plans for the care and the learning and development of that student.
And so will the Minister commit, then, to response service standards for school professionals so that NTHSSA is committing to...
[Remote] Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Some people experience with accessing or working to access support services feel that support services from NTHSSA are at an alltime low and are very siloed in today's environment. Schools are currently trying to find funds to pay outofpocket to secure access to support services like speech language pathology, occupational therapy, but this is incredibly costly.
So will the GNWT work with schools to fund access to support services if it does not have the capacity to...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 108)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So I'll move down, then, to the address home repair barriers to assist low income seniors and disabled individuals with aging in place. And then I'm happy to see that there were policy changes, then, that took affect that were implemented by the NWT Housing Corporation.
One of the big barriers to housing repair programs in the Northwest Territories is really the cost of the programs. And without an increase, then, to the budget of the NWT Housing Corporation, a policy change is only a portion of that barrier. And so will, then, the Premier commit to ensuring that...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 108)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'll accept fulfilled and ongoing on that one. So thank you to the Premier for that.
One of my points of that one is, for example, the $60 million carveout that is identified under progress to date was a commitment that was made during 2018. So we weren't even within the 19th Assembly at that point. And so this is something that we are thankfully reaping the benefits of, of work that was achieved in the 18th Assembly for that $60 million carveout. And so I'm wondering if there is a commitment from Cabinet to pursue additional carveoffs like that from the National...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 103)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I appreciate that very clear and concise answer.
My next question is in regards to multisport games which we see had actuals of 650, and then is no longer in the budget. I'm wondering, given that it was funding to support NWT or Team NWT participation in major supporting events, is that removed because it's not on Arctic Winter Games year? Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 103)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Yeah, Madam Chair, I'd like to echo what my colleague for Frame Lake is saying. These are our mental wellness dollars right here, especially for small communities that may not have access to the same facilities or same programs here in Yellowknife.
And just in reference to the travel dollars or travel restrictions that have gone down, I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to the impact of the reduction of those travel dollars and what travel was reduced from this key activity? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, NTPC's capital plan has budgeted over $300 million in spending over the next five years. The plan shows that the federal government will provide only 27 cents on the dollar. A lot of our other infrastructure projects here in the Northwest Territories received 75cent dollars. And so I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to why that is and whether this government intends to pursue 75cent dollars for NTPC. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister responsible for the NTPC.
My first question, Mr. Speaker, is NTPC's most recent rate application was authorized for three years starting in May of 2019. That means the current rate schedule has almost expired and the PUB needs to approve a new one. And so I'm wondering if the Minister can update the House on when the public can expect to know the proposed changes to rates over the next three years? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 103)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, my concern is that the intent of travel reductions were to I guess remove dollars from a budget item for southern travel, not for northern travel. And so my concern is a greater impact in the North here. And we always understood that there was still going to be some travel needs, especially travel needs that were required for access to programs and services for youth. And so my question is does this have an impact on the ability of children or youth in the territory to travel for sport? Thank you.
