Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's no impropriety in the sharing of information that again, I've reviewed both of the redacted and unredacted versions and I spoke to the department. And it's very clear that when there's correspondence going between levels of government, between governments, between government officials, while we may well want to share the efforts and the work that we are doing, for example in a remediation economy, a number of letters were I believe tabled here in the House in order to put forward the kind of advocacy that is happening between governments. That...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm happy to make that commitment. Again, I'm not sure if it will qualify as an essential route unless we can describe our mental health as an essential service to Whitehorse, Madam Chair. But there's certainly no harm in asking what it would entail to bring it back and if there's anything to be done, I'll bring it back to the House to let people know. Thank you.

Madam Chair, on the right is Jamie Koe. He is ADM at the Department of Finance. And on the left is Terence Courtoreille. He is director at the Management Board Secretariat.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The navigators are the first point of contact but they're not the last point of contact. Madam Chair, there are government staff and government employees in all of these communities. There are senior members from various departments who have been on the front lines from day one, and they will continue to be there. And if direction simply needs to be given to them to say, you know, you will acting outside of your specific department, I fully expect that, in fact, they've already been doing that as part of their role within the disaster assistance policy and its enactment...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this group was set up, if you can think back now a long 12 months back to June, when we were still just fresh coming out of the lockdown and we were still a long way from having the Business Advisory Council or Emerging Stronger or any other type of document, when the Department of ITI then reached out to the industry representatives that represent almost a third of our GDP to start to talk about COVID recovery, COVID relief, and, really, economic recovery and economic relief more generally.

So I can't take credit for the decision to get that going at that...

Thank you, Madam Chair. No such conversations were had with me. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm here to present Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No, 1, 20212022. These supplementary estimates propose a total increase of $36.6 million comprised of the following major items:

First, $4.3 million for investments committed to as part of the 202122 main estimates process, including $600,000 to advance the Northwest Territories midwifery program into phase 2 of its implementation;

$1.4 million to support aftercare and communitybased addictions programs and services, comprised of $750,000 for a communitybased addictions and aftercare fund...

Madam Chair, that's not accurate. The $5 million is for flood relief. It's for flood relief in the communities, for small businesses, for individuals, for residents, tenants, homeowners. It is just  it's how, indeed, now it does get rolled out is, I think, really where the question is, but that is exactly its purpose, is to support all of those individuals who are in the floodaffected communities. And the application process is one that allows it to operate through the disaster assistance policy that has been in place for, you know, years. It is the one  the same that has been employed on...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So again so the wage topup program, you might recall, was originally when some essential workers, typically in the southern jurisdictions, were not necessarily returning to work and not making themselves available at their workplaces because of the risks associated at the time of COVID19 and the option was to go on to the various relief programs. So this was an opportunity to try to encourage people to go back into those workplaces that were highly needed. Our wages, being what they are in the Northwest Territories, was such that and the fact that a lot of essential...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 34, Supplementary Appropriations Act, (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, be read for the third time. Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote.