Caroline Wawzonek

I'm certainly pleased to hear that there has been coordination and communication between the private establishments and the local government. I know I have also been in contact with the local government, and the Liquor Act is written such that, where there's a licensed establishment, a temporary prohibition order is not an option, unfortunately. Certainly, if there can be that communication within the community, that is good news. Going forward, as I've sort of alluded to in my first answer, Mr. Speaker, it's quite clear that there needs to be a much bigger conversation around the Liquor Act...

I think you're channeling my answer, which is that the outreach to our business community is going to involve far more than just my department, but I anticipate that, certainly as we're going forward in our response to COVID and our COVID relief efforts, I expect there will continue to be quite a bit of dialogue across different sectors. No doubt, if this is something that the industry of tourism finds, if they are getting interest from the community, then I'm sure that I'll work with my colleague to explore that further. Certainly, I am conscious that the public sector is a leading role and a...

The Government of the Northwest Territories actually provides quite a variety of flexible options as it is. The challenge sometimes becomes that it is spread out over different departments, so that it comes down to individual departments, divisions, and supervisors. There already are flexible work weeks ago, flexible shifts and hours, to a large extent. The Government of the Northwest Territories certainly makes those efforts, and we are going to continue to make those efforts.

I would just say that, in light of what's happening right now and the experiences with COVID-19, the experience of...

I need to just take 10 seconds and actually go back to the genesis of the program, which was that, when Canada, the federal government, ruled out this CERB program for individuals who were negatively impacted, lost their jobs as a result of COVID-19, and they set a floor that would provide money to everyone, $2,000 into the pockets of people who had been negatively impacted, there very quickly arose, particularly in southern Canada, the fact that a lot of front-line workers were now incentivized to leave what might have been considered, at least perceptually, a higher risk profession, whether...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The emergency wage subsidy provides a 75 percent subsidy to employers to encourage them to keep their employees on the payroll rather than laying them off during what might be more-than-lean times for those businesses, whereas the wage top-up program, Mr. Speaker, is one that is meant to support employees who are making under a certain level of wages, of earnings hourly. In that sense, the two aren't necessarily related. Rather, they are not related, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Yes. Again, I don't know that the Department of Justice has right now, on track, that specific information, and it may well be that it's held by the RCMP. However, again, what I can do is at least ensure that that question is transmitted to the RCMP directly and see that they can follow up.

As I mentioned, the RCMP does have regular updates they provide to communities, and it's a good opportunity to ensure that, when they are doing that, that they are providing updates to the extent that they have the information about Liquor Act violations, Liquor Act prohibitions, since that certainly has...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is always an ongoing dialogue between the Department of Justice and the RCMP, and this dialogue has been particularly keen in the last couple of months. There has been a lot of attention paid to the situation of bootlegging and illicit drug activity across borders. That dialogue continues. Mr. Speaker, I know that, later this session, I expect to be speaking to the police and priorities and would continue to encourage every community to develop their own community police priorities which can also then be a direct link into the activities of the RCMP in their...

I have already been in touch with my colleague from ECE. Obviously, this does, as the Member has already identified, fall within the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, my colleague was just on his feet, being asked if he was going to start a pilot for universal basic income. Some choices have to be made sometimes. We certainly can't have every single program that moves forward under COVID move forward forever. There will not be sufficient money to do that.

That said, Mr. Speaker, two things: the minimum wage committee is already underway for this year for this two...

Yes, I was able to marshal a bit of information here for the Member. As of May 26, that is, as of yesterday, there have been 31 business applications to the wage top-up. The application has to come through the employer in order to top up the employee. Twenty-eight have already been processed, but three, we requested additional information. In total, this will benefit 242 employees, at least for the month of April. We are processing them retroactively. For April, that would be $65,000 going out into the hands of employees in the Northwest Territories.

At this point, processing takes...

Mr. Speaker, I certainly am pleased to be able to say that the Tlicho region will be getting two further officers under the First Nations policing program, so, to the extent that there is a need for greater enforcement by the RCMP, with more manpower in the Tlicho region, that is at least one piece of good news I can give to the Member at this point.

Beyond that, Mr. Speaker, I can also say I have now had several hours of conversation with some of the Indigenous leaders, including some of the chiefs from the Tlicho region, and certainly intend to continue to do so as or when necessary...