Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House that Bill 51: The Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 20222023 be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Pursuant to Rule 8.2(30, Bill 51: Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 20222023, has been presented, deemed read for the first time, and is ready for second reading.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 51: Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 20222023, be read for the second time.
This bill authorizes the Government of the Northwest Territories to make appropriations for operations expenditures for the 20222023fiscal year.
It also sets out limits on amounts that may be borrowed by the Commissioner on behalf of the government, includes information in respect of all existing borrowing and all projected borrowing for a fiscal year, and authorizes the making of disbursements to pay the principal of amounts borrowed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the reason I put my name forward for the office that I now hold was to advocate for the community of Hay River and to give a voice to those that may not always be heard. At times, one finds themselves painted into a corner. This becomes commonplace for those who represent constituents from regional and small communities. Supports and services required by those in regional and small communities is not always in synch with what bureaucracy has planned.
The reality is that government is managed by a bureaucracy located in Yellowknife that may, through no fault of their own, not have a sense of small community living, amenities, and issues. This often translates into budgets, supports and programming that appear unfriendly and not understanding of the reality of communities outside Yellowknife.
Mr. Speaker, today we have the main estimates in front of us and we are expected to vote in favour or against them.
With this budget, the government is attempting to move forward the mandate and priority items for each department while making sure this government continues operating beyond today. This is a daunting task as it may require favouring one region over another, one community over another, one program over another, one project over another, one issue over another, and one MLA over another. In the end, it is about making decisions to direct limited funding to grow regions and communities while supporting and advancing the growth of the economy and infrastructure of the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, the NWT is made up of 33 communities, with all 33 not being treated fairly when it comes to financial support from this government.
Outside Yellowknife, we have a range of issues that include lack of housing, homelessness, mental health, addictions, policing, access to proper health care, education, aged infrastructure, failing road systems, diminished resource development, inadequate communication systems, increasing community funding gap, unsettled claims, cost of living increases, recruitment and retention of qualified staff through all departments; all impacting the lives of havenot communities.
Mr. Speaker, when Yellowknife requires a day shelter, a public emergency is declared which comes with $175K of monthly operating funding while the communities are told to use the community sports centre or other facilities as day shelters.
When Yellowknife requires $2.2 million in funding for housing and wellness, it only requires a onepage letter to this government while the communities are told there is no more funding.
When there is a need for more housing in Yellowknife this government purchases a 24unit apartment building in Yellowknife for $2 million plus.
When the Hay River Ski Club requests $150K to support sports, physical fitness and mental health for youth postCOVID, they are told to go and fundraise at a time when residents just don't have any more to give.
Community governments are experiencing financial hardship due to an ever increasing funding gap at a time when aged infrastructure needs replacing as well.
Mr. Speaker, this government has a shortage of qualified workers.
With an Affirmative Action Policy that was designed to raise the number of Indigenous persons employed in the public sector, the question is: Can we achieve that equity with the pool of qualified Indigenous people living in the NWT?
Reviewing statistics, I believe many of the qualified Indigenous people are working but continue to experience disadvantages as they are often overlooked for advancement and training.
If we expect to meet Indigenous employment targets, this government needs to provide the resources to educate Indigenous youth and position them to take over the roles many of us are in. In the interim, if we are to grow the North we need persons from all professions with various education, experience and skills who are willing to make the NWT their home. While we provide incentives to encourage people to move here to work, we must also provide those same or similar incentives to those already living and working here.
Mr. Speaker, this government talks about the need for housing, trades, and jobs. Then it goes out and purchases manufactured homes from the south which provides no sustainable impact on the community or the economy of the NWT. Going forward, we must support a combination of stickbuilt and NWT manufactured homes with those manufactured homes to built in the North.
The community of Hay River, with its access to marine transportation services, highway access, rail access, and access to what should be cheap hydro, is the most feasible place to support manufacturing initiatives. This government has yet to realize the potential for manufacturing in the community of Hay River and therefore does not provide adequate supports required to advance it. The market for manufactured goods would not only be the NWT. And, when we consider Hay River's proximity to the south, the possibilities are endless.
Mr. Speaker, the mineral resource sector has played a significant role in the development of the Northwest Territories. The 19th Legislative Assembly recognized that fact and committed support to increase resource exploration and development. We know that the NWT is rich in minerals and oil and gas. The stumbling block is access and the cost of that access.
If we expect the NWT to grow, we need roads to resources and communities and that, Mr. Speaker, starts with the Mackenzie Valley Highway. This government must work strategically and quickly with the federal government and industry to make this a real priority. The Mackenzie Valley Highway would not only support industry but it would also support access to the south for those communities along its route while forming a loop with the Dempster Highway which would increase tourism opportunities as well.
Further, it would work towards lowering the cost of living for residents while providing access to education, jobs, business opportunities, improved communication systems, and housing for regional and smaller communities. This is where we must direct additional financial support.
Mr. Speaker, workforce priorities are changing which is impacting our ability to recruit and retain professionals throughout government and the private sector.
One area of concern is health care. Over the past two years we have seen the demand for healthcare workers increase and our success to recruit lessened. The reality is that the workforce is changing, workers priorities are changing, and the demand for healthcare workers is on the rise. It is therefore important this government adapt to that change and find creative ways to recruit professional healthcare staff that will provide for consistent, timely, and quality healthcare services to the residents of the Northwest Territories. We need to place additional resources into this area as it directly impacts the health and lives of all residents.
Mr. Speaker, further to health care, there remains issues with medical escorts and travel costs.
With respect to medical travel, we need to revisit the allocation for meals and accommodations. The amounts provided are not sufficient and need to align with what government employees receive while on duty travel. $18 a day for meals and $50 per day for accommodation is not acceptable and unfair to those who are on limited income.
To reach this goal, and because the cost could be substantive, it will require conversations with the federal government to secure additional funding to offset the increase.
Mr. Speaker, this budget may have its faults but the government has promised additional funding of $4 million for housing programs, $500,000 for heritage centres, $2.2 million for homelessness shelters, and multiyear funding agreements that allow for inflationary increases for those third parties who deliver core government programs and services on behalf of the government.
To pay for this, in addition to $2.4 million cut to contract services, we can expect an increase in tobacco tax which will generate up to $3.5 million annually.
These additional financial commitments by government are welcomed and confirms the fact that government is listening to the people of the NWT. Does it go far enough? Probably not. But it is a move in the right direction and we must recognize that fact.
Mr. Speaker, will this budget pass? I expect it will however I am hopeful that this government listened to what we had to say and in their deliberations considered our requests along with information included it in their decisionmaking processes. We, as Regular MLAs, may not have received everything we requested in this budget but that should not stop the dialogue from continuing as we move forward, as it is not about us. More importantly it is about the people of the Northwest Territories.
Although I will vote against this budget, I hold no ill feelings or animosity to those on the other side of this House as they had a job to do as well. However, this is an opportunity where we can agree to disagree while highlighting inequities between Yellowknife, regional centres and small communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. To the principle of the bill. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I will be voting against this year's budget for a variety of reasons which I will outline now.
As I said in the March 9th, 2022, Member's statement, the Government of the Northwest Territories budget allocations are not evenly spread across all communities and regions of the Northwest Territories. We see time and time again that the capital region gets most of the funds and everyone else is left to fight over the crumbs. Small communities and regional centres are routinely undercut and forced to fight to get funding at every turn whereas funding for just about everything within the capital region is almost automatically granted.
There is something seriously wrong with that scenario. The current structure of allocated funds within our territorial budget is flawed and needs to be evaluated.
Moreover, Mr. Speaker, one of my top priorities for this year's budget did not get any funding commitments which was to allocate $500,000 to the Salt River First Nation for a tiny home pilot project initiative for homelessness. This would have been a potential solution to address homelessness in a regional centre.
On March 4th, 2022, the Member for Frame Lake, on my behalf, tabled into this Assembly the letter from Salt River First Nation outlining the project proposal. That letter was sent to the Minister of Homelessness and to the Premier on January 21st, 2022, so that Cabinet over two months to consider that project and find at least some funds to support it. All that was offered was to work with Salt River to submit funding applications to the federal government to access certain funding streams.
Well, Mr. Speaker, that is not good enough. Going that route would take too long and this project would not get underway for at least another year or two, if that.
I understand there may have been some concern from our government to fund this project because it was an onreserve project. Well, our government could have easily reached out to the Indigenous Services Canada to determine a cost sharing arrangement to fund this shovelready project this year. But for reasons beyond me, that did not happen.
In contrast, Mr. Speaker, our government received a letter on January 31st, 2022, from the Yellowknife Women's Society requesting funding for the Spruce Bough organization which provides wellness and housing programs to vulnerable people in the capital region.
While I do wholeheartedly support funding for homelessness and wellness programs for the people of the NWT, I strongly urge our government to spread this same support evenly across the board to all communities and regions of the NWT.
In the end, Spruce Bough received a funding commitment almost immediately after their letter was submitted. Although Spruce Bough did not receive the funds they requested, they did receive a substantial amount that was nearly exactly what they asked for.
Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, while it is good to see our government provide the relief funding to many struggling airlines across the NWT, in the latest phase of air aid delivery our government failed to include all airlines for additional financial support.
I spoke about this issue on Monday when I voted against the Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 20212022. I said this to the Minister of Finance, and I still feel this way now, which is that the evaluation process for airline aid delivery is flawed. To only look at a financial snapshot during a very narrow timeframe during a global pandemic is not okay.
In addition, Mr. Speaker, I take issue with the fact that the Department of Finance increased its budget by 13.9 percent for 20222023. The Minister of Finance says these extra funds were needed for additional managerlevel staff in the department. Well, I just don't understand why we need these additional staff to oversee a budget deficit that continues to accumulate additional debt for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Our government is hiring more staff to help fix a broken system. That just doesn't make sense to me.
Mr. Speaker, another reason I do not support this budget is the Fort Smith Airport runway. While I do appreciate that funding was given to overlay the existing air side surfaces at the Fort Smith Airport, I'm still upset that the width of our airport runway was arbitrarily narrowed by the Department of Infrastructure.
I understand that Transport Canada changed their runway specifications which affects all airports across the country. However, to destroy a perfectly good and effective airport runway that was serving the needs of our community, our airline and our flight school, just doesn't make any sense. I've asked every which way to the Minister of Infrastructure and Finance to change the Fort Smith Airport runway back to its original specifications, but they will not budge from their position. That is extremely disappointing to me and the constituents of Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, this government has to realize that regional centres and small communities do not have the same level of physical and social infrastructure as the capital region. More attention needs to be paid to the regional centres and small communities to bring them up to par with the level and programs and services as the capital region.
If this is truly a consensus style of government, then the MLAs from outside the capital region need to have a better say in which goes on into the budget. If we as ordinary MLAs feel that we cannot enter the front door, how is a regular person off the street going to enter that door to advocate the issues they need to be addressed to our Cabinet.
In all my time as an ordinary Member of this Assembly, I have not once seen an MLA from the capital have to advocate for funding on the floor of the House.
Mr. Speaker, another thing I am disappointed in is the lack of support given to my constituent who endured a tornado that destroyed his home. I know that the NWT Housing and MACA did reach out to that constituent and worked with him to some extent but I still maintain that he was shortchanged and did not receive adequate support that could have been provided.
Also, one other issue I feel the NWT is lacking in is policing in the smaller communities and regional centres.
The Minister of Justice once told me that the NWT has the highest per capita ratio of RCMP officers for our population than anywhere else in the country. Well, despite that fact I still feel that the level of policing is not sufficient and is not addressing all the crime taking place within our communities, particularly when it comes to drug issues that all the people of the NWT are dealing with.
Mr. Speaker, to vote against this budget is not a decision that I have made lightly. I have put a lot of thought into this decision and for these reasons, I will be voting against this budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. To the principle of the bill. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, after trying to get some basic financial information about my region from the government, I was told that the GNWT did not budget in this way and that the information I wanted could not be provided. I decided to do my own work, and I can say it has been an eye opening experience.
Mr. Speaker, if we were to break down the $2 billion operating budget based on population, it amounts to almost $45,000 per person living in the NWT. Based on this estimate, that the Tlicho's share of the operating budget should be about $135 million per year. When I look around Tlicho communities, however, I wonder where is this being spent. According to the sources of information I have, I estimate the amount of money being directly spent in my region to be approximately half of that amount.
The question I keep coming back to then, Mr. Speaker, is what happened to the other $60 million on an annual basis that should be flowing to the people and communities in the Tlicho regions?
Mr. Speaker, the Minister's email provided some insight to this. It talks about work being done that benefits all NWT communities, like the Executive, Indigenous Affairs, education modernizations, curriculum renewal, and MMIWG. There are many more of these types of projects across government, and I'm not saying that these are bad projects or that work should not continue. But using half of our money, or $60 million, to work on GNWT priorities, many of which are out alignment with what is actually needed in my region, is really unfair.
For example, Mr. Speaker, if the GNWT was really interested in improving educational outcomes in my region, changing the Education Act will not have the same impact as addressing the social economic conditions like poverty and housing. A change in education legislation is not going to fix the housing crisis.
When you have eight people living in a threebedroom unit and children do not have a good night's sleep or no quiet place to study, how do you expect these children to have good attendance and to focus on their education when they are worried about basics like food and shelters? Fixing this problem will do far more to improve educational outcome than some legislation changes.
Mr. Speaker, this government says it wants to work in partnership with Indigenous governments, and it says a lot of the right things. But the way it spends money tells a different story.
The fact that $60 million is allocated to territorial projects without any community consultation sends a message that the GNWT knows better than local leaderships. To add insult to injury, organizations then have to apply for funding that have a lot of restrictions placed on them. The Minister of Health often has spoken about unused pots of funding. Maybe the reason organizations choose not to apply is because of all the restrictions placed on the funding, making it difficult for them to achieve an outcome.
Mr. Speaker, funding restrictions are just a tool that colonial government use to control Indigenous government. If the GNWT is serious about working with Indigenous government, they need to come up with a new fiscal approach that is built on mutual respect and trust instead of control. Just as the federal government trusts this government to make decisions, we need to show Indigenous government that same trust.
Mr. Speaker, I cannot support this budget as it is out of alignment of what my riding really needs. I would like to see the budget change to reflect more small community needs. GNWT is using a large portion of our funding, or $60 million every year, to support territorial projects when my region's basic needs are not being addressed.
My riding priorities are to fix the housing crisis, work on mental health and addictions, and to fix aging infrastructure, infrastructure as previously mentioned. Even if a small portion of the $60 million GNWT is using for its territorial projects were spent towards our priorities, the housing crisis could be resolved over the next couple years.
I believe that all other small NWT communities are in the same situation and are paying a huge price tag for territorial projects that have little benefit for small communities. That is why we continue to see outcomes for people living in small communities. Communities get worse and the widen gap when compared to those people living in the capital or large regional centres.
If you are from small communities, you would understand our struggles and challenges yet we do not hear this from this Cabinet most who are from small northern communities. We feel no one is advocating on our behalf. Remember, there are 32 other communities outside of capitals that matters. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. To the principle of the bill. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I'm pretty exhausted. I don't have any formal speaking notes, I don't know how anybody else has managed to pull theirs together. But, you know, it's well known that I fundamentally disagree with Cabinet's fiscal framework that perpetuates overspending on capital, some of which is directed at large infrastructure projects of dubious merit and value.
I criticized this Cabinet for its lack of attention to raising revenues in my reply to the budget address. I advocated for one or more tax brackets for high income earners. I think that we can retain greater benefits from mineral exploration and development by retaining or capturing more royalties from mining and other measures that I identified in my reply to the budget address.
However, I was certainly happy to work with my regular MLA colleagues to secure some compromises and improvements to the budget, and those were highlighted yesterday by the Minister of Finance. And, you know, it was a difficult and challenging process that we went through but those changes that we secured as regular MLAs by working together included, you know, additional funding for housing and for homelessness. And although $4 million as a permanent increase to O and M funding for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation may not sound like a lot on a $2.2 billion budget, I think it starts to head us in a better direction.
I support additional funding for homelessness shelters and for heritage centres as well.
I think there was a very significant commitment made on nongovernmental organization multiyear funding that will allow for inflationary increases to their funding. I think that's a really significant commitment that Cabinet has made, and I really look forward to that being implemented.
I support increasing tobacco taxes and a reduction in contracted services that were proposed by the or committed to by the Minister of Finance as well.
I did mention that I believe this was a very difficult process of negotiating changes, but I certainly appreciate the collaborative approach that was taken in the spirit of compromise, and it's I think a vast difference in approach from how we approached this in the last Assembly. So I want to give my Cabinet colleagues and the Minister of Finance some credit for that.
And I guess in conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I can see my way to support this budget with the reservations that I mentioned earlier. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. To the principle of the bill. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, do I think this is a revolutionary game changing budget? No.
I have shared my views on the budget as a whole in my reply to the budget address towards the beginning of this sitting. But true change takes time, Mr. Speaker. Evolution takes time. And I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the most patient person in this House. But I acknowledge that we are at a place where costs are being stretched in all directions. Inflation is having a real impact on the people we serve as well as the government who serves them. And our expectations of how the government serves the people of the NWT has also grown.
While we have big asks for funding, we also have an expectation that the cost of living in the NWT not be further exacerbated by our government and that cost savings not be at the expense of the livelihoods of the people of the Northwest Territories.
Both sides of these constraints, combined with our passion and love for each of our constituencies, made for, at times, a difficult budget discussion. But these discussions, as difficult as they are, also make me proud to work with, and continue to learn from, my fellow MLAs because the people we serve were central to all of our conversations.
So I want to thank my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, for sharing so passionately and candidly as we continue to work together. I'd also like to thank the chair and deputy chair of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight who advocated for all regular Members with the Minister of Finance, and of course the Minister of Finance who was responsible to draft and implement the budget overall.
Last March, I read a motion into your House, Mr. Speaker, which called on the GNWT to prioritize the review of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation as part of the government renewal initiative, that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation update its mission statement and policies to reflect its role in social wellness, and that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation must include referrals to appropriate government programs prior to beginning the eviction process.
This year, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation released its new mission and vision which centers people at the forefront of its work, and now they are working with the Council of Leaders on organizational renewal by reviewing their policies, processes, and direction of NWT partnerships to house Northerners.
When questioning the Minister of the Housing Corporation during the main estimates review, she committed to a plan to address housing repairs in the NWT with an ultimate goal of bringing Northerners out of core need. There is still so much work to do, Mr. Speaker. But during my reply to the budget address, I asked if listeners only remembered one thing I said that day, it would be to note that the Housing Corporation cannot meet its mandate with a capital investment of $11 million.
Yesterday, the Minister of Finance committed to an additional $6.7 million in response to MLA negotiations. These included a onetime increase of $2.2 million for homelessness shelters, ongoing funding of $500,000 to Northwest Territoriesbased heritage centres, and to develop procedures for multiyear funding agreements that allow for inflationary increases for NGOs.
In addition to these three commitments, a fourth final commitment was most notable to me, Mr. Speaker.
After negotiations with regular MLAs, the government committed an additional $4 million per year in ongoing funding for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. This much needed funding will provide financial support for home repair, fuel tank replacements, home purchase programs, mobility modifications, and to the seniors home subsidy. While this funding does not fully address housing needs in the Northwest Territories, it is a start, Mr. Speaker; and, to me, a reflection that Cabinet is listening.
It is this substantial commitment, along with the promising efforts of the Housing Corporation to change the way it does business, that has secured my support for the 20222023 budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. To the principle of the bill. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too, along with several of my colleagues, will be voting against this budget.
I realize that I only just joined this Assembly in the last month; however, from what I've seen in the short time I have been here, I'm not impressed with the funding allocation to the Tu NedheWiilideh riding.
Mr. Speaker, as a former chief, great knowledge working in our communities, understanding the people in our communities. I heard every day when I was a chief that housing's always been a priority. I sat on the DFN housing committee for a long time, and again at the national level, they've been saying the same thing.
So Mr. Speaker, from what I've seen so far, I do not believe the allocation of funding is eventually distributed across all communities, the regions in the NWT.
More often than not, it is the capitol region that are receiving most of the budgetary funds. Since I've been here, I talked to a lot of about the housing needs within my riding but not have received any budget commitments from the Minister of Finance or Cabinet. The closest thing I received on this issue was a commitment from the finance minister to meet with me and to discuss the housing budget needs within the Tu NedheWiilideh riding. While that is a good first step, that does not address the many outstanding housing needs for the people in my constituency.
Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, I had been questioning the consensus government concept. I feel that there are flaws, and these flaws have to be evaluated and addressed. True consensus style government has not yet been reflected in this budget process. Therefore, I will be voting against this budget. My constituents are extremely important to me and my work here at the Legislative Assembly, and I must see concrete changes in the budget process in the future in order to support any future budget. I am just not seeing enough funding into the smaller communities or regional centres being addressed with concern which is concerning. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to make a note too as well I I'm wearing the orange ribbon today. And I got one here for my colleague, Mr. O'Reilly. I just didn't give it to him yet. But it's just to show that small communities in the Northwest Territories matter, and they need to be heard. And that's why I want to dedicate this ribbon to the all small communities in the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. To the principle of the bill. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not going to spend any time here today rehashing the items that are in the budget and what aren't. I've sort of sat down to formulate my thoughts over the last week or so and really thought my best bet would be to get up to speak from my heart because that is where I am what I am using to make my decision.
One thing that I have really learned over the last three years now in this role or almost three years is that we are only as strong as our weakest community and that until we start to build up the small communities and all of our residents in need and focus on that, we won't see prosperity for the territory as a whole.
While this budget does do things for Yellowknife as a group, I don't, like others, have an Indigenous leadership to go to; I don't have a specific group within my riding that is going to advise me on what they think. So, really, I have to vote what I think is right from my heart.
As we went through this process and I listened to the needs and the concerns of my colleagues on this side of the House and their frustration with the lack of progress that they see in their communities, I offered to them that my I don't know how to put this, Mr. Speaker, but that I would stand in solidarity with them.
To me, it's important that especially now as we are working together better as a group, the atmosphere on this side of the House has definitely improved in the last two sessions. As such, I think it's more important for me to show my colleagues that I support them and I support all residents of this territory.
While my specific constituents are probably getting as much out of this budget as they were going to get, that is not enough for me to say yes to the budget. I watch our government waste money left, right, and centre, and then yet turn down a small community ask or such for $150,000, yet we'll expand our public sector; we will not evaluate job descriptions to ensure people are working more efficiently.
To me, an economy is not having all of your people working for the government and being bureaucrats. And I very much still believe that senior bureaucracy in this territory is driving the decisions that are being made here and that I'm not sure that there really is leadership or will to change that.
So Mr. Speaker, with all of that being said, I'm going to speak with vote with my heart. I'm going to stand with my small community colleagues, and I will not be voting for this budget. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. To the principle of the bill. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to begin by thanking all of my colleagues for all of their work over the last few weeks in the budget negotiations on both sides of this House. I think this has been a true exercise in consensus government, and it's one where, you know, consensus does not mean we all agree. I understand, and I hear the concerns of my colleagues who have voiced their opposition today, and it is my hope that we will use the next year to win their votes, and, you know, hopefully we'll see another group of MLAs voting against the budget, because that's the balancing act; we need to push the tensions on both sides where not everyone's going to walk away happy, and that's essentially what a budget does.
I don't want to repeat too many of my comments made in my reply to the budget address. I proposed that we spend $20 million more on housing. I proposed a number of ways we could get there. I encourage my Cabinet colleagues to, you know, continue that discussion.
And Mr. Speaker, that $20 million was well, it was a number I just pulled out of the air, but it has some significance. That's the amount of money that the CMHC currently gives the Housing Corporation. It's the amount that expires in 2038. I believe it is the number that has completely hampered our Housing Corporation from changing its perspective on housing. It still believes that it is federally funded and hopes that this money will come back one day. And Mr. Speaker, we in this House have to realize that housing is our responsibility; replacing that CMHC funding is our responsibility, and we have to get on our way to do that.
Mr. Speaker, with throughout the budget negotiations, we got one fifth of the way of doing that. There's $4 million more for the Housing Corporation. I'm very happy to see that.
And Mr. Speaker, I want to clarify an important distinction. That is $4 million in committed ongoing funding. In the past, we have negotiated a number of increases that are onetime funding, and then they disappear. And that doesn't help us solve or systemic problems in any way.
I would gladly take an ongoing commitment of $4 million than I would take $25 million in onetime spending. The Housing Corporation needs to know that money is in its budget, that it can plan longterm, and it can eventually get over this fear of 2038. So if we do this five more times, Mr. Speaker, we'd get to $20 million.
There is also $2.2 million in onetime funding for shelter services. That is money that is continuing a lot of the great work we did in response to COVID19 in regards to our most vulnerable. I don't believe that should be onetime funding, Mr. Speaker. I believe that should be ongoing funding and we don't lose that support.
One of the things that came out of budget negotiations which I believe has a longterm potential to be a lasting legacy for this government was the commitment to look at all of our contribution agreements and turn them into longterm contribution agreements, multiyear fundings with inflationary increases.
I have a number of nonprofits who operate in my constituency, and they tell me they have contribution agreements that haven't increased since 2009, Mr. Speaker. That is just simply unacceptable. And they have to report every single year on those with no increase permitted.
Mr. Speaker, I think the devil will be in the details here. But I think we need to review every single contribution agreement we have. Let's turn them into at least threeyear multiyear contribution agreements with inflation built in. Let's minimize the reporting. And then at the end of those three or fiveyear contribution agreements, let's evaluate their program, Mr. Speaker.
And I think for some of our longstanding NGOs who receive those, we could turn it into block funding. We know the programs they're offering. They're not going away any time. We can minimize the administrative burden and give them the freedom to do the work that they need to do.
Last thing, Mr. Speaker, in my budget reply, I expressed concern about contract services. A number of departments continually lapse their contract services budget, most notoriously, the Department of Finance. So they are not spending the money out there.
The contract services is a over $200 million of the budget. It's a very significant area, and some of it is absolutely essential. However, Mr. Speaker, I have seen a lot of contract services which seems to be when a department gets into a situation where there's some controversy and they don't want to make a decision, they they get another report; they hire another consultant; they go out and do some more engagement, and we end up in committee getting handed five different reports on the same topic because no one has wanted to make a decision that will will offend anyone, Mr. Speaker.
So I encourage when we're doing the contract services report, let's look at those consultants and some of the repeat work we've been doing for years, often to exGNWT employees, and maybe let's just make the tough decisions the first time instead of spending millions and millions of dollars on consulting services.
So I encourage my Cabinet colleagues, with the commitment to reduce contract services, to start with that work.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to say I think there's also a bit of a tension right now in defining consensus government. I am a firm believer that Cabinet proposes, and the Legislative Assembly disposes, which means we on this side of the House, despite having a majority, have to be hesitant in steering the shipyard too much.
There are line items that I would love to cut. I think we have the majority, and there's millions of dollars I would like to remove from that budget. But Mr. Speaker, we elected those Members to Cabinet. They are responsible for their portfolios. They know them better than us. And I think we have to give them room to govern at times, even if it's very annoying, Mr. Speaker. Yet on this side of the House, I know Members, we are the only ones who review all of the departments. We have a bigger picture than, you know, single ministers. Often ministers have to just focus on their portfolios, and they lose that big picture.
And so it is that tension that is at play in budget negotiations. And I think we have heard over and over from this side of the House that housing is the priority. Some Members here have voiced that we didn't go far enough on housing, and I hope we continue those conversations, and we find the appropriate balance in the next budget.
But ultimately, Mr. Speaker, I believe there was a concerted effort by both sides on this House to enable the priorities of this Assembly, and I will be voting in favour of the budget. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. To the principle of the bill. Member Minister Minister of ECE.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think if any one of us designed this budget, it would not look the way it looks. I have things that I would like to see in here that aren't in here, and the same goes for every single Member. None of us gets everything we want. And that is consensus government. We hope we end up with something that is suited for all of us to the best to the best of our abilities. And this is a budget that we put together to the best of our abilities given our our priorities and our limitations.
To the Members who are, you know, wishing to see this budget fail, who are voting against this budget, I'd like to remind them that the alternative is that starting tomorrow, no one's getting paid. You know, I'm concerned about students going to school. Despite what some people might say, I am concerned about our student outcomes. I want schools to be opened. I want teachers to continue to be paid. I want the lights to be on at schools. You know, I want those power bills to be paid.
There was lots of talk about small communities. And when you arrive here in Yellowknife, even coming from Hay River, you know, this looks like the streets are paved with gold. But, you know, we all know that that's not the reality. There's more people here. So yes, there's more money here obviously. But there are supports going to small communities as well, and I'm going to speak about my department's.
So at the Department of Justice, this this budget is proposing nearly half a million for new RCMP positions in the Tlicho region. You know, I would hope that Members would support that. I've heard it from the Tlicho leadership directly on numerous occasions that they want that increase. And so we've worked with the RCMP, and we're providing that increase. We have additional money for positions in Tuktoyaktuk because there's a need there, and we want to support that community.
And there are some territorial resources which I've heard, you know, so much about today that people don't appreciate. Well, the territorial resources in question here are the RCMP internet exploitation unit. They stop human trafficking. They stop they help stop our children from getting on planes and going down south and becoming, you know, part of part of something I don't even want to talk about. You know, it talks this this unit helps everyone in the territory. Those are the kind of centralized funds that we are spending.
The money that is in this budget is being used to decentralize positions. There's positions in Yellowknife that we are sending out to regional centres. This money has budget for this budget has money for positions that were decentralized by the Department of ECE last year. So it's ongoing funding.
This money this budget has money for Heritage centres which are primarily outside of Yellowknife. And I know they can use it. I have a Heritage centre in my community. I know they could use it. They haven't seen an increase in many, many, many years. And that is going to benefit communities outside of Yellowknife.
And as an MLA, I will say that I share the thoughts of all the other Members who are happy to see this increase in housing funding. You know, I have constituents who apply for grants to have their homes fixed. You know, you might need a roof. You might need a new roof for $60,000. And you are working full time, and you're taking care of a couple kids, and you just can't afford it. And I've seen those people get denied because there's no money left in the pot. Now we have money left in the pot. That's a real impact on our constituents, you know, and I'm happy to support that as well.
Mr. Speaker, is this budget perfect? Of course not. No budget is ever perfect. But I think that we need to realize that we didn't come into this Assembly to make 50 million, a hundred million, $150 million worth of cuts the way that we generally see coming into an Assembly.
We made our way through a pandemic without making those types of cuts. We made sure that we kept money in the budget and we kept people employed.
So maybe everyone isn't getting everything they want today, but that doesn't mean that there are not significant benefits to this for the MLAs and for the people of the territory.
So along with my Cabinet colleagues, I'll be supporting this. Thank you.
Thank you, government House leader. To the principle of the bill. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did have the opportunity to speak yesterday in Committee of the Whole and made a number of comments at that point about consensus government and about the process by which the budget is built. I don't want to repeat all of that, Mr. Speaker, but I do have a few additional comments I want to make today.
Mr. Speaker, I'm very frequently asked what am I going to do about the debt ceiling, what am I going to do about rising costs of debt, what are we going to do about the rising costs of fuel, what are we going to do about the rising costs of living, what will we do about the rising costs of inflation, how will we manage our rising expenditures when there's stagnant revenues.
Mr. Speaker, the solution isn't necessarily to spend more. And in the case of being right now in the midst of a crisis where we've been coming out of two years of a pandemic where we had to respond to floods in small communities, and did, indeed, respond to those floods in small communities, Mr. Speaker, we are constantly having to adjust how we deal with priorities across the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, the budget doesn't get divided up by 13 33 communities. It would be unfair because the small communities, if we did that, wouldn't get a fair share. It would go to the community that has 50 percent of the population and not to the small communities. Would there being money left over to be rebuilding the flood ravished communities that we had? Perhaps not, Mr. Speaker. But that is simply, again, not how we budget in the Government of the Northwest Territories. We budget at our best we can based on need, and that's done across departments.
Mr. Speaker, I can paint two alternatives. I spoke yesterday quite a lot about consensus. I believe in consensus government. I believe in the process of negotiations. I do believe in the process of hearing from MLAs. I believe every other Minister feels the same. The Premier's given us very clear instructions that we're always to do that, that we're here to build consensus and that dialog.
And yes, Mr. Speaker, we are not all agreeing today. That is more than apparent. And I want to say right now before I go any further, I will still be available to speak to every MLA tomorrow. I consider the relationship one that is always to be rebuilt, built, grow, change. And we're always going to learn something from one another, Mr. Speaker.
But there's an alternative to the way this process was, and that would be that three MLAs come forward to me, tell me three projects, we build them into the budget, and that that's the end of the discussion, that there are no negotiations, that we don't try to collectively say which topic area, which subject area should we add something more to, which area can we all agree we could probably trim something from without impacting ongoing programs and services.
That's the kind of difficult discussions that we've been having. They are hard. And they're not perfect. And we're still operating within a situation where we have limited funds where we have to still ensure that we're providing every program and service in every community across 33 communities and across a huge geographic region.
It's actually a very complicated thing. It's actually much more complicated, I'd suggest, than perhaps being one of the provinces where there's a much larger opportunity to raise revenues where economies of scale operate differently. We don't have those benefits here. But we have 33 communities that we're serving, many of whom don't have access to roads and allweather roads.
So Mr. Speaker, the budget process that we have is not one where we pick three projects and then moved forward and assume that it's all sewn up.
Every time we start the budget process, Mr. Speaker, capital budget and operating budget, I know that we will be facing a potential vote. I know that I will face criticism or that we as a government will face criticism of the budget from Members from for a variety of different reasons. That's a very real risk we take every time. And but it's a much harder road to take to sort of sit down and try to find what areas we can do some changes in, what programs we can make changes to, what services we can make changes to at this stage that will actually reflect some of the needs and discussions.
And in this particular case, those discussions did land largely on housing and housing changes and housing supports. And the changes we're making are significant. I'm grateful for the discussions we've had because it's changes that we're going to be making to the Housing Corporation's permanent budget are going to be the kinds of programming changes where those dollars are the kinds of dollars that go out to individuals in the communities and to the communities so that they are spending on the seniors program, on the fuels program, on programs that again, that are that are spent in the communities and by those communities. I think that was an exceptional outcome that I was proud about.
And I think there's a couple of MLAs, too, who've landed on the value and we don't know yet the cost of this, but landed on the fact that nonprofit sector, those that provide government programs and services directly, are now not are going to be looking at a very different way of approach from the Government of the Northwest Territories. This is quite huge, and it is potentially a significant cost. But it's the right thing to do. And I was, again, very pleased that that's one of the outcomes of our discussions.
There's a few quick comments, Mr. Speaker, just specifically about things that have been raised here today that I want to speak to. And I'm speaking to them because I'm, you know, again at this point, some of the conversations are now being had here on the floor, and so just as I would in question period want to give information fulsomely, I want to take this opportunity here.
Community funding. Mr. Speaker, every what Yellowknife MLA hears about underfunding of community. Every Yellowknife MLA hears about it because Yellowknife is one of those communities where the community government stands up regularly and leads the charge for underfunding of municipal and community governments.
The mayor of Yellowknife is very vocal, and she certainly makes sure that every Yellowknife MLA is well aware of the impacts of being an underfunded community, particularly being a community that winds up actually providing services to residents who come here from across the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, as it is, the 2014 calculation that's been used, as I understand it, actually is some of the smaller communities are overfunded on that calculation, not underfunded. My understanding is they will not see any of their funds drawn back or clawed back. But it's just worth remembering that it's some of the larger communities that are actually the most underfunded on that basis.
Homelessness, Mr. Speaker, again, we all agreed this was a critical area. And that was, again, there was an option here where the Yellowknife projects could simply have been funded internally for a year, and that could have just been done from the existing appropriations, and that would be the end of that. Instead, by adding to those budgets, by adding to the opportunity so that homelessness can see an increase in funds, means that more projects get funded. It won't just be Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker. More projects get funded.
In fact, I'll just note that this budget, if it passes, includes $752,000 earmarked for Hay River and Fort Simpson, Mr. Speaker.
And with respect to the tiny homes project, Mr. Speaker, I do want to be very clear. This Cabinet, certainly myself, I know my colleague the Minister of Housing, are thrilled to have new ideas, are thrilled to have new opportunities. But Mr. Speaker, that project's not shovel ready. And I know the MLA and I might disagree about this we often agree about a great many things but this is one that we don't agree on. In my view, it's not shovel ready, Mr. Speaker. But my hope is that with the commitments that we've made to get the right folks in there and to have these conversations, that it will be shovel ready and that it will be ready for funding. I think that would be an outstanding outcome of the discussions that we've had.
Mr. Speaker, I'd be remiss, since the Department of Finance was put on the block here, not to explain it perhaps again that the increase in the Department of Finance is largely well, there's three big lings, Mr. Speaker. The Tlicho AllSeason Road gets funded by the Department of Finance. Those funds, that payment now as a P3, is coming out of the Department of Finance. And so there was a significant increase in our budget to pay for the Tlicho AllSeason Road out to the community of Whati in Monfwi.
Similarly, the asset retirement obligation changes in public sector accounting standards is in there. Insurance premiums for the entire set of buildings and assets that we have across the GNWT in all 33 communities is funded by the Department of Finance. That's where you're seeing the increase, Mr. Speaker. That, and one new position being funded out of all of that. And Mr. Speaker, there's beyond that, this budget in my budget speech, I talked about the things that are you know, it's not just about flashy new things. It's about getting done what needs to get done.
I know that I believe the Minister of Justice already spoke to this but just it has to be highlighted, Mr. Speaker, that there's two positions two additional RCMP positions and associated vehicles going to Behchoko. There's an additional RCMP position going up to Tuktoyaktuk. There's $809,000 to pay for RCMP housing across the Northwest Territories right now.
ENR sees money going in for over a hundred over a million for the conservation and recovery of caribou. That's something that benefits a number of small communities and regional centres in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, it's the concern around that this budget doesn't pay for or doesn't help small communities and it's not divided that way. It's not, and it can't be. The headquarters functions of a large organization of any government perform functions and perform roles that benefit the entire territory, that benefit every department that go into every community. I just want to give you four or five examples briefly, Mr. Speaker, before I conclude.
Indigenous or the Executive and Indigenous Affairs, it's a department that doesn't always get as much attention. This is the department that's that's the Premier's to manage. But Mr. Speaker, this is where the negotiators reside. This is where the negotiations of land claims and selfgovernment agreements take place. That's a critical department to see that it continues to function.
Similarly, Mr. Speaker, this is responsible for the Council of Leaders. They're responsible for the GNWT's participation at the intergovernmental council. These are critical things that are that are flagship things that I think this government and this entire Assembly has something to be proud of. They're involved in seeing the advancement of UNDRIP, of the United Nations Declaration. These are tremendous opportunities where the Government of the Northwest Territories or the whole of the Northwest Territories shows a real place of leadership. And while we have lots of work to do, we have an opportunity to be leaders in Canada. But this is where that this is where that's happening, is in the headquarters function where that budget goes.
Also, there is the genderequity unit. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister responsible for the Status of Women, the work on the national inquiry action plan response is so important. There's engagement happening right now across the Northwest Territories. And it is being led by someone who resides in a headquarters department. That's quite true, and that department goes community by community to be engaged and to develop this action plan. I'm deeply proud that work is happening. It's not a budget that gets divided by community. It's work that has to happen in all communities.
Education, Health, I mean the Department of Health and Social Services is almost onethird of the entire budget of the Government of the Northwest Territories. And they've led a response to the pandemic in the last two years that has seen, overall, very positive outcomes for us. And also pays for things like medical travel. You know, it has quite a number of things where again these aren't the exciting parts of the budget but these are the things that help people day to day in small communities, in regional centres, and in Yellowknife. They help the budget there doesn't get parsed out because medical travel doesn't get parsed out. We don't say that only a handful of folks from one community have been flown out, that there's no more money for that community. That's not how this works. There's always going to be more money that when when somebody is going to have to travel out of a small community, we're going to keep funding it. That's how this works.
And so, Mr. Speaker, I do hope and I look forward to the opportunity to vote on this budget. I mean, there's certainly no surprise that I'll be voting in favour of the budget.
I do want to assure Members I'm hearing their frustrations. That's why I'm offering to go myself to meet, to discuss the functioning and the preparing of the budget, to better understand how the money is spent, where it's spent, how it's divided, how those decisions are made. I also want to have the opportunity to make sure that there aren't programs or services that can't be further tweaked and aligned to better service communities. That is, to me, always been the point of budget discussions. Not to pick three things or pick three projects or three ridings but to look as a whole of territory, what areas, what topics, what services do we need to enhance.
If there's policy matters that aren't funding related, then take those back to the relevant Ministers and have them look at it. There's been all sorts of reviews happening in the last two years. That takes time. But a lot of that work is happening. It's underway. It's being funded by the budget that's before the House right now.
I've already said my thanks, Mr. Speaker, to my colleagues on the other side. Again, it's difficult sometimes to hear the comments that are negative about the budget but they're always beneficial in the long term. Officials are listening. We are all listening. And I'm grateful for this opportunity. I'm grateful for the dialogues that we've had.
Mr. Speaker, I remain committed to consensus government, and I remain committed to not picking projects or picking picking one thing at a time. It's continuing this dialogue as we have been for the remainder of the 19th Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. To the principle of the bill. Minister for Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to try to be as succinct as possible here. First of all, I represent five small communities and one regional centre. So when I'm sitting on Cabinet, I'm listening to my colleagues talk, the departments talk, and I'm also sitting on a variety of committees of Cabinet. So we may not get the the information that the regular Members get on their committees, but I can guarantee you the opportunity to sit in and have the conversations about budgets and the process at the table I know myself, and I can't speak for Minister Chinna, but I should just say that I've heard her speak about small communities, the importance of smaller communities. We this Cabinet here is very reflective of what the Northwest Territory is. It's about small communities, regional centres, and the city of Yellowknife. We have representatives of all three in here as we work on the budget.
Mr. Speaker, when we sit there and talk about it, and there was this old adage way back when, if everybody's not happy it means you've done a good job in the negotiation process.
Am I happy about this? No. There's things in here that I wish I wanted to see. There was some of the negotiations that frustrated me because there was things missing. But at the end of the day, what we're trying to do is the residents of the Northwest Territories. We are here to make this better for people. It's about the residents. At the end of the day, they are our bosses. That's who we're here working for. And I think, and I applaud Minister Wawzonek in her approach. Is it frustrating? We could find three. I've seen it previously. I've seen the government before I became in to be a Member and before I saw became a Member of Cabinet.
We're doing business differently. We're having those hard conversations. We're having those negotiations. We're talking. It doesn't seem like we're listening but we're listening. We're having those hard, frank conversations. And we're able to see improvements in the budget be able by the Members. Is it perfect? No. It's never perfect. But I think Minister Green talked about give me $500 million and we would have treatment centres across the North. Well, you give me X amount of dollars, and I can fix a whole bunch of other issues. But we don't have all the money. We don't have all the money we need. We're $1.5 billion in debt. We're getting closer to the debt ceiling. So we got to find creative ways of doing things. And I applaud the regular Members for their negotiations and bringing forth ways to improve things.
Housing has been a struggle for 50 years. We've had the NWT Housing Corporation here. The things that we would love to see houses in here, every community. We joke around, I'll give you a house, I'll give you a house, I'll give you a house. We'd love to do that. Is there overcrowding? Yes. I see it every day in my riding. But I work with the Minister on trying to help my constituents like the other regular Members do.
Past experience is when you sit there and you look at big projects. Stanton Hospital, how does that help Somba K'e? Deh Cho Bridge, how does that help Jean Marie? The other highway systems in other regions, how does that help Nahendeh riding? It doesn't, but it helps the people of the Northwest Territories. That's what we're there for working collectively on this. We need to be able to do this.
As the Minister for Municipal and Community Affairs, are we underfunded in the municipal funding gap? We hear all the time are we looking for creative ways of finding solutions to it? Yes. I am now working more hand in hand with the president of NWTAC. We're trying to find alternative ways to get more money into the Northwest Territories. We are going to work together. We're working to to try to do a triterritorial approach to it. So again, it's about how we are able to do things.
At the end of the day, am I happy with this budget? No. I would love to see more things happen in my riding. I would love to see more things happen in other ridings because, you know, when we talk about it, it's about putting food on the table, looking after the people, addressing homelessness, addressing people that are less fortunate. But we're not we don't have the endless pot of money.
So I applaud again, the Minister of Finance has been true to her word, is that we're going to do consensus government.
What does consensus government mean? It's about working together. It's about listening to people. It's about understanding and understanding and respectful of other people's differing opinions. Because at the end of the day, it's about working together. It's about listening. We need to listen to the residents of the Northwest Territories with the resources that we have.
So is the budget perfect? No. I keep on saying it's not perfect. But the work that's been done has been very helpful.
So Mr. Speaker, I know I said I was going to try to be short, and now I'm almost a little bit longer than I wanted to be. But I am going to support this budget, and I applaud the Minister of Finance to continue on this path. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. To the principle of the bill. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today we are at a giant crossroads. It had always been my approach, and it will remain my approach for the rest of my time here, that I was elected first and foremost to serve the people of the Northwest Territories, all of them, from Fort Smith to Sachs Harbour and back again.
And I pay special attention to my constituency, which is Yellowknife Centre, which is a very diverse constituency. I have the bulk of the homeless population. There's some really fancy houses over on Matonabee, lots of apartments, apartments that are so densely populated they're bigger than any riding of the small community variety.
It's my approach that what's good for all of us is good for Yellowknife Centre. We may not see in Yellowknife Centre the immediate benefits of the Tlicho AllSeason Road because it doesn't come anywhere close to Yellowknife Centre. We've got a road. But I think that we understand the principle that lifting up everybody else lifts us up too; that a rising tide does, indeed, flow to all boats. And so I feel that the best example I can give of this approach is the way we handled the pandemic.
We could have divided the money we received to manage the pandemic into 33 communities, or into 19 constituencies, and we could have said when that money was gone I'm very sorry, it's gone. But no. We decided that we needed to approach the pandemic on a collective basis. So if there was a big outbreak in Fort Good Hope, we threw everything we had at it. If there was a big outbreak in Inuvik, then we threw everything we had at it. We didn't start charging back people based on the per capita population of those who needed testing, needed vaccines, needed the treatment, needed hospitalization, the use of ventilators and so on. No. This is not how health works.
Health is a collective undertaking that provides service to everyone regardless of where they live. And the medical travel, the specialists who work at telehealth where people can call in and get advice from their small community health centres, that is the collective approach that we take in health.
It pains me enormously that this is not something that is supported by people I'm frankly surprised who don't support it, that they're parochial selfinterest is preeminent and that the collective interest is secondary. It's frustrating. But it is what it is. And I would like to say nothing about consensus government. I think it is completely misunderstood.
If you think this budgeting process is hard, I invite you to look at party politics. You see it on the day it's produced and then that's that's that. There is no opportunity to go through weeks of negotiations to increase the budget in areas that are important to nonexecutive council members.
I want to thank, in particular, the Minister of Finance. The amount of patience that she's shown in this process, and leadership, is extraordinary. And I commend her for that, along with my Cabinet colleagues, as we've sat through hours of discussion about what the budget would be and once it was tabled, what it could become. I'm very sorry that we are at this point now but this is the point that we're at. We have one more to do. Let's hope it works. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. To the principle of the bill. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also am kind of really heartbroken in what I'm hearing today, in honesty.
This Cabinet has been different. It's tried different. And those that were in the Assembly in the last Assembly know that, know that we've been working differently. And they know I think that Members that were here, ,and current Members as well, many of them, know that my heart is in the right place, and I am the Premier and I represent our Cabinet.
I've been asked I'm a Yellowknife MLA, Mr. Speaker. If I was only concerned about Yellowknife and my own riding and my own get reelections, then I would be voting everything to stay in the capital city. But I have not done that. I haven't done that in this Assembly, and I haven't done that in the last Assembly.
I've been asked in this House to put single service windows single window service centres in Yellowknife because we have them in small communities, and I've said no, against my own riding.
I've been asked when I was the housing minister why don't we put more services in Yellowknife. I put shelters outside of Yellowknife in the small communities, three shelters outside of Yellowknife, because I recognize the needs of the small communities that were needed.
When I was the MACA minister, Mr. Speaker you know that, when I was asked would I take back the money of the small communities that were overfunded, I said no, I wouldn't. I would let them stand because they were still even though they were overfunded, they still need more support.
When I was the education minister, I was asked I was expected, I'm a Yellowknife MLA, I could have said the headquarters shall be in the capital. We have the population. I said no, the headquarters are safe where it is.
I think I've shown over my term in the last six years that I do care about small communities. And I've seen with all of these Cabinet ministers that they also care about small communities. At no time have I heard at the Cabinet table that this shall be in Yellowknife because Yellowknife deserves it. In fact, I've heard the opposite. I've heard Yellowknife Members in Cabinet stick up for small communities and say that we need to support the small communities. So I know that whatever we say won't make a difference. I know that people make up their minds before; that's just how things go. But I do say that I do take offence, Mr. Speaker, on the implication that this Cabinet cares about the capital city more than small communities, because in my opinion from a personal standpoint and from all of the Members in this Cabinet, I have seen and experienced the opposite. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's all I will say.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. To the principle of the bill.
Question.
Question has been called.
