Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this week we've been seeing in the news news about funding to the Spruce Bough lapsing. I wish I had time for two Member's statements but I know you like to run a tight ship so I'll get to the question.
How does the Premier envision nonprofit programs like the Spruce Bough, who deliver critical services on behalf of the GNWT, fitting into the mandate stemming from the Assembly's priority of increasing access to health care? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Member, can you tell me oh, the Premier? Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I don't want to preempt any mandate discussions that we need to have as a Cabinet, as a Caucus, but nonprofit organizations, nongovernmental organizations, are going to be essential and they are essential right now, but to the future operation of the territory they will be essential. They have significant expertise, significant ability, and flexibility to do a lot of the work that we need to get done, and so as we develop that mandate they will be at the forefront of my mind. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Premier for the answers. Certainly myself and a number of Members have been pressuring him about the importance of long term funding for our NGOs, and I do appreciate his attention to the matter.
What are the government's plans to ensure sustainable and sufficient funding for the Spruce Bough program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, of course the Government of the Northwest Territories was providing funding for the operations of the Spruce Bough, and that was federal money that we were using and, of course, we always knew that that funding was going to run out and so, unfortunately, there wasn't a way to extend that funding. And so we're not at the point where that funding is going to expire. We have found some funding to allow the operation to extend for a few more months to buy us a bit more time. I believe that there are meetings happening maybe today or tomorrow with the most senior government officials and representatives from the Spruce Bough. So there are ways for us to work together. And that is actually the way to go forward. There are opportunities to unlock other pots of funding, find other funding from the federal government, maybe other sources, but we need to work together. We need to share information. And we need to have that same goal in mind and go in the same direction. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I've said, and I think many members have said before, that what we need our NGOs to be focusing on is doing the work and not necessarily looking for funding, and we do hope to see the GNWT supporting them in that.
Mr. Speaker, just to the point of buying time, I question the Premier, we constantly seem to be caught off guard by these funding pots lapsing that we've known years in advance are going to lapse. So why is the GNWT failing to plan ahead and ensure long term and sustainable funding for these critical programs in such a way that we don't have to buy time at the last minute to ensure that they continue? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Government of the Northwest Territories certainly wasn't caught off guard. It was well known that this funding was time limited, but this is not a Government of the Northwest Territories program. And so what this does is it highlights the need for closer collaboration with the NGOs and, you know, to my earlier point, for information sharing between the government and NGOs so that these types of situations don't sneak up on anybody. Thank you.
Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake. Member from Monfwi.
