Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, that is correct.

Mr. Speaker, one of the, I guess you could say, the reputations that I have built as being a Minister is developing strong partnerships, and those partnerships do involve federal government. They involve municipal governments, Indigenous governments. We all have a role to play in this. GNWT cannot be the one-and-all to provide the services. We've got to work together to identify priorities and also address some of our core needs. It takes a partnership between all levels of government, but we do definitely play a significant role in this in terms of working with our municipal governments but...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As we are debating the budget here, we will definitely get it done in 2019-2020. The sooner that we can get it done, the better. That way, we can continue to provide services to the South Slave region. As committed to other Members, we will make sure the Member is kept up to date on how we are moving forward on this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. We would comply with legislation. Just to let the Member and Members know that, this weekend, we will be meeting with the NWT Association and communities and leaders and ensure that some of this information and discussion will be had over the weekend. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this moment, no, but it will be something that we will have to look at addressing and providing. I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but we only have so many resources within our department to provide the services, but it is something that we have taken into serious consideration, that, when ATIP goes through, we are going to be one of the partners at the table that is going to be providing the training for our municipal governments. We will definitely be doing that. I just want to assure the Member that it is something that our department will be undertaking...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think all of Cabinet, I think all Members, have heard. I will definitely look at the policy. I think a good-news story on this one is that we have increased the funding to the NGO Stabilization Fund, but it is something that we do need to also look at. Thank you.

I appreciate the advocacy that the Member is bringing on for seniors and aging in place. With the planning study, we did identify that there are certain communities across the Northwest Territories that we do need to provide adequate care and services to, and as I have mentioned in this House before, the three communities that were identified were Yellowknife, Hay River, and Norman Wells. We want to make sure that we identify our priorities as a government, but at the same time we also want to make sure that our Indigenous governments and our municipalities also work with us and take part of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned, we do have the interdepartmental committee that is working with the staff and the mayor of Hay River. We have to wait until we see what comes out of those discussions. I can't commit to a timeline. This is an interdepartmental commitment, so I will have to also chat with my Cabinet colleagues moving forward. What I can let the Member know: we have had those discussions. We will continue to have those discussions. Moving forward, we will see what our next steps are, and we will keep the Member informed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think there are a couple of department that work in this area. We would definitely work with the municipality to identify what their needs are. As they develop their community plans, we would work on supporting them. As previously mentioned, there is a Section 35. Depending on which community is putting their community plans forward, there might be some consultation that would be needed to take in with our Indigenous partners, Indigenous governments and also working with the Department of Lands to address the needs moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As we are working on this legislation, once we have a document done, we will share it with committee. We will make sure that it is shared before the transition documents are completed so that the next government that comes in knows what legislation needed to be completed within our department. Thank you.