Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was on the last Cabinet so I do like to think that we weren't all that bad in the last Assembly. At least not all of us, anyway. But we are trying as a new Assembly. We've been really adamant about trying to work with Members. You know, pick your battles has always been a philosophy as I've said, so.

As for the Member saying that he hasn't done his homework and, you know, not really ready for this is that I can personally say that I think that the Member that was speaking was one of the hardest-working Members that I knew in the last Assembly. So I have no doubt that...

I mean, I have the same concerns as the Member. I mean, I I'm old; I'm 61 years old, and I don't like to borrow money. I learned a long time ago don't borrow it because if you can't pay it back, you're in trouble. And if you can't live within your means, you're in bigger trouble. So I think that we have learn that. It's not as simple as just going and asking for more money every time we hit the limit.

We're going to have to make tough choices, not only this Assembly, in the next Assembly as well. There's going to have to be really tough choices. When you got 22 priorities, you're not making...

Mr. Chair, what can I say? Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The process of the budget negotiations is just that. It's a process of negotiations with Regular Members. I think that the Minister of Finance, myself as Premier, and all the Cabinet, have heard directly from Members in this session about the importance of housing. I know that in the last budget that there was an increase; thank you to Members for further increase with this hearing now again.

I'm not going to say that I'm going to just put in an amount. I have one vote in finance; I don't have seven votes, you know. And so I know it's a need for us. But what I would like...

Yes, Mr. Chair, I'd like to bring in Martin Goldney, the deputy minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs and secretary to Cabinet.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Absolutely, I do know that, yes, the coinvestment money was a carveout and it was from the work of last Assembly; however, it was did come into effect in this Assembly. So that is money on the table.

I also know that we're constantly talking. Like I said, it's the biggest priority that we have, I think all of us as Members of this Assembly. So it's not only are we asking at the table. We've identified it in our budget ask to the federal government. Hopefully, we'll see the budget should be coming out in the next month or so hopefully. And so hopefully we'll see more...

In favour.

For.

Mr. Speaker, it has been two years since COVID19 changed our lives here in the territory. When the outbreak started, we didn't know what to expect, how long it would last, when vaccines would be available, and how we would have to adapt. We also didn't fully understand the toll it would take on all of us, especially health care providers.

Our communities have been hard hit. We lost 19 residents, including elders and knowledgekeepers. Others have suffered from serious illness. Another reality is that we still don't know the longterm affects of COVID19.

Mr. Speaker, it would be challenging to...

Mr. Speaker, over the last three days, the community of Fort Smith and its residents have been faced with a difficult and scary situation that has shaken their sense of safety

to the core. As a result of a significant police operation in the community, residents were forced to lock themselves in their homes, businesses, or wherever they could seek safety, while the RCMP searched for an individual considered to be armed and dangerous. Thankfully the individual has been brought into custody.

Mr. Speaker, we have lost others to violent crimes in the NWT. We acknowledge that the impacts of crime on...