Julie Green

Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. In my Member's statement, I noted that there is a group of low- or no-income non-Indigenous women who do not qualify for birth control or the new abortion pill. Why not? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to go back now to the inclusive schooling money. Where is the money coming from? That is the $881,000. Which program or programs is it being reallocated from? Thank you.

Mahsi. What we're offering in the NWT is not universal. It leaves a group of vulnerable, low, and no-income women without birth control and without reproduction choice. I will have questions for the Minister of Health. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on page 41, I see that the revised estimates for the current fiscal year and the estimate for the next is the same for inclusive schooling, and yet, in the budget address, the Minister announced there would be an additional $881,000 available for inclusive schooling. Could the Minister please clarify? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, pursuant to rule 36(3), seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake, that the Minister's statement just delivered be moved into the Committee of the Whole for discussion. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure regarding the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) Sole-Source Contracts Report for the period April 1 to December 31, 2017. They ask for a rationale for contracting on a sole source basis for specific goods and services.

Could the Minister please provide:

With respect to sole source #02865 for $7,200,000 and #2922 for $14,800,000 with Imperial Oil Ltd for the supply of petroleum products, an explanation why this purchase was necessary through sole-source purchase and not by public tender;

With respect...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that notwithstanding rule 4, when this House adjourns on February 15, 2018, it shall be adjourned until Tuesday, February 20, 2018;

AND FURTHER that at any time prior to February 20, 2018, if the Speaker is satisfied after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had the pleasure today to go to a unique event hosted by Ecole St. Patrick, called "St. Pat's Serves." The intent of the day was to engage students in a variety of work done by organizations that fight for social justice and provide various volunteer services and opportunities, here in Yellowknife.

A total of 24 organizations participated, including non-profits like Food Rescue and the Tree of Peace, volunteer organizations like the Rotary Club and Alternatives North, as well as faithbased organizations. It was a very impressive list.

Each group had up to half...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm sorry, I didn't make my question more clear to the Minister. I am not asking him to index the minimum wage. The methodology for calculating minimum wage is something entirely different than calculating the living wage. What I'm asking him to do is index the NWT Child Benefit. Is that possible? Thank you.

I thank the Minister for his response, but I believe he has missed point of the living wage. The point of the living wage is that people work fulltime to take care of themselves and their families out of their employment income. They don't need food banks. They don't need public housing. They need to earn a decent wage so that they can pay their way.

To that end, the NWT Child Benefit could be very helpful to working families. That is the reason that I am interested in knowing whether the Minister will look at revising the income threshold to make it more useful to low-income families.