Julie Green

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my statement today, agriculture has become a significant growth sector in the NWT economy in the last few years. It also has the added benefit of reducing food cost by substituting imported food. More growth is possible, but one of the limiting factors is the availability of the land. My question for the Minister of Lands is what plans the government has to make more land available in the NWT for agriculture and food production. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to acknowledge and congratulate Janet Diveky on her retirement from Public Works and Services. Mrs. Diveky taught throughout the Arctic before moving to Yellowknife with her husband and family in 1988. She joined Public Works and Services as a Library Technician then and again in 2003, with a return to teaching in-between. Mrs. Diveky is known for her volunteer efforts, especially with the Yellowknife Association for Community Living. She's also well known for her skills as a potter. I'd like to congratulate Mrs. Diveky on her career at Public Works and...

I won't repeat the points that have been made by my colleagues, although I agree with them. This document reflects some of the major points that I campaigned on. The process has not been very gratifying. When the document was created, I thought that we had an agreement to make a limited number of very specific priorities for the Assembly, but it turned out that refining the document meant adding so that we went from five major areas to, I don't know, 137 subareas or something like that, and in the process what we lost was the ability to make SMART goals. What I mean by that is the acronym...

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Now, there was going to be money set aside from an athletes’ village for the Canada Winter Games, which is likely not going to be needed because the bid won't take place. Is it possible to use that money and multiply it with federal money in order to provide an additional $24 million to go into seniors’ care?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for Seniors. How is the government preparing for the greater number of seniors and their needs? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the NWT's population of older adults is projected to grow dramatically in the next ten years. The number of adults over age 75 across the NWT is expected to double, and here in Yellowknife it's expected to triple. These numbers come from a strategic plan developed by Avens – A Community for Seniors.

If we want these seniors, along with their transfer payments and consumer spending, to stay in the NWT, we need to offer them affordable housing. Instead of enjoying a comfortable and secure old age, many seniors in Yellowknife face long waitlists to access the housing they need. A...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister look at the possibility of a P3 arrangement to provide this kind of care for seniors? Thank you. Mahsi.

Thank you, Minister, for that response and for that new information that quantifies the size of the problem. It's actually much larger than I had anticipated. There's some longterm work that needs to be done, but there are immediate needs, too, that come out of our broken continuum of housing for seniors, with these seniors who have dementia and longterm care needs that are currently inappropriately housed. What kinds of shortterm solutions might the government be able to offer these seniors?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Finance. Today the Minister of Finance in his update is asking us to consider a 10 per cent cut in the territorial budget in the order of $150 million. Yesterday, in the Opening Address, the government said they want people to see collaboration and collective decision-making aimed at addressing pressing challenges together, so with those two things in mind, I would like to ask the Minister of Finance what the plan is for consulting the public about the next budget.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. They recognized their fiscal situation was not temporary and that before setting a direction that would be long-term, they would ask the citizens their views. They are asking citizens to identify a combination of measures to increase revenues, reduce expenditures, eliminate waste, and establish fiscal targets. Citizens have many choices for participation. They can comment on a discussion document, attend public discussion sessions and town hall meetings, host their own meetings, and make submissions online. In order to focus their comments, residents were asked to comment...