Katrina Nokleby

Thank you. I apologize, without having my spot, I'm just going to ask one of the complaints that I'm hearing from seniors is around the processes of being reimbursed for issues and having to pay out of pocket first. And I apologize if this is actually not under the mandate but I'm just going to ask because I can't find my page.

Is there work to improve or change that policy towards making it less burdensome on seniors to get the money for their hearing aids or vaccines, etcetera? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to something that the Minister just said around contacting the union back in the fall.

It's my understanding that the union responded with several questions as well, and there was a very a large lack of engagement during the fall time and then into the new year at which point the union was presented with a take it or leave it.

Is it not maybe the Minister could speak to the fact that isn't it under the collective agreement that the government has a responsibility to negotiate with the union and not present take it or leave it scenarios...

Thank you for that. I think that the Minister's colleague over at ECE might want to have some of this be taken care of so we can create some of those day home spaces that seem to be needed under our new policies. And I'm going to move on here. This one actually has so much in it. And really I feel that I would be remiss to not comment that this is one of the most important priorities for myself. I think if our communities are stronger, then Yellowknife will only be stronger so even though it's not riding.

My next question is around the makerspace programs. It does say that it is fulfilled and...

In favour.

In favour.

Thank you. While I don't agree with a lot of my colleague's statements there about the leadership and direction of this Cabinet, I will say that I do agree with the fact that the number of priorities was unreasonable and unable to attain. So in retrospect, had I had a chance to do it over again, I would very much not have the number of priorities that I see here, as well too being aware of how things progressed in the first ten months of this Assembly, I'm well aware of how the mandate was developed in such that a lot of this work was already going on. So to then write out a mandate so that...

In favour.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's my understanding that over this weekend that there has been meetings of day home providers, etcetera, to discuss the government's plan. It is my understanding that they are not happy with what is happening with the fee subsidy.

Can the Minister commit to arranging a meeting with those stakeholders in order to hear from them directly what their issues are and perhaps modifying the rollout in order to address their concerns? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad that the Minister answered my next question so I can have one additional one.

So my next question is with the ongoing housing crisis in the NWT, we have a shortage of day home spaces that are available in several of our communities, as well there may be issues with housing any workers that we may be able to recruit given low wages and not meeting the living wage. How is the department working to remove the barriers in place to create new day home and daycare infrastructure? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to rise to acknowledge the members from Cheetah Resources that are here, as well Mr. Bill Braden is my constituent in Great Slave and formerly held my seat. I did not do my statement on Cheetah Resources today, but I think everybody knows how I feel about our resource extraction industry and I can't support them enough. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.