Kevin O'Reilly

Mr. Chair, well good thing I'm not an accountant. So I guess the bottom line here is that we have to this money is now showing up on our books as money that we're spending, and we've got $22.4 million less to work with? I am confused at the best of times. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Mr. Chair. Committee wishes to deal with Committee Report 3619(2), Tabled Document 74719(2), Tabled Document 74819(2). Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So can someone explain to me, in plain language, what this extra $22.4 million is all about? It's some sort of change in accounting treatment. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Madam la Presidente. I want to thank the Minister for that. Well, let's talk about some systemic change here, then. So in our current inflationary situation, price increases have been highest on mandatory costs, including food and shelter, rather than discretionary purchases, meaning poor people suffer more from inflation. So will the Minister take this affordability crisis as the opportunity to construct lasting measures, like a guaranteed basic income, that directly addresses the cost of living? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

Well, thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that, but I'm not going to continue the debate here. I got the Minister on record, and now I'm going to hold our government to account for that. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Madame la Presidente. I want to thank the Minister for recognizing that the minimum wage is not a living wage, and it keeps people in poverty. So through the work of the minimum wage committee and ECE analysts, you know, there's a lot of information that's been compiled. I also put together this percentage. 90 percent of our workforce received a page topup program because of how low our minimum wage actually is here. So can the Minister commit to developing and regularly update an actual living wage for each of the 33 NWT communities? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm glad the clock got started there. Yeah, well, I'm glad the Minister volunteered all of that because that was my next question actually, because in the letter that this government sent to I'm not sure exactly. I guess it was probably Minister Vandal about the regional study that the Tlicho government has asked, there was kind of two things that our government mentioned in there. One was that we supported participant funding but they said the other thing was that a regional study shouldn't delay the planning for this road in any way. And that's not what the Minister just...

Merci, Madam le Presidente. I too would like to recognize a Frame Lake resident in the gallery, Sheena Adams, whose the program coordinator for Arctic Energy Alliance, and former Yellowknife city council colleague Mark Heyck serves as the executive director. So I'm sure they're here to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Arctic Energy Alliance, and I welcome them to the proceedings today. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

Yeah, okay, thanks. Look, I'll cut this short. I think that this is probably better financial management but it still reflects our overspending on not overspending, over budgeting of capital and we just we, for a whole variety of different reasons, just can't get the money out the door. We can't get the work done, whether it's COVID, whether, you know, there's no contractors available to do the work, whatever, you know, supply chain delays, maybe there's not enough folks in procurement services to get this stuff out. I have no sense of that. But I think this is just a reflection of, again...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I move that the chair rise and report progress.