Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't want elders to leave their home communities either. If we removed the income threshold for all elders, all seniors across the Northwest Territories, we would have people that would -- that had large pensions that were able to access the program. And so that's why we have the program that is new to this Assembly, is the income assistance for seniors and persons with disabilities so that if people's monthly income is not meeting their needs that that program is where it will help them meet their monthly needs, and it will cover their full...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are always, as a government, so not just education, culture and employment, looking for ways to incentivize employment and create opportunities. That is a priority of mine in my role with both my industry hat and my education and training hat on and so certainly for that, the Member has my commitment. As far as the shift from income assistance to something like universal basic income, that would be a very big shift for the entire Assembly, and I would want to make sure that I have the support of the entire House for a shift like that. Thank you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm always open to new ideas. I'm also always open to ideas that really inspire and support people to -- you know, the Member mentioned opportunities to re-enter the workforce. That's why we have that reintroduction, or increase rather of earned income. I'm also looking at other mechanisms to work with very specific employers and very specific communities that are willing to look at actually bringing people on and supporting them up to thresholds as kind of a reentry and getting their first step back into the workplace or into the workplace for the first...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly the department has had the opportunity to review the Alternatives North report and definitely appreciates the insights found in it. It certainly is worth stating that in the last little bit here, income assistance has increased its investment in its programs through the income security programs by $5 million as well. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, an investment like this, like a pilot, would require approval of significant dollars that would have to first be approved in this House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can say I want these people at the table all I want but now I can say they are at the table. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member that this is of the utmost importance. And there is a lot of multi generations living in one home, and it's important to note that the seniors' home heating subsidy considers the income of only the senior. It doesn't consider the household income and everyone else that may be in the home as well so that it doesn't disincentivize people from living with their family members. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is almost right. It was raised to $87,000, was the highest in zone 3. Zone 2 is $75,000. Zone 1 is $66,000 a year of annual income. And I'm more than happy to work with education, culture and employment to provide the substantiation for those amounts to the Member so that we can kind of work with together to see what that was based on and provide that information to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, as I said, we just increased the income threshold and so we use the updated heating costs data for the Northwest Territories and made sure that we were doing that regionally so it was reflected because we know that the cost of heat here in Yellowknife is much different, for example, than Ulukhaktok. We also use the living cost differential and as well the proportion of income typically spent on fuel in homes.

In addition, Mr. Speaker, for the subsidy rate itself, we were able to use updated fuel consumption data, fuel price information. And...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So our first step is to finalize our economic vision and have this strategy really feed into that and ensure that what we're doing beyond that aligns. It's important to note that our investment strategy isn't just focused, for example, on minerals, it isn't just focused on tourism. It really is an all-of-government approach, and it's really important that we consider things like housing investment, that we consider things like DND, that we consider our health. Our health sector is also an economic sector. And so it really requires an all-of-government approach...