Kate Reid

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, I'm hoping that policy can be changed slightly but I can talk to the Minister of Finance about that.

What work can be conducted so affected employees are appropriately trained or assisted to continue to work in the public service at their current or better pay? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How many vacant positions are there open and available in Fort Smith that are not proposed to be cut in this budget? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Fiscal Sustainability Strategy was announced, the finance Minister specifically said, quote, I do not want people to presume that this is about job cuts. It's not. We are experiencing labour market shortages across sectors, and we need our public servants.

Mr. Speaker, we also need our public servants to feel valued. A large part of why I continue to ask about the status of government renewal in my reply to the budget and overall budget discussions in the House is because I want the Minister to use its findings strategically, to help place staff in areas and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I'll keep short and brief. I do agree with the intent of the motion, and I agree with much of what my colleagues have said here today, and I will be happy to support the motion. I think it's very important, as my colleague from Yellowknife North stated, that this will look different in every community. I think that this is currently framed in a sort of Yellowknife centric sort of way, so I hope that in the government's reply we have that fulsome breadth of a reply for what it might look like in some of our smaller communities as well.

I would also like to point out...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to present the petition dealing with the matter of improved fertility and family planning supports in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, the petition contains a total of 368 signatures collected on change.org. Of those signatures, 189 are from residents of the Northwest Territories. And, Mr. Speaker, the petitioners request that the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories direct the Minister of Finance to work within a whole-of-government approach to investigate the following:

The impacts to the territory of a declining birth rate...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What work has been done to assure the affected corrections employees that they can remain in the public service? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance. Mr. Speaker, how many people will be affected by the proposed closure of the Fort Smith correctional Complex men's unit? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to take that as a strong maybe.

Mr. Speaker, the application form for an NWT health care card also only presents a gender binary. Can the Minister commit to, in conjunction with her Cabinet colleagues, disclosing which GNWT forms are bound by legislation or regulation to include sex or gender in a binary fashion so that they can also be changed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I don't have a lake. I mean, even though I'm named after a lake. Okay, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, thank you. Would the health Minister commit to updating public facing communications around whether a person needs to call the registrar before or after applying a name change in order to avoid being dead named in the NWT because thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's fantastic. And will the Minister be sharing that information publicly? Thank you, Mr. Chair.