Kieron Testart

Mr. Speaker, perception is everything. How we view the world around us determines how we live our lives. Our perception of the challenges and opportunities we face every day informs our actions and thus plays a major role in each situation's outcome. Many Northerners face challenges in which often the last resort they approach the GNWT for solutions. In tough times, there's already a feeling of desperation so the perception that these services are difficult to access can be a serious detriment to whether or not a service actually reaches the person it's intended for.

Unfortunately, the often...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that coming from the Minister. Can the Minister share the engagement schedule with me and any other pertinent details around these consultations with staff. Thank you.

Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just -- I'm trying to get at if we're trying to find more ways to support that -- those incentives because the retention and recruitment numbers are very -- well, the retention numbers are very poor, and even it seems when we recruit nurses, in particular -- because there is a dedicated unit to do that -- they're out the door as soon as we get them in. So if the department isn't considering additional financial incentives, what is its strategy to work on recruitment and retention let's say around nurses working with the health recruitment unit and finance...

Thank you. So is the department -- I don't see anything clearly identified along those lines, but is the department considering additional benefits or labour market supplements to support the recruitment and retention efforts within the health authority? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So the changes here seem to be all related to forced growth. $4 million for ratification of the UNW agreement, $3 million for medical travel funding within NTHSSA. So is that kind of -- etcetera; is that an accurate description of the additional spending under this activity? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, then how has the government derisked this issue? It was unconstitutional before, that was the concern that changed the policy, now the policy remains the same, at least for one class of individuals. Can the Minister explain why that decision was made?

Thank you. Okay, so I mean hopefully this is a moot point because it seems like there's, again, movement federally to eliminate these. So what is the plan if there is a change to the policy direction from the federal government towards consumer carbon taxes, how will these numbers change? Thank you.

Thank you. Shouldn't that make it go down, Mr. Chair? Thank you.

Thank you. I think the carbon tax report would probably be the best place for it. The issue was in that report previously, there's just been a line item for general revenue or a large -- anything that's not spoken for through the rebate programs is just revenue to the GNWT and then the argument is, well, the GNWT does lots of stuff that's related to climate so that's how we're doing. So it's, you know, dollar for dollar accounting of how it goes. I think the report would be the best place to do that. Can the Minister make that commitment? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's rare that we speak to routine business of supply such as supplementary estimates but in this case, I feel compelled to raise a protest to our continued pattern of expenditures well exceeding our revenues despite things like the fiscal strategy put in place to control them. We continue to fail to meet our targets. The messaging is very mixed in public and in this House as to whether or not we have a very solid foundation for our finances or one that's incredibly shaky, and I think that confusion resonates outside of this institution as well.

So I said...