R.J. Simpson

Thank you. The RCMP's collective agreement is not reflected in this budget. Thank you.

Yes, thank you. Yes, as we look at SFA and, you know, how we want to improve the program, we can look at things like that. You know, there's always considerations. You know, we have to follow the rules in other legislation and there's other financialrelated legislation that might be requiring us to do certain things but, you know, with the review, I want to ensure that we are developing a program that is responsive to the needs and the circumstances of all residents. And if those residents are in small communities and they have different circumstances that require perhaps some a different way...

Thank you. I will say that these numbers here don't actually reflect the actual numbers of people employed. These numbers reflect the positions that are funded by ECE. But that being said, we can fund a school board for a number of positions and they can do whatever they want with that money. Generally, they if we fund them for a principal position, they have a principal. But there is a lot of flexibility.

I can get that information in terms of the number of northern or at least Indigenous teachers for the Member. We did provide that to the House not long ago in the form of a written question...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So I have very little to do with OROGO as it is a regulator and it is parked in Justice. So what happened was this division or this activity, and as it is in the main estimates, what was continuously lapsing, money each year, around $600,000. So the department contracted somebody to or a company to have a look at the operations and work with OROGO and make a determination about how much they would actually need to operate, understanding that OROGO was relatively new and it was provided with the budget before it had done anything. And so it was someone's best guess at...

Thank you. So as for the $20,000 difference, I will pass it over. But we do fund Skills Canada $70,000 in here as well as another, I think $85,000 to labour market agreement. And, yes, I agree. I remember when they used to go to the regional centres and have their competitions outside of Yellowknife. I think it was great. So I'd like to work with them to make that happen again to you know, to get more kids, students interested in the trades. But on some more of the detail, I can ask Mr. MacDonald. Thank you.

That's the dream, that we find ways of delivering services in Yellowknife and in outside of Yellowknife in a way that is meeting people's needs. This program, ICM, is meeting the needs of a small group of people in Yellowknife, and it's very tailored to their needs in this community. We need an approach that's going to work everywhere. You know, these oneoff programs are great but they don't you know, ICM is not going to transform how we deliver services. ISD is going to deliver transform how we deliver services. And so that's the work that we have to do. Thank you.

Thank you. And this did used to be with Minister of ITI in the previous Assembly, and it came to Justice so that the Minister would have no skin in the game essentially.

But I have started the conversation with my Cabinet colleagues about, you know, these arm's length regulators and how we structure them and what departments they sit in because it is rather ad hoc, so. Maybe somewhere down the line, we can figure this out and have a unified approach. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And that responsibility is not mine alone. That is really all of government needs to work to ensuring that. We need to ensure that we have an adequate housing stock so that the rents are affordable. We need to ensure that, you know, our economy is robust so people can find jobs. So the minimum wage, people have to remember, it's a minimum standard. You know, this is an employee's market in the Northwest Territories. Our wages, on average, are much higher than the minimum wage. It's a very small proportion of the population, and a young portion of the population, that...

Thank you, and I apologize, I realize how inadequate my answer was as soon as I said it.

So the funding formula takes into account many things but the biggest driver is enrolment. And so generally, the more students you have the more money you get. The less students you have, the less money you get. Thank you.

Thank you. I don't have the expertise with the remote work policy to answer that. I mean, I can see if the deputy minister knows, understanding that that policy might not be fully fleshed out yet. Thank you.