Vince McKay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The territorial government supplies -- or sorry, funds communities through our community funding. It's up to the communities whether or not they want to utilize some of that funding for things like the pools -- or for, like, pools. However, the government doesn't build pools or operate pools for communities so it's up -- at the end of the day, it's up to the community whether or not they want to use their own revenues or go out to other sources of funding for building such facilities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish I had all those employees. At the end of the day, I think we have to realize not all these employees are indeterminate full-time employees that are working -- you know, they're term employees. There's relief workers. So at the end of the day, we don't have those employees to assist with the community right now. Any other questions like that, I guess would have to go to the Minister of Finance. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that the regional staff have worked with the community governments on their funding and how they can utilize it; however, at this time it's not our responsibility as a government to go out and look for funding for communities for infrastructure like this. If the government is looking for resources and assistance on maybe what funding could be available, I'm sure the department would be willing or working with the community to look for those funding sources. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has committed to making programs and services more accessible to residents and do better to streamline administrative processes. Today, I am pleased to announce a new initiative that will change the way businesses in the territory obtain their business licenses.

The launch of our new eService program for business licenses is a major step in promoting a business-friendly environment that demonstrates our commitment to supporting the economic growth across the territory. This new eService program is designed to streamline the licensing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Municipal and Community Affairs, unfortunately, does not have a lot of staff. And I know that we do have staff available that could potentially assist with the community, so I think it's best if the community reaches out to the regional superintendent so that maybe resources could be found if we have them available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The way it currently works right now with no licensing body, a lot of the paramedics, whether it be a primary care paramedic, advanced care paramedic, or critical care paramedic, if they are licensed outside a province and, say for an example they're licensed in Alberta, when they come work in the Northwest Territories, they work within their scope of practice which most times most companies that hire them allow them to do based on their protocols that they have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What the Member is speaking of entails a lot of work when it comes down to legislation in regards to the scope of practice or what paramedics can do in the field. And this is something that we currently don't have which would take a long -- a lot of work to do and to get going. My focus, and I think the continued focus, is going to be to continue to support a basic response within communities so that first responder trainer, first responder response to communities are there in the communities and support the communities in order to assist in community emergencies. So...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think if I had $25 million, I could solve this problem right now. But this is something that's obviously going to take a lot more than that. You know, licensing paramedics, licensing first responders in the Northwest Territories, is something that's been looked at and it's been reviewed a few times; it's been studied. The problem is is when you're dealing with that, you're also forcing volunteers to be licensed which also, again, puts restrictions on volunteers, whether or not they want to volunteer. But it also then turns around to say we're going to charge ourselves...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What the Member is speaking of is an advanced care paramedic and, you know, that type of service for a small community, it may be ideal in some aspects but in the aspect of my department and what the Member is speaking of, you're talking of a service that's done by a community like an ambulance service or a fire department. And sometimes in small communities like that when you have an advanced care paramedic, they have to maintain the scope of practice and in order to maintain that scope of practice, they also have to do so many types of skills to maintain that which is...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Northwest Territories and Nunavut's Compensation Appeals Tribunal 2023 Annual Report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.