Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as chair of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, I am pleased to rise today to provide our response to the budget address. We look forward to the coming weeks of discussion as Members work together to consider and approve a budget that must meet the realities facing communities across the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, the world has, indeed, changed. The North is in the spotlight. That should be good news for the people we serve. As the Premier said here yesterday, the status quo is not acceptable. And on that, Mr. Speaker, we agree.
In presenting this budget, the Minister has told us it is about momentum and readiness, about shifting from restraint to action at a time of real economic pressure and global uncertainty. That is a clear statement of intent. The question before us is whether the measures in this budget deliver that shift in practice through concrete investments, realistic timelines, and outcomes people can see.
Mr. Speaker, the eyes of the country are on the North. And that matters. But alignment in words must now be matched by alignment in spending, timelines, and delivery. That is the work before us. Because here is the test that matters, Mr. Speaker: Does this budget make us ready to act and deliver on this moment? Not in a year, not as work deferred to another Assembly, Mr. Speaker, but now.
The moment is real, and eyes are on the Arctic. Defense and sovereignty investments are coming. Critical minerals and LNG developed responsibly, and together with Indigenous governments, are in demand. Northern hubs in Yellowknife and Inuvik are on the map. People far outside this chamber, Mr. Speaker, are watching to see whether the Northwest Territories can move from talk to delivery.
To fully seize the opportunities before us, whether in a national defense investment, mineral development, or the historic funding now available to advance housing, we must ensure that our own systems are not standing in the way. Government has a responsibility to remove unnecessary regulatory barriers, streamline approval processes and provide a clear, efficient path for progress. We cannot allow our internal procedures to hinder the very opportunities that strengthen our communities and our economy.
We are a territory that is resource rich but cash poor. That gap is not a talking point. It is, Mr. Speaker, what families feel when projects stall, when jobs leave, and when costs go up. Readiness starts with land, infrastructure and delivery, and small communities feel it first. When land transfers and tenure decisions take a year, housing does not get built, gravel does not move, pads do not get prepped, local contractors do not hire. Opportunity, Mr. Speaker, passes by.
I want to be very clear; caution has its place, but the pace we are on is not caution; it is falling behind. When it takes a year to transfer land, we are not being cautious; we are falling behind.
Major projects need certainty, timelines, and people appointed to drive them. Roads, runways, materials, logistics; get the decisions made, Mr. Speaker. Get shovels in the ground. Climate change is tightening construction windows and shortening ice road seasons. Communities pay the price first on fuel, freight, and food. Waiting is not a plan. Planning ahead is. Indigenous partnership and community capacity are not add-ons. They are how the Northwest Territories works, Mr. Speaker. Small communities matter. Capacity must exist everywhere, not just in regional centres. If communities cannot act, the territory is not ready no matter how strong a plan looks on paper.
Mr. Speaker, partnership must show up as shared delivery, authority, people and tools, in place so work moves from ideas to action. Partnership is not about saying the right things; it is about putting the capacity in place so things actually happen. Our constituents judge us by results they can see - fixing roads, good education for their kids, a crew working on a site, a training class that leads to paid work. Public services are economic infrastructure. This is not a separate conversation, Mr. Speaker. It is the same one. You cannot build a strong economy on weak health care, education, housing, or without Indigenous partnership.
Mr. Speaker, health care stability keeps workers and families here. If people cannot count on care, they will not come and they will not stay. Education and training build the workforce. From K to 12, to trades and post-secondary, programs must line up with real jobs. If they do not, we pay twice in vacancies and in turnover, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, housing is a constant constraint. If there is nowhere to live, there is nowhere to work. That means land ready and available, approvals on time, and crews building when the construction season opens. If people cannot live here, work here, or raise a family here, the economy does not grow.
I want to speak directly about small communities. They are not a footnote in our economy; they are central to it. A quarry stalled by unresolved tenure is not a paperwork issue. It is jobs that are not created. A health cabin without reliable connectivity or stable staffing is not a minor inconvenience. It is a reason a family questions whether they can stay in a community. Missing the short summer construction window is not a scheduling slip. In the North, it costs an entire year. Readiness in small communities is practical and visible. It means gravel delivered on time, pads in place, reliable care, working internet, and flights that arrive when they should. When those basics are in place, people see a future for themselves here, not somewhere else.
Mr. Speaker, on resource development, I will be direct. We need it. It pays for services and schools and keeps our communities viable. The world wants critical minerals and LNG. We have them. We also have the standards and partnerships to do it right. Investment goes where jurisdictions are ready. If we are slow, investors will go somewhere else.
Mr. Speaker, execution is what will decide whether this moment becomes prosperity. Decide faster, put cross-functional teams on priority files, give them authority to clear barriers, report progress monthly, in public, fund training where vacancies are, build houses where jobs are, stabilize access to care that people can feel this year. Northerners do not expect everything at once. They do expect progress they can see and timelines that mean something.
Mr. Speaker, we are hearing the government say that the status quo is no longer acceptable. Again, Mr. Speaker, on that we agree. The eyes of the country are on the North, and that matters. But alignment in words must now be matched by alignment in spending, timelines, delivery. That is the work before us.
As we move through the estimates, here is what the Regular Members will be looking for:
Land and permitting timelines that are measured and met;
Capacity in communities to move projects; primary health care access that is more reliable this year;
Training tied to guaranteed placements; and,
Housing where work actually exists.
Mr. Speaker, this budget points in the right direction but does not yet meet the moment. Direction is not the same as delivery. This is not about good intentions. It's about speed, execution, and results. When decisions are slow, families pay. When capacity is thin, communities wait. When services are weak, workers leave.
We can change that. Decide faster, build capacity everywhere, deliver the basics that keep people here, then the economy will follow. Let's stop describing the moment and start delivering on it, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Replies to the budget address, day 1 of 7. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. New year, new budget, same problems. Here we go again.
Mr. Speaker, we are in a moment, and it is a moment of unprecedented change in the world that we once knew. We have heard our Prime Minister talk about this. We've heard our Premier talk about this. We've heard the Finance Minister talk about this earlier today. And we just heard the chair of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight talk about it as well. And it is beholden on all governments in Canada to move to meet this moment but, in particular, this one, because the systems that we've always relied on to save us when we are experiencing downturns just aren't there anymore.
Mr. Speaker, our economy is shrinking - 10 percent smaller than devolution and pre-pandemic levels. That represents half a billion dollars lost in GDP production. Mineral exploration is in decline and has been for some time. And not only is it in decline, but the alarm bells have been ringing on decline for quite some time, even longer than the more recent statistics, something we raised in this House with our red alert.
Mr. Speaker, adult employment is in decline. The number of working people is in decline. Youth unemployment is 10 percent higher than the rest of Canada. Power rates are continuing to drive people from the Northwest Territories, unpredicted increases, despite efforts to conserve, to convert to clean energy. Everything gets more expensive. Affordability is out of control. Imperial Oil's Norman Wells operation is shutting down. Diavik is shutting down. Even the Capitol theatre here in Yellowknife is shutting down. When Northerners are surrounded by these obvious signs of concern and not only concern, of a real problem getting worse, they look to their government for support, especially in a territory where government services and government direction is crucial to leading the overall economy. And that leadership has been absent.
Mr. Speaker, when I ask how many jobs this budget will create or how much growth will it foster in the economy, I am told we don't know that right now, we'll have to look into it. It's more of a federal budget thing.
It should be a this-budget thing. It should be the top priority of this government, especially when we know the challenges facing the economy. The Yellowknife and NWT Chambers of Commerce are right in their open letter. Quote: Our economy hasn't grown in more than 20 years while every other province and territory has. The stark reality is proof that what we have been doing for a generation has not worked and continuing down the same path is not an option. And yet we see a budget that is more or less status quo with a few new initiatives bolted to the hood.
Mr. Speaker, this is either reckless optimism that something is going to come along and save us or calculated denial to avoid accountability for being the key decision maker on economic matters.
The future this budget and the GNWT writ large is building amounts to a planned economy of public administration jobs supported by a thin service sector to support them. We do not need to diversify away from natural resources which is the core, the stable foundation of our economy. We need to diversify away from government jobs.
Mr. Speaker, through years of sessional statements, budget addresses, policy papers and the like, the brain trust of this government has convinced many Northerners that the NWT is unable to chart its own course, too small to resist the pressures of national and international forces. How often do we hear from our constituents, from community leaders, from business owners - well, we know the government's broke. How do they know that? Because the government keeps telling them that.
Mr. Speaker, we have more money as a government than any other government in the territory. That gives us capacity to do what no one else can, and we need to start realizing that capacity. Our government has successfully lowered Northerners' expectations of what it can deliver to the point where underachievement is the standard for results, that what limited and incremental progress we make is all that is possible. This is what is called the soft bigotry of low expectations. Once famously argued for racist systems of education that essentially said we don't believe minorities are smart enough to succeed, this soft prejudice applies as well to the system that dominates our politics and traps Ministers, MLAs, and public servants in the same cycle of un-achievement. And this is simply not true. We are only as limited as we allow ourselves to be as the top decision makers for the territory. And these self-appointed limits are why the government moves so slowly to position itself to seize on opportunities to unlock our true potential.
If I have an ideology, it's one that believes in the art of possible and the power of aspiration, that the possibility to use our talent, drive, and natural resources to push above and beyond our weight is possible. I believe in ambitious public policy, taking risks, even in making mistakes if it means achieving bigger, better things for the people we represent. But we're not seeing that from this or indeed past budgets. This budget and the low expectations it sets out are a product of the system, a system of the internal economy of the GNWT, where the needs of the system are handled first and the needs of the territory and the people within it are considered secondary. Where the tail wags the dog.
Yes, there are some nice things to grab your attention in this budget: New 24/7 lab services in Yellowknife, long overdue investments in emergency preparedness, the survivor-led residential school monument, and more funding to build Indigenous capacity with our partner governments. But look closely and you'll find most of the new spending is, indeed, forced growth, maintaining policies and programs that are and seemingly always will be.
So how did we get here when elected leaders are always saying we're doing all that we can to invest in the Northwest Territories and do things differently?
Our collective budget process is one that can be defined by information overload. Members are bombarded with information and, paradoxically, this often leads to poor decision-making. For example, it is estimated that information overload of this magnitude costs the US economy roughly $650 billion a year in lost productivity and innovation. So it's entirely relevant to why change is so stubborn in this place of government. If we are serious about making progress quickly and effectively, then we should be first focused on the problems we want to solve, then review how the GNWT proposes to solve them along with the core functions of government. Instead, advocacy for our constituents and the communities we serve is on the back end of this process after the system has already produced its plans. Instead of proposing big ideas and finding ways to implement them, we are left playing tug-of-war between Cabinet and Regular Members over how to best use limited public resources. And in the end, no one wins. Those big ideas are watered down. Even Cabinet-led initiatives that are outside the GNWT comfort zone are whittled down by so-called risk management and internal resource demands or any other excuse why we can't go as far as we want to.
So perhaps someone does win in the end, Mr. Speaker - the status quo and those who want it to continue. This is the system that we are all up against, those who are fighting for change, the internal economy of the GNWT. Bureaucrats who know if they can just delay political pressure from Ministers and Members for four years, they can avoid real change, well-connected insiders who live fat off government procurement instead of innovating their own businesses, lawyers advising public and Indigenous governments to take longer and longer to make decisions that stretch regulatory and lawmaking processes from months to years. But don't worry, it's all billable hours. These are the forces sabotaging our efforts to build a prosperous and secure Northwest Territories. We need to stop this, Mr. Speaker, and that starts here in this chamber and the highest levels of government. If we continue to defend inefficient and ineffective systems and treat them as sacred to our governing institutions, then nothing will indeed ever change. Well, that's not true. Things will, in fact, get worse.
Look at our GDP. Look at our public debt. Look at our active employment numbers and tell me our system is working. Tell me that hope and optimism will sustain a future where there has been no plan whatever to prepare us for the moment we find ourselves in now, where our natural resource sector is shutting down on known timelines. This is not a surprise, and we have no plan to meet the moment. But Ottawa won't let us starve. That's true. But planning on what amounts to a federal bailout of territorial, economic, and social management is not my definition of peace, order, and good government. When politicians tell the system it needs to change to meet the moment and that system says we simply can't afford it, but we are the ones who are elected to make those decisions. If we say do it, it needs to get done, even if there's some risk, even if it impacts the delicate balancing act of that same internal economy. Again, no one is stopping Members from realizing our shared ambition except the Members themselves.
This budget is not a product of true consensus government. It's not a representation of the collective goals and priorities our people elected us to deliver for them. It is a product of this system, and the system doesn't like this kind of speech, Mr. Speaker. The system wants us to get into the weeds, focus on a handful of operational issues or low-cost investments in our ridings, a job here, a school there, a road here. Mr. Speaker, it doesn't -- but otherwise, otherwise for those handful of issues, we're expected to support everything it does without any real resistance while elected officials continue to make decisions that aren't really decisions and ride the wave towards economic decline and political irrelevance. This is about box ticking rather than meaningful collaboration. It is not true consensus.
That would be all Members, Cabinet and Regular, working together, talking about what we need for our ridings, what we need for our territory, and then looking at the budget to see how we meet those needs, not to proofread the system's homework and fight for crumbs at the table. This is not about being a Regular Member or a Cabinet Member. It is about being part of this system or being part of people trying to change that system.
The gravy train is running out. Even if you are benefiting from the system today, you soon won't be. Most of these people who are beneficiaries of it will likely leave the Northwest Territories and find new opportunities to exploit. But those of us who will stay, who truly call the NWT home, especially Indigenous people who have been here since time immemorial, we will be left starting over, worse off than before. It doesn't have to be like this, though, Mr. Speaker. We can use this budget and all the other spending before the next election to make real and lasting change, to end this system of eternal economy and build a better future for our kids and grandkids. But to achieve that incremental change isn't good enough. Slow and steady does not win the race when the safe and predictable world that used to exist has come crashing down around us. Northerners need leaders who will disrupt, innovate, and actually build better governments responsive to the needs of the people we represent, of the challenges and opportunities of today.
Mr. Speaker, I have yet to see a budget in this Assembly that really does that. And I don't expect to see one either, not as long as the perpetuators of this system remain in charge and fall victim to their own soft bigotry of what this government can achieve. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Replies to the -- children, thank you. Replies to the budget address, day 1 of 7. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, if they like that, they'll like this one. Exactly what I'm saying, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, keeping people dependent should have been the title of this budget address. Sadness and despair abound, Mr. Speaker. You know, when I look around, I think to myself if I had written this budget, I would have taken a Doug Ford or a Wab Kinew approach. We'd be talking about how exciting times could be here in the North. We'd be talking about the rollout of the national defence spending that potentially is coming. I know it's not here yet, but we'd be talking about that. As a matter of fact, that'd be the first line, national defence spending, thank God, because, frankly, we had no other idea how to save ourselves. And close the budget. I mean, honestly, Mr. Speaker, opportunity and empowerment should be the speech. I actually decided to go and watch a couple opening addresses of other provincial speeches just to get a sense of tone. I mean, my goodness, Mr. Speaker, you can go coast to coast and how exciting they are about what an opportunity. This was not what I heard today.
Mr. Speaker, it feels often like our budget address speeches of course are all about what we can't do. I suggest let's turn that around and say this is why we're going to do it. Mr. Speaker, a government budget here, in all fairness, is not consensus in the sense of its highest form.
Now, it's true the government's going to say, well, we talked to you and we showed you the budget. Yes, that is true, Mr. Speaker. That is a fact, and let's get that out of the way. But showing up minutes before midnight and saying what do you think, I can assure you the tabled budget later today will be exactly what we were shown just, say, minutes before on the clock as they say. Mr. Speaker, if it was true consensus, the Finance Minister and their cabal of expertise and knowledge people would be showing up and saying what makes a difference from your view in the economy? How do you think we can empower people in the economy? How do you think we can get Northerners standing on their own, feeling good about where they are, where they're from, being part of the North, being part of the success of the North? Mr. Speaker, that would be true consensus about building budgets.
We'd be having, you know, whether it's a big conversation or a minor conversation in the fall, saying here are some ideas to stimulate the economy, make people healthier, stronger, faster, just like the 6 Million Dollar Man, Mr. Speaker - build them stronger, faster.
Mr. Speaker, to be fair, it is a frustrating process. Often on this side of the House, it feels as if the government is so tone deaf. When it comes to Ministers showing up with their budgets and they say well, it's 99.99 percent done, what do you think? Well, that's like a parent telling their kid we're going to Disney World, tickets are booked, hotel's booked, all paid for. What do you think? Well, of course, you know, like, there's no discussion. You're being told this is how it rolls out.
Mr. Speaker, Members need wins. I have told this Premier for over 807 days Members need to feel like we're part of the process and telling us at the last -- coming to us at the last minute and saying what do you think is not part of the process, Mr. Speaker. With 606 days approximately left in this term, Mr. Speaker, I suspect that trend will not change. I suspect Cabinet will continue to decide who they're working with and who they're not working with. We have positive suggestions.
Mr. Speaker, over a year ago, not quite two years ago, I was saying about the opportunity in national defence and the Premier was saying, my goodness, they know where we are. Our budget should be fully rolled out saying how we're going to rise to those occasions. That's why I rose yesterday to talk to the Minister of lands saying how are we going to dedicate ourselves to meet this rising potential investment. We're going to have a tsunami of investment. There's our hope. There's our opportunity. I can tell you -- and I'm sorry, I wish it was in every single region, but I am going to say Inuvik people are going to be eating, and they're going to be eating well because of that $5 million investment. Yellowknife -- billion. Billions. See? I'm so excited. It's billions.
Yellowknife, the region, is going to see $5 billion of investment. People are going to be eating. We need territorial programs. That's why I talked today this budget should be focusing on other opportunities. As I tried to highlight, Carney says I like multifaceted projects. We could be building our economy with the Sahtu using the Mackenzie Valley Highway and tying that potentially -- and I don't want to send the wrong message to people here -- potentially asking Alberta could we work and maybe find a corridor for their oil that's landlocked. It was a vision Bob McLeod, former Premier of the Northwest Territories, always had. Could we tap into opportunities like that, revive that, create economies. I mean, we wouldn't be building it. It'd be up to them saying we're open for business. Stuff like that brings economic opportunity from the Deh Cho through the Sahtu up into the Mackenzie Delta area, Inuvik, even Nunakput where they'd put a -- you know, put a facility to offload it. All of a sudden we're talking about opportunities. Where are these in our budget, Mr. Speaker?
Mr. Speaker, I have -- I would have liked to have seen in the budget address -- although I wish Cabinet wouldn't sort of throw away its opportunities here. If the budget had said to me well, you know, and by the way on page 4 we're going to squeeze in a name, the Whitford Building on the 50th Street, that would have made me happy. But, you know, they offloaded their opportunity to make some choices to a committee while this budget talks about trying -- this budget says well, we're going to do boilerplate stuff but nothing innovative or exciting.
I have to be fair. I have to be fair, Mr. Speaker. I've got to say something nice, of course, about the budget. I do like the 24-hour lab services, and I think the cover picture's really nice. And that said -- that said, I would have liked to have seen and heard how the government is going to eliminate the senior envoy position and how they're going to respond to this so-called everyone loves the 440,000 concierge service that picks someone up at the airport, drives them to their -- Mr. Speaker, this budget could have been smarter with its resources under the Premier's office to say if the need is people want to feel warm and fuzzy, we'll find someone to make them feel warm and fuzzy.
Mr. Speaker, but no, this budget doesn't say that. It doesn't talk about efficiencies. Mr. Speaker, we could talk about stimulating the community economy. I think as my colleague from Inuvik had pointed out, he said it takes too long to transfer land if you even get land. The City of Yellowknife constantly talks about how they have businesses and development wanting to spend money here and new money coming to town. In essence, it's like a domino effect. They come here, they bring cash, they invest, they hire people, they spend more money, more money's being spent on more money, and it's getting new money in the territory, people are working. People are working. This budget has an opportunity to make these announcements and saying how we're going to rewrite the way we do things.
Mr. Speaker, it's a huge, huge missed opportunity. And, again, from the page of my two favourite premiers -- currently, that is -- which is Doug Ford and Wab Kinew, I could hear them say if they were planning a budget address they'd be talking about how bringing Aurora College into the future, not how it's locked in the past. They'd be talking about how we're getting this done in six months, not six years. This government, I wish they would be talking about in the Doug Ford/Wab Kinew way about how they're bringing 500 new jobs to the territory and how they're protecting 500 to a thousand jobs we're losing in our diamond sector. Rather than watching those diamond mines shutter, they'd be saying we're creating an economic environment to help make sure that there's prosperity for everyone.
Mr. Speaker, I worry that this government budget, written by the senior mandarins of our government, all control the outcome long before we even got here.
Mr. Speaker, this is an opportunity to put a wartime effort into what we need to do - take care of our people, take care of the North, inspire people to be here and want to stay here. I have met long-term Northerners that say we can no longer afford to be here. I know people I've known my whole life saying there isn't a future here. And I keep trying to tell them there is. I can't be selling this message alone. Mr. Speaker, I think there's so many things that we could be doing.
Mr. Speaker, all we often hear is about well, we're doing the best we can, we're shuffling the resources down. There's a point about maybe eliminating a few positions but we're just -- we're eliminating empty ones and all of these kinds of things, but the net outcome is we got more. I mean, to me, if they want to be efficient, we don't need the budget to do that. They could be doing that all the time if we need to be efficient with our resources. And maybe that's the question, is how do we do that. But, Mr. Speaker, building our budget and our territory's future around being lucky isn't a plan. I mean, let's be honest -- and I am going to go back to the beginning, not from the start but to the beginning point which is, I mean, we are so lucky the federal defence department is looking at spending money here. If it wasn't for that luck, I don't know what this budget would be telling us. But then I searched the Finance Minister's speech online, like I pulled it up, I mean, there's such a micro even acknowledgement about the challenges in the Arctic that it should be, like I said, at the very beginning say national defence money, thank God, because we needed it. Because I don't know what we'd do otherwise.
Mr. Speaker, I want to bring this towards a close, not close yet. But, you know, I often feel like the government is missing the bigger picture. It's all about bureaucratic process, where the budget should really be about how do we prevent things. The analogy I am going to give you really matters, and I hope it sinks in.
You know, in Hay River when they start pulling up the railway ties and the rail lines and whatnot, well, let's face it. They're not bringing the train back. That should be a stark, cold message. And we should be asking ourselves how do we stop them from pulling up the ties and the rails and that stuff. In the Sahtu and Norman Wells, when they say they're packing up, that's scary. So we should be talking about how do we resurge excitement in our economy. And this is the one time a year we can do this, by saying we're going to tap into the public sector. The GNWT isn't going to try to cannibalise their employment and expertise for the fact oh, we just have to fill out a few jobs. We should be doing the reverse, finding ways to stimulate them. I mean, look to the east, look to the west. The economies are on fire, Mr. Speaker.
The mining sector is depressing, our investment is shrinking, our economics are depressing, but our two sister territories are busier than ever. So why isn't the government, through its strategy, saying here this budget is going to be focused on how we revive the mineral sector? That is going to be the way to get us out of this death spiral of financial woe. Mr. Speaker, we are going to use this budget to empower people, to get more people off social assistance into jobs to become contributors. And I want to be clear I believe in being contributors. Now, that doesn't mean everybody has to do exactly the same as everyone else. But we're all a team. Top to bottom, north to south, we all have to work together.
Mr. Speaker, this government should be talking about, you know what, the Taltson may or may not be coming, it's so far away. When we hear oh, the economics of bringing power to lower the power and cost of living in the Northwest Territories really could be coming from somewhere like High Level, maybe through a P3 project. You know, there's better ways or maybe different ways. And to be clear, when I got elected in 2003, we were talking about the Taltson then. That's 23 years ago. So much has passed. My goodness, we could have built the line to High Level two or three times and back. And I will tell you the fact is that if the Yukon says it's smarter to bring power in from BC, maybe we should be asking ourselves the same question.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I want to point out that this budget is short on vision and high on maintenance, and status quo seems the way to go. But all I know is if this was a Doug Ford budget, if this is a Wab Kinew budget, we'd be hearing about how they roll it out, roll out the red carpet and say we are going to rise to industry needs that bring money, bring jobs, bring investment, bring opportunity. But no, we missed the opportunity of this budget to be selling big projects. And I look to Premier Tim Houston of Nova Scotia and when they say they want to do projects, they put the fullness of effort into it. I've seen their wind west proposal. It's sell, sell, sell an opportunity. This budget so far is safe, safe, safe, and hopefully nobody will move and nobody will get hurt. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Replies to the budget address, day 1 of 7. Acknowledgements.
Colleagues, we're going to take a short break to give the translators a break because we're going into oral questions and then we'll be going there, so we're going to have a short break. Thank you.
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today my questions are for the Minister of Finance on a different topic.
I have been advocating in the background for a more streamlined liquor licensing process for special events. So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me if a cohesive package that includes both liquor permitting and occupancy load permit processes for special events is going to be launched on the spring timeline that the Minister previously referenced last October? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so just, first of all, an occupancy load is a requirement for every event separate and apart. That is something that is issued by the fire marshal's office, and I can say the departments are working together with respect to coordinating the requirements of both. I can say online special occasion permit applications have already been launched on the eServices platform. That came about in the last year. That does allow people and parties to apply for the SOP, or the special occasion permit, more efficiently, more simply. And we are looking to move that along so that the full liquor license application process can be one of the next services offered on eServices. I'd certainly be happy to -- again, a timeline on that I don't have it here with me today. And beyond that, Mr. Speaker, there is -- as I said, there's work happening on a single application process but I wasn't able just today to get a final deadline as to when that's going to be happening, but I will certainly endeavour to do that and report it back to the House. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me if her staff is working with the MACA's Office of the Fire Marshal so that frequently used venues will have an expedited process for liquor license and special events when the Liquor Act regulations package is complete. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, is the short answer. So the Department of Finance has worked with the Office of the Fire Marshal on this, but in doing so actually it's come to our attention that the fire marshal's office is looking to develop a more preestablished occupant load process across the board, not only for liquor licensing but that will benefit the liquor licensing process as well. Thank you.
Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to both the Minister and MACA for that. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister elaborate if any other simplification of licensing and permitting under the Liquor Act is contemplated with changes to the regulations and, if so, which ones will be a simplified process compared to what it is now? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's a couple of items I could speak to. One specifically is to try to reduce the number of times that either entities or organizations, businesses that have to frequently request, can stop having to do that on a repeated basis for when they're doing the same event every month, for example, that they can reduce having to go back almost on a continuous basis. And secondarily, and perhaps related, when there's an event happening in an already licensed premises, Mr. Speaker, we're looking to reduce having to do an existing -- or sorry, to have to come back and do a licensed occupancy load, that we can just use the load that's already known for that premises. So a couple of small changes but for the folks that require this repeatedly, Mr. Speaker, hopefully significant. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member's statement, there's a real need for a child and youth advocate in the Northwest Territories. I'm hearing from foster parents and biological parents in the system that in many cases there's a revolving door of social workers. Some of the foster families have four social workers in one year. Some have no contact with the kids' social worker for an entire year. They feel like they have been set up for failure, wrong information given, miscommunication. It's always their fault, Mr. Speaker, and when they complain their homes get shut down. Will the Minister responsible for the social services system, the child and family services system, support the establishment of a child and youth advocate in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within my portfolio, you know, I understand that the Member's frustration and I know that there are a lot of barriers around this department and areas where, you know, we have to protect the child's interest and sometimes that information, you know, doesn't -- we're not able to share the information freely. However, you know, whatever route that this Legislative Assembly chooses to go, I think there's a process that we have to follow as a consensus government, and I would look forward to looking at those types of options. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, Mr. Speaker, I mean, this problem is seemingly getting worse by the day. There's been a number of very serious child and family services audits that have revealed serious defects in the system. Can the Minister comment on the implementation of audit recommendations and if the department has successfully responded to all of the past three audits of the auditor general to fix the child and family services system. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been a huge overhaul in the child and family service area due to the fact of the two previous auditor general reports and a lot of the information on those reports are tracked publicly online, and there is information online as to where we are. There are some things that we still are working towards implementing as later in this 20th Assembly. Part of that work is implementing new legislation, and with that legislation will come more changes to the child and family service program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so one of the biggest concerns is when foster parents, in particular, are having issues and feel like decisions are not being made in the best interests of the children under their care, that they are -- their homes are shut down, they're shut out of the system. What ask the Minister -- what does the Minister recommend those foster families do in those concerns? How do they have their concerns raised so we can ensure the best interests of the child are actually being followed and not some other policy that they're not even allowed to see? So how do we ensure there's oversight and accountability of child and family services in the Northwest Territories without this position. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the area of child and family services is really, I think, not just for foster families, for families, for the children. It is a sensitive area, and the goal of child and family services is always to return the children to their biological family or within their biological family. That is always the goal. And, you know, and I think what sometimes in foster care, some of these children do remain in these homes for a long period of time, and sometimes it takes families time to be able to, you know, do the things that they need to do to be able to get the children back into their care and, you know, and I hear that from sometimes the concerns that are brought to my office, however, our staff do try to work with foster families. I know right now that they're working on a NWT training for foster families too so that they're fully understand their role and the limitations under what can be shared with them, who's the decision-makers when these children are placed in their homes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following up on my Member's statement earlier, and realizing the comments made to the replies to the budget, my first request to the Minister of strategic infrastructure, when will the Minister submit phase two environmental assessment conclusion request on a timeline? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just to be clear, the focus at this time is to conclude phase one, which is the section that was approved now some governments ago between Wrigley and Norman Wells. That is what is in the environmental assessment stage right now. That's where we have a work plan that we're executing with the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation with a view to having everything filed with the board by July and therefore they can then conclude their process thereafter and to looking to have no extensions to the process. Phase two would extend the roads all the way up to Inuvik. There is significant interest in this. We're working already with the Gwich'in Tribal Council and looking to have all the governments along the way indicating their readiness to see this move forward. And also the department is starting to work with the board to see what we can do, in fact, to move this process forward more expeditiously. There are a number of ways we could potentially do that. The Member raised a few in his statements, and it would certainly be our expectation that we will find a path forward that accelerates a move on completing phase two. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that we're realizing the value of the old 2013 data.
My next question there, Mr. Speaker, with the federal budget 2025 announcement this past November, can the Minister commit to providing PKFN and GTC with project SEED money from the avenues available? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this point in time my hope is that we will see some additional funding coming in the near future through some reallocations that we're looking to do. So the Mackenzie Valley Highway roadway itself, outside of the environmental assessments, had some allocations made in the 18th Assembly, projects that didn't move forward back then, and we're looking to take that money and actually put it towards this work to get it done now, projects that are shovel ready today, including the idea of community readiness, so working with the communities along the highways, making sure that they are able to participate, actively participating, engaging with their communities. We want everyone on this road to know exactly what's happening, to be ready, and to be able to support the project as it goes forward. That will make all of the board processes go more smoothly, and it's my hope that that will be happening in the near future. If there's additional needs to be coming -- that need to come forward, certainly SEED projects are available with ITI. But I'll make sure that our community engagement teams are there and working with the communities to make sure that they can be involved effectively. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my possession, I have the tabled draft document there done by the Sahtu Secretariat called Securing Canada's Link to the Arctic. So I'll be sharing that.
My last question there, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain or share if the department is drafting or completed the Mackenzie Valley Highway federal engagement strategy. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Mackenzie Valley Highway has formed one part of this government's federal engagement strategy now since the inception of this government, and certainly continually looking to adapt that as we go forward, adapt to changing federal government and changing federal landscape and budget. But I would say, you know, there's also a very simple response, which is that every Minister raises these key issues and key opportunities with federal counterparts whenever we have the opportunity, whether it's Premier, myself, other colleagues. So there is a formal engagement strategy there. I'll make sure that to pass on to the Premier's office, that that gets recirculated. But, again, those conversations happen constantly. We want to ensure that the federal government sees this as a project that is ready to move, easy to move, and has a pathway to move forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since I tabled the document I referred to in my Member's statement earlier today on potentially establishing a basic income guarantee in the Northwest Territories, have ECE staff considered the Alternatives North proposal? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of ECE.
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, Mr. Speaker. So I am glad the department has looked at it. Mr. Speaker, as I noted in my Member's statement, the report seeks to turn down thresholds and ensuring income assistance does not disincentivize work. If I had more time for my statement, I would have mentioned this is something that's happening to constituents of mine.
Will the Minister commit to reviewing the report and the recommendations in it and potentially changing our turndown thresholds to decrease the amount of disincentivization going on. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, as part of the review to the income assistance policies and legislation regulations was the ability of residents to actually keep more earned income as well as increasing what qualified for unearned income. So there is an ability of residents to keep up to $350 a month of unearned income and then for earned income, so that would be as a source of employment, it's $500 plus 25 percent of their paycheque. So there is right there up to $850 plus that residents are incentivized to earn through other mechanisms, including through employment. There's also direct connections from income assistance to things like training opportunities, things like pathways to employability programming, programming like our student financial assistance that leads to diplomas and certificates and degrees, and so certainly wanting to make sure that we're increasing those pathways for residents for the type of opportunities they're looking for. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that what I need to emphasize from the report is that they did research on what levels would disincentivize work, and I think we're well below them, and so that's where I think the report could be valuable. And, really, Alternatives North was recommending that the government build upon this research. It's a beginning, not an end that they're suggesting. So would the Minister commit to reviewing the report and the recommendations, building upon that research, and coming back to the Assembly with proposals for changes to income support that would help it stop disincentivizing people from pursuing gainful employment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
