Julian Morse

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I just wanted to speak to the non-government organization stabilization fund, and mostly what I'm curious about is I had been asking the Minister in a previous sitting of the Assembly about the plan to stabilize funding for NGOs and stabilize support for them. I'm just looking for an update. I note that this budget item hasn't changed in a while, and if anything, it's reduced. So can the Minister give us an update on this because he has committed in the House to strengthening this sector and to focusing the work to strengthen and help this sector as a result of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I mean, understanding that negotiations are confidential and the Minister probably won't be able to share too much detail, I mean, if there's anything the department can share with Members or even share publicly about progress that's being made, I would certainly appreciate hearing it; I think a lot of people would. I know this is a high priority item for me and other Members. Yeah, if the Minister wants to elaborate a bit, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's hard to believe, but this is already the last day in February. The sun is coming back on the northern horizon, GNWT procurement officers are gearing up for the final spring to the fiscal year, and the coolest venue in Canada is about to cut its doors open.

As the Member for Yellowknife North already announced, Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 30th Anniversary of the Snowking's Winter Festival. 30 years, Mr. Speaker. That is quite the feat. That's 30 years of true grassroots community building.

This festival exists because of the hard work and dedication...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, what strategies does Housing NWT have in place to meet the current base budget shortfall related to funding emergency shelters in the NWT? I note that there's been a pretty significant drop in the funding over the years, so can the department -- or Minister, sorry, speak to this.

Excellent. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I really appreciate those answers and understanding better what's going on within the division.

I do note that the president kind of mentioned in her answer the community housing plans, and I am curious is that -- was updating the community housing plans, has that project been completed? Is there -- or is that ongoing work?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that answer. And so, Mr. Speaker, I understand that workplace morale can be a bit of a difficult thing to track and to measure. So I'm just curious has the department thought or the Minister thought about how she's going to track progress on this issue? Are they establishing measures? Are they, you know, taking a baseline to understand from staff where things are at now and where things are going? How are they going to be measuring success on this important issue in our health care system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I do apologize, I'm a bit confused by the Minister's answer because what I see in the budget is a reduction from 2167 to 1305, and the Minister just described increases.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to clarify what was said and, you know, share my own perspective. And I just want to clarify, you know, I don't see my role in this House as always keeping Ministers happy or that the votes that I do, they may or may not agree with a Minister at any given time, and sometimes they don't. In the recent past, I have voted against the capital budget. I brought forward my own cuts. And I wanted to bring that forward because those cuts did not pass. I would have liked for them to but when they didn't, I let it go and we moved on. I don't make a point...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I really appreciate that. And just -- I wanted to highlight it because I just -- I have a feeling that these kinds of programs are certainly going to be a part of what social development ends up coming forward with its recommendations. Not to preclude the committee, but it's just based on the presentations I've been seeing at that committee, and what we've been hearing from Indigenous governments, it really is the trend that I think we're heading towards, and I think it's a good one. I think we want people moving in this direction, so I wanted to highlight that. And, you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm just going through the rules and looking at the privilege here and would respectfully suggest that I am not 100 percent sure whether or not this is a breach of privilege or not and will leave to your -- humbly leave that to your expertise. I just -- I do want to note, though, that in the rules, the privileges of the House include, and there is in 2(a) there, it speaks to affronts against its dignity and authority and the after admission which impedes or obstructs the House. So the Member from Yellowknife South spoke to that. And I wanted to speak to a...