Julian Morse

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for the answer. The third question is how does the Minister provide direction to the college, and how is the college held accountable to the priorities set in the Legislative Assembly and the priorities of the funders of the college; how are they held accountable to the Minister and this Assembly? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is related to a statement I gave a couple of weeks ago related to the importance of postsecondary education. Now that we've established our priority of having a strong economic foundation, I wanted to ask the Minister some questions about the college transition.

So first, can the Minister first describe to me the department's relationship with Aurora College now that the Aurora College board of governors has been reestablished? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No further questions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about the importance of nursing aides to our health care system. My question is for the health Minister. What actions are being taken to mitigate staffing impacts associated with federal COVID funding ending? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, that's an interesting response from the Minister. I guess my question is I believe that people were given the impression there would be layoffs. There was a story in the news. I've heard from constituents about this. So how is the department been communicating about these changes and how did we get to the point where we're in a miscommunication about whether there's going to be layoffs or not? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the past five years, nursing aides have been indispensable members of nursing teams in the NWT, particularly shining during the pandemic as unsung heros alongside nurses. Their expanded roles during the pandemic included providing crucial support and companionship to isolated, critically ill elders, going above and beyond to ensure no one passed away alone by offering comfort and conveying messages of love from family members. Their presence not only facilitated medical care but also preserved the dignity of patients in their final moments.

Beyond the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Another question I have about Housing NWT is why do we cap the number of units in a community? And to give an example, Mr. Speaker, the Minister announced that the 50unit project in Yellowknife, which I'm very excited about, but that won't actually result in more units of NWT Housing units in the community. So I'm curious to hear from the Minister why that is.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I almost hesitated to give this statement today on this subject because it seems so obvious that it almost goes without saying, but I wanted to speak to it ahead of our priority setting session because I have a feeling it is going to be the number 1 priority of this Assembly, and it is definitely the number 1 priority for me.

Mr. Speaker, we are in a housing crisis. I think that everybody in this House is aware of that. Most of the public are aware of it. It was the number 1 election issue in my riding. And I think it was probably the number 1 election issue...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for the answers. So just coming back to the Minister's answer to my first question, I mean, it seems to me when I say chronically underfunded, what I'm speaking to is I'm constantly hearing from constituents, and the situation I've seen from myself, is that it seems like we don't have the means to maintain our stock. So I would just ask the Minister directly, I mean do we not need to increase funding in order to stabilize the capital budget to continue building and repairing units in the territory? Thanks, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the housing Minister. First off, why is maintenance chronically underfunded? I'm curious to know what circumstances caused this challenge so we can better understand it as we're priority setting. Thank you.