R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish I could say that I would ensure that DEAs have all the appropriate policies in place but my authority doesn't allow me to dictate to DEAs which policies they should have in place. We're happy to work with DEAs and encourage them to develop policies. If a DEA doesn't have a bussing policy, we can look at other bussing policies and provide those as templates, we can outline which policies DEAs should have, but ultimately it is up to the DEA. I know that in Hay River the DEA is working on improving their bus policy so at least in the Member's constituency that work...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A bussing policy can touch on many of those things. It doesn't necessarily have to have all of those things. There are different ways that education bodies go about providing bussing. So sometimes there is a contractor, sometimes the bus is owned by the education body, so it really depends on the situation. But I'm sure there's best practices that we would like all the DEAs to follow. And, again, the department's always happy to provide any sort of assistance when DEAs want to develop these policies. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we rely on the Department of Infrastructure and their technical assessments of schools. As well, we have our schools’ capital planning sorry, capital standards and criteria document to guide capital planning and space requirements. We look at the need for school infrastructure projects, including a new construction, renovations, and upgrading of facilities and equipment. Criteria are used to assess and determine needs while standards describe the amount of space considered adequate to meet those needs. So there's a couple different elements we need to look at the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that would be the facility condition index rating. And that has increased from .52, I believe the Member said, to .61, which is just a function of its age. This is determined by a database which is managed by the Department of Infrastructure and includes factors in outstanding maintenance required for individual buildings. So if the building needs a lot of work, it will have a higher number. Once that work is done, it could lower the number. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 57, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2022, be read for the third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, three years ago I was given a mandate to initiate a review of the income assistance program to ensure its objectives, benefits, and delivery support the social and economic aspirations of the people of the NWT. Since then, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has put in a considerable amount of time and effort into fulfilling this mandate. Based on the findings of the review, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is now in the process of finalizing the most significant changes to the income assistance program in a generation. These changes are...

Thank you. So every time we speak to the federal government, we talk about the cost of infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. I think that we're all aware of the cost but when we speak to federal officials and politicians, it's clear that they're often taken aback by the cost. So we do our best at the officials level, at the political level, to hammer home, you know, the reality of the cost in the North and the changes we've seen over the past few years. We've seen costs double, triple, and even more than that. So we are working with the feds on this. We are doing our best to look at...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And this is one avenue that organizations can pursue to get new child care infrastructure or assist with that. Indigenous governments also have their own child care agreements with the federal government and so there could be funds through there. The early childhood infrastructure fund is proposalbased and so "proposals" very widely in terms of what they're proposing, the cost of what they're proposing. But what the fund is intended to do is support more spaces. So adding spaces to existing programs or creating new spaces.

We looked at communities where there is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So just speaking to the income assistance program, because ECE does much more for young adults than just the income assistance program, ECE will pay for eligible clients' accommodations. So pay really the full cost of rent, the full cost of utilities to someone who needs that service. So that is the assistance that we provide with people who are seeking shelter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope that we would always be a compassionate government. Sometimes our own policies and procedures get in the way of that and recognizing that we are working to change the income assistance program so that it can be more compassionate so it is not so rigid. However, as it currently stands, the income assistance program is laid out in regulations and so it is legislated so there is minimal flexibility in many instances. However, when we can be flexible, we are. And I've seen many instances of that happening. Thank you.