R.J. Simpson

Madam Speaker, as employment levels reach historic heights, tight labour markets are being experienced across the Northwest Territories and Canada. To address labour shortages, the Government of the Northwest Territories is working to strengthen our northern workforce through legislation, funding programs, academic and technical supports, and enhanced programs and policies.

Madam Speaker, Skills 4 Success is the GNWT’s overarching labour market framework. Its purpose is to improve employment success for NWT residents, close skill gaps for indemand jobs, and more effectively respond to employer...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And we won't be implementing a guaranteed basic income during the life of this Assembly. We do have a number of very expensive initiatives that we are currently working on and will be bringing forward. So we are making investments in this area, making investments to reduce the cost of living. But a guaranteed basic income is not one of those. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I can't commit to that. I know there are organizations who do look at the living wage in different communities, and we're going to let them continue to do that good work. Thank you.

Thank you. And since we've made the changes to the Aurora College Act, I can't speak for the college, but we are working closely together so I can say that the college is open to working with community partners. There is a Makerspace up in Inuvik, and that is part of the college already. And so if there are other opportunities to work with third parties and their synergies, if there's space required and the college has that space, I know that they would be happy to make those connections when it makes sense. We all need to work together and pool our resources. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And one of the goals that we set out with this transformation was to ensure that the college had a presence in every single community in the Northwest Territories. And that's not the case right now. What that presence looks like, that is what is being worked out. In a perfect world, there would be a physical space with appropriate internet connections and whatnot in every community, but this is a massive project and we're looking at improvements to the three campuses as well as a number of community learning centres. So it's not likely that every community will have a...

Madam Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 63, An Act to Amend the Official Languages Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So I think I've laid that vision out. If Indigenous governments were left out of the modernization of the Education Act, it would be a disaster. So that's why we are making these targeted operational technical amendments in the life of this Assembly, and then we'll deal with the other 99.999 percent of the Education Act in the next Assembly. And the work to begin developing an MOU between the GNWT and Indigenous governments is going to happen in the life of this Assembly. So we should have a signed MOU that will ensure that this work does happen. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So first, I'd like to correct a few of the statements that the Member made in her recordsetting five and a half minute Member's statement today.

She stated the Education Act had not changed in 30 years. It was changed last year, unanimously by this House; changes to the Education Act were approved. We changed in 2017, 2014, 2013, 2006, 2005, and so on. And so this is not some unprecedented change that's happening. There are always amendments to the Education Act as are required by operational realities.

She stated that Indigenous governments have been provided no...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. No, the wage topup was primarily driven by the federal government and we are not considering that. We are trying to get people out of poverty through employment programs, through education. And I will say that we do actually have a number of labour programs, some of which provide wage topups. So we are doing a bit of what the Member is talking about but we are not looking at rolling out the large scale program similar to the ones the federal government funded in the last couple years. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So a living wage reflects what an earner or earners would need to bring home to pay the bills in any given community. The minimum wage is the lowest possible wage that you can pay someone, and its purpose is to protect vulnerable workers. So they're two different things. So our minimum wage, it's similar to minimum wages across Canada. It's on the higher end. And the changes that we are making or that we have made would put us on an even playing field with the rest of Canada. And I will note that given the climate in the Northwest Territories, the employment climate...