R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every time I speak with a federal minister, I bring the concerns of the territory to that Minister. And this is a perfect example of an issue that I'd be happy to bring to the Minister and have those discussions to let them know about the unique nature of the Northwest Territories, the rates of violence that we see here, and the concerns that are being raised. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have that information. Perhaps I can check the dashboard. Everything in the action plan that was a response to the Office of the Auditor General report is online in the progress tracker. And so when an item is in progress, that is noted on the online tracker. So I don't have that information but I can check that out and let the Member know. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member's likely aware, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada recently established a sexual violence legal counsel team, and that's independent from the Department of Justice; I won't take credit for that. But that's a new development that's quite recent. And the department is also currently developing a new program to provide free legal advice and navigation supports for survivors of sexual, intimate partner and domestic violence, and assault. So we've secured funding to do that as well. So we are taking steps to address these very issues. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There will never be enough money for Education. I think that's fair to say. You know, we can always do more. But I can say that we have made some changes to the funding formula that do benefit small communities. The way communities are funded, they're based on school population and at times there's a bit of a cliff when the school falls below a certain number of students it can experience a drop off in funding. So we have smoothed that slope for a number of different funding streams. And so that is something that happened this year that is benefitting small communities...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have control of the operations of the RCMP so I can't make that assurance personally. But the RCMP is aware of the situation and they do have the ability to bring in other officers, as I've stated. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And there's been really no major amendments since 1980s on that bill so that's why it's a repeal and replace essentially.

So in terms of scope, the purpose of the legislation is to ensure that parties who contribute work, labour, or materials to a construction project in the NWT are paid and to provide a remedy if they are not. Lien legislation also creates stability and predictability for owners of construction projects by setting out obligations they have to other parties involved in the project. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And this is a national issue. This isn't just one community in the Northwest Territories. During the pandemic, the depot where RCMP officers are trained in Regina was shut down and it was not accepting new recruits and was not graduating new recruits. So we are now in a time where there's a shortage across Canada of RCMP officers because they weren't training. So this is an issue that everyone is feeling. However, this is part of the daily operation of the RCMP. If there's staffing shortages, they deal with them. And the department works with them to deal with them. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the department is currently drafting the bill for the new Builders Lien Act, which will replace the existing Mechanics Lien Act, which is quite a bold piece of legislation. The legislative proposal, which is one of the very first steps in turning a need into a law, was submitted in summer of 2021, was approved in late November, and the drafting began earlier this year.

The department was hoping to introduce the bill last year but, you know, things take time and it's fallen a bit behind. Nonetheless, we are considering all the feedback that the Member referenced and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the new money from the federal government, it's about $10 million a year, and it doesn't quite double what we were already spending. We were spending $10 million in GNWT funds and about $2.4 of federal money. So there's already a significant amount of money going into the system prior to this new influx of money.

So the current funding that is flowing out that everyone knows about is intended to reduce the costs for parents. However, there is obviously additional money, and we are working to get that out the door.

So the childcare fee reduction, that's the money for...

In favour.