A former DPW apprentice knows what I’m talking about.
So I see an opportunity there to really push for apprentices, apprenticeship training. I’m glad to see they reinstated some of the money towards the employers to offset the wages, and I think it’s a good thing. I think apprentices within the GNWT are underpaid. You can make more working at the local grocery store than you can as an apprentice, so that’s something that has to be looked at. But I don’t think it’s this department’s responsibility. I think it’s Human Resources, and it’s got something to do with this plan that we always hear about. So I don’t think it was a fair process.
We try to encourage people to get into the trades, but we don’t make it worth their while. At the end of the day, when they’re certified, they will start to reap the rewards of their training. But until then they have to live on basically next to nothing. I have a concern with that, which leads me to my next point, which is the income support. I am not a firm-believer in able-bodied people being able to collect a lot of money off the government when you see so many people trying, struggling. There are some out there, I know, who need the support, and I fully support that. There are some disabled people, some elders who need the support. I fully respect that. I see a lot of disabled people regardless of their disabilities still trying to go out and work. I really respect that, while too many able-bodied people are sitting at home. Maybe we just made it too generous for them to stay at home. I know it’s not a popular comment to make, but it’s the truth.
I think it’s something we should have a look at. I think we did agree to bump up the level of income support, but some we may have to look at again. There are people who do continue to need it. There are people living in areas where the cost of living is just unbelievable, and they just can’t make the money to keep up with it. But I also think that there is some abuse of the system. I’ve heard it from contractors who find it difficult to find people to work because they are doing better on income support. So I think it’s something we have to look at — if not look at, I think we have to enforce and monitor a lot better. Put these people to work: they can’t just be sitting at home watching TV all day while people are out there working and paying into it by way of taxes and stuff like that. So I think it’s something we need to have a look at, and monitor, and enforce and make sure the money is going where it should be going.
So, Mr. Chair, I think I have pretty well said enough for one day. I’ll be looking forward to getting into the page-by-page. One other comment I do want to make is back in the Minister’s statement, which says that Ministerial colleagues and I have made decisions using the priorities of the 16th Assembly
as a guide. There might be some truth to that, but also the Regular Members weren’t really consulted as much as we’d like. We did come up with a lot of priorities, and we did see some of them…. I can’t remember how many, but I think there may have been a few that have been implemented or put into the budget. But this is some food for thought for the future.
You know, we have to work as 19 Members in here, and we want to make sure that everything that comes in the budget — all the business plans and everything — is a reflection of the views of all 19 Members. At the end of the day, Cabinet has decision-making powers along with the department. I’d like to see Cabinet exercise their decision-maker power a little more over the department, until they get to the point where they realize it’s us on behalf of the people of the NWT that are the driving force behind how government should operate and not just be steered in the direction that the bureaucrats have been steering the government for too long. Maybe this is a good thing; maybe they get to realize now that we have the decision-making power and we intend to exercise that. If it means change…. They have been doing things the same way for so long. They are kind of resistant to change, and I think this is a good example of that. I think it is something that we are going to push quite vigorously on this side.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to make a few comments. I have 38 seconds to go, but I am going to stop here.