The Minister failed to address the savings and the cost benefits of that program. They did invest money, and that’s what I’m suggesting we do instead of $20 million without getting any results.
In his ’13-14 review of income assistance, the Auditor General noted that in half of the NWT files examined, client eligibility was not confirmed. In half of the files, income was not verified. In 20 percent of the files requiring Productive Choices were not committed to, and in 30 percent of the files the participation in Productive Choices were not monitored. In one-third of the files, payments made to clients were inaccurate. The system is unwieldy, inaccurate, inefficient and intrusive.
Will the Minister thoroughly explore the opportunity for these issues to be resolved through the implementation of a guaranteed basic income program instead of the current approach and report back to this House?