Mr. Chair, from what the Premier shared with us, obviously not everybody is onboard. This whole thing called secretariat, another form of bureaucracy within this government. We have 5,000-plus employees, almost 6,000, in the Northwest Territories, and we're going to create another 150. Mr. Chair, obviously, I fully support a coordination to deal with COVID-19 since March. We were doing fine with MACA and various other departments coordinating with internal resources, internal bodies that can take on these work assignments. When it came to the secretariat in August, that was the first time we heard the creation of this secretariat and no input from the public.

Mr. Chair, just as recent as yesterday when I went to a funeral in Behchoko, obviously people are still questioning why are we spending $87 million on the bureaucracy if we have so many needs in our region? Lot of people are dying left and right. In my region more specifically, Mr. Chair, just this past weekend we lost another young lady due to addiction. Mr. Chair, this is a very sensitive matter, and here we are. We're talking about $31 million that's on the books here. I understand that the federal government, $24 million -- I don't know why we need to bundle everything together. It's a federal approach where everything is bundled so even though you are against certain items, either you vote for the budget or your vote against it. I feel very uncomfortable with this going forward. I support other issues are on this supplementary with the exception of this COVID secretariat.

Mr. Chair, I'm getting a lot of feedback from my region and also surrounding the North, whether that be emails, phone calls, and people are still confused. Why are we supporting this COVID secretariat? We're talking about $87 million today. I'd be surprised if it's still the same number in the next few years as we approach this ordeal with the whole COVID secretariat. I just don't understand why we were pushing forward as a government. In my view, it's the cart before the horse. There was no engagement with the leadership when it was first created. Yes, I understand the Premier says, after the fact, we started talking to Aboriginal groups. We don't operate that way.

Mr. Chair, this is a general statement, but I do have a motion coming after Members speak to this. I'd like to know why the Premier, the Cabinet, is ignoring the public outcry and continuing to push this secretariat. The $31 million that's before us today, the public don't want it. Obviously, we don't want it. We want more housing. We want more addictions after-care program, deal with our homelessness. As soon as you walk out this door, we have so many homeless people, our people. So many of them are from my region I'm trying to deal with. We haven't identified money for them. Homeless people, yes, they're talking about a shelter, but to put another $31 million towards this COVID secretariat, 150 people that would be working for us. People are shaking their heads. People that I talk to, anyway.

Mr. Chair, it's very frustrating sitting here to deal with this matter that we're pushing this supplementary ahead without any engagement of the public. I'd like to know what the public view is on the secretariat. The leadership, not everybody's on board. Not all mayors are on board, but we're still pushing through. Mr. Chair, I'm kind of running out of time, but we've heard over and over, housing, homelessness, it's a real issue. Here we're talking about co-investment. Still talking about maybe hiring a person, we should have been proactive to say, well the whole secretariat, the $87 million, before that discussion even took place, that co-investment should have been the first priority in my view, taking advantage of $60 million, 75 percent from the federal government, 25 percent from us. No, here we are still talking about it. Are we going to miss the opportunity?

Mr. Chair, I don't want to add more to it because I have already talked about this on numerous occasions now, and I do have a motion that will speak to it, as well. Yes, I will leave it at that. It's a statement to the government that this is unacceptable. From the discussion around the table, obviously, this is going to go ahead with the supplementals, but it will be a recorded vote, so I would like to know who all stands for the government. Mr. Chair, that is it for me until I present a motion on this. Masi.