Please be seated. [Translation] Thank you. I am very, very happy that it is a brand new winter that we're starting, and all the others who will be sitting here. That's the reason why I'm glad that the people are here, and I'm hoping that it will be okay with everybody.
It's a new year, and we have a lot of new things to be working on, especially for the Northwest Territories, and you guys are all working for them. I wish that your session will be a good outcome, with personal balance with work for each of you. [End of translation].
I am honoured to welcome you all back. I trust you all had a wonderful festive season with your loved ones.
As we enter a new decade, we begin our work for the people of the Northwest Territories. Your work can be challenging, but working together as a team will ensure you make the best decisions.
I wish you a productive session with good outcomes and personal balance with life and work for each of you.
I am very pleased to be opening this session of Canada's first and only gender-balanced Legislative Assembly, led by Canada's only sitting female Premier.
This may also be one of the youngest Legislative Assemblies to have been elected in the Northwest Territories in recent memory, and it is the second Assembly in a row to have more first-time Members than returning Members.
It is clear in looking around this room that the people of the Northwest Territories voted for change during the last election.
The Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to delivering the change that our people have called for, as well as ensuring their voices are heard throughout the life of this government.
During this session, the government will be tabling its 2019-2023 mandate. This document will present the government's plan for advancing the priorities agreed to by all Members of the Legislative Assembly.
Our plan puts people first and recognizes that government succeeds when we support the success of every person in the territory. It is a holistic plan that takes into account the physical, social, wellness, and employment needs of residents.
We know that people need a strong and secure foundation on which to grow, beginning with the basics of food, shelter, and health.
To address the need for shelter, we will work with stakeholders to increase the number of quality, energy-efficient, and affordable housing units and put a stronger focus on community home-ownership opportunities.
We will support seniors to stay in their homes and communities by providing increased access to housing programs, increasing the Home Heating Subsidy, and establishing a community grant program for senior supports. We will also take action to protect seniors from abuse or neglect and create a separate income assistance program tailored to seniors and persons with disabilities.
We will increase food security by implementing regulatory and program changes to support locally produced and marketed foods. We will work with Indigenous and community governments to support community greenhouses, gardens, and country food harvesting. As well, we will work with applicable governments to define community solutions to the Nutrition North Program.
To improve the health of NWT residents, we will work with our employees and partners to strengthen our healthcare recruitment strategy and implement comprehensive labour force planning.
We will also work with communities to increase the availability of e-health, traditional, on-the-land, and other proven approaches to mental wellness and addictions recovery.
We will improve wellness supports, including increasing peer-support programming, providing transitional housing for those returning from addiction treatment, and establishing medical detox and managed alcohol programming.
We will also strengthen community counselling services by providing standardized screening and assessment tools, improving employee training opportunities, and reducing wait times for accessing counselling.
As well as taking care of basic needs, we need to support residents, businesses, Indigenous and community governments so they have the tools to succeed.
To increase early childhood development, we will ensure better coordination of services and streamline funding to support community-based parenting and early childhood development programming.
We will develop a 10-year universal childcare strategy and increase child care spaces by providing non-government organizations with retrofit funding, amend policies to allow licensed childcare in public housing, and better utilize our own government infrastructure for early childhood program space.
An increase in childcare space will require more workers, so we will increase support for NWT students who wish to pursue qualified childcare programming.
We will support educational success by modernizing the Education Act and education funding framework. We will ensure distance learning is available in all small communities and pilot a classroom assistant training program. We will implement programming to assist schools and parents make decisions together about student placements and social passing, and we will continue to transform Aurora College into an accredited and independent polytechnic university.
Our government also recognizes that people want and deserve to have employment opportunities. Good jobs and meaningful work provides people with both the means to support themselves and their families, as well as a sense of accomplishment and pride.
We will increase economic diversification and employment in small communities by developing regional economic development plans, increasing the number of journeypersons and apprentices in small communities, advancing the knowledge economy, and expanding tourism throughout the NWT. As well, we will change policies to allow licensed home businesses in public housing units, mentor entrepreneurs, and support community-led maker-spaces.
This government will support local businesses and encourage entrepreneurship by reducing red tape and regulatory burdens. We will also ensure that more benefits from government spending stay in the North by strengthening our procurement policies like the Business Incentive Policy, Northern Manufactured Products Policy, and our approach to public-private partnerships.
We will promote local competition by increasing awareness of GNWT contracting opportunities, actively encouraging NWT businesses to apply for BIP status, and developing a one-stop shop for vendors online.
As well, we will take action to improve the environment for resource development, which is still the biggest sector of the NWT economy, and make sure NWT residents are benefiting from it as much as they can.
We will do this by collaborating with Indigenous governments to develop and implement regional mineral strategies, increase resource exploration and development, increase funding for mining incentive programs, and look for new ways to support advanced projects. As well, we will assess the feasibility of local gas supply projects and the export of liquefied natural gas.
To ensure NWT residents enjoy a fair share of the benefits of development, we will a conduct an independent comparison review of our royalty and taxation regimes and socio-economic agreements. We will meet annually with senior officials of NWT mines to review the results and utilize the recommendations in future agreements.
We also understand people need a sense of belonging and the stability of strong, affordable communities, and a clean environment to thrive.
That is why our government will respect and strengthen the ability of communities and regions to make their own decisions, based on their own needs and priorities, including empowering our own regional staff.
We will settle treaty, land, resources, and self-government agreements by working with facilitators and engaging directly on a leader-to-leader basis. We will establish a special joint committee on Indigenous reconciliation between Cabinet and Regular Members of the Legislative Assembly and review the principles and interests that inform our negotiating mandates.
With Indigenous governments, we will also create an action plan that identifies changes required in GNWT legislation and policies to best reflect the principles set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
This government will also take steps to increase the resiliency of communities, support their capacity, and help make them affordable places to live.
We will do this by reducing the municipal funding gap, refining our funding models, exploring opportunities for community governments to raise additional revenue, and reducing or stabilizing the cost of delivering core programs and services.
Reducing the cost of power remains a priority, as does reducing our reliance on diesel for generating community power. We know that in many cases moving to greener energy costs the system more money, not less, when we have to keep diesel as a backup. We will look to long-term solutions, including connecting more communities to existing hydro systems.
We will also work with partners and stakeholders to target energy conservation and efficiency programs for small and remote communities where the costs of energy are highest and the need is greatest.
As well, we will create a stronger and more affordable territory through strategic infrastructure investments that connect communities, expand the economy and reduce the cost of living. This will include advancing projects like the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the Slave Geological Province Corridor, and Taltson Hydro Expansion. We will also invest in fast and reliable broadband internet services for communities and modernize our airport infrastructure.
Finally, because the land is the life and the source of wellbeing and security for NWT residents, our government will do more to ensure that our environment is conserved and protected and we will ensure climate change impacts are considered when making government decisions.
We will also establish a Northwest Territories Climate Change Council, bringing together our government with Indigenous and community governments, MLAs, and other partners to strengthen our leadership and authority on climate change.
This is an ambitious agenda aimed at responding to the needs of people and making sure all residents are able to succeed and thrive. We know it will take more than four years to reach some of our goals, but we are committed to beginning the work now and encouraging future governments to continue it.
During this session, the Government of the Northwest Territories will also be introducing the following bills for consideration by the House:
- Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2020-2021;
- Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2019-2020;
- Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 4, 2019-2020; and
- Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2020-2021.
The government considers these bills essential to the good conduct of government business and as such, I recommend their passage.
As your Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, I now declare open the 2nd session of the 19th Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, merci beaucoup, mahsi cho, quanani, koana.