Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our seniors and elders are the fastest growing population in the NWT. Before I'm an empty-nester, our seniors population over 60 will increase by 56 percent and the demand for home care by 80 percent. Historically, Canadian elder care is lost in the fog between housing, social assistance, and health care. But this government committed to empowering seniors and elders to age in place and to an elders strategy. If we are going to achieve either of those, Mr. Speaker, we have work to do.

In March, Health and Social Services announced a decrease in its projected need of long-term care beds from 435 to 169 beds. How accurate that is remains to be tested. But what does remain is the fact that seniors who once anticipated a future in a long-term care facility will now need to be accommodated through an integrated approach to home care, multigenerational accessible housing, and an aligned government policy and programs.

Today, 40 percent of elders live in poverty with an annual income less than $25,000, meaning they rely on income assistance. The 2019 home and community care review found that seniors and elders who live in public housing often pay too much for rent when they live with family and that rent tied to household income creates a disincentive for adult children to live with elders. Mr. Speaker, this decreases family supports for elders ageing in place.

It's also important to note that 40 percent of NWT seniors are homeowners. Seniors living in their own homes can only access income assistance accommodation allowance if they're on the public housing waitlist. But homeowners are ineligible for public housing, which means this policy also makes them ineligible for the accommodation allowance to help pay the high cost of housing with income assistance. Income assistance policies require an elder applying for financial assistance to sell their home to receive the income assistance accommodation allowance. The Housing Corporation is currently driving homeownership and also does not have the public housing stock to support this policy. Rather than providing a support where people are at, we have a policy vortex that creates stressful barriers for seniors while driving our need for government care institutions.

Mr. Speaker, government policies that serve our elders are fragmented and inconsistent with our priorities. It is time to reshape elder care into something we are proud of in a system that celebrates the equality of life -- or quality of life of our parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.