This is page numbers 2819 - 2866 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was mrspeaker.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Costs, irate clients, union barriers, that could have been an answer to pretty much the reason why we can't do anything in this Assembly, Mr. Speaker. I guess -- I would like to speak to costs.

Right now the DMV is not even open 9 to 5. It closes at 4o'clock or 4:30, depending. Is there a possibility where we actually reduce the weekday hours to be open part-time on weekends? I think we could actually reduce the overall hours, or give some people a window outside of that time, and maybe we can go-- we have a new Collective Agreement coming out, maybe there's some sort of path to allow flexible hours, you know, for our workers. Is there some sort of path forward where we get around the cost obstacle by changing the hours of the DMV? I'm settled to being closed Monday and open Saturday; whatever is possible here, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member's very adamant to get this office open. He's even willing to settle for less weekday for hours for half a day to be open, thinking it's still not going to cost us money. It's going to cost us money, Mr. Speaker. So however, you know, on a flip side, we are looking at, you know, willing to direct some of the department to look at options perhaps, as a path forward to be able to increase hours during the work week. But any potential solution for this, Mr. Speaker, would be dependent on discussions with the UNW and our employees and the department to see if we can make this work. Little light at the end of the tunnel but not yet. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier. My first question is will the Premier commit to an all-of-government response to Canada's first national infrastructure assessment engagement called "Building the Canada we want in 2050" and will the Premier commit to sharing the GNWT's submission with standing committee?

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Honourable Premier.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually, whenever we do any submissions to Canada for such projects, we try to do an all-of-government approach. Right now, currently, our departments are reviewing the Canada's engagement paper and will be consolidating and submitting a formal response to that. But I do want to highlight as well, is that's not the only chance that we get.

This government has taken a strong stance in building partnerships, relationships with the federal government. Every chance we get, Mr. Speaker, we are lobbying the federal government to increase our infrastructure, not only the amount of infrastructure but the cost of infrastructure for us. And we will continue that throughout this term. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NWT's housing deficit, and given that the NWT has a large housing deficit and that housing is a priority of this government, will the Premier commit to highlighting housing within the engagement response to ensure we continue to moving the housing needle in the NWT? Thank you.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Housing was identified within our priorities at the beginning of this government. It's always been a priority of mine and many colleagues around the table, how housing was an issue for. I've heard housing over the last year and a half coming from the other side of the House constantly.

The pandemic actually, we had -- we didn't have enough housing before, and the pandemic brought it to the forefront that we don't have enough and we're moving backwards instead of frontwards. So, yes, absolutely, housing has become a priority for us. It's one of our main priorities. In fact, we're working on it. So not only are we bumping up the staff within the housing departments, one position specifically, to look at the federal engagement and to look at our policies within the housing thing. We've also been working with our federal government. We've -- earlier this year, the GNWT proposed to the federal government to establish an intergovernmental working group of officials, with Canada, that would bring together all players in housing, including Infrastructure Canada, Innovation Canada, CanNor, Indian and Northern Affairs, Indigenous Services Canada, and CMHC. Now, this is kind of a new thing that we haven't tried before, but I am pleased to report, Mr. Speaker, that Canada is on board and has agreed to doing this working group with us. So we are-- if we're all at the table and we're meeting with them regularly, I am hopeful that housing will be a priority in the GNWT for the federal government as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, this engagement is about transforming of technologies and thinking outside the box for what we want our communities to look like here in the Northwest Territories. How will the Premier ensure that departments integrate their approach to infrastructure? Thank you.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said earlier, all departments get together, and we talk about our infrastructure needs. When we put in the request to Canada, it's various. It's not only on ideas like this, such as the public engagement on the national infrastructure assessment. We meet with them. In fact, through COVID we're meeting with them every two weeks, usually, with the Prime Minister and all Premiers. At those tables, we talk about the deficits and the infrastructure needs. We search -- every Minister here works on their infrastructure needs with the appropriate Ministers. I carry those forward at the Premier's table. And we also look at ideas of when the federal budget just came out. We become as flexible as we can. We look at our needs and we look at their mandates, and we try to make them work together. So that's-- Canada has a win and the NWT has a win. And that's what partnerships is and that's about being flexible, and you need to be flexible when you're working in anywhere. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, the honourable Premier. Oral questions. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, case studies show that on the failures of infrastructure strategies, the focus is on governance and regulatory regimes that don't keep pace with technical and social capacity or our needs. One example of that, Mr. Speaker, here in the Northwest Territories, is we can say we're sitting at all these table and that we're partnering together and we're really working forward -- or moving forward in order to make change, but then we can't make policy changes at the basic levels of our departments to make people work together and make our policies work for the people of the Northwest Territories. So I'm wondering how does the Premier intend to respond to transformative technologies with modern governance structures that allow us to evolve to the North we want to be? Thank you.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not aware of the case studies that the Member is speaking of so I can't really speak on those studies per se. But what I can say, Mr. Speaker, is that the GNWT has learned very quickly to be very flexible in technologies. Climate change's impacting the North more than any other jurisdiction in the world. So with climate change, we're looking at all of our infrastructure, our oil fields, our housing projects, everything. And we bring those forward to the federal government at all asks, so. So we need to be flexible, Mr. Speaker. And we need to be aware of the impacts and the technologies that will help us to deal with the impacts. We've been doing that for many years because of climate change and we will continue to do it as we move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Health explain to my constituents what does "significant risk" mean to her department? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this term is not defined in the legislation. And it is the judgment of the chief public health officer about what "significant risk" is. She is a medical doctor who uses resources from the public health community to determine significant risk, and she advises myself and others about what that risk is and how to mitigate it. Thank you.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister explain to my constituents what does "reasonable measures" mean to her department? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm getting a working-over as a non-doctor/non-lawyer. So reasonable measures are those measures, as I understand it, that will mitigate the risk of disease and other unwanted outcomes of a public health emergency. Thank you.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm the basis for her decision to continually extend the public health emergency as it relates to COVID? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, public health is about balancing the public health emergency and the risk to the public with the mitigation measures that reduce that risk. That is something that is an ongoing process. It's a judgment. It's based on science but ultimately the chief public health officer has to try to strike that balance. And I heard my colleague, the Minister of Justice, say that they were involved in looking at that as well. What I recognize from my inbox today, and most days recently, is that people are not satisfied with that balance any longer. They feel that the mitigation measures are too harsh for the risks that are posed now by COVID, especially given the increased vaccination rate. And that's the reason that we are revising Emerging Wisely, or the CPHO is revising Emerging Wisely. We recognize that things have changed and we need to catch up. And so by this time next week, that document will be public and everyone will see how we've addressed that. And no doubt, my inbox will fill up again. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm if her department, with respect to the public health emergency and orders, is to only provide a rubber stamp with no discussion with-- yes, when the CPHO provides her direction? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the decision to renew is the chief public health officer's to provide, and I sign off on it. So the thing is that advises me about what she thinks is necessary and then I agreed up to this point. I guess at some point I could disagree. But the point here is that the chief public health officer has sweeping power under the Public Health Act to evaluate things like risk and reasonable measures and to decide on what kind of public health orders would address those, and so the public health emergency comes out of that. And I am keen to see the public health emergency retired, and that is something that I hope that Emerging Wisely will point us in the direction of so that we no longer have these states of emergency in place that continue month in and month out. Thank you.