This is page numbers 4953 - 5010 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 know.

Topics

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, as I was just saying there's not a lot directly that the government can necessarily do. But what I would certainly be willing to look at is perhaps having the two departments come together and see if there's room through which the government can help advocate or room through which the government might be able to provide more information to small businesses, to the small business community, about what they might do to help influence their own rates. There may be information that is, you know, more readily available to some than to others, for example, with respect to, you know, the Insurance Bureau of Canada, what they do, what they might be useful -- how they might be useful, you know, other opportunities of where you might look to influence your insurance rates. And that may be a function or a role for government to act as an advocate but also as a pathfinder. So I will go back to both departments and see if that is something that we can get some more information out to. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I like the Minister's response. Madam Speaker, can the Minister tell us if her department agrees with the economists at the Royal Bank of Canada and anticipates a recession occurring in 2023? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm not good to providing a prediction here today. I certainly can say the Department of Finance is monitoring this. I know the Bank of Canada just put out their most recent monetary policy. And certainly I know I'm reading those documents, and our department's staff and fiscal policy are also reading those materials and keeping an eye on what is happening. But I think really where I want to go, Madam Speaker, in responding is to reassure that in that monitoring that we are doing so not just as an academic exercise. We're doing that so that we would be in a position to know what the impacts would be on the fiscal strategy of the government so that we would then know what that might, in turn, do, you know, whether it's to our procurement, whether it's to hiring, and to know what is happening in the economy at large so that, again, departments such as ITI can go out and make sure they are supporting industry. Our economy is very heavily reliant on the public sector, and the good news with the bad news is that gives us a bit more insulation to some of the shocks that you might otherwise see. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake. Oh, she got one more? Oh, I thought you said that was the last one. Okay, sorry, Member for Thebacha.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Madam Speaker, if a recession is, in fact, declared, can the Minister tell us if her department has a plan in place for how to help NWT businesses deal with that scenario? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I do appreciate the opportunity to speak to this question. I do hope that the members of the public and business are paying attention because, again, I know this can be a time with a lot of uncertainty. When there's uncertainty and volatility, it may mean businesses aren't making the investments that we want to see them making to have a robust and diversified economy in the North. So, again, I'll say something that I was saying a lot more back when the pandemic was in full force, which is that the public sector is larger in the territories than what it may be in some provincial areas. Now, there's downsides to that but one of the upsides to that it gives us a bit of stability. So we are certainly monitoring, again, not just as an academic way but to look at certain indicators, make sure that we are responsive and reactive where we need to be but, again, really it's -- at this point, Madam Speaker, I -- there's not a set plan because there's not a set emergency to which we need to respond. We are keeping an eye on what's happening and, again, trying to do things like pass a capital budget which would hopefully help support the small business sector through any times of uncertainty. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Members, we're going to take a short recess.

---SHORT RECESS

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Madame la Presidente. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. First, I'd like to get some clarity on the basic principles of the new minimum wage approach announced in August. Can the Minister tell us how poverty and a living wage were considered in the development of this new approach to a minimum wage? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister of ECE.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So a living wage reflects what an earner or earners would need to bring home to pay the bills in any given community. The minimum wage is the lowest possible wage that you can pay someone, and its purpose is to protect vulnerable workers. So they're two different things. So our minimum wage, it's similar to minimum wages across Canada. It's on the higher end. And the changes that we are making -- or that we have made would put us on an even playing field with the rest of Canada. And I will note that given the climate in the Northwest Territories, the employment climate, it's pretty rare to find someone earning minimum wage. And the Member himself said that it's hard to attract employees if you're only paying the minimum wage. So this minimum wage is a bare minimum that you are legally required to pay but the market is dictating higher wages than that. Thank you.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Madame la Presidente. I want to thank the Minister for recognizing that the minimum wage is not a living wage, and it keeps people in poverty. So through the work of the minimum wage committee and ECE analysts, you know, there's a lot of information that's been compiled. I also put together this percentage. 90 percent of our workforce received a page top-up program because of how low our minimum wage actually is here. So can the Minister commit to developing and regularly update an actual living wage for each of the 33 NWT communities? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I can't commit to that. I know there are organizations who do look at the living wage in different communities, and we're going to let them continue to do that good work. Thank you.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Madam la Presidente. I want to thank the Minister for recognizing the work of lowly NGOs and getting them to do the work of government again. So one of the reasons the Minister keeps giving for a minimum wage -- keeping minimum wage so low is the impact of a higher wage on small businesses, and the Minister just said that few businesses pay the minimum wage. So can the Minister tell us whether this government is considering a further package of wage top-ups for low income workers to lift these people out of poverty? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. No, the wage top-up was primarily driven by the federal government and we are not considering that. We are trying to get people out of poverty through employment programs, through education. And I will say that we do actually have a number of labour programs, some of which provide wage top-ups. So we are doing a bit of what the Member is talking about but we are not looking at rolling out the large scale program similar to the ones the federal government funded in the last couple years. Thank you.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Madam la Presidente. I want to thank the Minister for that. Well, let's talk about some systemic change here, then. So in our current inflationary situation, price increases have been highest on mandatory costs, including food and shelter, rather than discretionary purchases, meaning poor people suffer more from inflation. So will the Minister take this affordability crisis as the opportunity to construct lasting measures, like a guaranteed basic income, that directly addresses the cost of living? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And we won't be implementing a guaranteed basic income during the life of this Assembly. We do have a number of very expensive initiatives that we are currently working on and will be bringing forward. So we are making investments in this area, making investments to reduce the cost of living. But a guaranteed basic income is not one of those. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Question 1279-19(2): Winter Camping
Oral Questions

November 1st, 2022

Page 4976

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ITI who is responsible for our beautiful 33 camps and parks -- campgrounds and parks across this territory. And my question is whether she's going to let me go winter camping this winter? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister of ITI.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I would be very happy if the Member would like to go winter camping. I'm not a barrier to him going winter camping. What I can't do is necessarily open up a park, bring in park staff, bring in cleaning staff, bring in the enforcement and monitoring officers to make sure that parks don't get wrecked, although I'm sure the Member wouldn't do that. I can't commit to doing all of that and to expending those resources on his behalf. But I'd be very happy to hear if he goes out into the wilderness, onto the land, and takes pictures to promote tourism in the North. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Yeah, thank you, Madam Speaker. I'm actually not sure that's legal, and I believe the Department of Lands is working on temporary guidelines when temporary structures can be set up on public land. But they first have to evict 900 people. So I'm not too sure about that. I guess my question is, I assume that we own some wall tents. We own a company that makes them at the very least. I assume we own a few cabins in the territorial government. Is the Minister willing to look through all of our parks and campgrounds and see whether there is some sort of infrastructure that could possibly be rented out under the NWT Parks banner? I think it would be a great tourism activity. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I certainly can make a commitment to go and see what might be available. What I might also suggest, though, Madam Speaker, is perhaps an opportunity for the Member, who I know is passionate about this particular issue, to check in with myself and with the department and perhaps also NWT Tourism. There are a number of private operators would like to get into this space. There may be access to parks facilities but, again, they may require further capital costs to be where the Member wants them to be. But let's get to the heart of what the issue and what the barriers are. I'd like to not be a barrier to the private sector. But if there's a way to get more people accessing the lands, then I'd be thrilled to find a way to do that. So, again, perhaps a takeaway isn't just for us but it's to go with the Member and see exactly where are the gaps that we aren't filling for this sector. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.