This is page numbers 3411 - 3440 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 budget.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.

Member's Statement 924-19(2): Eulogy for Sherri Thompson
Members' Statements

February 22nd, 2022

Page 3417

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, demonstrating her strength of will, independence, and sass right to the end of her well-lived 48 years, Sherri Lynn Thomson passed away Monday, December 6th.

Born in Yorkton September 15th, 1973, the third child of Graham and Linda's four children, Sherri spent her earliest years in southern Saskatchewan with her family before settling in 1977 on the PFRM farm.

Sherri developed a passion for hockey, participated in minor hockey programs, and from grade 10 to 12, played for the Fort Saskatchewan First Team culminating with a trip to the Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island in the spring of 1999. Her involvement did not end there. After playing, she transitioned to coaching the Select Midget Female Hockey Program.

Sherri had her sights set on teaching and pursued her dream immediately after high school, attending the University of Saskatchewan and completing her education degree in 1996. Starting her career close to home, demonstrating the streak of independence, she worked a total of 19 years in the Northwest Territories with the Dehcho Divisional Educational Council teaching in Fort Providence, Fort Simpson as a teacher, principal, and later on as literacy consultant.

In those two decades living in Canada's North, Sherri truly embraced the lifestyle and people, as did they. This is where I got to meet her and appreciate her commitment to the North.

Sherri enjoyed travelling and was able to do major trips during her time in the North. She took time away from her work to do a European tour and a trip to New Zealand, Australia, and Tonga.

Her initial diagnosis of ovarian cancer came in 2014. A second diagnosis in 2017 led her to retire from her career and move back back home in 2018.

Not one to sit still, Sherri fulfilled another dream. After some wrangling with her dad, she bought land from Graham's immediately east of her childhood home and proceeded to oversee the construction of a beautiful home, perfectly placed to capture the prairie sunrise and sunset.

With her mom passing away in 2010, that was Sherri's biggest loss in her family's life. An indication of her strength, the kind of strengths they needed and held, would also draw upon with Sherri's third diagnosis later on 2020.

Thanks to tremendous support from her family, friends and neighbours, she was able to stay home until late November. Sherri passed away as she lived, letting her feelings and emotions, options known, and facing her challenges without fear or complaint. It would only be appropriate that Sherri gets the last word and final blessing.

Taken from a recent Facebook post featuring a splendid sunset behind a row of her lovely horses, "I was reminded today of the blessings and simple pleasures of time spent with family and friends. No commitments, no plans, just the joy of each others' company. When the crisis has passed, we will remember to do those simple things or get caught up in the web of busy that we have been forced to live without. Please let it be the former." Mr. Speaker, she will be sadly missed.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and community at this time.

Members' statements. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Replies to the budget address, day 1 of 7. Member for Yellowknife North.

Mr. Johnson's Reply
Replies To Budget Address

Page 3417

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Mr. Speaker, what do we have to do around here to get some more housing money? Mr. Speaker, I have never seen real consensus on any issue amongst this group except for housing. It is clear in this Assembly that housing is a priority. We are committed to improving housing for our residents. Yet despite that, the actual core budget for the Housing Corporation just won't increase in any meaningful way, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, for this budget, what I would propose is that we add $20 million to the Housing Corp. budget, and not one-time money. Long-term, real, permanent funding so we can stop talking about 2038 when CMHC funding expires and talk about now. That is what the housing crisis demands. I think with partnerships, proper mobilization, and lobbying, we, in this House, could end chronic homelessness and end our housing crisis. You know, we could stop having citizens literally freeze to death because they have a lack of shelter. That seems a noble goal to me.

So with that in mind, Mr. Speaker, I am going to say some things that I believe this House should have heard today in the budget address.

The first step to me in the budget reply is the narrative we are trying to sell. We need a hook. We need to sell the legacy of this government. To the Minister's credit, we grabbed an easy first narrative, the narrative that we mobilized for COVID; we took action, and the light at the end of the tunnel is here. This gives people hope. However, Mr. Speaker, we didn't finish that narrative. We didn't say that we learned from this pandemic that bold political vision is needed to bring us forward, to keep up the pace and demand that we address our housing crisis.

Mr. Speaker, this budget may as well have been a surrender flag that we've given up on bold political vision with the Minister stating flashy announcements hoping that new money will solve long-standing problems is often the easier political path.

Mr. Speaker, we all know our housing crisis is a long-standing problem. And do you know what solves it? A flashy announcement about new money, Mr. Speaker. And finding new money is not an easy political path. If it was, we would all march down it. There's not some other solution where houses appear without money, Mr. Speaker.

Continuing on this thread, the Minister went on to say, The goal is not headlines to last the next few days or the term of this government.

Firstly, Mr. Speaker, we need some headlines. The complete lack of politicking occurring here is embarrassing. We have been losing the communications battle in this Assembly from day one. To somehow dismiss that governments need to belittle political capital in the media is to remove an entire check on political power and how politics work, Mr. Speaker. We need to sneak in some flashy ways. It's the opportunity for this government to build the political capital to make those tough decisions.

Mr. Speaker, here are some suggestions that I would suggest as flashy headlines.

Coming up in this fiscal year, the GNWT will introduce five paid sick days for workers. Mr. Speaker, our pandemic has taught us that forcing people to choose between missing pay, where they struggle to buy groceries, or going in to work sick and putting their coworkers at risk is a decision that no one should have to make. Look at that flashy headline, Mr. Speaker.

Another suggestion, Mr. Speaker, we have decided to tie minimum wage to inflation. Mr. Speaker, during the pandemic, we called those frontline responders heros. We topped all of their wages up to $18 an hour, and then we removed it. But now we have the second highest minimum wage in Canada, and let's make sure it keeps that way. An easy solution is to tie it to inflation, to make sure that those currently nonliving wages keep up somewhat with the cost of living. Another great flashy headline I would support.

There's lots of options, Mr. Speaker. We could create a holiday. We could remove Walmart from BIP. I don't know. We could rename some things. The Mackenzie River or the mountains, does anyone even know that both are named after men named Alexander Mackenzie, one the explorer, one the prime minister? I don't know. Does it matter? Let's name some things in an interest of reconciliation. Perhaps we can merge ENR, MACA, and Lands to save us a few million dollars. They all have one minister. It seems like a great thing to throw into the budget reply.

If none of these are acceptable to Cabinet, Mr. Speaker, I'm sure they could find something.

Mr. Speaker, the next the Minister said, The goal is to influence the path of the Northwest Territories for the next five or even ten years. And I agree, Mr. Speaker. But the way you influence the long-term path is by changing the core budget.

This entire budget is simply a continuation of the last budget. And we passed Bob McLeod's capital budget in the fall, and we're continuing to pass his operating budget, Mr. Speaker.

If we truly want a long-term, five to ten year plan that influences the future, let's add $20 million to the Housing Corp's budget.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister also stated that they are optimistic we can control future spending through internal savings and continuing to find more value from the $2.1 billion that we spend without having to reduce programs and services. This has been the fiscal goal our first year in the 19th Assembly and is the cornerstone of our government renewal work. End quote.

Mr. Speaker, this is a noble goal. I know that we don't want to talk about reducing programs and services, but I think that is the wrong frame. It is not a reduction in programs and services. It is a shifting of priorities. We look at one pot of money we are already spending and say a better priority would be housing. And I have not seen the evidence to date that government renewal is truly going to get to the level of spending we need to be talking about. We need to be talking about 10s of millions of dollars, and I'm not convinced there are easy, magical efficiencies or pots of money to be found by scrutinizing government budgets. If they were, I think we would have found them by already, Mr. Speaker. We need to be talking about hard tough choices that we need to make.

Mr. Speaker, I believe where we have landed is, in fact, the most valid and true criticism of consensus government. We have landed in a budget that is designed by committee. It is compromised until the status quo budget is reserved again and again.

I've said this before, Mr. Speaker, that the Cabinet plus three is a problematic view of consensus government. But even worse is to never have a single close vote in this House. Even worse is to never propose things that we will be divided on and ultimately might just pass with a slim margin. Those are the kind of proposals we need to see to end homelessness and get our fiscal house in order. Anything that we all agree on is not meaningful action, Mr. Speaker.

Firstly, Mr. Speaker, I'm going to speak to some ways I believe we could find $20 million to add to housing and end homelessness in this territory. They are not easy decisions. I know all of my colleagues won't agree with them necessarily but I believe they have the majority of support of these Members, and that is the budget we need to put forward to show the people we can mobilize.

Firstly, we need to put a freeze on public sector hiring. Perhaps with the exception of Health, but every single year the budget adds a few more positions here and there and the demand for more staff is endless. We know this. And it's hard to remove three or four or five or six positions at a time. But it adds up. And the way I view it is every one of those GNWT workers is six people we could house. That's using a metric of $25,000 operating cost per housing unit, with a bit of an exception, that housing unit can house multiple people, Mr. Speaker. That's the way we need to look at this. Do we want one finance officer or six more housing units, Mr. Speaker?

Next, Mr. Speaker, Yellowknife gets everything. Yellowknife gets everything. It's like a broken record at the side of my head whenever I speak in this House. Well, let's do something about it, Mr. Speaker. Let's do what the majority of MLAs clearly want and put forward a plan for decentralization. I suggest we start with an email. Let's email headquarters staff and ask if any of them want to relocate to the communities. If they do, we have a remote work policy, we can find a way to make it work. I would say a great target in this area is a hundred jobs. And if we can't find a hundred people, I'm sure we can relocate some units. Lawyers are flexible, Mr. Speaker. Let's just move the Department of Justice to Fort Smith.

Mr. Speaker, at some point we Yellowknife MLAs have to ask ourselves does Yellowknife really need more GNWT workers? We're half a step away from renaming the town Yellowknife or GNWT town. I'm asking my constituents, do we need more GNWT workers in Yellowknife? I see a majority of MLAs in this House who want decentralization and let's put a path forward so we can end that fight and find consensus on our true priority which is housing, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, some other ideas I have, which you don't have to take all of them, but I'll throw a few out.

As I said, merging ENR, MACA, and Lands. Corporate restructuring comes with removing some duplicate positions. It saves some money.

Mr. Speaker, I think we need to just end the COVID Secretariat. Perhaps we have to give a few more positions to Public Health to manage the pandemic going forward, but there's $14 million for the COVID Secretariat in this budget, and I don't believe we need that, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, next, I believe we need to create a high income tax bracket. If we are truly committed to ending homelessness, I think we can ask those who make over $180,000 a year to pay a little extra in tax, Mr. Speaker. I'll note that many of those people are, in fact, GNWT workers.

Next, Mr. Speaker, I believe we need to increase corporate tax by one percent. We in this House, rightfully so, lowered our small business corporate tax rate. However, Mr. Speaker, we could raise our corporate tax rate for those companies that make over $500,000 a year by one percent and still be below Yukon and competitive across Canada.

Next, Mr. Speaker, we have a collective agreement. I am not proposing anything like legislating pay cuts or not bargaining in good faith but we know we have to go into the next round of collective bargaining with a very tough position. And here I am speaking directly to the UNW, Mr. Speaker. At some point, the UNW has to reflect that if we keep giving raises to the public service, which is majority southern and majority based in Yellowknife, the public trust will be eroded, Mr. Speaker. We need to drive that bargain with the union. And every time we get a $10 million forced growth for collective bargaining, that is significant money that is not housing people in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker.

At some point, $430 million we are currently spending on compensation and benefits for a majority southern workforce is just not a good idea.

Now, Mr. Speaker, this is not necessarily a cost savings, but I believe the Department of Finance budgets a few percent based on what they anticipate collective bargaining will be. So a hard bargain frees up some room in our debt ceiling that we are very quickly approaching.

Next, Mr. Speaker, I believe we need to reduce our contract services budget by two percent for about $4 million savings.

Now, Mr. Speaker, we have seen contract services increase over the years. Some of these are completely warranted contract services; other, I believe, are departments contracting out key government functions such as consultation, engagement and policy work, work that should be done by public servants. Additionally, I believe we are increasingly turning to contractors and consultants, a lot of them ex-GNWT workers, because we have created too burdensome processes. We all know the process, Mr. Speaker, because what we heard report strategy, action plan, implementation plan, oh and finally, sorry department, we don't have any money.

Mr. Speaker, we need to stop talking to people if we're not actually going to fund the 25 point plan. Stop reviewing things when the to-do list we already have is a mile long. I believe in reviewing our government processes, we can end a lot of bureaucracy and find a 2 percent cost savings in contract services.

Next, a pet project of mine. I don't know if this will actually save us any money but I believe we need to end the contracts for all the fax machines in the GNWT, Mr. Speaker.

Second, Mr. Speaker, a few years ago when I worked at the GNWT, there was a proposal to adopt a completely paperless GNWT with cost savings. The GNWT has moved in this direction but there is still far too much paper flying around, and we are not a digital government we should be. Additional cost savings.

Next, Mr. Speaker, we have three men's correctional institutes. We have one in Fort Smith, Hay River, and Yellowknife. We do not need three prisons. What I would rather see than cost on prisons and money spent imprisoning people is housing them, Mr. Speaker. I don't care which one of these facilities we close or how we do it or how we move them around, but we do not need three prisons, some of which only have a dozen people in them, Mr. Speaker. They are simply there to create jobs in communities. We could probably take that budget and turn them into treatment centres, Mr. Speaker.

Next, Mr. Speaker, I believe that we can have a 10 percent reduction in office space and reduce for a savings of $3 million. I have long time talked about the way leasing is spread out across all departments, there's no centralization, and the vast majority of that money goes to one company Northview. We have remote work standards. We need to conduct a serious review led by one person about how to reduce office space. A 10 percent reduction in leasing costs would be $3 million a year, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there's a couple other proposals presented. We have a health efficiency group where staff are going to find some efficiencies in our health care system. I'm not convinced that this is worth it. I believe we'd be better off cutting those positions and simply governing the money to our health care system.

There's probably some other smaller cuts related to the proposals in the budget but if I was giving a budget reply, Mr. Speaker, I perhaps would not focus on them too much. I would propose the spending on housing, in combination with our Indigenous governments, to end chronic homelessness in the NWT, ending homelessness. That is what this budget should be doing. And by not doing that, we are saying it is not something we are willing to do and it is not a priority. Housing people saves lives, and it saves the government money in the long run but we have once again decided to present a status quo budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Johnson's Reply
Replies To Budget Address

Page 3419

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Colleagues, we will call a short recess. Thank you.

---SHORT RECESS

Mr. Johnson's Reply
Replies To Budget Address

Page 3419

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Replies to budget address, day 1 of 7. Reports of committees on review of bills. Reports of standing and special committees. Returns to oral questions. Acknowledgements.

Colleagues, before we get into oral questions, I just want to remind everyone to please be mindful of how you're presenting yourselves. I know sometimes we have a lot of heated discussions in here. I know when we first start, we're told we can say anything we want in this House, but it's just on how we say it. So please respect one another, and let's have some fun here.

---Laughter

Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these questions will be for the Premier.

Mr. Speaker, this government has been talking about post-pandemic recovery since early last year. Then we finally saw the Emerging Stronger document. A lot has changed in a year, and I'm hoping those sitting across from me have revisited that document to make sure it is relevant and includes all areas of the economy and social systems with emphasis on those that were hit the hardest.

Can the Premier please tell the businesses and residents what, if anything, has changed in our Emerging Stronger document, which I understand to be a living document and will see revisions. When or will we see something new based on lessons learned? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Honourable Premier.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Emerging Stronger document was tabled on May 31st, 2021, and we made a commitment then to update and review it annually. We are going to meet this commitment and will be tabling a revised document in the spring.

When we tabled our first document, we invited the public to provide feedback and input. While we did receive a fair amount of feedback, a lot has changed since then as we shift from a pandemic to an endemic.

This is a subject that will remain a shared interest with the Indigenous and community governments, the business, and the NGO community, and a continued focused with our federal government as well. So I'm looking forward to a new tabling as we go forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our GDP fell approximately 6.6 percent in 2020, mostly due to lower production with resource development. We saw losses in the tourism industry which impacted tourism operators, regional airlines, accommodation establishments, restaurants, and others. On the flip side, we saw an increase in retail sales, such as food, building supplies, and liquor while government and government contracts sustained much of our work force through this pandemic. Can the Premier explain what the real financial impact of the pandemic has been on our economy so far? Should residents and businesses be worried going forward? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the full financial impacts of this pandemic aren't known at this time. What we do know, as the Member stated, that there's been some sectors that have been particularly hit hard, such as the tourism and the hospitality sectors. But there's reason to be optimistic.

We do expect that there's a pent-up demand from Canadians and international travellers to come see the North. So as restrictions are eased, we're expecting our tourism industry to pick up again. And one area of financial impact that we don't really know, and we're seeing lately, is the extension and duration of the inflationary pressures caused by disrupted supply chains and high demands, particularly for the construction industry. Many jurisdictions around the world are trying to stimulate their own economies through infrastructure investments. So this is going to impact us. So we'll be making our best assessments on these pressures and adjusting our own plans accordingly as we go forward.

But should residents be worried? That's what I think the Speaker wants to hear.

I'm really optimistic that no, I'm optimistic that we'll continue to work with our partners and engage the industry in ways that will further promote our economic recovery. There's encouraging signs that people want to travel again. They want to spend money in hotels and restaurants again, and they want to get back to a new sense of normalcy with residents where they can mingle, and they can invest, and businesses can once again thrive. So I am optimistic, Mr. Speaker, that things will improve. Thank you.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Emerging Stronger document talks about lessons learned. Now a year later, can the Premier tell this House what lessons were learned, what gaps have been identified, and how are they being addressed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. I said earlier we're still assessing. We don't know the full extent of how the pandemic has impacted us. However, we're able to draw some initial lessons from the actions that we took initially to support individuals and businesses.

Emerging Stronger, for example, includes commitments to review the NWT Housing Corporation policies, and we made a commitment to do that with Indigenous governments, which is really exciting work during this term of the government. We're going to be accelerating the work on the alcohol strategy because of the pandemic and increasing support for addictions. And we'll be revisiting efforts to promote and diversify our economy because of the pandemic as well. So more lessons learned will be identified as we work through the updating of this recovery plan, as I noted, and it will be tabled in this spring coming up. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, knowing that another severe variant may rear its ugly head, from lessons learned does this government have a plan in place or that addresses business relief and support and social supports if we find ourselves taking a step backwards in this pandemic? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Mr. Speaker, we're not waiting. Changes have already been made to address how we coordinate internally, how we partner with Indigenous governments and community governments. And work has been undertaken to better prepare ourselves and our communities for future outbreaks. This work, I believe, will support better emergency planning generally, not just if there's a pandemic or COVID.

Based on our experience over the past two years and the supports that we've implemented, we'll be better prepared to respond accordingly should the pandemic move in the wrong direction.

I want to stress also, though, we're not going to be starting in the same place. While we remain diligent, there's a lot of reason to be optimistic, including the vaccines that we have now and the antivirals that weren't available at the beginning of this pandemic two years ago. So it'll be a different starting place, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I brought up the issues that we've been having with the communities in regards to just needing help for our youth, our elders, for the community gatherings, and once, you know, the restrictions are lifted, you know, if the budget's passed, I see a lot of monies that are available for us, for the Beaufort Delta, potentially for getting people into the community and doing like sharing circles and stuff like that to help the people that we represent and who we work for.

Mr. Speaker, is the Minister of Health willing to assist us in doing that and not just giving us a 1-800 number to call, because that doesn't work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, thank you to the Member for that question. There's no question that the pandemic has been very hard on the mental health of the whole population. People at different times have been stressed; they've been lonely; they've been anxious; they've been worried. And we have tried to respond by providing counselling in a virtual setting if COVID restrictions are in place, or face-to-face if not. I realize that Tuktoyaktuk is short a couple of counsellors. And the primary reason for that is because there's no housing for them, and so people have been offered jobs but have been, in the end, unable to take them because they have nowhere to live. So I want to acknowledge that their counselling workforce is not up to speed. But that said, there are other ways of obtaining services from the people who are there through the community counselling program as well as through online and telephone services. Thank you.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to thank the Minister for that. I'd really like to see how we used to do it four or five years ago, when you're travelling in with three or four people, a team that comes in for three or four days, able to work with the community that are certified to listen to people's concerns and they know how to deal with the stresses in life and, you know, suicide prevention workshops and stuff like that. We really need that. We can't just -- endemic is coming right now. We're going into that next phase of the endemic now, they're saying. So now we need help. And like I said, are we able to bring people into the Beaufort Delta, into each community, to help them? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recognize that the Member is talking about some issues that pre-existed COVID and for which we have specialized support funds, such as the suicide prevention fund. And so I hope that the community has applied for those funds and considered how to use them. They are to address that particular problem.

In the time that I've been Health Minister, there was a travelling team that went to Tuktoyaktuk and spent a few days there. And I think it was around about January of last year. And so I'm certainly happy to inquire whether that kind of a response is possible again. So what I understand that the Member is asking for is a one-week intensive visit to his community to provide face-to-face counselling services, and that's the request that I will make. Thank you.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. The thing is, like, you know, it's us as leaders that we have to bring forward stuff like this for the people that we represent because we see it, and we live it every day, the hurt and the pain that our constituents go through, you know. Sometimes I'm on calls, you know, for an hour trying to help people. It always come down, you know, and, you know, for the alcoholism, for short of food, for just everything, and then they're being turned away by our government's different departments. Mr. Speaker, it's us as leadership that have to make a difference. Us in this House that don't have to have the community supply for this monies. We should be providing that. It's my job to provide service for the communities I represent. Not only Tuk; I got Sachs Harbour, Ulukhaktok, and Paulatuk, the most northernly communities in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker, that need help. My constituents need help. And I know this Minister wants to work with me. So just say yes, and we'll bring people up as soon as the endemic time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is right. I certainly would like to help his communities to gain or regain their mental health. I said that I would inquire about sending a travelling team to Tuktoyaktuk. I'm not sure about the staffing levels off the top of my head in his other communities and whether they are as short-staffed as they are in Tuk. But that's something that I will inquire about.

At the end of the day, we want people to be living their best lives, and we're prepared to support that in whatever way we can. And if that's a travelling team while there aren't people in the positions permanently, then we'll certainly look at that. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Nunakput.