Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize one of our interpreters, Mary Jane Cazon. She's from my home community of Liidlii Kue First Nation, or Fort Simpson. She does a great job and I thank her very much for the work she does for the people here and the territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Oh, Inuvik Boot Lake.

Quanainni. Today I would like to recognize our Inuvialuktun translators, Valerie Steffanson and Lillian Elias. And it's Lillian's birthday today, so Happy Birthday.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

I too would like to recognize our translators, Val Steffanson and Lillian Elias. And to our Minister where he says we need to try and speak our language so I'm going to try this, and Lillian can laugh at me after. [Translation Unavailable] Happy Birthday.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Ian Down of Northern News Services who has been in our gallery quite a bit over the last while. I felt that it was time that someone recognized him for being here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Recognition of visitors in the gallery.

Welcome. If we have missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber and I hope you're enjoying the proceedings. It's always nice to have an audience with us here. Also, to the interpreters, you're doing a great job; keep it up. Okay. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The questions will be for the Minister of Health.

Mr. Speaker, I've heard that Health Canada's starting to supply rapid tests through the Northern stores and North Marts in the territories. How do people get access to these tests, and is there a cost? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the question from the Member for Hay River South. It's true, the federal government has reached an agreement with the Northwest Company and is about to reach an agreement with Arctic Cooperatives. And the nature of this agreement is to supply rapid antigen tests through the Northwest Company and Arctic Co-Op stores that are located in NWT communities. People can go to those stores, ask for a test, and it is available to them free of charge. There are a few places that don't have a North Mart or an Arctic Cooperative such as Yellowknife. We're working on an agreement with the City of Yellowknife to give us access to one of their facilities to give out tests. So, there are a couple of other exceptions as well. Colville Lake doesn't have either of those stores, Lutselk'e, Sachs Harbour. So there are discussions going on between the GNWT and those communities to ensure they get a supply of tests and there's someone to give them out. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm if those tests are meant to replace testing currently being provided or given out at the health centres, or are the rapid test kits just another option in addition to the health centre testing? Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for that question. It enables me to clarify that the community health centres, where they exist in NWT communities, will continue to offer point of care testing. The rapid antigen tests are an extra to that. So there will always be testing available in the communities that have health centres.

I just want to make a point at this point that the purpose of the test is not to replace masking, vaccination, social distance, and so on. It's a way for an individual to test themselves if they have symptoms before making an appointment for a confirmatory test or deciding not to make an appointment. But in any case, it's not supposed to be a shortcut around vaccination. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, not all communities have a Northern store or a North Mart, and I understand the Minister said that they may -- they're talking to the -- or the federal government's talking to the City of Yellowknife to be able to hand out those rapid tests. But in the communities that don't have them, the smaller ones, like I'm thinking Kakisa for instance, would they be made available, say, through an NGO or through the Indigenous government offices, or are they kind of left out? Thank you.

Yes, thank you. In all cases, the Northwest Company is still doing the delivery, but they're trying to connect with community leadership to provide the test to them. And the list of those communities does include Kakisa but also Gameti, Wekweeti, Whati, Jean Marie, Nahanni Butte, Sambaa K'e, Wrigley, and Enterprise. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm if those tests will be handed out to those entering the NWT at the border monitoring sites while those monitoring sites are still in place? Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the tests being given out at the airports and the land borders will stop being given out at the end of this month when the public health emergency ends. But for schools and businesses, non-profits and so on who are involved in the ProtectNWT program, they have a good stockpile of tests now I'm told, and they will be able to access tests in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the budget allocations are done based on needs of the whole of the Northwest Territories. So when the budgets are being prepared, firstly, Mr. Speaker, it's incremental budgeting. So we're not a party system. We don't have a party that comes in, gets elected, shows up with their platform and has the money allocated to go with it. What we are, by consensus, is we operate on tradition and as such, each department has to get done basic work, has to get done basic services. Each department is responsible for their budget. They put it together. They bring it forward each year. There's forced growth that goes into that, things like -- those are unavoidable expenses. Inflation is one example. Or a collective agreement increase is another one. And then as a consensus government when we have a set of priorities, Mr. Speaker, we look at the fiscal situation that we're in, figure out what can be allotted to those new priorities that we've all come up with, and that's the number we came up with at the beginning of this Assembly, you'll recall two budgets ago, $25 million over the life of this government. That was before COVID, before various other fuel increases, before floods, and yet, Mr. Speaker, that's the situation we're in. So that is how the money gets allocated. Again, it's to make sure that the government keeps functioning, that all of the Northwest Territories gets the programs and services it requires, and that we as a territorial government make our best efforts to achieve every single one of the priorities set for us by the Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain how funding allocations among all of the communities of the NWT are decided? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.