Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Housing NWT works very hard to consolidate the arrears and work with the clients to enter into a payment plan to pay back some of those arrears and give them that opportunity through the tenant relations office. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Housing NWT. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that the Minister's passionate about the issue of early child care, and I know that because I know the Minister. But the reality is that the Children's First Society in Inuvik are now using their contingency funds to make payroll. So I'm looking for a commitment from the Minister to say that they will provide at least up until -- up to the amount that they were provided through last year's financial statements to ensure that they can continue moving forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister for Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that the department is doing their best to work with stakeholders in the sector in order to determine what those numbers are going to look like. I know that in some instances, the department is actually working through individual numbers with individual organizations and actually sitting down with people and comparing so that they know exactly what the other is talking about, what the other is going through and what one another's goals are, because there's a real desire both not just with myself but within the department to see not less child care providers but more across the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that the department is working on that. From what I've heard from speaking with Children's First in Inuvik that they've asked or requested timeline. They don't have the funding numbers, nor do they have a timeline to when that funding will be provided. Can the Minister provide a timeline when they expect to find out when that funding will be available.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. And I think it's a fair question. And in acknowledgement of the fact that the sector and stakeholders are working with the department, I want to say absolutely as soon as possible with a target of early March so that they have that information before going into the next fiscal year and renewed kind of funding agreement piece is there. But I want to be respectful of the fact that they're still in conversations together, still working through it and want to give them that time to really be able to come those agreements together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank the Minister. One final question. I'm assuming this is in there, but I'll ask the Minister that are they taking into account obviously inflation and inflationary factors as they move forward for annual funding as years to come? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, inflation was not something that was built into the original agreement, and this is something that we are hearing across the country from all jurisdictions that have and share the same concerns. The funding agreements were signed before we saw record inflation across the territory, and unfortunately, we are all -- all jurisdictions are in the same boat with this one. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on questions asked by my honourable friend from Yellowknife Centre to the Honourable Premier around the -- switching portfolios. So prior to that change, there was one point of contact for our most vulnerable citizens, seniors, the unhoused, and persons with disabilities. So can the Premier just confirm that now there's multiple Ministers that these groups need to go to instead of just one one-stop shop? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There may have been a Minister responsible for seniors, but that didn't encompass ECE and all of ECE's programs that are geared towards seniors. So there was never a one-stop shop. There was a Minister responsible for something, and that Minister did not have authority over all of the programs delivered by the GNWT, all of the funds expended towards that group. And so I wouldn't say it's accurate to say there was a one-stop shop. There may have been the impression of that but by no means was that the reality of it. And so I was happy to hear that earlier this year the Minister of Health and Social Services and ECE met jointly with the seniors' society, and I think that's evidence that this is a -- this is a way to work together going forward and not just focus on titles that have no -- nothing behind them, no substance. Thank you.

Thank you. I think the assumption from the public is that Ministers talk to each other, so what is the arrangement if a Minister gets a concern from an interest group that's not directly related to their portfolio, do they do nothing and wait for their colleague to jump in the game, or how does that work on the Cabinet side? I'm sorry; I'm not familiar. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is collaboration across departments; however, if I have an issue as an MLA and it involves a senior and it's about income assistance, I'm not going to the Minister responsible for seniors. I'm going to the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment because that's where the authority and the money is. So if there's an issue, you should go to the Minister who actually has the ability to deal with that issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When this Assembly determines its priorities, will the Premier be willing to either change portfolios or create portfolios to better meet those priorities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not a fan of reorganization of departments unless there's a good reason and a good plan. It can be very disruptive. It can take away from actual work that needs to be done. You know, we don't need people spending time changing letterhead when they could be delivering programs. That said, I'm always happy to make changes that are for the benefit of the people of the Northwest Territories and if, based on the priorities, it appears that some reorganization or changes to portfolios or new portfolios are necessary, then I'm more than happy to entertain that. Thank you.

Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So these questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure. In contrast to the perception that there are no alternatives in the Northwest Territories to heating oil or heating with fossil fuels, can you give us some highlights or insights on the steps the GNWT has already taken and is taking to help residents or businesses either use less heating fuel or switch to renewable alternatives for heating, including in public housing units? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is quite a lot that could be potentially said here, and I certainly -- while I don't want to speak for my colleague too much with respect to housing, I am able to happily say that there is already, as of this last year, the Housing Northwest Territories has its own energy strategy. There's also, of course, a variety of GHG grant programs administered by the GNWT. Arctic Energy Alliance has been a longstanding partner with the GNWT. Almost $3 million goes to them for a variety of programs that include rebate programs for folks to make changes in terms of what they're doing to support energy alternatives in their own lives. $12.9 million has gone through to Arctic Energy Alliance, and this is now where we're looking to the low carbon economy leadership fund. That's a federally -- a federal fund that we work with that also, then, again is helping to support energy retrofits to examine people's energy uses. A significant amount of money also flow into Housing NWT with respect to public housing. Our own capital asset retrofit program earmarks money to start to get our own buildings that the GNWT is responsible for off of more expensive forms of fuel. You know, and, again, Mr. Speaker, I know you're trying to keep us succinct here but there's actually a tremendous amount that is happening. Again, the core funding to Arctic Energy Alliance. And also quite a lot of work now happening as well with, you know, electric vehicle rebates, the bike -- the electric vehicle or electric bikes which, I think, people laughed at when we first talked about it here. Well, to my surprise, it's been overexpended if I'm not mistaken. So a lot is happening in this space. A lot more can be happening in this space. And I do think that is -- that's the direction that the conversation around carbon needs to go and carbon fuels is around what we're going to do to reduce our use and change our habits. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wonder if the Minister could also explain steps that the GNWT's taking to facilitate more district biomass heating systems. So that's for larger buildings often that are close together, systems that link one big heating system and heat multiple large buildings, and that could include partnerships with the city of Yellowknife, the federal government, or industry or business partners.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, thrilled again to talk about biomass. This is an opportunity where, you know, communities can come forward. There is -- there certainly is opportunity, and I would certainly want to extend the opportunity to speak further to communities, whether it's on small scale projects, which there is funding for under the community grants programs, funding under feasibility studies. There may be opportunities through, you know, and I'd certainly like to be able to perhaps resend some information, that I saw go out at the end of the 19th Assembly under the Minister of Finance's office, laying out a variety of different funds available for community governments to maximize. For example, we've got feasibility studies happening in Hay River and Wekweeti. Housing NWT is trying to make good on some of the work that they're starting under the strategy I mentioned before. Yellowknife, as looking, Bellanca building here in Yellowknife, has a biomass fired boiler system core. The Gwich'in Tribal Council. Mr. Speaker, those are just a few that I'm pulling together and I'm new to the portfolio. So it's an area of, I think, tremendous growth. And one last plug for us, the Northwest Territories is actually a leader. We have 45 buildings already being heated on biomass. 32 percent of GNWT's heat as a government is from biomass. So we're well on our way, and this is really the conversation is to how do we push ourselves to be the true leaders for all of Canada. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I know we're running out of time here, so I'll just ask a quick supplementary for now, and this should have a quick answer too. So -- okay, so for the past year, the GNWT has been doing public consultations around revisiting its 2030 Energy Plan, and I believe that the public engagement portion is complete and a What We Heard document has been -- yeah, so will the -- can the government share the What We Heard document with Members, ideally in advance of our priority settings, so we get much clearer insight into how the public and Indigenous governments are wanting us to chart our energy future and address climate change? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.