Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this project makes good on a promise dating back sometime to when the original Mackenzie Valley Fibre Line was under consideration and under development. That work is advancing and, in fact, is advancing this summer. We did have an opportunity that we were happy to make use of where the folks that were doing the work on the Yukon portion of the line are already mobilized, which will reduce costs for us by utilizing them and utilizing that opportunity to complete that section of fibre up to Tuktoyaktuk, and having had some significant engagement and some support from the IRC in the region, it's their lands ultimately, as I say, that project, my understanding, is that it's underway for this construction season and will be completed, if not this year, then within the next few construction seasons. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in 1970, the city of Yellowknife was created, and they drew municipal boundaries around the city of Yellowknife, and that included the community of N'dilo. When they did that, there was no consultation or accommodation with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, and they did it without their consent. My question is to the MACA Minister. Can the Minister update this Assembly on any progress regarding changes to the Yellowknife municipal bboundary with Yellowknives Dene First Nation? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The city of Yellowknife and Yellowknives Dene First Nation jointly submitted a boundary change request under the Executive Council Community Boundaries Policy. In December 2022, MACA requested additional information from the city regarding the proposed boundary line and its impact on adjacent land and improvements. The city provided its response in December 2023.

During the December 2022 meeting between DKFN and the city and MACA, a DKFN representative indicated that they were reviewing their land withdrawal areas and considering changes that might impact the proposed boundary lines. When MACA then requested that the city and DKFN reengage with each other to discuss proposed boundaries and identify any further revisions before approval process proceeds, both parties were advised to follow up with MACA whether they would be proceeding with the boundary lines that they'd proposed, and the department is still waiting for a follow-up on that meeting. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Even though the boundaries were drawn, there was no consent from YKDFN, but the GNWT continued to recognize N'dilo as part of the city of Yellowknife. Will the Minister commit to funding N'dilo as a separate entity distinct from Yellowknife going forward? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, we are currently funding 32 communities in the Northwest Territories and at this time, until these meetings are held and discussions are agreed to, we will stick to our current policy. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you. I know the territorial government was born in 1967, over 55 years now, but the thing is that, you know, it's concerning that the GNWT accepted the municipal boundary of Yellowknife. But going forward, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to compensating N'dilo retroactively for lost funding dollars that they have been going to the city of Yellowknife without their consent? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm sure the Member is aware, but the funding that the government gets is federal funding that we receive, and those pots are allocated through the formula funding that we have that go through all the communities. So we would not be able to retroactively commit to providing funds retroactively for the community. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

So what I'm hearing is that Dettah will continue to subsidize N'dilo while N'dilo provides funding to the city of Yellowknife. Can the Minister provide a timeline for when this work on administratively separating N'dilo from the city of Yellowknife, when would that occur? That we here, we could get the funding we need to subsidize our own business in the community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In order to discuss a timeline, the DKFN would have to make the separate submission on behalf of the residents of N'dilo to be considered a separate community government once boundary issues have been resolved with the city of Yellowknife. If a newer community is formed, MACA's current community funding budget would be reallocated amongst 33 communities rather than 32. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member from YK Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. With the budget in the range of $650 million with hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of employees on the books both funded, unfunded, etcetera, Mr. Speaker, what does the department have in terms of jobs specifically that are targeted to analyze spending of the department in the context of an efficiency expert? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the department, we have the ADM of finance, policy and planning. Within NTHSSA, they have their own finance. And within the NTHSSA, there's also a sustainability unit that has been working through the NTHSSA reviewing all of the programs under the government renewal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With two CFOs, dozens of managers, directors, even bookkeepers for goodness sakes I'm sure, it's not a policy issue. It's a numbers issue. Why doesn't the department look at hiring someone specific to identify efficiencies with respect to costs? If health is so expensive, you'd be thinking health would be leading the charge to find the most efficient way to do things. And, Mr. Speaker, I believe in the department of health. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe in the department of health as well and all of the associations. And I know that, you know, given the Member, you know, highlighting the amount that it costs to run health and social services in all 33 communities, it is a high cost. The Member also stated that there are a lot of unfunded positions. A lot of those unfunded positions are third party funded positions which we get a lot of federal money for. Those positions -- and then there's -- because we have such a high number of workforce within, we have one-third of the employees as well. We do not, however, have one-third of all of the senior management of the government. So, you know, when you take in the size of the organization versus the senior management versus the staff that are unfunded, we also have a large population of our staff that are away for, you know, maternity leave, sick leave, education leave, so those also have to be backfilled because those positions are not -- you can't just leave those positions unfunded. So within the department, there is a lot of work going on within measuring all of our programs. However, a lot of our programs that are core, and then there's a lot of programs that we as NWT also support so that there's services. And those are the tough ones. Those are the tough ones. The core funding ones that we get core funding, it's all of the ones that are not core funded that we struggle to be able to maintain that stability, the sustainability. And so those are the things that you'll hear, and that's a lot of those discussions go on in this -- the floor of this House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, again, speaking on the theme of being not confident to do change, Mr. Speaker, I believe in the department, Mr. Speaker. I know they have the skills, Mr. Speaker. And I hope the Minister wasn't suggesting she's going to hire more ADMs, DMs, and who knows what else.

Mr. Speaker, would the Minister have the confidence that I'm giving her -- would she take the leadership I'm encouraging her to take to hire someone from an auditor general point of view to do value for money audit on the work we do there in the department because of the inefficiencies of how the programs are currently being run, such as the example I talked about earlier today? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know when we hear inefficiency, you know, in our public service staff, especially in Health and Social Services, are run off, you know, their feet, then we say there's inefficiencies is -- you know, they're doing multiple jobs and they're providing frontline service. And I hear the Member, and I understand where he's coming from. That is why the Minister of health and I have had active conversations on where we are financially and, again, where those core programs are, where those noncore funded that we are funding from within that we're providing to the residents of the Northwest Territories, and are those sustainable with our fiscal picture. However, Mr. Speaker, for so long, you know -- and this is the thing is when I think of my computer that just updated, our health and social services authority, all the authorities, you know, every single year there's increased growth, costs, all these things, but not everything can make it through forced growth at the budget table. And so we have to prioritize. And then sometimes things get bounced back until then they become urgent and then they get pushed forward. So there's only so much money in the budget that we can do that. And so that is an ongoing battle. That is an ongoing -- not battle, but it is a battle within Health and Social Services as what we bring forward for forced growth. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Minister of health said she has conversations with the Minister of health, I hope she wasn't having an out of body experience. And that's meant as a joke, Mr. Speaker, okay, in the nicest way. Because I believe in the health Minister. As a matter of fact, I know the health Minister has the ability and knowledge, rah, rah, rah, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I didn't talk about any of that stuff about people running around. I'm talking about being efficient with our money, Mr. Speaker. I'm talking about value for money. Instead of sending people daily to Edmonton for rheumatoid arthritis, examine the business case of saying bring someone here. I'm not going to go through the rest of the examples; I've already made them, Mr. Speaker. I'm strictly speaking about value for money.

So, Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister of health, again, is what about hiring some type of auditor who could examine the way we do businesses program by program to find more efficiencies within it, and then our staff won't be running their feet off. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, and that was where this health sustainability unit came into play, and that was the expectation of that, and now that they've completed one part of it, that is the discussion that I'm having with the Minister of Finance, not the Minister of health, and does that department need to -- you know, is it continuing the way it's going to continue or does it need to do something else now. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services.

Colleagues, we would like to focus our questions and our answers a little bit more concise, please, so we can get through the process.

Members' statements. Member from Sahtu.