Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, let's just be clear. I had no notice of these questions. I don't know what phone number this Member's using but I had no idea these were coming today. So this is a surprise to me.

On top of that, Mr. Speaker, these are not lifetime contracts. They are limited period contracts. And, in fact, one, I believe, is coming up for renewal in 2027, which is not that far away. When those contracts come up for renewal, as I've already said, we are certainly happy to look at them and ensure that they continue to meet the needs of the Northwest Territories residents that they're serve something, whether it's Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link, whether it's the Stanton Territorial Hospital, whether it's the Tlicho All-Season Road, as they come for renewal and as we continue to have them effective for the residents, we will continue to make sure that those contracts continue to serve our needs. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, my colleagues, for speaking a bit about basic income today.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of ECE explain if her department has ever considered tailoring the income assistance system in the context of a regionally-based or a community-based way rather than with a one-size-fits-all approach. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the benefit rates are based on the region in that it uses the northern market basket measure to determine the basic funding that an income assistance client receives. So it is based regionally considering that. While ECE understands that one size fits all might not work for everyone, it works very hard to ensure that programs like income assistance are delivered as fairly and as consistently as possible across the Northwest Territories while still taking into account that there are differences in cost of living for residents from one end of the territory to the other. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So as I said in my statement, structuring our social programs so they're designed to meet people where they're at rather than the other way around is the way to improve quality of life across all of our communities. So would the Minister consider piloting a project within income assistance that would reconfigure and tailor our existing system to the needs of the people in one particular region that maybe isn't dollar-based but is more based around their opportunities for employment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the month of July the Department of Education, Culture and Employment will be starting its new income assistance program. And so that program will allow persons living with disabilities and seniors to be able to do an annual application instead of a month to month application. And this reduction in the administrative burdens that are on some of income assistance clients will be able to free up a lot of time for the client navigators. And that time that is freed up with client navigators will be able to be used in more of a wraparound service provision where people can start finding out from income assistance clients what it is that they want to do, what it is that they need supports with, and be able to really meet residents where they're at in that way. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's really great to hear. I am hoping the Minister may be able to commit to bring the findings of the client navigators back to us come budget time next year possibly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, part of the new program is to do a performance management plan that would report on some of the findings and some of the review that takes place of the program changes and not only of the program itself but also to the communities as well where clients live so that we are looking at it very holistically.

In addition to that we do have an idea, for example, of how many people participate in programs when we take a look at the mains every year and so there is information available on an annual basis, and I would be more than happy to learn from the Member what else she would like to see. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we've been speaking about the changes to income assistance for seniors and people with disabilities that mean they would only need to apply for income assistance once per year, and that seems very positive, both in terms of less burden both on clients and the staff and the system. Are there plans to make the same change for all recipients of income assistance beyond seniors and those with disabilities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm very excited about the changes as well that are taking place for income assistance clients who are seniors and persons with disabilities. At this time, there is not a plan to change it right across the board. And I think it's worthwhile pointing out that this view is not shared by all of my colleagues on the other side of the House. But what I'm really excited about as well is there is going to be more time freed up, like I said for the client navigators to be able to work with income assistance clients who are not part of those two categories. And so there are about 62 percent of income assistance clients who fall between 19 and 59 years old, and so that 62 percent of income assistance clients are going to be able to get a lot more one-on-one time to be able to do things like talking about pathways to education, talking about pathways to employment, talking about pathways to entrepreneurship. There are a lot of programs available within our government to be able to support people and what it is that they want to do next, and I'm really excited about how this program is going to start connecting some of those. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the hesitation to make the same changes for all recipients, who are not seniors or those with disabilities, is that because of a concern that it wouldn't be in the best interests of the clients, that people would take advantage of the system, or that the system would lose too much money in that you'd have people sort of going through the cracks or going over the space of the year and making more money than they're supposed to and the system wouldn't be able to claw that back as it is now? So I guess the question is, is the aim to really hold on to that ability to claw back the money month to month or is the aim, you know, a sense of needing to watch over much more closely those clients that we need to watch them over on a month to month basis to make sure that they're not breaking the rules of the system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd say the MLA for Monfwi said it best in her statement today when she said that income assistance is really supposed to be a temporary solution. And so income assistance is there as a month to month solution for northern NWT residents who are having economic shortfalls, who are -- their needs outweigh their income on a month to month basis. And so, really, the program is there to be able to catch people. And with the changes that are happening to income assistance that we've been talking about here today, what we're really intending to see is more connections to other programs that help people so that they are not seeing those income shortfalls. There are changes as well to -- in order to support that, there are also changes to the amount of earned income that somebody can keep on a monthly basis. So with the new program, for example, somebody will be able -- an adult will be able to keep $500 of their earned income and in addition to that, 25 percent above that of what they earn. So, for example, if somebody makes a thousand dollars a month through employment, they will keep the $500, and then 25 percent of that second bit of the $500, so they would be able to keep $625 of their earned income. And so this is one of those ways that you're creating pathways to employment, where you're not having people fearful that their income assistance is going to be clawed back and it's creating some grace in those pathways. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So purely just on a financial level, I'm curious whether analysis has been done comparing the administrative costs of doing that month to month administrative checks and all the paperwork that's required versus the amount of money that the system is able to recover from people by doing those month to month checks; has any analysis been done to compare just on a financial basis, you know, which ends up on top? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this type of work has not been fully done. About 20 years ago, the GNWT undertook an initiative that aimed to better align and streamline various social programs, but that work did not continue. What we are seeing, though, right now is -- absolutely I agree with the Member, there needs to be an alignment of our social programming and our social services and that's why you see a lot of conversation in the 19th Assembly, and has continued into the 20th Assembly, about integrated service delivery and an acknowledgement that integrated service delivery is such a massive undertaking. It's not just about aligning services; it's also absolutely about making sure that even our computer systems within the government are aligned and can talk to one another. And so what the 20th Assembly has acknowledged is that this needs to be done in a very calculated way to make sure that we are going about this in a way that sets Northerners up for success, including the government up for success. And so it is starting with integrated service delivery within the Homelessness Strategy. And there is mention of that that can be found as well in multiple sections of the business plans. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Minister seems to have anticipated my final question around the consideration of combining various income assistance benefit programs into a single program in order to streamline. I think, you know, part of the idea of guaranteed basic income is that it's supposed to make the system more efficient. And so by combining these different pots of funding. Does the Minister see the attempts to streamline those income assistance programs as moving towards aspects of a guaranteed basic income system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Short answer, please.

I will do my best, Mr. Speaker, and I will not just say yes, I see the value in making sure that we are serving residents where they're at and that we are reducing administrative burdens on residents as best as we can. Thank you

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from the Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Member from Mackenzie Delta. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.