Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is something that's been troubling our community for quite some time, and the Yellowknife River water pipeline that's been built since '68 has been in dire need of replacement for a number of years. In 2017, when I served this Assembly previously, it was pegged at $34.5 million. Last year, it was $62.7 million. This year it's now $107 million. Our city cannot afford this pipeline. Our residents deserve safe drinking water. Can I ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs how is he supporting the city of Yellowknife in completing this important public project? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Municipal and Community Affairs distributes $110 million for all the municipalities. That includes the CPI funding that they receive. The money that they have, MACA doesn't tell them how to spend their money for their projects. It's how they want to utilize it for some of their infrastructure. We all know infrastructure costs have been going up. And that one has too. It's been all over the news, and they have received, I think, about $28 million of federal funding for some of that project on top of the CPI money that the GNWT provides. They obviously have to do some work on trying to offset the costs of inflation for these projects. But we do not get into the details of how a municipality funds their infrastructure projects. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the department provide 100 percent of the CPI needs for the city of Yellowknife?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The funding formula is not 100 percent, and it's never been 100 percent. So it's up to municipalities to raise money through revenues in order to provide further infrastructure issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is one we should be spending -- we should be fulfilling our commitments to communities to 100 percent. But this is an extraordinary cost that's well beyond what the city can afford to pay. Every year it gets more expensive. Will the Minister find a way to work with his Cabinet colleagues, with the city of Yellowknife, with the NWTAC, with the federal government, with everyone who has a cheque book, and get the city the money it needs so we can have safe, clean drinking water for half of our residents in this territory? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, I would like to say yes for every community with that same issue throughout the Northwest Territories, but the reality is that I'm sure, he's well aware, we're all fighting for funds over here on this side of the House for every department, and there's a lot of questions for department of health where they need the money, and I'm also asking for some funds also to try to increase funding to communities. But we'll just see how that goes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my statement on trades training, my questions are to the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment. What is ECE doing to ensure that trades training is tailored to regional and communities' specific labour market needs? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, education, culture and employment, through its regional service centres, engages with communities, the federal government, training program providers, as well as other GNWT departments to discuss their specific community needs. In addition to that, in the Sahtu there are annual career fairs. There's also our small community employment fund that designated community authorities can tap into, and thanks to Regular Members, was increased. And then in addition to that, there's also financial supports that are provided through the community labour market development plans. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that information, that reply. My next question to the Minister is there are federal programs and industry partnerships that could further enhance trades training in the NWT. What steps is ECE taking to maximize these opportunities and create training opportunities in communities? Mahsi.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I just had a meeting yesterday at an FTP table for the federal labour Ministers' meeting where we did talk about labour market agreements, and we continuously bring that up with the federal government. There's also discussions with Canada Council of Directors of Apprenticeship, Skills Canada, and other groups as well who are really strong advocates in their sector and ones that we try to work with to gain additional funding.

In addition to that, we've submitted two proposals to CanNor that were submitted for recent calls. One of them spoke specifically, that I think the Member will be interested in, to alternative approaches to apprenticeship supervision in small communities. As we know that one of the big challenges we have is the availability of journey persons to supervise apprentices across the NWT, especially in small communities, and so we're waiting on word on those proposals and hope for good news. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I too am hopeful and optimistic on a good news reply.

My third question to the Minister is workforce development also requires tracking results and making improvements as needed. How will ECE measure the success of trades training programs to ensure they work for the residents? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've heard a little bit from the other side of the House on the importance of tracking results and measuring our successes today, so I appreciate the Member's question. So recently, education, culture and employment released a two-year extension to its apprenticeship, trade, and occupation certification strategy. Part of this strategy does have a performance measurement planb and so at the end of our two-year extension, those performance measures will be released publicly, and we will be able to track and see how far we've come. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke in my Member's statement about the agreement that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has with the federal government to create 300 spaces by 2026. So last year I think we had 76. My questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and can she speak to -- it seems that the -- we're a little off track. Can the department provide further information on how they plan to meet those targets of 300 spaces. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're always working on trying to work with people who are interested in opening up spaces to try and encourage them and support them in that. We currently have five proponents right now that are working with the department to try and open up spaces that are both in and outside of Yellowknife, and I'm very hopeful that they will see great success.

In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, we also do have our infrastructure funding, and I'm also always looking for creative ways to work with my colleagues who are building things in communities and trying to find ways to incorporate childcare in those new builds. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister spoke about the infrastructure funding. Can she maybe elaborate on that, what that funding is specifically used for, if it's strictly for infrastructure projects, any of that to be used for anything like wage subsidies then as well. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So the early childhood infrastructure fund is solely for builds. It can be used to renovate spaces, and it can be used for new builds as well. And we cannot use it for wage subsidies. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.