Debates of Feb. 6th, 2026

Thank you, Minister, please go ahead. Assistant deputy minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And so, I mean, the overall purpose of my questions here are just so we have a clear sense of how much the public service and our healthcare providers, how much the staff workforce is growing or not, like at an overall level. And so I wonder if I can also ask at this time about a similar question for the health and social services authorities. And so, similarly, my understanding is that there are federal agreements sunsetting that we expect to renegotiate, and my understanding was there's about 50 positions in the authorities that we expect to renegotiate and would hopefully be back in there. So even though we see only 13 new net positions showing up at the authorities, is the actual number that we can expect to see more like 63? I wonder if the Minister can comment on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the Member Yellowknife North. Minister.

I'll just defer that to ADM Mathison.

Okay, thank you, Minister. Assistant deputy minister.

Thank you, assistant deputy minister. Back to the Yellowknife North Member.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, and given that there's a significant number of positions that are going to disappear from this budget but then just appear again right away in the Housing NWT budget, I just think it's important for people to have a general sense that the overall number of sort of health and social services workers that we're going to be seeing out there is more like 90 or 100 sort of new workers. I think when you total all those up, just to have sort of some perspective on things.

I wanted to ask next, I think there was indication in my notes that some of the sunsets of federal funding could affect funding for frontline workers such as community mental health nurses, addictions nurses, regional public health nurses. Is that funding expected to be restored or renegotiated, or should we expect to see some loss in terms of those types of frontline positions in 2026-2027? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the ADM has stated, the way that the budget is processed, so we don't have the agreement -- we didn't have the Working Together Agreement with Health Canada, and we didn't have the First Nation home and community care signed off by the time that this budget was available. The funding for those positions is until March 31st that were up -- like, that were in the current budget; however, by the time this budget was printed and put together we don't -- like, we have commitment to the working together ongoing funding, the same funding. So those positions, come April 1st, you know, what will happen is once the agreement gets signed, you'll usually see that reflected in a supplementary appropriation the next time that we sit, so. However, there is no -- because the agreements will backdate to April 1st, there is no changing of the positions. So those positions will continue to be there. We're just in the process of signing agreements. They just don't happen when we want them to happen. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. To the Member of Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So that, I think -- I think that gives us assurance that those positions won't be cut, as far as we can tell.

I wanted to ask, because I did see there was a reduction of one position due to the sunset of Public Health Agency of Canada funding, and it was related to hospitals injury reporting and prevention program. So I am wondering if -- if that -- the hospitals injury reporting and prevention program is concluded now or if that's continuing, but I wondered what was accomplished during the term of that position before it has sunsetted. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that third party funding is currently being renegotiated and that -- there is no change in that position so it will continue. And that goes for many of our tfhird party fundings within our system. So we get our health transfer which funds, you know, and we get our portion of the funding, but then there's all of the different federal agreements, that they have multiple different agreements that they fund us in different ways, so that's the -- like, and I said in my previous statement that's why we have to do this accounting thing every time, every year, it seems like. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. And in the spirit of time there, I'll recognize one more question, if you do there, to the Member of Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Minister helping to explain that. I know that the budgets can get confusing but I think for people to have a clearer sense overall of what's happening is helpful. I'll hopefully get another ten minutes.

But I wanted to start -- touch on -- this is the last line of questioning -- the business plans for HSS around recruitment and retention initiatives for the healthcare workforce. I am noticing on page 24, 25, 26 of the business plan that we have not yet established any targets for employee turnover rates, vacancy rates. Can the Minister explain why we don't have any targets established for improving those things. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the Member of Yellowknife North. Minister.

Yes, thank you. Mr. Chair, right now, we're in the process of putting those measurements in, and that's through the new recruitment strategy. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the Minister. We will move on. Did you want to go back on the list there, Member of Yellowknife North? Okay, we shall do that.

The chair recognizes the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I recognize your generous indulgence of Members' questions. I want to dig into something that dates back to a previous budget but shows as a line item here, and so this one may be a bit of a history lesson that I am hoping the staff can maybe take us through.

So the Health System Investments Agreement is listed in this budget as activities related to climate change and wastewater surveillance in NWT communities, illicit drug toxicity. It has -- this line item has previously been described as funding from Indigenous Service Canada for activities related to improving midwifery services in NWT communities. And that's what I wanted to ask about, was what happened to that funding for midwifery services specifically? How was that spent in previous years; was it carried over? It's been unclear. Thank you.

Thank you to the Member of Frame Lake. Minister. We'll transfer over to the assistant deputy minister. Please, go ahead.

Thank you, assistant deputy minister. The Member for Frame Lake.