Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think my statement kind of clearly states my concerns around the cost of living for seniors, and I understand that the solutions I seek may cross several departments. I will start with one, Mr. Speaker, on my questions. That will be for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I know we've had this conversation before in this House around the thresholds for income, and I guess what I am looking for, Mr. Speaker, is recognition that there is an issue here and recognition that there are different circumstances for not only the territory but to individuals themselves. So I'd like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment whether her department is willing to, again, look at the income thresholds for these programs that are offered to seniors. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for raising this. Certainly, we want to make sure that we are staying on top of where our cost of living is going in the territory and in that process definitely looking out for our most vulnerable residents when we're talking about children here today, we're talking about elders and seniors, and we want to make sure that we are constantly reviewing trends as far as fuel prices and cost of living. So this is something that the department does continuously to make sure that we are doing our best to understand the pressure that is on residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I think I can read a sentence that sums it up here, and it's that no senior should be penalized for having a modest pension, for stepping forward to care for children and family members when that support is needed most.

Mr. Speaker, my question is, when we look at our policies, when we look at these income thresholds, do we or is there an appetite to look also -- not only yes, we understand the income portion of it based on the economic realities and based on cost of living, but the cultural aspect of it as well, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. You know, recognizing what the Member has said in regards to, yes, there's economics to it, but there is also understanding that regardless of if a senior is living with multiple generations of family members for example, that does not have an impact on consideration of a senior's income in deciding if they qualify or not. So if a senior is living with people that are part of their family or out of their family, only the senior's income is recognized in determining if they qualify or not for the program. So certainly not looking to control or have an impact on who people live with because recognizing that we all need support, especially we need to make sure that seniors have support as well. Thank you.

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

Thank you. And I understand that, but I think the point I was making, not that there's going to be other income in the household considered for the subsidy but the fact that typically there's not, typically there's one. And if that senior is actually in that home caring for members of their family for various and whatever reasons -- that's other issues I know we deal with. But if they have care of their grandkids, their children that they also have to provide for, then there should be a cultural aspect taken into that when looking at these programs and whether or not these seniors qualify for it.

My final question -- and I am going to hopefully at round 2 get some more, and maybe I will ask the questions of the Minister of housing as well.

But, like, our income thresholds are all over the place, across different departments, across different programs. And has there ever been a consideration to look why don't we have one? Why don't we look at least -- and it may be one for different regions and different scenarios, but one income for every program rather than $80,000 for home heating and whatever it is for home repair and so on and so forth. Is that something that this Minister could advocate for and possibly take to her counterparts to look at evening the board across for these. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I think that some of the work that has definitely been done on both sides of this House this term is how can we, you know, reduce some of these administrative impacts on residents of the territory. I appreciate the Member bringing forward another instance of potentially red tape in the government and so certainly happy to commit to the Member to discuss this with my Cabinet colleagues and see if there are things that I don't know about that would be, you know, a reason for this, but certainly want to make sure if there is room for us to have unity across government programs that we are taking the opportunity to do that. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we await for the tabling of the auditor general's report, I do want to turn back to a previous auditor general's report into child and family services that the Minister provided an update to this House in 2024 saying 88 percent of the commitments were on track. Can the Minister provide an update to that action plan that was previously worked on that was at 88 percent. Have we completed it as of today? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as of right now, we have a child and family service strategy and action plan. That's a five-year plan, and we're two years into it, just over two years into it. But I don't have that level of detail. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Many of the actions that were reported on were process review based, ongoing, as we know the Minister just said. Some are pilot, some are engagement exercises, some are framework development, and some are still in review stages. So my question is, is that progress, or are we actually making tangible difference to the day-to-day operations of this system that, again, deals with our most vulnerable youth in the territory? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member for Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And we know it's complicated. We've brought these issues to the floor many, many times. Mr. Speaker, this will be the third audit that is tabled by the Office of the Auditor General into one program area. Mr. Speaker, the problems are well known. They often repeat.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister today accept responsibility for the results of -- or does she agree that she is ultimately responsible for the outcomes of the child and family services system in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this area, this is not just a department. This is the North. This is what has happened to Indigenous people in Canada. And my commitment has always been to every person in this territory and every Indigenous family is that we are doing everything that we possibly can to ensure that those children are safe. And, you know, when we -- yes, the audits are just another tool to make sure that we have outside -- you know, somebody looking in and saying we need to still continue to focus on this. And I said -- but if you look at government, every single department, auditor general is always going to be there and is always going to find some improvements as we change, as AI gets involved, as social media has blown up, you know. I said everything has changed in this world. And so we're always going to have to -- and I've always -- I will always accept any responsibility for any of the work. And, you know, and the staff. The staff that are working in this department, these staff see the worst in this territory. They see our children and families at their worst, and we need to make sure that as a government that we are there to support them and these children to have the best life that they can have in our territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my barging statement earlier, my question is to the Minister of Infrastructure.

My first question there, Mr. Speaker, what coordinations, communications, are underway between the marine transportation services department and the Canadian Coast Guard on navigation routes, depths, and channel markers? Thank you.

Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I always appreciate the opportunity to speak "aboot" MTS. However, we've been in close contact with coast guard over the last few months. Coast guard's been communicating with MTS. MTS has been trying to find out details on when they're able to put the buoys in. We've been working with ECC also to get water depths so that we're aware of what's going on. I've actually had some correspondence with the Minister for National Defence who's now in charge of Canadian Coast Guard to -- not put pressure but, you know, express to the Minister how important this is to the North and how important it is for the Canadian Coast Guard to get out there and put navigable buoys out there so that we can get our boats out there as soon as we can.

We have a commitment from the Canadian Coast Guard to get out there as quick as they can. For the first time, from my understanding, in a long time, that we actually have a date of June 13th that they're hitting the waterways and they're steaming down the river to put buoys in, and I assure you that our MTS team will be right behind them with the shipment. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks for that information from the Minister.

My next question there, Mr. Speaker, is huge concerns from last year was, in particular, rates and the short notices for sailing, which really put challenges on the shipment of southern vendors to get their cargo to Hay River. Can the Minister share preparations or practices or mitigations to these two particular concerns. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the first part I will talk about is the rates. Earlier on this year, a team from MTS traveled the Sahtu area to speak to customers, and customers have been spoken to in all our shipping routes to talk about rates, you know, and the potential changes and impacts to improving them. So that's on the works.

Secondly, in regards to the sailing season last year, very unique situation of course. We had water that we were unsure of that would be able to operate our sailing of the boats. So we were concerned throughout the whole season. And as coast guard was able to put the buoys in, our boats followed them. And that was the point of getting the high water and making sure we were able to do it. However, they weren't sure at the very beginning. So, you know, we were able to get communication out as soon as we could. As soon as we found out Coast Guard was sailing, we were sailing. So we don't determine whether or not the waterways are navigable, Coast Guard does, and as soon as they give us the okay, MTS is right behind them.

The fortunate thing this year is everything is looking promising for water levels. So the snow pack in the mountains, the water levels in all the river systems, the Liard Basin, the Peace River, the Slave River, the Hay River, all the water levels are high, and that will definitely help the Mackenzie River with the flow so we can get our boats going up to the Arctic. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.