The speech from the throne on Sept. 23 showed the era of SA国际影视传媒淥ttawa knows bestSA国际影视传媒� is over, said Michael McLeod, the NWT's member of Parliament.
In her throne speech, Governor General Julie Payette, flanked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, outlined a slew of commitments and ambitious investments for Canada.
Even though Payette didn't specifically name the NWT, McLeod said he believes the concerns of the territory are on the government's agenda.
SA国际影视传媒淭here's more of a team approach to try to defeat this pandemic. We're looking out for our most vulnerable, we're looking out for ordinary Canadians,SA国际影视传媒� said McLeod.
SA国际影视传媒�(The speech) made a lot of commitments to work with partners. It talked about dealing directly with First Nations, Inuit and Me虂tis partners to address food security, to strengthen local food supply chains, to invest in public transit, energy efficiency, retrofits, broadband (internet), affordable housing, Indigenous peoples in Northern communities.
"And I was happy to see that that there will be investments to create a Canada-wide early learning and childcare system (and) to provide support to get more women back into the workforce.SA国际影视传媒�
But one of the few things McLeod thought the speech was missing were the SA国际影视传媒渁ctual measuresSA国际影视传媒� for implementing the pledges made.
SA国际影视传媒淧eople are anxious to see the government back up and running, the government doing the business of the country," he said. "The chambers are (still) through a virtual Parliament. And we certainly need the committees to be operating. From the time the pandemic hit to now, many, many initiatives and projects and investments were put on hold.
SA国际影视传媒淲e still haven't seen a budget. We were right at the point where we were going to announce the budget. Many pieces of legislation have been sitting there waiting to report.SA国际影视传媒�
The government had scheduled to release its budget at the end of March, but the onset of the pandemic derailed those plans.
Commenting on Payette's pledge to invest $1 billion to eliminate homelessness, McLeod said that problem requires many initiatives. Some progress has already been made, he said, pointing to the joint NWT-federal investment of $140 million over 10 years for affordable housing, announced in 2018.
SA国际影视传媒淏ut there needs to be more. Gaps are becoming very apparent and housing is one of them. We need to see more investment in the urban, rural and Northern housing. We need to see more investment in Indigenous housing and we need to do a lot more in the area of homelessness.SA国际影视传媒�
Payette committed to continue working with Indigenous partners to address food insecurity.
Just last week, McLeod spoke at the Salvation Army in Yellowknife, where he announced $644,000 in federal funding for NWT organizations working to help meet the food needs of Northerners.
SA国际影视传媒淭here's been a number of projects that have gone well. There's some really good results from greenhouses and community gardens over the last while. During the pandemic we saw funding made available for Indigenous communities to go out on the land," he said. SA国际影视传媒淭hat's resulted in a lot of people harvesting more from the lakes and streams and rivers where the communities are located. And we're seeing more wild foods in their diet and more people spending time on the land. I'm going to continue to push that we work on food security in the North.SA国际影视传媒�
Asked what in the throne speech should give the average NWT resident hope for the future, McLeod said he was glad that the issues he had been discussing SA国际影视传媒渇or weeksSA国际影视传媒� with MPs, committees and caucuses were included in the speech.
SA国际影视传媒淥ur Northern caucus really emphasized the need to focus on infrastructure for our remote communities, our Northern communities, Indigenous communities," he said. "We wanted to make sure that there was attention paid to the housing situation, the need for more broadband, clean energy. A reference to Northern communities can really go a long way to bring much-needed investment to the North.SA国际影视传媒�
