David Krutko

I would also ask the Minister if he could inform the communities that this is going to take place. I believe the community of Sachs Harbour does not have an income support worker now. They used to have an income support worker but do not have one now and they have to bring someone in from Inuvik. Same thing for Tsiigehtchic, they have to bring someone in either from Fort McPherson or Inuvik. If they can find a way to work with these communities that are facing this challenge where the people are being charged economic rent and the problem is that hopefully we won’t have to evict anybody...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister of the Housing Corporation. In light of the switchover from the rent supp from the Department of Education to the Housing Corporation, we’re still getting calls from our communities that depend on a fly-in income support worker who goes into the community to do the assessment and then flies back out. What we’re finding is people are still being charged economic rent. In some cases the whole community is charged economic rent until the income support worker arrives. I think that through this transfer back to the Housing...

Mr. Speaker, I believe that we can study this thing but I don’t think the communities want to wait that long. I think, in the meantime, there are workable solutions here and one of them I mentioned earlier is that we have dedicated staff either from the regional centres, the adjacent communities, and dedicate them to those communities that don’t have a full slate of service providers such as nurses, social workers or even people in regard to mental health and alcohol and drug workers. So I’d just like to ask the Minister, can she direct the health authorities that they have dedicated nursing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. It’s in regard to the words “essential services,” and I think, more importantly, what are we doing to fill the gap between the have and have-not communities when it comes to programs and services such as health care, education and, more importantly, those positions that we depend on such as the nurses, the social workers and also looking at the clientele such as mental health workers to assist the communities with alcohol and drug programs, because those services make a difference to our communities...

If programs and services are essential services, why is it we have some communities with programs and services and a large number of smaller communities that don’t? All residents of the Northwest Territories deserve a fair break. Regardless if you live in Colville Lake, Tsiigehtchic, Sachs Harbour or Nahanni Butte, we have a responsibility to provide programs and services to our residents. At the appropriate time I will be asking the Minister of Health and Social Services what she is doing to ensure essential services are being provided to our communities.

In most of our programs we do allow for some sort of income testing, regardless if it’s the Fuel Subsidy Program in regard to the seniors maintenance repair program. So we do that already in existing programs. I’d just like to know if we’re also going to be looking at the whole area of looking at income testing and, more importantly, so that they all conform with other programs we have which are income tested.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to speak regarding the Supplementary Health Program. I have to agree with my colleague from the Sahtu that we do have to have some limitations on what we provide here. I know a lot of people talk about the different programs, but I think we have to have programs that are consistent across the board. We have the NIHB for aboriginal health care and we have the Metis Health Benefits Program. But I think we have to ensure that whatever they’re prescribed for in those different programs, we have consistency in how it’s being delivered.

I would like to ask...

Can we have some order in the House? I asked a question of the Minister and I’m having problems hearing her answer.

Next question to the Minister: is there is a prescribed list that Health Canada has regarding NIHB benefits? I’d like to know if we are going to have a prescribed list for supplementary health so that we have consistency in regard to what programs are going to be offered, who is getting the program, and making sure we have a fair process. I think that’s what I’d like to ask the Minister, but more about ensuring that we have consistency in these programs.

I have to agree with you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize some 45 athletes who will be travelling to the Arctic Winter Games from my riding...

---Applause

...Mr. Speaker. That includes cultural events such as dancers, such as the Gwich’in Dancers from Aklavik who are led by Annie Buckle, as well as the people who are participating in the Dene Games. We also have Stephanie Charlie who is going to be participating in hockey, which is again breaking the ice to get the athletes from the smaller communities to be involved in the larger teams.

One of the big achievements we had this year was with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with regard to the whole program and service area, we also have to realize that we do have an aging infrastructure. The older these houses get, the more it’s going to cost to repair. My colleague Mr. Beaulieu mentioned that we have to look at the area of “if we don’t do anything now, it’s going to cost us more in the future.” So wherever possible, we should try to do what we can to keep residents in their own homes and offer them repair programs to keep their houses over a certain level. I just want to ask the Minister if he could make an effort to try to...