Kevin A. Menicoche

Staying with somebody for three days doesn’t make them a resident of that household, Mr. Chair, and I would take objection to that. You really have to have a look at the program guidelines and procedures. It’s really unfair to the elder, because the fact of the matter is, like, February they usually get their fuel delivered in December and up until now they have to use whatever little old age security pension that they do get and it’s tough in the communities, and somebody determining that somebody who stayed there for two days is a household member. Who makes that determination? That’s what I...

Okay. In this particular case I’ve been dealing with the Minister’s office and they haven’t really been that flexible on it. I kind of question the deputy minister on that and I’ll be glad to resubmit my inquiry in support of my constituents in that matter. We’ll leave that for now.

Then I have another instance where a nephew does not actually live with the elder. He might stay over one, two or three times a month, yet frontline workers are saying that person is actually a resident in that household but he’s got no fixed address. He’s one of our young people who loves to travel. He spends two...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I don’t know, the Minister can correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the income security guidelines and procedures were going to be reviewed. Because this particular winter and many others I’ve had lots of inquiries, most particularly with the seniors’ home heating subsidy to help low-income seniors pay for the cost of heating their homes. It’s often done just before December, but sometimes the most common one that I’ve had is because there are additional householders living with them and often it’s the case of a daughter or granddaughter or a male that’s...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Just with the college contributions, Aurora College to deliver adult and post-secondary education in the NWT. Just before Christmas on a constituency visit to Wrigley it was brought to my attention that there is no actual Aurora College facility there in terms of computer and/or training materials. The leadership were saying how are we going to advance education skills in the community if there is no equipment there. I did ask the Minister’s office how they do deliver Aurora College services in Wrigley and I think the answer was they use school facilities and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services and I’d like to continue my barrage of questions. It was on the northern grad nurses and the Graduate Placement Program. She has indicated in Hansard something that really upset the students and I’d like to ask the Minister if she’s willing to apologize to the grads publicly in this forum and explain what she had meant by that. Thank you.

Thank you. The media clips that come out of this House are taken with seriousness by all our constituents and people throughout the North because what’s said in this House is reflected sometimes in policy and in how we administer our government. So just given that, Mr. Speaker, if anything, given the seriousness that my constituents have taken with it, the chief of the community has taken it very seriously as well, and I think, if anything, if there was an error in her statement and she offended people, I think the Minister owes an apology. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I wish to speak about the issue of the northern grad nurses and the Minister’s lead statement from last week.

Nahendeh has produced many nursing professionals over the course of time, and I’m very proud of each and every one of them. Last week, Mr. Speaker, my constituent who is from a small community in my riding and is graduating this year from the Bachelor of Science in the Nursing Program was very dismayed by the Minister of Health and Social Services’ remark last week who implied that they need more training in different situations before they can practice...

I was just trying to get some clarity in how the department determines who lives in the household. Is it 20 days out of the month or is it 15 days out of the month? Because I know in this case it was, like, two or three days out of the month, and it’s not every month either there, Mr. Chair. What drives their policy or who makes those decisions and how do they determine it? Thank you.

So does that mean she’ll get her fuel in May, when February is the coldest month? I’m not too clear about that. I’m just wondering, the documents as they’re in the works, is there an alternative in the meantime? Can she file a statutory declaration that she did not work in 2010? There must be another way around this.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I think I’ll just wait until further details on the other pages that do show better numbers for regional positions. I’ll ask further questions at that time. Thank you.