Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. While they are not strictly and literally in the gallery, I’d just like to recognize two of the pages, Danielle Soucy and Nicole Labine. I thank them for their services.

Mr. Speaker, even Imperial Oil, from what I’ve been reading, is getting enormous pressure from its major shareholders to be more environmentally responsible. We recognize and we have to make sure that business does not get by on the backs of Northerners, that they acknowledge the impact of what they’re doing in terms of development. While it may not be a perfect system, we are moving more and more down that path to not only a recognition, but as I indicated to the Member, we’re going to be developing the policies with the help and guidance of the MLAs and the climate change committee, for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is one of the issues on the list that we have to come to grips with. The federal government has come out with their own suggested plan. Now they’re indicating they’re prepared to look at alternative suggestions. It’s a discussion, as a government, that we have to have. Some of our existing policies, like the Greenhouse Gas Strategy, are mainly focused on how government does business, how we’re going to control our own emissions. But as we look at development, existing and to come, it is an issue that we’re going to, as a government, have to put our minds around in...

Mr. Speaker, as soon as we conclude this budget, we’re going to roll over into the full and first opportunity as this Legislature to have a look at the full development of the business plans for the rest of this term.

I would suggest that if the political will and appetite is there, the government stands ready, as well, to engage in that discussion. It is going to be one, like most things we do, where we tackle issues in our programs that are long-standing. There’s going to be a lot of concern. But clearly, politically, we’re ready to have that discussion and work with the committees. If there...

Mr. Speaker, like many things we do as a government, there are things scattered across different departments. We talked about some of them here today. There’s the tax relief from MACA; there’s a fuel subsidy from Income Support. For the Housing Corp, it’s people paying no rent.

Clearly, the issue of aging in place and working to keep people in their own homes as long as we can is, in the long run, the most beneficial for us. While the Housing Corp has no specific plan, it’s clear, as we move into a business-planning process, that it’s an area that does need attention. There are things I hear...

Those folks who are eligible for the Public Housing subsidy would have funds flow to them from ECE. The issue with seniors’ housing and no rent was a political decision of this Legislature back in, I believe, 1995 or 1996. The costs have been built into the operation of the Housing Corporation, and the money’s been, over the years, put into the budgets of the districts and looked at yearly.

The Fuel Subsidy Program is an annual program that seniors can apply for. If they’re eligible, they’ll get up to the equivalent of five cords of wood, or 2,200 litres of fuel. We also have everybody outside of Yellowknife in the diesel communities in the North subsidized for the first 1,700 kilowatts under the Territorial Power Support Program.

Of course, through the business-planning process we’d be very interested to sit down and talk to and work with the Social Programs Committee. We’ve already looked at some of the issues for seniors, how the seniors programs are currently structured under...

Mr. Speaker, these are all political decisions that can be made, have been made: the issues for no rent.... There is a contradiction or a discrepancy with, as the Member’s indicated, meanstesting on one hand and not on the other.

The whole definition of a safety net — which is what we’re trying to provide for all our citizens — does not imply universality. It implies that if you hit the safety net, we should be able to help you so you don’t fall through into poverty. If you have the good fortune to have enough income to live on your own, then that’s a credit to you, and it’s a credit to us as a...

It will be a challenge.

The Housing Corporation. There’s no rent or costs billed to the seniors, so this is covered through the operations of the Housing Corporation.