Ronald Bonnetrouge

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi to the Minister for stating that she will look into the position. Every year, we are always having problems with seniors and other people not being able to access a lot of the programs. There is no advertising in the communities or on the radio, and we are always having the staff of the LHOs directing clients to the Hay River office because we don't have anyone in our community to help with those. Because it's important for the seniors; they are always missing the end dates, or it's too late in the winter for servicing furnaces, and whatever else is required, so it's...

Mahsi to the Minister for that answer. We have had program advisors visit the community recently, before the holidays, but they weren't taking down specific information on people who approached them for their program delivery. That wasn't being followed through. Can the Minister ensure district program advisors are available to assist potential clients with the onerous applications process?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation has a number of housing programs for the benefit of residents. If you have access to a computer, one only needs to look on the internet to find the NWT Housing Corporation website and continue navigating to see the various programs and services available. This is, if you have access to a computer and are computer literate.

Mr. Speaker, for the people who don't understand how to navigate the internet, or even have access to a phone, it is very trying and frustrating, to say the least, in finding what the NWT Housing Corporation...

From what I understand and what I have been approached by, they are required to have a bank account because part of the process to get Income Security is the Income Security employee needs the bank statement. That is what I understand of that program, and that is what is stressing out many of the clients, especially the ones who aren't working. There are some of the seniors who are involved in that, too, and they are not meeting their obligations to pay their rent. That is why I asked that, because I understand that they are being sent away from the Income Security office to go get someone...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to welcome two Pages from the community of Kakisa to the Assembly, Raine Simba and Kaedyn Simba. They are accompanied by their mother, Jennifer Simba. I am not sure if she is in the House. I can't see them, but I would like to welcome them to the Legislative Assembly. Mahsi.

It seems like, with the Income Security Program, there is always one problem after another. Since the inception of the program, there are changes here, changes there. The headquarters office doesn't know what the regional or the small community offices are doing. I would really recommend that they have an overall review of the program to make sure we have all our Ts crossed and our Is dotted so that the program is uniform and runs smoothly, as is happening with all the other programs. That is just a comment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are related to the Income Security Program and the shortfalls of client banking in the small communities. I believe that it is the Income Security workers who advise clients to open bank accounts. The onus is now on clients to produce bank statements. Can the Minister advise if the Income Security employees are advising clients to open bank accounts? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. ECE provides much-needed service through the Income Security Program. The program is helping people to make choices that are right for them. There are many people falling through the cracks when it comes to banking and related information-gathering, such as bank statements. In the small communities, people do not have access to banks to get the required bank statements in order to access income security. This has put unnecessary stress on the clients as they may have lost bank cards or forgotten bank card passwords or just do not know how to get a bank statement as there is...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister of Infrastructure is aware from my opening statement regarding the transmission line from the Taltson Hydro to my community of Fort Providence, I just wanted to raise a fact that I just looked at.

The cost of transmission power in Fort Smith is currently at 23 cents a kilowatt hour. When I was there in 2006, it was 17 cents a kilowatt hour, and they were able to put electrical baseboard heaters in units without having to deal with diesel appliances, the furnaces, and stuff. In my community of Fort Providence, we're on diesel. We are on a diesel plant, and...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to touch on the topic that the Government of the Northwest Territories has been initiating climate change strategies to combat the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. Nowhere in any of the documents says that we will accept only 10 percent moving forward, and I assume with this climate change strategy we are going to go in 100 percent.

My concern is because I know in our communities for the past 10 years, we have been putting wood pellet boilers into our schools and our health centres on the new builds, so we have been going that route for quite some time. The...