Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Subsidies do reduce the cost of living. All of our programs are targeted at different people with different needs, whether it is housing, income security, senior housing, SFA, even health programs. If he is asking if we are going to be writing a cheque to 42,000 people tomorrow, he is probably not going to find that.

But we are looking at investments in commercial power subsidies. For many communities the cost of goods is a big issue, and if we could help with the cost of power for businesses, we are hoping that might help out in some way. The territorial power subsidy...

First of all, I have to disagree, Mr. Speaker. I disagree with the Member that the subsidies have not reduced the cost of living. It doesn’t reduce the cost of goods. It has a way of masking the true cost of things, but it does reduce the cost of what the consumers are paying, whether it be housing or power subsidies. You get a subsidy on your power and thus reduce them.

We are working with the ministerial committee on energy to look at all options, alternative energy options, including building hydro, because I believe and we believe that the government needs to look at the long term and make...

Yes, I have looked into that and I am looking to extend her stay in Tsiigehtchic. The only thing is that she fills spots in other areas of the Beaufort-Delta service area because she’s employed by the authority. So if she’s taken away from somewhere else, there’s that whole picture.

I do have a communication going to the Member indicating that I’m looking into that. Hopefully, I’ll have a precise answer before I get back to you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I want to advise the Member that notices that the Members get and the Member for Nunakput gets with respect to any reduction of services in health centres — I get a copy of them, and as soon as I get them, I inquire to find out what is causing those reductions in services. Sometimes those causes are very…. We had a water situation, in fact, or sometimes it’s a scheduling problem and other situations.

But I do agree with the Member. By and large, we continue to suffer from a lack of nurses and other health care professionals in the Territories as well as in...

Charges of price fixing or gouging or coercion are very serious. I don’t have any evidence to prove that right now, but I am willing to see what mechanisms we have in place to look into that and what options are available to the government and work with whatever agencies are out there to see if we could address that question.

In Yellowknife, though, we have a free market. I understand that the Direct Charge Co-op chose not to increase their prices. The other retailers did. Eventually everybody started buying gas at Co-op and the other parties lowered their prices — another situation of free...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The consumer protection branch section of MACA is responsible for responding to complaints from consumers about business practices that are unscrupulous or unethical. So far we have not had a direct complaint about gas prices and the possibility being raised by the Member.

Having said that, Mr. Speaker, I am appreciative of the concerns out there. The rising gas prices are a concern. As far as I know, and having done research in this area in my other capacities, the gas price at the pump is fixed. About 85 per cent of that price is fixed by the crude oil price and some...

I think more details of what exactly these projects are will be coming forth in the business planning review process in a couple of weeks. There are very specific investments being made to extend runways, for example. In some of the small communities we are improving road access. We are improving winter bridges to connect winter road icebridges, and we are making investments in alternative energy programs. So there are some real, specific things to help with cost of living issues in the midterm, short term and long term. Thank you.

It should be noted that all centres in Beaufort-Delta right now are fully functional. We have never had a situation where we have no nurses. We have nurses where there are supposed to be nurses. We have nurses; it’s just that the services are reduced to poor services because they can’t get a backup — they’ve had too many hours working and they need a break — or there is a breakdown in water facilities or something like that.

But I will get back to the Member on maybe over the last six months how many times the services had to be reduced and in which centres.

That will be one of the things that will be looked at, understanding, though, that Nunavut tried that method and that it didn’t quite work out as well as they had hoped. Obviously, that is one of the considerations, but we want to make sure that we do it right.

The second thing is the nomination program that Minister Miltenberger has talked about, bringing more people from southern jurisdictions. That has an implication for making it easier for the professionally trained people to come from other areas. We have to work on the licensing issues. We have to work on making it easier for them to...

I will undertake to look to see what they can do and what the process is, and I will provide that information to the Member. Thank you.