Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently we have had some changes in some of our policies and programs relative to seniors, some of the criteria for our programs for seniors. One of them, for instance, is that we are now charging rent for seniors. We have a rent scale for seniors in public housing.

I have some questions today for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. With the changes that have come into place, now that seniors are paying rent in our public housing, I’d like to ask the Minister how the income levels are set which determine the rent that a senior will pay in any month...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Happy New Year. Welcome back, and welcome back to all my colleagues. It’s good to be back.

My statement today celebrates the one resource that all Northerners have in abundance: snow.

World Snow Day was established by the International Ski Federation as part of an international campaign called Bring Children to the Snow. The second annual World Snow Day took place just last month, on January 20th, the same day that Mr. Gilday achieved his excellence, so it’s fairly fitting.

Four hundred thirty-five organizers in 39 countries staged events this year that brought children...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment are related to the department’s future plans for school infrastructure for K to 12 schooling. Would the Minister please provide the following:

a copy of the department’s five-year capital plan for renovations, replacement and/or new construction for all NWT schools (primary, elementary and secondary);

a copy of the department’s 10-year capital plan for renovations, replacement and/or new construction for all NWT schools (primary, elementary and secondary); and

a copy of the department’s 20-year capital plan...

Thanks to the Minister for that. Unfortunately, I have to say to the Minister that if it really doesn’t affect seniors, that means that some of them are affected. I realize that we have a range of income and that most seniors fall in that range, but when they get to the top of that range and go over it and into the next bracket, it’s going to create problems. So there will be some people who are affected.

I’d like to ask the Minister if the impact of increases to pension and to fixed income, if he would look into that, if he would investigate the impact that it would have on our seniors who are...

Certainly, I am happy to. With the changes that have taken place with regard to rent scales, now that seniors are paying rent in public housing, I’d like to know from the Minister how the income levels are set which determine the rent that a senior will pay in any one month. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my pleasure to welcome a constituent today, Mr. Jeff Corradetti. I would also like to recognize my former colleague, Mr. David Krutko, former MLA for Mackenzie Delta; and Lydia Bardak, the executive director of the Dene Ko Day Shelter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate that commitment. It may not affect too many, but I think if it affects one of our elders or one of our seniors, then it’s important that we look at the impact.

One of the other things that I would like to ask the Minister, there have been instances relayed to me of inconsistencies in rent assessments between seniors, between different LHOs in our communities. So I’d like to know from the Minister what the Housing Corporation does to monitor rent assessments at the LHO level and between LHOs to ensure that there is fairness and...

Thanks to the Minister for that. Most of our seniors in the NWT are on a fixed income. If they are on a pension, then they are on a fixed income and it changes very little. But courtesy of the federal government, the Government of Canada, periodically we get pension income increases due to inflation over time and there are adjustments to people’s incomes. So when a senior’s income increases beyond a certain level and puts them into a second level for their assessment of rent, I’d like to know whether or not when we know that seniors’ pension incomes are changing upwards, are the levels that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. My last question, I guess, goes to… Now I’ve totally lost my question and I’ll have to go to the one that I didn’t intend to ask.

The Minister talked about home care and that respite is available through home care. I’d like to ask the Minister if families needing respite care are using home care without any further resources added to the home care services in the communities, is that not just going to overwhelm the home care staff in our communities because they’re now providing home care for adults as well as home care for disabled persons?

We are in the business planning process right now, and I think the Minister is well aware of that. We have a business planning process every year.

I’d like to know from the Minister where respite care and the territorial respite care plan sits in the priorities for the department. Is he negotiating with Finance to have the respite care expansion start in ’13-14 or are we talking ’20-21?