Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on my line of questioning yesterday that we had for the Minister of Health and Social Services in what must have seemed like a mini theme day for Minister Abernethy, but when we talk about people leaving the Northwest Territories, the outward migration of residents of the North, we need to look at all aspects of that.
Yesterday I spoke about some of the challenges for seniors living in the North: the cost of living, the cost of living independently in their own homes. Today I’d like to talk about another segment of population who we often hear leave the Northwest Territories. Those are people who moved to the Northwest Territories who are not necessarily indigenous or from here who have aging parents in some other part of Canada.
I have talked to numerous people who had to not retire in the North because they needed to go back to where they were from in other jurisdictions in Canada to care for aging parents. So today I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, is there anything in legislation, regulation, policy within this government that would be a framework for an organization, an NGO, a church, some kind of an organization to set up private care for seniors in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy,
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s certainly an interesting idea and anybody who’s interested in coming north or currently in the North who’s interested in opening their own supported living facility would obviously be great. There are no impediments to a private corporation or business opening an old folks home or long-term care centre in the Northwest Territories, but any private corporation would obviously want to do some research in advance and find out what building codes or other things might need to be in pace for a multi-person dwelling, but as far as Health and Social Services, there are no restrictions for a privately run old folks home.
This idea of an NGO running a health-related institution is not a foreign concept. As everyone knows, the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada had a management contract with the Government of the Northwest Territories for many, many years to run the hospital in Hay River. When you do go into southern jurisdictions, you do see many church organizations that have seniors complexes associated with them. You see hospitals still being run by, say, the Grey Nuns in Edmonton as an example, but when you turn on the news, you do hear of some tragic events around some of the care of seniors in other jurisdictions. You don’t hear of those things here, but you know that we hear that where there is a lack of guidance or guidelines or rules and regulations that sometimes that care is in obvious need of being more highly monitored.
Is the idea of putting in place some standards something that the Department of Health and Social Services would consider for such an institution? Thank you.
As I said, I would encourage anybody who is interested in starting this type of business here in the North to review the regulations that exist within their communities with respect to building and construction.
To the Member’s question, we do have the National Building Code of Canada, which requires that all facilities in the Northwest Territories that provide health care must comply with the National Building Code. We have the National Fire Code, the NWT Public Health Act and regulations, and just an important reminder that there are no regulations governing private long-term care centres in the North when they’re not receiving GNWT money. If they’re receiving GNWT money or looking for a partnership with the GNWT, the rules would not be the same. We would require specific criteria to be met.
I think we have a very lively and competent organization here in Yellowknife: Yellowknife Association of Citizens Concerned for Seniors. I’m not getting their name exactly right, but it’s YACCS, I believe. They have set up Aven Manor, Aven Cottages. They have set up a number of institutions for seniors in Yellowknife. They probably even attract people on a regional basis.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, does that society receive funding from this government?
Yes, Avens and YACCS do receive funding, and they are providing services on behalf of the GNWT. As a result, they are limited in what they can charge and they must apply the long-term care fee, which is basically monthly accommodation to cover meals and accommodation. Currently that rate is $752. That is something that anybody interested in starting a private business would have to consider, because that may not be a sustainable business plan if they took in GNWT residents and were expecting us to pay.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a topic that’s of great interest to me and I’ll try and make this short. Of course, I still have my eye on that H.H. Williams Memorial Hospital in Hay River that will soon not be required anymore. Well, I can’t ask a hypothetical question, but I would like to confirm that should an NGO be interested in acquiring that particular facility for extended care, the aging population in the North is a ballooning demographic. I don’t think that the government could possibly have enough money to accommodate all of the needs that are coming forward with seniors.
That facility, in the disposal process, would it be possible for an organization like Avens, but in Hay River, to set up a seniors complex in Hay River?
Setting aside that particular business, which has its own issues and will follow the normal disposal process, as I indicated previously, if there are private organizations who are looking at setting up facilities in the North, we obviously strongly encourage that, recognizing that if it becomes a GNWT-funded institution as far as we’re paying for the clients, that might change some of the requirements that are placed on them. If they’re completely private and encouraging people to come in and pay a fair market rent to be in those facilities, they would have certainly a lot more freedom.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke about the term “passive restraint” and the situation we are faced within our financial debt wall. The Financial Management Board Passive Restraint Policy is used in times of trying to find savings within operational spending and usually around job positions and wage dollars, or at least this is how it has been presented to Members of the House.
The duty of a Regular Member is to protect the public purse, and with nothing ever tabled in this House on this policy, it is imperative that we take a moment today and ask some probing questions for the Minister of Finance.
For the record, can the Minister clearly define what is meant by the term “passive restraint”?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I listened to the Member’s statement with interest, and his references to Peter Pan and such, and as he was talking, clearly the image that came to my mind when I think of those characters, of course, was Tinker Bell and Mr. Dolynny sprinkling stardust and fairy dust around as he goes raising his issues in this House. I appreciate the comparison.
In regard to his question, passive restraint is a management tool where targets are set within government, within departments to manage their budgets to realize savings that will help us meet our targets both in savings or to put towards other issues, other commitments, other priorities. That has been in effect now since the last Assembly and it’s just one of the tools we use on an ongoing basis. Of course, every budget is reviewed in this House, there’s public accounts review of how money is spent, where it’s spent and it doesn’t pertain just to holding positions vacant to realize those types of savings, but their managers have any number of other tools at their disposal, as well, to hit those targets. Thank you.
Just to give the Minister a little clue on Peter Pan, it’s pixie dust, not fairy dust.
Can the Minister clearly indicate what savings were realized by using this FMB policy in the past for years? In other words, what total dollars were saved from 2010-2011, from 2011-2012 and from 2012-2013 by initiating this Passive Restraint Policy?
Of course, I will defer to the Member’s superior knowledge when it comes to Peter Pan.
In regard to the savings, every budget that we have done in the life of this Assembly has met the targets that we have set out in terms of managing with fiscal discipline the budgets of the first two years to control our expenditures, the forced growth limits, the hiring limits, all those types of initiatives. We have met those targets this year. While we are still continuing with passive restraint, we are going to be able to in fact honour the third year plan, which is to add $25 million to the capital infrastructure budget this year as well as next year. Thank you.
The only sound I am hearing on this side of the House is tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.
Clearly the Minister is fine with sharing his numbers with the committee, but somehow 24 hours later he has no idea and has nothing to present to the people of the NWT, which I think is quite shameful.
Given our questionable financial situation in the current budget, where we continue to have a number of funded, dormant, inactive positions and a miscalculation of our taxation revenues, can the Minister indicate if the Financial Management Board is initiating any passive restraint policies in its 2014-2015 budget, and if so, what are its targets? Thank you.
Just so the people at home are clear, this is the Legislative Assembly, not never-never land.
The issue that the Member has raised, the answer is yes.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. I would remind the Members, since I was a kid, I have heard Walt Disney in this building more than once, and now this. Let’s try to keep the decorum going respectfully. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Bang on. I agree with you.
In my view, this government’s duplicitous free spending of its entire first installment of the resource revenues in this current budget is a clever maneuver to cover revenue loss, but sadly, it’s not so clear, from the Minister’s comments today, the need to find additional offset savings for the miscalculated taxation revenue.
That said, why is this Minister financing and not initiating a full court press of passive restraint initiatives in this current budget to find the much needed savings? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Member has accused us, once again, of duplicitous behavior and nothing could be farther from the truth. There was no miscalculation of our estimates for income tax, corporate or personal income tax. We are here with the budget, it’s transparent, we’ve been going through the business planning process like normally we would, we’ll go through the public accounts, and to have the Member accuse us of duplicitous behaviour, to me, is uncalled for and it is not acceptable.
If he wants to stand up and point to something that is truly duplicitous, then I would have him do so. We are on a full court press, we are going to find savings in this budget and we are going to find an additional $30 million in the ‘15-16 budget as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are directed at the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I believe the vision of the 17th Assembly is we have healthy, educated people free from poverty. At the same time, in reference to my statement, I made the point that sometimes parents are confronted with the reality of paying their rent for this month or feeding their kids. Children don’t understand or care about fiscal restraint, yet they live with its very real effects.
What concrete things is this government doing to support families with young children in the Deh Cho communities? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Part of the initiative that we are undertaking through the Early Childhood Development Framework is aimed at dealing with that matter and providing the best services we possibly can for children of the Northwest Territories, covering all communities and regions as well.
Some areas we have been providing to those communities through Education, Culture and Employment through the Early Childhood Development Framework, and the action plan with 22 recommendations is the part of the plan we are willing to move forward on. Once the budget is approved, then we will be rolling out the program to the communities. Mahsi.
It seems that once the budget is approved, that’s when things will move.
The other point is people are very familiar with the federal initiative. The federal initiative, not a GNWT initiative, that’s been very successful is the Aboriginal Head Start Program and some communities have taken advantage of that.
In my statement I talked about child poverty, noting the high rate of poverty in small communities. The ECD Action Plan will involve data that measures children’s readiness for school. It’s an internationally recognized instrument called the EDI.
How are kids in small communities performing on the EDI compared to kids in Yellowknife or the regional centres? Mahsi.
It’s important to note that the EDI has been performed throughout the Northwest Territories so it can capture how our children are doing in the small, isolated communities versus the regional centres and larger centres as well.
The Member is raising some areas of concern about how some small communities are in a different calibre compared to regional centres. That is quite true. We need to focus on those areas. Due to that fact, we are developing action plans. We have developed action plans around the Early Childhood Development Framework and the whole Education Renewal Initiative. We will be developing an action plan towards that, too, as we move forward this summer.
We want to capture those individuals that may be falling behind in small communities, providing the best available resources, the best available services we possibly can to reach out to those individuals in the small communities. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the Minister’s response. Recognizing that there is a real disparity between how kids are doing in the small communities compared to the larger centres and, actually, Yellowknife, I’m worried that this government will feel fiscal restraints and fail to adequately fund the Education Renewal Initiative.
Can the Minister commit to a substantial increase in funding for this initiative and especially in attacking dismal education outcomes reported in small communities? Mahsi.
The Member is quite correct; with our GNWT fiscal constraint, we are challenged with that throughout the whole Northwest Territories. At the same time, we must move forward on the initiatives before us. We certainly will be providing or developing an action plan towards Education Renewal Initiative and Innovation. That will be available by this summer. Based on that, it will highlight the cost factor for those recommendations being brought to our attention as part of the recommendation plan. Once that’s available, then we will go through a business planning process, then we will highlight the cost factor from there, so it will be captured as part of the business planning process. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think I’ve highlighted some realities and facts that our government is challenged with, but more so the responsibility of Cabinet and the Minister. At this point, there seems to be a push for an action plan to be developed and strategies, initiatives, to address the poverty issue.
What steps will the Minister take to ensure that there’s an immediate response towards addressing these very core issues of poverty in the small communities? Mahsi.
As it’s been highlighted with the budget address in this House, it is capturing a lot of social issues in the small communities. I believe we have gone a long way to reach that point where once we go through this action plan through the Education Renewal Initiative, then it will capture those small, isolated, vulnerable communities. We initiated that earlier.
Part of the pillars we have is focus on small communities, small community schools. Those are key factors and part of discussions we have been having with engagement with the public and we will continue to do that. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today, I talked about having the courage to finally publicize some of these direct appointments. First of all, we don’t know how many there are and we don’t know who are getting them. Annually, the Legislative Assembly tables our public service report. We could table the names and positions of where these direct appointments were issued and directed. My question will go to the Premier of this Assembly who is in charge of Cabinet and could make this decision and show some political courage today and demonstrate some accountability.
Would he finally be willing to table annually the direct appointments that Cabinet makes in secrecy and show the Northerners, both the public service and Northerners, that these appointments aren’t being based on who you know and who you’re related to? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member gets his picture in the local rag and he thinks he’s a movie star. The answer is no.
That was an original answer, Mr. Speaker. I am not sure to even bother acknowledging it.
Why won’t the McLeod government show some courage for a change and say we’ll prove that these direct appointments were meaningful and appropriate and we can honestly measure them? Right now, there’s zero accountability on a single one of them.
Again to the Premier, would he do something different by showing the public he’s being accountable by annually tabling who got these jobs and which jobs they went to?
Direct appointments have been a management tool for this government ever since this government has been in place. On every occasion, a direct appointment is a benefit to the government and it is provided for through appropriate legislation and we will continue to use that practice.
The Member complains that we don’t have positions filled. We’re trying to fill positions and now he doesn’t want us to fill positions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the only question over here is asking about transparency. It’s not about stopping jobs. No one would stop that freight train. I’m telling you that if these appointments were truly worthy of the appointment, then the government shouldn’t hide beyond the veil of secrecy, behind the numbers of… We don’t know how many there are and who they’re appointing and who they may be related to. Nobody has any clue. It’s time we show a little courage, lead the nation with a little backbone. Nobody is talking about taking the authority away from Cabinet. We’re just talking about accountability of these secret appointments the government wants to make that nobody knows. Would the Premier show that courage and finally do it?
We don’t advertise our new hires either. Would his request extend to that as well? Perhaps I’ll leave it for the Hawkins government and the next Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Premier is offering to resign, we could take care of that today, honestly.
So, quite frankly, the question keeps being missed and the Premier can distract it with any joke or whatnot, but he is avoiding the true responsibility and accountability that is being called for by this House. This is the question yet again, and he can make all the jokes he wants but it doesn’t deter the facts of what the public sees.
Cabinet makes these secret appointments. Nobody knows how many they are making, nobody knows why they are being appointed and these people show up in these positions and nobody understands why, other than the fact that Cabinet makes these secret decisions; hundreds possibly, we don’t know.
So, I am asking the Premier once again, show some political courage, start tabling the names and what positions people are receiving in their types of positions and be proud of these appointments. Don’t hide and scurry from them. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, human resources, all of our employees are our most valuable asset and we are very proud of all of our employees. I have already answered his question and the answer is no. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Premier, as I mentioned earlier. I want to follow up on my Member’s statement.
I mentioned in my Member’s statement of the 15 recommendations that are in the committee report from the Standing Committee on Government Operations on Bill 24. There are recommendations for almost every member of Cabinet; therefore, I chose the Premier because he is responsible for all of them.
I would like to first ask the Premier whether or not the government is considering, or whether they are actually in the process of considering or acting on an Executive Council response to the 15 recommendations that are in the Government Operations report. Thank you.
