Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First I’ll say it was my error. I think Members agreed not to ask questions today, and I completely forgot, because I would not have done such a thrusting statement on stabilization. I’m hopeful that the Finance Minister will answer it on one question only, of course.
Everyone knows that fiscal policy isn’t done by accident, and we always need a plan and the plan shouldn’t be based on luck.
Would the Minister be willing to work with all Members on this side of the House to help develop a stabilization fund for a funding plan as we look forward to the next fiscal budget that we plan for the people of the Northwest Territories? If the answer is yes, I only need one question.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Extensive work has been done on the stabilization fund, and as we move forward with the final budget of the 17th Legislative Assembly, as always, we are open to discussions, and in this case, yes, we would be happy to put that information on the table and engage in a discussion with the Members.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn’t make a Member’s statement today because I didn’t think we were doing Members’ statements, but now we’re not doing questions, so I’m going to do questions.
In response to my colleague from Range Lake’s Member’s statement about obesity and all those statistics that he put out there, I’d like to talk about smoking a little bit. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services some questions about smoking.
I’m really glad I never started smoking, because it is a really strong addiction, and I don’t have very much willpower and I really, really, first of all, want to say that I do feel sorry for people who are addicted and would like to quit smoking but cannot.
I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, what more can we do as a government to deter people from smoking?
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe it was just a couple of days ago that Member Dolynny talked about some of the statistics with respect to smoking and that we are actually finally seeing a bit of a decrease in smoking rates in the Northwest Territories. Having said that, we still have higher rates than pretty much everywhere else in the country and obviously more needs to be done.
We do have some wonderful programs. We’ve all heard of Don’t Be a Butthead, and there are a number of programs out there as well. I know Mr. Moses actually referenced a number of them the other day.
Obviously, we are always open to new ideas. If committee has new ideas that they want to present to us if they want to help us with reduced smoking in the Northwest Territories, we are always open to that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we always talk about the sin taxes. What is stopping this government from raising the tax on cigarettes so high that it would even make the most dedicated smokers rethink their habit? Thank you.
I know that in the 16th Assembly we did put a significant increase on taxes for cigarettes and in this budget we did increase the budget for loose tobacco, but as far as increased taxes on tobacco, I would certainly be willing to have that conversation with the Minister of Finance and see where we can go. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Is the Minister of Health and Social Services aware of any downside of putting a really, really deterring kind of a tax on cigarettes? Is he aware of any downside to doing that? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, off the top of my head, the only one that I could think of would actually be potential smuggling and that would be something that we would have to consider as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
One last question. If I go and buy life insurance and I am a smoker, I pay a higher premium. For those that are already addicted, let’s give them a break and say okay, but can’t we go back to some date and say, if you start smoking after this time, you need to think that when you become an adult and you are seeking medical services, or you are going to have to pay a premium on medical services if you smoke. Not for those who are already addicted, but for those that are coming up, the next generation. Could we not create a monetary disincentive to smoke by creating some kind of a health insurance premium? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It’s an intriguing idea and then it could… Obviously, if something like that existed, it could stretch to sugar, it could stretch to other things as well. I don’t know if we actually have the capacity to do something like that, but I would certainly be willing to have some conversations with the department and some more discussions with committee to see what options exist. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on February 27 2014, it shall be adjourned until Monday, March 3, 2014:
AND FURTHER, that any time prior to March 3, 2014, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact its business as it has been duly adjourned to that time.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Great Slave, that Bill 13, Devolution Measures Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Bill 13 has had first reading.
---Carried
Mr. McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 14, Waters Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Bill 14 has had first reading.
---Carried
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 12, Northern Employee Benefits Services Pension Plan Act, be read for the second time.
Mr. Speaker, this bill sets out the legislative framework for the continuation of the Northern Employee Benefits Service Plan as a multi-employer, multijurisdictional pension plan for employees of approved public sector employers in northern Canada.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. To the principle of the bill.
Question.
Question has been called. Bill 12 has had second reading.
---Carried
Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters, with Mr. Dolynny in the chair.
I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. Committee, we’ve got a number of things to consider today: Bill 5, Bill 10, Bill 11, Committee Report 2-17(5), Tabled Document 4-17(5), Tabled Document 22-17(5). What is the wish of committee? Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Committee would like to continue with Tabled Document 22-17(5), NWT Main Estimates 2014-14, continuing with Education, Culture and Employment and, time permitting, Transportation and then Environment and Natural Resources. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We’ll turn over to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty, if he has any witnesses to bring into the House.
Yes, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Sergeant-at-Arms, if you could please escort the witnesses in.
Minister Lafferty, if you wouldn’t mind introducing your visitors to the House again, please.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I have, to my left, deputy minister of ECE, Gabriella Eggenhofer. To my immediate right is Dana Heide, associate deputy minister. To my far right is Marissa Martin, director of finance and capital planning within ECE. Mahsi.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Ms. Martin, Mr. Heide and Ms. Eggenhofer, welcome back. Committee, we last left off on activity summary 10-17. A number of Members have gone through what I call their first rounds of questioning. Next on my list on this activity page, activity summary, Education, Culture and Employment, operations expenditure summary, I have Mr. Moses, followed by Mr. Blake. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m trying to get back into my frame of mind here. I know last night I was really eager to get into questions and comments, but since we left general comments yesterday I just want to open up with a couple of really quick remarks. With this department here, I know the Social Programs committee has had numerous dialogues on so many different topics that it’s really great to see where we are. I feel that all committee and Members really need to do is support and monitor and continue to keep the department accountable with all the work that has been going forward.
In the opening comments yesterday, the Minister did mention that this budget represents over a year of hard work, and committee was in the same room, so we’ve done a lot of hard work. I always recognize the hard work of committee and staff, but I just want to say I acknowledge and appreciate the hard work that the department and your staff has done over the past year, but ever since committee has really gotten into the details of these budgets.
With that said, the work on education renewal, early childhood development, the collaborative work with mental health and addictions and anti-poverty, what wasn’t said in the opening comments yesterday was the Aboriginal student achievements and updates on where we can move on this. Not a big deal, but I know we’re working on bigger things.
The first area I’m going to go on to is early childhood development. There were a lot of good questions discussed yesterday. We didn’t get into wraparound services. We tried passing a motion on the daycares, and there was mention of junior kindergarten and some concerns with that. What we’ve been hearing is that it is a three-year process and our first target is getting into the small communities that really need that.
Maybe I can just make some references to this action plan here. You have in here… I had all these stats yesterday. I can’t find them. But you have them here, numerous areas of action. I know the action plan is between the Department of Health and Social Services and Education, Culture and Employment. Are these areas of action in priority from one to the very last one is 22? Are they areas of action and you’re going to go one and continue down the line, or are you just taking actions where and when you can address them? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. We’ve been working closely with Health and Social Services on this. It’s not necessarily itemized by priority. We have to tackle each and every one of the recommendations that are brought to our attention. Between the two departments, we’ll be rolling out the programming, the implementation. Number one would be at the top but we might have to deal with, say, number 18, type of deal. We have to deal with those matters at hand. The Member is asking if it’s a priority; it hasn’t really been set as a priority from one to 22, it’s just the way it’s laid out. Mahsi.
I know the collaboration between the departments of Health and Education Culture and Employment, and in the opening remarks it mentions that there is $511,000 for wage top-up and training to increase the program staff for licenced child care centres.
That got me thinking. I did have some discussions with an early childhood development specialist whose husband works up in Inuvik. We got to talking about these new initiatives and early childhood, and she mentioned that we need to have a specialist that can certify all these early childhood workers and currently we don’t have that. I want to ask the Minister, how are we going to certify our early childhood workers moving forward so that they are licenced? Maybe I’ll just ask the Minister that question. How are we going to licence our early childhood daycare providers, whether it’s in a home, a daycare facility, junior kindergarten or any of those areas? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
