Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to reply to the budget address. Again, we are at the end of a government which, basically, we had high hopes coming in here, especially with the priorities we set in the 16th Assembly, to look at things such as reducing the cost of living. I’d like to thank the government and Members of the House for putting the initiative in regard to the power rates across the Territory and reducing the cost of living in that area.
I think, again, that’s one thing that we’ve done as a government, but I think that we still have to realize that we have a Territory that has some real challenges in regard to our aging population. I think that we have to be realistic that our aging population will take up a large percentage of our dollars going forward and regardless if it is elders in my riding, in which I have some 170 elders over the age of 70 in my riding alone in the three communities I represent, they will need different care programs regardless if it is home care, respite care, palliative care, and more importantly, ensure that they can adequately live out their days on a limited income that they will derive from their pensions, because I believe that they will be greatly affected by the downturn of our economy. We see what is going on around the world with rising food prices. We are not immune to that. I think we have to be realistic when we start looking at the social side of what is happening elsewhere.
Mr. Speaker, one of the things we are working on was the area of anti-poverty in the Northwest Territories and trying to find ways to deal with poverty. Mr. Speaker, when we have communities with 45 percent unemployment and seasonal economies and the high cost of living, poverty is alive and well in the Northwest Territories and in a lot of our Aboriginal communities throughout the Northwest Territories and even here in Yellowknife.
Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that we as government take a close look at what is in the budget when we get down to detail. Having been here in the 13th Assembly and seeing what we were handed off, it makes me worried about this budget. We talk about looking at reducing our expenditures and that, for me, means we are reducing programs and services.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, we do have to look within ourselves and see exactly where those expenditures are made. For 43,000 people, realistically, are we delivering all the programs and services we would like to with 5,000 employees and expending over $350 million of our budget annually? Personally, I think we do have to take a close look at our delivery systems we have in the Northwest Territories and look at exactly how we can improve that. I know there has been a lot of talk about board reform, looking at reducing cost of living, but, again, I would like to state publicly that I think it is time we did seriously look at reducing administration overall costs of boards and agencies in the Northwest Territories and also look at the delivery systems we have on one department competing against another. That means deregulation, programs and services and focusing on exactly that we are not seeing conflicts between intentions in one department and being hindered by a policy decision in another. Again, I think we as government have to take a close look at exactly how those programs and services are delivered. Again, I think we cannot afford Cadillac programs for the sake of having programs. You can’t have one program in one place and not allow it to be delivered elsewhere. I use an example of the midwifery program out of Fort Smith. For me, I can’t get a nurse in Tsiigehtchic. There is no place in Tsiigehtchic but yet we are spending $185,000 for one position in Fort Smith. To me, that is not fair. I, for one, will raise that issue when it comes before the House.
We talk about safe communities. Mr. Speaker, our communities aren’t safe. Our communities are seeing the affects of the alcohol and drug problems that are working their ways into those communities that they know they don’t have policing. Tsiigehtchic is bombarded by people who basically know that they have liquor restrictions in Fort McPherson or elsewhere and know that there are no RCMP there, that they basically have their hands tied when it comes to resolving public safety and dealing with the matters that basically those activities bring. I think we as government have to do a better job on delivering on what we say we are going to deliver.
Mr. Speaker, I was totally appalled at the decision by the Department of Justice to reprofile the dollars that were supposed to go into community policing programs for small communities, and reprofiling those dollars to Behchoko and Inuvik. We are letting the communities down by simply saying, well, we did Sachs Harbour so that is good enough. For me, we made a commitment and we should follow up that commitment with those 10 communities in the Northwest Territories that do not have policing.
Mr. Speaker, I feel that we as government have to be realistic when we look at numbers. As I stated earlier, Mr. Speaker, we have in our communities 45 percent unemployment in McPherson, 38 percent unemployment in Aklavik and 38 percent unemployment in Tsiigehtchic. Those are the three communities I represent. The unemployment statistics just went up in Aklavik, with a layoff of 14 people from the Government of the Northwest Territories. People in our communities that are living in social housing on income support are living on less than $7,000 a year. That is pathetic.
I have had an opportunity with the Minister of Health to meet an individual who was medevaced to Edmonton, had surgery, came back to Aklavik and with the strict instructions from his doctor on specific diet that he is supposed to follow, and trying to purchase those items in the Northern Store did not even get him through the first two weeks. Then he applied for a program under disability, because he was basically having to use a walker, and being told, sorry, you have to wait four months. Well, excuse me. Four months is a little too long when you are disabled.
Mr. Speaker, I think we have to be realistic of the incomes that we are seeing in our communities. In a lot of our small communities, statistics have shown that Aboriginal incomes in the Northwest Territories averaged in the area of $18,000 a year, yet the non-Aboriginal incomes ranged to $50,000. We also see that in the public service in the Government of the Northwest Territories which, again, I think that we definitely do have to talk about reforming how people are being paid.
Mr. Speaker, in our public service annual report, it clearly states that P1 Aboriginal average income is $66,000 a year. Yet, Mr. Speaker, P3s from southern Canada have come north and take up these jobs and are making $81,000 a year. In regard to long-term Northerners in regards to P2, their average a year is $85,000. Mr. Speaker, no wonder we can’t attract Aboriginal people to our affirmative action programs in the Northwest Territories when other people are making $20,000 more than they are and yet you call this fair. I, for one, feel that this government has to seriously look at not only reforms but pay equity for all government employees in the Northwest Territories. Just because they live in the Northwest Territories, it doesn’t mean that you have to be told, sorry, you are worth less than people coming in from the South.
Mr. Speaker, an area that I had grave concerns about was in regards to the issue of the promotion program that we are spending $1.4 million on in regards to promoting the Northwest Territories through a national marketing campaign and raising awareness in southern Canada through those people to find jobs in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, we have people in the Northwest Territories having no choice but to leave the Northwest Territories to find jobs elsewhere. So what are we doing to ensure that those people stay in the Northwest Territories? Every time one of those individuals leave we are losing $22,000. If all the people left in Aklavik, in regards to the 14 positions, and move to Whitehorse to find a job in the Yukon, they will take $300,000 of transfer payments to the Yukon with them. I think, when we make these types of investments, we should first look within and do everything that we can to ensure that we are basically providing those jobs for Northerners first. We hounded the diamond companies, the oil companies in socio-economic agreements, but we are not even practising what we preach in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, in the area of reducing the cost of living, again, I think the electrical rates decision is a good one, but I think we have to take it a step further. We should set a goal for the Government of the Northwest Territories, regardless if it is 2020, and basically make our communities energy neutral in regards to green energy, regardless if it is biomass, geothermal, hydroelectricity, and that should be the goal of the government going forward.
Mr. Speaker, in my riding there is a major review that’s taking place of biomass for the community of Fort McPherson. The community of Tsiigehtchic is also interested and I feel that is an objective that should be reached in working with communities, and more importantly, reducing greenhouse gases throughout all of our communities in the Northwest Territories and allowing for these initiatives.
Mr. Speaker, in the report that the Minister made, he made reference to the whole area of adequate, suitable and affordable housing. I think we should also add another word to that: accessibility. We have a lot of empty units out there that people aren’t acquiring or occupying and yet we’re spending a lot of money on O and M for empty houses.
Mr. Speaker, I think as a government we have to do a better job of ensuring that we have sustainable communities and vibrant communities and look at those economic potentials that we have in the Northwest Territories, especially in the area of a renewable resource economy. We seem to put a lot of focus on the non-renewable resource economy, such as the diamond mines, the oil and gas sector, the mining industry, but we have a resource that’s plentiful in the Northwest Territories, regardless if it’s forestry, regardless if it’s trapping, fishing that takes place in our communities, and making use of the forest sector, making use of our renewable resource sector such as trapping that takes place, and refocus those programs so they really go to where they’re needed.
Right now we have a conflict between the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, the Take a Kid Trapping Program, Department of ITI in regard to the SEED program, then we’ve got the Department of Environment. Realistically, all they do is manage forests and basically look at training programs for trappers and whatnot. But again, I think that we have to re-profile those dollars and put it in the area where they should be expended in, such as the renewable resource area and the non-renewable sectors.
Mr. Speaker, I think it’s critical that we as government do a better job. In going through the report yesterday, all over the place we’re seeing the word support, ensure our consultation process is meaningful and effective and current. Especially in the area of consultation with Aboriginal governments in the areas of moving forward. Mr. Speaker, shouldn’t we have been doing that all along?
Mr. Speaker, again, I think it’s important that we do look at the programs we put in place, especially in the area of a Program Review Office. I had high hopes for this office, high hopes for the Ministers that sit on it, deputies, to find ways of re-evaluating our programs and services, get rid of the red tape, make them more accessible, and more importantly, improve the programs and services for the residents of the Northwest Territories. Again, Mr. Speaker, from the report that was given, it seemed like all that work and energy was put into an office building in Yellowknife. I think, Mr. Speaker, if that’s all they’re going to come up with, they should have maybe had a public process and allowed for public input so we can seriously hear from the people in the Northwest Territories on exactly how that program is going to be administered and delivered to meet the needs of the people in the Northwest Territories.
I noted in the presentation in regard to the Community Harvesters Program, again, I think that we have to do a better job of dealing with our local products that we produce in the North, regardless if it’s different food such as caribou, moose, fish, and also marketing the Northwest Territories in regard to traditional foods. Also ensuring that we have a market for them in the Northwest Territories.
We committed to reducing the cost of living in communities and in offering power rates to commercial users, such as the stores and whatnot. But, Mr. Speaker, I think that we have to ensure that we do follow-ups to ensure when they say that they are going to find ways of reducing the costs of goods and services in those stores so that it reflects our commitment to reduced power rates to those corporations and companies and also making sure that they’ve followed up on their commitment to really reduce the cost of living and the cost of goods in those stores, especially in the diesel communities.
I think it’s important to realize that we have to do a better job of inclusion and not exclusion of the residents of the Northwest Territories on whatever we’re doing as government. I think it’s important that we do set up a process. As I noted in the agreement, the government is now looking at developing consultative policy. You would think that should have been done a long time ago.
Mr. Speaker, we’ve heard a lot over the last number of years in this House, knowing that as all Members and individuals on this side of the House had theme days, we passed motions, we presented suggestions to the government of change to improve the housing needs of our residents, education, programs and services. Again, Mr. Speaker, I don’t really see a lot of those recommendations in this budget. I think it’s critical that whatever motions are passed in this House, that the government seriously take them into consideration when they’re developing a budget for the following year.
Mr. Speaker, I have to say that I am concerned with having a simple $7 million surplus next year knowing what we see going on around the world, regardless if it’s global warming, floods, the effects we’re seeing with the permafrost, and more importantly, forest fires is something that we have to be cognizant of. Mr. Speaker, we have some major, major projects that are still out there, such as the Deh Cho Bridge, the super school in Inuvik, and also all of the public infrastructure that the government has put in place. Mr. Speaker, with one bad fire at a school or a public facility, that will do away with the $7 million surplus. I feel that we as Members of this Legislature have to ensure that we do find ways of cutting the fat in the government and, more importantly, the bureaucracy that serves 43,000 people, but do it in a way that the public can see that they are getting a return on their investment. They see that the system is working and it’s not simply building an empire for the sake of spending public funds because they know they can do it within their departments, within their responsibility for their infrastructure.
So with that, Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank the Members and Ministers for listening. Hopefully they’ll take that into consideration and I look forward to moving forward. Thank you.
