Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Transportation looks after and is responsible for the highway system in the Northwest Territories. He is responsible. This Cabinet is responsible for addressing the issues of the Members as they are raised in this House. Specifically, the highway issue and the highway inventory will be addressed by the Minister of Transportation as he comes forward with the business plan for the coming year. As we resolve and finalize and move forward with the borrowing limit issue, it will give us the capacity to address this particular circumstance. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would just like to ask the Finance Minister to continue highlighting it at the Cabinet table, because every year for the last nine years, investment expenditure has been done in the late fall when it is rainy season and nothing can be done and projects continue to collapse. My concern is that I cannot wait until the new capital and new budget to be discussed in June during prime construction season. Something has to be done now. I would like to ask the Finance Minister to commit to look after the needs of my constituents and our highway system. Thank you.
That commitment stands for the Member in his constituency as well as all the other Members opposite. We will and are going to do the best job possible with the resources available. We are going to look at making strategic investments. When the Minister of Transportation is back from his travels, he will be able to speak to great detail about the Member’s concerns whether from a broad government point of view. This issue very clearly is on our to-do list, our priority list should extra funds become available, which we anticipate they will in the coming months. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Housing. Today we heard some questions regarding the alcohol and drug issue that we continue to see and face in the Northwest Territories. Meanwhile we also have a housing issue. I would like to put the two together and talk about how we can address that and try to deal with both problems. That is going to the root cause of where the drugs are coming from, why people are in the situation they are. I would like to ask the Minister of Housing what is the policy regarding tenants who are accessing housing programs in our small communities, or even in our larger centres that are also engaging in illegal activities such as bootlegging and selling of drugs to people of the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We don’t condone any kind of illegal activities in our public housing units. Especially the LHOs usually have a zero tolerance policy. If someone is convicted of illegal activity in their unit, then their residency will be terminated. Thank you.
Thank you. I’d like to ask the Minister, are there any different sizes of penalties depending on the infractions that are put forth by the tenant whether it’s bootlegging, selling of hard drugs or recreational drugs, even such things as gambling? Is there any difference in terms of the penalties that these tenants would be enforced with? Thank you.
Thank you. This would apply to all criminal activity that takes place in the unit or that they’re charged for and convicted. So it would apply to all. There’s no different sized penalty for different convictions. Thank you.
Thank you. I really commend the work that Housing has been doing on this situation and hope that they do have a plan where we can start looking at tenants who are abusing this program. It’s still contributing to our social problems by feeding these addictions to the people of the Northwest Territories. In regard to tenants being evicted, would the same enforcement be put on all tenants of the dwelling or all people on the leasing agreement? Can the Minister please confirm who would all be infracted with this penalty? Thank you.
Thank you. That is one of the downsides of this and sometimes there’s unintended fallout from the leaseholder being convicted of any illegal activity, and that would apply to the members because they’re the main person on the lease, their residency would be terminated. Unfortunately, some of those caught in the crossfire are those that really have nothing to do with the activity, but because they’re residents of the unit, they would be looking for another place to stay. It’s unfortunate that it has to come to this and we do our best to try and make sure that all the tenants are housed adequately, but if there is criminal activity going on, unfortunately there’s some unintended fallout and there’s some innocent victims to all of this and it’s usually the children. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again I really enjoy hearing what the Minister has to say about making sure that people who are selling to our people actually are evicted, and that should cut down on our problems with the selling of alcohol and drugs to our people. Has the Minister done any work from the housing side of things with the Minister of Justice or RCMP division to find out who these people might be in our communities? Has there been any communication? Thank you.
Thank you. I don’t think we need to work with the RCMP or anybody to know who these people in the communities are. Every community knows who in the community are carrying out illegal activities. Unfortunately, some of them are tenants of public housing, but you can’t evict them even though the Residential Tenancy Act allows you to possibly evict them on assumption. The LHOs normally wait until they are convicted. But every community knows who these folks are and until we can get them convicted, unfortunately there’s not much we can do, as much as we would like to have them no longer tenants and carrying out illegal activities from subsidized public housing units. So we’ll have to continue to work diligently on that and make sure that we send a clear message out there that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated within the public Housing Corporation. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are following up on my Member’s statement today and they’re directed to the Minister of Justice. So my first question is: In some of our earliest briefings as the 17th Assembly, we were alerted to the work that the Department of Justice was doing to really list the anticipated costs of the proposed Omnibus Bill C-10, Government of Canada. So I’m looking to the Minister of Justice to find out what those costs are. When will he be bringing that to committee, or is it ready now? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re working on that right now. We’re very interested to actually identify what those costs are and break them down so that they’re reasonable. Some of the costs are easier to identify. The cost of facilities is certainly an easier cost to come up with, but when it actually comes down to how much it’s going to cost for legal aid and how much it’s going to cost for court time, or even how much it’s going to cost in the facilities itself, because we actually have to do an analysis of the actual cases that have gone through the system and try and figure out how the new act is going to affect it. So we’re working on it. I’ll commit to getting something to the Minister in the next two months on those costs. I’m interested in seeing them as much as the Member. Thank you.
Thanks for the response from the Minister. Obviously we’d need these costs now if we’re going to use them in leveraging further assistance and working with other jurisdictions. Obviously other jurisdictions are not waiting until they have dotted all the i’s and crossed the t’s. By then it will be too late, this legislation will be in place and we’ll be faced with the immediate ramifications. So what is the Minister doing to use what information we do have and work with other jurisdictions, especially northern jurisdictions, who clearly recognize the costs that are accruing as a result of this legislation? What does he see is the time frame here? Thank you.
Thank you. The department in no way shape or form is waiting for these costs to start doing some work. We recognize that some work needs to be done. The government is focused on trying to find ways to keep people out of the justice system completely. We want to focus on alternatives and diversions. One of the things that we’re doing is we’re talking to other jurisdictions about the types of courts they have put in place, such as mental health courts, such as alcohol treatment courts or addictions courts. Those are things that we need to explore as a way to divert people out of the justice system completely. We’re also looking at working with the Minister of Health and Social Services, who is focused on doing some prevention here in the Northwest Territories. We all know that alcohol is one of the driving factors of crime in the Northwest Territories and we need to start addressing that. So we are working that.
With respect to courts here in the Northwest Territories, we have pulled together a working group of departments – Justice, Education, Culture and Employment, Health and Social Services and MACA – to start going through options that are available to us, such as the diversion courts and collaborative practice working together with the departments. So there are things that we’re doing. We recognize the areas that we need to work on and we’re starting to make some progress in that direction. We will obviously keep committee informed as we continue. Thank you.
Thank you. The Minister jumped ahead to some of my other questions here. My question had been what is the Minister doing to work with other jurisdictions, particularly northern jurisdictions to ramp up the effort to get assistance from the federal government on the impacts that we know are going to accrue, although we haven’t dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s yet? So perhaps before I can go on to the subject that the Minister raised here, also an important one, perhaps he could answer that question. Thank you.
Thank you. I recently attended the F/T/P meetings in PEI with the Ministers of Justice and I did have an opportunity to sit down with the other two Ministers from the other two provinces and we had the same issues and concerns about Bill C-10. We’re all being affected slightly different because of different realities. Nunavut’s got a bigger problem because they actually have no capacity in their jails whereas here in the Northwest Territories we do have capacity and the Yukon just built a new facility, but the impacts of the bill are going to be the same in many ways. So we have agreed to work together. We are going to be meeting as Ministers on a regular basis and having our staff work together on similar issues across the three territories so that when we approach Ottawa we can approach it as a united front rather than three unique individuals. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to say that’s news to me and that’s certainly not what I hear from the corrections folks and the constituents that I deal with, that we have room in our jails, but I’m glad to hear that. Perhaps I could ask the Minister to provide that information to committee.
I just want to follow up now on the preventative side. I’ve been hearing for a long time what the Minister has said. We’re working on that. Now I’m looking for some real substance. I heard the Minister say a couple of months from now. I guess that means we have to wait another couple months, but let’s make sure we hit that target. Perhaps my last question is just some information so I have the right perspective on timing here. When do we anticipate that the Bill C-10 omnibus bill would be implemented, and perhaps it’s a staged thing given the size of the bill?
The two-month commitment was on the costing. I’d like to see that costing information as much as the Member and I’m committed to getting that information out. It is taking longer than I’d like, but it does take a little bit of time to do the level of analysis required.
As I’ve indicated, that doesn’t stop us from doing the work. We have pulled together a committee to begin the work on alternatives and diversions, and it’s not just in the courts. We’d like to divert people before they even enter the justice system. That includes working with the RCMP. I’ve had a number of discussions with the superintendent here in the Northwest Territories about how we can work with the RCMP to divert right at the front lines. There are things getting done and I will update committee on the work of the working committee as it’s going.
With respect to when the bill is going to be implemented, that was one of the questions that came up. All the jurisdictions in this country are asking for time and at the meeting with the federal, provincial and territorial Ministers, the federal Minister did indicate that the rollout of this bill would be over time, that they are recognizing some of the challenges that we’re facing and they’re going to roll out the nine different pieces of legislation at different times. Unfortunately, I don’t know what the timing for the criminal components or the youth components are going to be, but when I know I will let the Member and committee know for sure.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk to the Minister of Finance on the liquor restriction that the Town of Norman Wells had a vote and it was lifted. It’s in effect. I want to ask the Minister if he’s willing to look at the regional approach to deal with opening this piece of legislation so that the communities within the Sahtu can have a say into the operations of the Norman Wells liquor store through the Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m aware of the Member’s concerns and some of the folks in his constituency. The issue of the Liquor Act and changing it away from a law of general application to one of regional application is one that I am prepared to look at as Minister to see what’s possible. I’m prepared to sit down with the Member if he wants to have discussions or he wants to put his fingers to the keyboard and lay out the very specific question that he may be contemplating. We would, of course, give it our full attention.
Maybe I could make some music here if I put my fingers to the keyboard on this piece of legislation. I want to ask the Minister when we have some discussions to look at the existing Liquor Act and looking at the regional approach to the Sahtu, that the Minister can also look at ways that this legislation will then allow the regional people to have another say at this recent plebiscite.
If we’re going to in fact make music together, we’ll have to ensure that it’s not a sad song, because I understand from the questions in the House yesterday that the Member has a broken heart as a result of devolution, so we’ll have to be very careful what kind of music we make. As I’ve indicated, I’m more than willing to sit down with the Member and talk the specifics.
I want to ask the Minister, if he’s good with lyrics maybe he could write the song “How Do You Mend a Broken Heart.” I want to ask the Minister, in his estimation, working with this Cabinet on this existing liquor law, can we look at something maybe by, for example, the May/June session that we could look at contemplating a new Liquor Act that would seek the support of the Members, of course, and also for the Sahtu communities.
The cure for the broken heart the Member is referring to, of course, is to sign the Devolution Agreement, and the authorities and money will flow and he’ll feel much better.
In terms of his specific request on the Liquor Act, the Member is very well aware that the average timeline is about two years for amendments, but before we even get to that point we have to have the fundamental discussion about laws of general application and can we make laws of that nature in the Liquor Act. Can we tailor them region by region when people have broad rights that they have given to them under the Canadian Charter and Canadian Constitution. We will have that initial discussion and then we will see where that takes us.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think my song on the devolution is “A Long and Winding Road.” I want to ask the Finance Minister when we look at a piece of legislation like that, can he work with his colleagues to look at types of support that the people have expressed through the Sahtu leadership meeting on programs, such as the Minister of Health and Social Services has conveyed to my people when we did our tour, and get people back on the land to do the spiritual healing?
The Member is in the legislative legends with his song “If I Had a Million Dollars” and if you sign the deal with devolution, you’ll have over $300 million, so I think you should just keep that one in mind as he’s making music.
We will have the discussion about the legislation, the issue about the programs that are best held with the Minister of Health and Social Services. There’s been a democratic vote that’s been taken, a decision has been made by the voters in Norman Wells, and we have acted upon that as we are required to do and obligated to do under our democratic system. If we want to change that particular system, then we have to have that very fundamental discussion that we’ve talked about earlier today.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s speech, we had the honour of having a birth in Hay River recently and it is an honour because it rarely happens. My question is to the Minister of Health about the Midwifery Program and the review that is currently under review, where it currently sits.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
The review and expansion analysis of the Midwifery Program was scheduled to be done this month. It’s about three weeks behind and I’m expecting that the program and the review will be done very soon.
My next question for the Minister is: Is the review being done for all communities in the Northwest Territories? Is it regionally focused or Yellowknife focused? Where is the focus?
Although we only had midwifery services in Fort Smith and Yellowknife, this is an NWT midwifery review.
I guess my question to the Minister would be: How do we get our communities on the review and on the radar to have this type of program available to them?
This is a good start, the Member bringing this to the floor of the Legislative Assembly. I’m very pleased to hear that Hay River is interested in the Midwifery Program. We will have to partner with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority to review the request. Once the review is done we’re hoping that the program will expand. In a place like Fort Smith, in 2011 there were 24 babies born in Fort Smith with midwives and 26 more that were taken to birth and then were born in most likely Yellowknife, as we said, or elsewhere because of possible risk or mother’s choice.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
