Debates of June 1, 2006 (day 3)

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Krutko.

Further Return To Question 19-15(5): Costs Of Novel Housing Project

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the difference is the affordable housing will deliver 530 units, not 530 houses. Novel will deliver 830 houses. That is the difference. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Supplementary To Question 19-15(5): Costs Of Novel Housing Project

Mr. Speaker, I believe the difference is that we are paying for the premium to buy the cleanup of the yard for $28 million. We are paying project management costs in $20 million that we are not under the Affordable Housing Strategy. We are spending $21 million on financing and contingency. We are paying way extra under Novel than buying brand new manufactured homes or any other home. I would suggest to the Minister that he does his homework over again and this project is way far away from being done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I highlighted earlier in my Member’s statement, the seriousness of an issue we are faced with in Behchoko on the discrepancies on public unit rent scale. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. David Krutko. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of the Housing Corporation advise this Assembly the amount of outstanding rent payments that have been accumulated over the years in Behchoko? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Return To Question 20-15(5): Outstanding Rent Payments In Behchoko

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don’t have that information in front of me, so I will have to get back to the Member with that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 20-15(5): Outstanding Rent Payments In Behchoko

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my next question leads to what has the corporation done to remedy the situation that we were faced with in the past and also currently? What is the department doing now to deal with the long-outstanding arrears in the community of Behchoko? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Krutko.

Further Return To Question 20-15(5): Outstanding Rent Payments In Behchoko

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regards to the collection of rent, we all know it is a problem in most of our communities, but especially in Behchoko we had a problem over the last number of years where we had a contract that was out where very little collections were done. There was a mandate given to our housing authorities which they have to collect 90 percent of their income by way of collections. We are moving in that way. Some two years ago, the collection rate was somewhere in the range of nine percent. We are now in the process of being up to 75 percent. We have instructed our housing authorities to do a better job under collections. Because of that, we have been getting a lot of bad press in that area. Again, in order to operate our units in the communities, we have to generate revenues with the change of our mandate and the $30 million that was given to Education in regards to the rent supps that are out there that now they have to go to basically the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to recoup that income. We are doing a better job on collections. I know that people have concerns on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 20-15(5): Outstanding Rent Payments In Behchoko

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the corporation’s been mandated to look into collection of the arrears in Behchoko. At the same time, I am just wondering if the corporation was looking to investigate the discrepancies on the rent scales that have occurred and what they have come up with to address this situation where the client has been charged the wrong amount for rent. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Krutko.

Further Return To Question 20-15(5): Outstanding Rent Payments In Behchoko

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do allow the members to sit down with the people within the communities in regards to our housing authorities. If they have a discretion in regards to the amount that they are being paid, there is a process that they can go through in regards to working out a payment plan and also bringing in the verification on what their incomes were when that income was assessed. I think the problem that we are running into is because people work in the diamond industry and are moving in and out of the community where people are being hindered, especially our seniors, with seeing a major increase in their rent. Again, we are telling our authorities to sit down with each of the clients, go through exactly where the discretions are, come to an arrangement on what the amount is and work out a payment plan so that they are able to pay off the arrears over the period of time. As long as they agree to pay their rent along with a little more towards their arrears, we can work out those payment plans for these individuals. There is a process that they can go through to resolve this issue without being evicted. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Final supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 20-15(5): Outstanding Rent Payments In Behchoko

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in light of the 1,300 plus units and houses going through the North, the Tlicho community will certainly benefit from some of them. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister commit today in this Assembly to expedite, to initiate a joint task force with a representative from Behchoko general public, one from Rae Band board member and one from YK district office to investigate and re-evaluate the rental scales and reasons for outstanding rental arrears on the 80 plus public units in Behchoko? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Krutko.

Further Return To Question 20-15(5): Outstanding Rent Payments In Behchoko

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, we do have a different arrangement now by way of how we do our collections because of the subsidy going to Education. I think we also have included them. So I am open to sitting down with my colleague, Mr. Dent, and yourself to see if there is a process that we can use here and try to find an arrangement that we all can move forward with. I do believe that it is a process that is being phased in. I think people are having some problems understanding exactly the differences between what we are doing now in housing and what is under the responsibility of income support by way of the subsidy that has been transferred to them. Also, in regards to the arrears in the communities, we have to find ways there again. So I am open to working with the Member and my colleague, Mr. Dent, in trying to find a solution to this problem. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement was about the denial of what I would call natural justice. I have called into question a regulation that is in writing that our bureaucrats are following. Mr. Speaker, just because it is in writing, it doesn’t make it morally correct. Could the Minister of EC and E explain to this House today and the public that is listening about the fairness of the policy where, at no fault of the client, they have been denied their rightful support payments? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Return To Question 21-15(5): Denial Of Support Payments

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know specifically which policy the Member would be speaking of. I don’t believe that we have policies in place that are intended to harm our residents. I can say that while a regulation is in place, the Minister has no ability to overturn it, but a Minister can change a regulation. If regulations are brought to my attention that are causing problems with our residents or have unintended consequences, as soon as I am aware of that, I issue instructions that the regulations be reviewed and changed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Supplementary To Question 21-15(5): Denial Of Support Payments

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess there are a couple of ways I can approach this. The first option is to let him know that he got an e-mail from his constituent that I was sent to, as well, so I'm surprised he wouldn't know about the regulations, referring to that e-mail and this problem about the lack of retro pay. So that being said, maybe I can, as an olive branch approach, maybe we can take the Minister up on his offer. I'll bring the matter to his office if he's willing today to look into it further and deal with this problem. That will be all. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions again today are for the Honourable Floyd Roland, Minister responsible for the public service in the Northwest Territories. I guess I'll start off by just saying numbers do not lie. If you looked around the country and his Human Resources department went out and did a comparison of rates of persons with disabilities that are employed in various public services across this country, the Northwest Territories would rank absolutely at the bottom of that list, Mr. Speaker, and I think that is an absolute shame. I'd like to ask the Minister exactly, and he is the Minister for Human Resources, also the Minister for FMBS, and I'd like to ask him, given the size of our public service relative to our population, it's huge. It's 4,200 employees, 42,000 residents, 13 percent of our population have a disability. Why is it that the Minister who's responsible for FMBS and Human Resources does not have one single person with a disability working in his two departments? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Honourable Minister responsible for FMBS, Mr. Roland.

Disability. He's got a disability himself.

Return To Question 22-15(5): Under-representation Of Disabled Persons In Government Workforce

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm aware that we do in fact, within HR, have an individual. In a number of departments we have individuals who are disabled. But I'm not going to stand here and highlight who, where and what position. We have individuals working with disabilities. The issue at hand is, as the Member stated, there are numbers and then there's statistics. He's used the fact that 13 percent of people are identified as disabled within the Northwest Territories. The question should more appropriately be, I guess, I look at it is how many of those are in the area of looking for work, how many are seniors, how many are younger individuals in the North? And then how many of them, the result, how many are applying for positions with the Government of the Northwest Territories?

As stated, we recognize, and the trend has been a long time, that we have not pulled the numbers up in regards to disabled individuals working for the Government of the Northwest Territories. I stated that we are reworking our policies around our hiring practices to bring it more into line around affirmative action and our hiring policies for the Government of the Northwest Territories, and I hope to have that paper to my Cabinet colleagues before the end of the summer, and then to the Members of this House for review before we get to the fall sitting. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 22-15(5): Under-representation Of Disabled Persons In Government Workforce

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, given the fact that now I have armed with some real numbers and statistics, I guess yesterday was a different story the Minister gave me, was the fact that in the Northwest Territories maybe people don't self identify disabilities. But in fact, in other jurisdictions across this country the self-identification process is at play. So I believe it's a fair comparison to compare the amount of disabled persons working for the Northwest Territories government with other jurisdictions; absolutely a fair comparison. I'd like to ask the Minister, aside from this employment equity policy paper that is somewhere in the Human Resources department and might see the light of day by the end of the year, when will he take some concrete and some sincere measures to improve these abysmal numbers that we have in employing persons with disabilities here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 22-15(5): Under-representation Of Disabled Persons In Government Workforce

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fact is, and we've agreed that there needs to be work done around our hiring practices within the Government of the Northwest Territories. We've committed to doing that and bringing a paper forward for this Assembly to review, the Members and our government, to improve on a number of areas. As the Member's well aware, we've just done the human resources amalgamation, and getting those processes, our normal processes, in working order so that we can do an effective job with our staff today. We haven't had the opportunity to deal with these issues the Member's bringing up in a way that would show some positive results. So we are bringing that paper forward and we'll be reviewing it, and hopefully we can actually implement it before the end of our term and actually show that we are taking concrete steps to change the way our hiring practices are used. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 22-15(5): Under-representation Of Disabled Persons In Government Workforce

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Boy, am I ever looking forward to that paper coming to see the light of day and see the work that the $450,000 that went to an American company to study the human resources problems come to light. I'd like to see it and I'd like to see it soon, because again, Mr. Speaker, the majority of concerns I hear from constituents today come from pay and benefits and issues dealing with our Human Resources department. Bar none, it's the most. I'd like to again ask the Minister why he would continue to treat arguably the most disadvantaged and underrepresented group, which they are, worse and more suspiciously than other groups that are currently in the affirmative action policy that the government trumpets every day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 22-15(5): Under-representation Of Disabled Persons In Government Workforce

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member says I treat disabled people differently than I do other individuals, or the government treats them differently. The fact is when we put a job description or a competition out there, we have criteria for those jobs. Those people that apply can identify whether they fall under our affirmative action policy if they have criteria that we have to take into consideration as we fill those positions. Ultimately, though, Mr. Speaker, it's going to be the qualifications of the individual that will apply to whether they get that job or not. We're not going to fill positions just on a percentage basis because that target is there. We need to put people in place that can do the job. I don't personally treat those individuals differently than I would any other individual. It's circumstance by circumstance, competition by competition, and we are working to try to improve that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 22-15(5): Under-representation Of Disabled Persons In Government Workforce

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do take issue with what the Minister is saying because the affirmative action policy and direct appointments fly right in the face of what the Minister just said, because appointments are made and this government has made many of them that really don't have much merit. You can go and talk to a lot of different people and they'll tell you the exact same thing. The Minister said yesterday in the House that affirmative action didn't come into play with direct appointments. I beg to differ. They're trying to get the numbers up in one category and ignoring another category, and that's exactly what's happening, Mr. Speaker. So I'd like to ask the Minister, perhaps I'd like from the Minister a definition of how direct appointments are used and why direct appointments are used only when they deem them necessary to use them. They're not used for persons with disabilities, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. There's two questions there. The Minister may answer one or both.

Further Return To Question 22-15(5): Under-representation Of Disabled Persons In Government Workforce

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member has an amazing ability to be able to rewrite what's been said in this House, or responses. Yesterday, in response to his questions, I stated quite clearly that as direct appointments, a tool that we do have available to us, they're outside of the affirmative action policy. But the affirmative action policy is used in the ranking of a decision that is made. It is a tool. Direct appointments are a tool that we have and the government has, as past governments have, made priorities of people we will hire within the government: graduates from our Nursing Program, Social Work Program, Teacher Education Program, and those that do interns with the government where we've invested money in them. It makes sense to keep them in the system instead of going out and retraining somebody further to that. So that's the areas that we would use that in, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services, the Honourable Michael Miltenberger. I will keep my questions short and concise, Mr. Speaker, today, with your admonition to do so. Mr. Speaker, I also fly back and forth between Hay River and Yellowknife a lot, and I have a person from Hay River who I see in the airport almost every time I travel. This is a person who has to travel to Yellowknife three times a week for dialysis treatment at Stanton Hospital. I would like to ask the Minister where are dialysis services available in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Return To Question 23-15(5): Availability Of Dialysis Services In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We currently have dialysis services available in Yellowknife. In Fort Smith we have arrangements as well with the Capital Health Authority in Edmonton. We are in the planning process for having those services available in the community of Hay River, which we anticipate will be up and operational by the end of October or early November. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 23-15(5): Availability Of Dialysis Services In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to know if the Minister knows how many people in Hay River are in need of dialysis services and will those services in Hay River that he speaks of serve Hay River only or the region? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Two questions there, you can answer one or both. Mr. Miltenberger

Further Return To Question 23-15(5): Availability Of Dialysis Services In The NWT