That’s not something we’re prepared to commit to at this point. We need to have further discussions with the different organizations that have expressed concern over our investment in the area of youth. We need to look at all the sources of revenue that we have and also to have the opportunity to discuss this with the Regular Members. We haven’t really gotten to that point yet. I’d like to do that before we enter into the business planning process.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m talking about the actual thought of a whole bunch of individuals working in this area in the communities, working for the department. I don’t think that has been contemplated, so I would like to ask the Minister if he’s committed to working with a committee of MLAs or some of the communities to develop a long-term solution to seriously look at the issue of actually having youth staff working for the department at the community level. Of course, that would be during the next business process.
Mr. Speaker, we just went through a departmental reduction that has in fact just come into play. We don’t have any funding from within to hire. If I understand the question correctly, it’s to hire staff and it sounds like right away. We don’t have those resources. We’d be reluctant to hire without the proper discussion and without being able to come forward and have that developed into the business planning process.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke yesterday about homelessness and about the need for us to address it across the Territories. I was pleased to hear the Minister indicate yesterday that the social programs Ministers will be meeting to discuss options with regards to housing for the homeless. It’s recognized that having a continuum of housing is part of the solution to homelessness. My question for the Minister responsible for the homeless is whether these discussions, which are going to be held over the next weeks and months, will consider expanding the continuum of housing within the Northwest Territories to help address homelessness.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister responsible for the area for homelessness works with the other departments that actually deliver the services themselves. He committed to working with those social programs Ministers in getting the information and ensures that he continues to work on that path as they sit down and put this together.
I thank Mr. Roland for answering the question. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for homelessness: in recognizing that there is a continuum of housing needs — from people who have absolutely no home to people who are transitioning from no home to be able to go to work to people who need a place while they do work until they can afford enough money to rent their own home, and so on — whether or not that continuum of housing is part of the discussions that the social programs Ministers will be having.
Mr. Speaker, I will have to defer that to the Minister responsible for homelessness, as he’d have that detail.
Thank you, Hon. Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the homeless, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, that will be a part of the discussions we’ll be having with our social envelope of the Ministers that we will be gathering this next couple of weeks. That has been part of our discussion when we’re dealing with homelessness, since we’re in a process of opening the new Bailey House. We did meet with the group on the female facility they proposed for years down the road. There have been some discussions in that area. Certainly, that will be one of the discussions we’ll be having as part of the program within our social envelope.
I’m pleased to hear that they’re discussing a female facility. But I need to point out that homelessness…. I’m not speaking about homelessness just from a Yellowknife point of view but from a territorial point of view. It’s a problem in all of our communities. I’d like to ask whether or not the issue of homelessness and reducing the number of homeless people that we have in our communities is going to be a priority for these social program Ministers in our ’09–10 budget?
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I think it is one of the focuses of the GNWT, where we need to develop programs and services for those homeless who are out there. We currently do have programs among our resources. If we need to increase in that area, we need to work with the communities. We have contribution agreements with the communities, whether they be with First Nations or organizations in communities, to deal with the homelessness.
Certainly, any input from the Member or the Members will be very helpful for our discussions with the social envelope Ministers to move forward.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister. It’s nice to hear that it’s important to the government. I guess my next question would be: if it is that important, if it’s going to be a priority, will the Minister be assigning more financial resources and human resources than we currently have to this problem?
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As I said, we do provide financial resources, and we will continue to do so. If we do need to improve in these areas, whether it be the program or services, I will certainly be discussing that with my other two colleagues in housing and also Health and Social Services; and I’ll be working with the Members, of course, on how we can improve in these areas, financially and in resources as well.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my Member’s statement today, I’m concerned about children with autism and the service levels that are what I and the parents in the city would describe as non-existent. There are services provided by service agencies, but they’re not specific to autism treatment. My question to the Minister of Health and Social Services is: what is the policy and framework that the Department of Health and Social Services operates under specific to autism? What exists in place today?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. I’m thinking that, in the interest of mutual respect and decency that we’re supposed to treat each other with in this House, perhaps someday the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre will make a statement about all the requests that my office does respond to and the constituents that we help him with. I know we have done some good, because I have had his constituents personally thanking me.
On that note, I’ll take the Member’s question on notice.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement to the Minister of Transportation. Recently I was flying over the communities of Nahanni Butte and Jean Marie, and I noticed there were no runway lights there. I’d just like to ask the Minister: is purchasing of these lights or fixing them up being planned for this fiscal year?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, no.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
I’d like to thank the Minister for the brevity of that answer and his efficiency there. I thought in the budget cycle previous to this there was a line item specifically referring to repairs to runway lights in Jean Marie and even in Nahanni Butte, I believe. I’d like to ask the Minister if there are plans this coming year to at least assess them and evaluate the repairs to those lights.
Mr. Speaker, in the department’s O&M plans and forecasts starting in ’09–10, we’re looking at improving the safety of the Nahanni Butte runway in terms of improvements to that runway. In Jean Marie we had to do some brushing in September of last year. There used to be lights in Jean Marie. However, on two occasions those runway lights were damaged. The department has indicated that they could look at putting some cones there. These runways are used by the charter companies.
There are other options that we’re looking at for Nahanni and Jean Marie in terms of emergency lighting on the runways during the dark seasons. In Nahanni Butte we are looking at some engineering work and ways we could improve our safety on the runway issues.
I will have to go back to the department and see specifically if there were plans in terms of runways to be put in at that airport. However, there hasn’t been any indication as to Jean Marie River airport getting runway lights.
I’d like to thank the Minister for a much better answer. The intent of question period is not to get the short answers. I didn’t like the tone of that. The intent is to inform me and the public and our communities that the government is here to provide services for our communities. Safety is one of them. Once again, I’d like to tell the Minister that my communities feel that not having these runway lights installed is a safety issue, and I’d like him to do something about it.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. I didn’t hear a question there. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is also to the Minister of Transportation. It’s in regard to the issue that there was a motion passed in this House concerning roads to access sources in Tuk and Aklavik. The constituents of Aklavik have been calling me and wondering why it is that there’s a million dollars earmarked for Tuk but zero dollars for Aklavik. I’d just like to ask the Minister: what exactly is the process that has to be followed to ensure the residents of Aklavik will see an access road to their gravel source?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Yakeleya.
I want to assure the members of Aklavik and also the MLA for Mackenzie Delta that, through the discussions and exchange with the Premier and myself, we are committed to going into Aklavik to look at the access road and at what it will cost us. We have our numbers; Aklavik will have their numbers. We’ll look at a partnership arrangement and see where we go from there.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Mr. Speaker, the residents of Aklavik want some assurances that they will get a road at some point. It’s been 30 years in the works, and it continues to proceed. The residents in other communities were able to receive budget allocations through this process, yet in Aklavik they weren’t. I’d like to ask the Minister if he has any resources that will be earmarked for the community of Aklavik to develop that plan or proposal so that he can also forward a similar proposal to Ottawa by way of the Building Canada Fund.
The department is definitely committed. The Premier has stated his commitment. We need to get into Aklavik and show our commitment as other communities have shown theirs. We certainly want to sit down with Aklavik. We want to look at the best way to approach this access road to the people of Aklavik and start working on it. We need to get there and look at the final numbers and sit down and get to work.
As I’ve mentioned, this has been in the process for 30 years. We’ve heard of commitments before.
I’d like to ask the Minister if he would put this commitment in writing so I can post it in Aklavik, where the residents can see it.
I’d like to ask the Minister if he can also commit to me a date and time for the meeting in Aklavik. We were looking at July, somewhere in the second week. Does he have a date nailed down for the residents of Aklavik that will allow us, by way of having a public meeting, to discuss this issue publicly? Does the Minister have a date at hand for a public meeting?
I’m certainly looking forward to going to Aklavik sometime, but I need to sit down with my colleagues and Mr. Bowden to see about talking to and arranging a meeting with the people in Aklavik and to sit down with the MLA in terms of coordinating the dates. I’m hoping to go to Aklavik and have this very important meeting sometime in the next couple of months. Of course, that means coordinating all our schedules to get into Aklavik.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier this afternoon. The GNWT went out to RFP for a liquor retail contract in Hay River. The contract was awarded. The liquor store would move from the downtown to the industrial area, as per the contract. The development permit for the new location that was granted by the town was appealed. Opponents to the change of location, for various reasons that I won’t go into, appealed to the courts. This matter has been in limbo for more than a year. I’d like to ask the Premier, as the grantor of the contract for the liquor retail services in the Northwest Territories, if he is aware of this situation in Hay River.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. I’m not sure if that issue is still before the courts. I’ll allow the Premier to answer. Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That case has had some controversy in the community of Hay River when it comes to the community development permit process. An RFP was issued. The decision was made by the Government of the Northwest Territories. Since then, because of the issues that have arisen there, it’s been extended. The existing operation contract has been extended, but we are coming to a point where we’re going to have to review other options that are available to us if there’s no settlement in that community.
It is an issue: a big issue. It can become a big issue in a small town. It seems that most of the angst is around the whole issue of the location of the liquor store. Again, as the grantor of the contract does the Premier feel that there is any influence he could bring to bear to resolve this too long outstanding issue?
