Debates of June 6, 2006 (day 6)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In one of the supplementary bills that will be shortly before this House there will be some money from the previous commitments made by the former government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this spring Andrea Tsetta participated in the Youth Parliament and did a very good job representing Monfwi, I must say. Her statement was on a community break in Behchoko and her plea for bylaw officers to be established in the community. So, Mr. Speaker, I have some questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs regarding the need for bylaw officers in my communities.

Mr. Speaker, a lot of communities have complained that they are not being given enough funding to take care of everything that they are responsible for. How is the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs working with communities to make sure they are able to protect themselves and their property? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Return To Question 64-15(5): Need For Bylaw Officers In Tlicho Communities

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe we have seven bylaw officers in the various communities across the Northwest Territories. We just did an evaluation on the situation, whether they have been making a difference or are they being effective in terms of community protection, and most of the communities have responded very favourably. We are at the same time, through our New Deal initiative, doing an evaluation of our O and M money, the operations and maintenance money that’s provided to the communities for community governance. We’re also reviewing the water and sewer subsidy, along with the new formula that will be incorporated into the community allocation for community capital and also the gas tax. There are a number of initiatives that are currently being evaluated and we are looking at all the different responsibilities that are factored into the formula for community governance. That includes security and safety that bylaw officers would fall under. So that review will be taking place. We should have some firm answers by the fall. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 64-15(5): Need For Bylaw Officers In Tlicho Communities

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The bylaw officers in the communities are 19 bylaw officers. Mr. Speaker, when the Minister was a Regular Member sitting on our side in 2001, he was concerned about the same issue that I’m raising here today, Mr. Speaker. He encouraged the Department of MACA and Justice to work together to help communities with community enforcement. So I would like to ask the Minister if such initiatives exist today and what is the department doing with community governments to identify the community bylaw enforcement that’s needed in the communities? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 64-15(5): Need For Bylaw Officers In Tlicho Communities

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is asking a question that I raised a number of years ago. Mr. Speaker, we are reviewing how the communities are funded. The operations and maintenance for community governance is something that we are reviewing right now that allows communities to hire bylaw officers. I will have to confirm the number of bylaw officers we have out there. However, we are checking to see if this money is currently adequate for the communities and that’s something we won’t have answers on until sometime this fall, as I’ve indicated. I’m not able to confirm that any new monies will be coming to the communities at this point that will allow them to set their own priorities and if bylaw officers happen to be something that communities want to hire, that would be up to them. We do not have a program for bylaw officers right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 64-15(5): Need For Bylaw Officers In Tlicho Communities

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m glad to hear that MACA, Municipal and Community Affairs, is reviewing the issue of safety and security in the communities and possibly securing some additional funds for the communities that’s adequately needed in the communities. Mr. Speaker, when you look at the whole issue, Behchoko does not have a bylaw officer in the community or even in the three outlying communities of the Tlicho region. In fact, there are bylaw officers in Tsiigehtchic and Tulita, just as an example. So the question to the Minister is, has the Minister looked into sitting down with the department of community government of Behchoko to deal with this important issue that we’re faced with on a daily basis? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 64-15(5): Need For Bylaw Officers In Tlicho Communities

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it’s important to be very clear that MACA does not hire any bylaw officers. Bylaw officers are hired by the community governments, and that’s the case in the communities of Tsiigehtchic and Aklavik. The community of Behchoko decided that they no longer needed the service or could not afford the service. I’m not sure what the situation is. We are reviewing, again, the budgets for the communities and several communities have indicated that maybe the community government budgets are not sufficient anymore. We are looking at that. It would allow them to set their own priorities. If bylaw officers are something the communities want to hire, then that would be their decision. It’s not a decision of MACA. We are moving towards allowing all the decisions to be made by the community, including capital, and this is something that the communities…It would be up to them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 64-15(5): Need For Bylaw Officers In Tlicho Communities

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Minister for that answer, because the department is reviewing the budget and he stated that there’s some insufficient funds going to the communities. Actually that’s true for Behchoko. Behchoko is also in need of bylaw officers. It has been an issue this past year with the break and entering. So I’d like to ask the Minister if during the business planning process if that can be identified for Behchoko and the three outlying communities, that it’s necessary to have bylaw officers in the community. Although it’s block funded, but if they could work with the communities to identify that area. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 64-15(5): Need For Bylaw Officers In Tlicho Communities

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did not state that the communities were…the funding was insufficient. I stated that several communities have raised that issue. We are looking at reviewing the operation and maintenance funding for the communities, governance funding, and we can’t commit that we will identify bylaw officers as a specific initiative that needs to be funded outside of the block funding. We are moving towards more of a block funding, more giving the community more autonomy and letting them make their own decisions. If it does result in additional funding, that may allow more flexibility for communities to hire bylaw officers. That’s as far as I can commit to, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. At this time I’d like to recognize in the gallery Suzanne Pellerin from Hay River. Suzanne is doing lots of travelling these days back and forth. She’s doing French translation for the Department of Justice, actually.

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Anyone else in the gallery that wasn’t here when we did recognition of visitors in the gallery, welcome. It’s always nice to have an audience and I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question this afternoon is for Mr. Handley, the Premier, and they’re in connection with the motion that this Assembly passed last February, Mr. Speaker, on the northern residence income tax deduction. Mr. Speaker, in that motion we asked the Premier and the Finance Minister to get in touch with their counterparts in our sister territories, as well as in northern provinces and Ottawa, to gage their interest and their commitment in approaching Ottawa to increase the northern residence income tax deduction, Mr. Speaker; something that has not been addressed since 1991 and something that could, in a very significant way, make a big difference for everyone living in the North to address the high cost of living. Mr. Speaker, has the Premier been able to follow through on this request to make contact with their counterparts and what has the reaction been? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Return To Question 65-15(5): Northern Residence Income Tax Deduction

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The answer is yes, I have discussed this with my northern counterparts and with some of the provincial Premiers, and the Member is correct that this is a national program. It would mean having to make changes not just in the northern zone, but in what we call the intermediate zone, as well. Mr. Speaker, in looking at this with the Premiers from the Yukon and Nunavut, it was our decision to put this one on the back burner until we had made more progress through the expert panel on our territorial financing formula and also on resource revenue sharing. Mr. Speaker, the reason we did that is any increase or decrease, sorry, increase in the northern allowance residence deduction would also cost our government money. That was an issue not just to our territory, but the other territories. For example, if we raised it from the current $5,475 to $8,500 per year, that would mean over a $3 million loss for us. Collectively we determined that it was best to keep our eye on the ball on the resource revenue sharing and financing formula. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 65-15(5): Northern Residence Income Tax Deduction

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s a very useful answer. It gives me some indication that, you know, perhaps we should not be quite so literal, if you will, in saying, look, simply increase this deduction. There may be other ways that we can actually get Canada to recognize there’s a higher cost of living here, but also that there may be other ways of achieving that end objective. I’m wondering, you know, where the Premier said this has been put on the back burner, is it still on the radar screen though? Is this still something that there is a collective will to do something with, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 65-15(5): Northern Residence Income Tax Deduction

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, this is still on the radar screen. It’s still something we want to consider. But we need to determine what our fiscal situation will be as a government first through the financing formula and also through resource revenue sharing. Mr. Speaker, other jurisdictions, and we have looked across North America, in fact, I have, what other jurisdictions are doing to reduce the cost of living. Some Members have mentioned to me that in Alaska, for example, there is no Alaska income tax. There’s federal income tax, but no Alaska income tax, and that’s true in some other jurisdictions in the United States.

Mr. Speaker, our objective still has to be to lower the cost of living for northern residents, but we have to do it in a way that’s affordable for us. I think the important piece is that we know what our revenue stream is going to be, and I’m sure the Minister of Finance can speak quite eloquently on this issue for us of how we balance our revenue, our loss of revenue, people’s cost of living and so on. But, Mr. Speaker, in summary, yes, this is very much on the radar screen and one that we do want to look at because we realize that if we do not lower the cost of living, it makes it difficult for people to live here or to attract new people to come live here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 65-15(5): Northern Residence Income Tax Deduction

You know, Mr. Speaker, we can see this on the back burner for a long time. Mr. Roland told us earlier today of his optimistic reaction to the expert panel on financing. I share that optimism. But there are so many other initiatives that are going to take their time to sort of grind out through the system. Mr. Speaker, I think as one of the Members who is involved in this motion -- I moved this motion last February -- I’d like to press the Premier to see if he could have a look at this again, speak with his northern counterparts, and see if we could put some kind of a time frame on advancing this. I’m not expecting instant results, but if we could maybe put something within the next 12 to 24 months that would give us all a gage to measuring our progress. Would the Minister consider going back to set up an actual plan for this, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 65-15(5): Northern Residence Income Tax Deduction

Mr. Speaker, I am meeting on at least three occasions with the other Premiers across Canada over the next three months or so. During that time I will raise this one again, but I must say that we have talked about it and we do want to move aggressively in getting the federal government to respond to the expert panel reports that have been out and ask them to deal with that quickly. We are looking at trying to resolve that one by this fall and hopefully then have a better idea of what kind of breaks we can afford to give to our residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Honourable Charles Dent, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. It’s regarding the public housing rental subsidy, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one particular community in my region is having some difficulty in terms of the understanding of this new rental subsidy and it’s causing quite a chaos, havoc for some people. Actually, they’re actually thinking about moving out of these houses. I want to ask the Minister, Minister Dent, if there’s any way that his department can go into Fort Good Hope and talk to people on this rental house subsidy because it’s causing some concern for a number of families there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Return To Question 66-15(5): Rental Subsidy Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I’d be happy to arrange to have people from the regional office visit the community at a convenient time for both them and the community to have a public discussion about public housing subsidies.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 66-15(5): Rental Subsidy Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister then inform the House and the people in Fort Good Hope that some time within the next couple days, I guess, that’s what they’re looking for in terms of having them come in. There are some people that are crying foul here in terms of how this program is being administered. The rent increases have increased in their homes and families are prepared, they’re packing their bags and ready to move out. So can the Minister go in there as soon as possible and explain to the people on this new change in the housing subsidy? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 66-15(5): Rental Subsidy Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be in touch with the department immediately to see how quickly we can arrange that. I can’t promise within the next two days, but we will ensure that it happens as quickly as possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 66-15(5): Rental Subsidy Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister’s response and I think that’s what the people in Good Hope want to know, is that the department will bring in some people to clearly outline how the housing subsidy is being administered now, because right now they’re seeing a high increase in the rent as when it was administered by the NWT Housing Corporation. So can we stop them from moving out of their houses? Again, I appreciate the Minister to go in there and thoroughly explain, and then can he have a translator also provided at this meeting here? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 66-15(5): Rental Subsidy Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I’ll ensure that the department knows that there needs to be an interpreter/translator available for the meeting and will work to get that done as quickly as possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 66-15(5): Rental Subsidy Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Department of Education and Culture review the public housing rental subsidy initiative next year or so, within the next six months, and see was it a good thing, was it not so bad or is it a good move on our department, or are we serving our people or are we hurting our people? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 66-15(5): Rental Subsidy Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, we’re in the process of reviewing our income security programs, all of them right now. Over the course of the next six months to a year, yes, we will be looking at all of our programs. But there are some specific aspects of the public housing rental subsidy that we will be looking at definitely in the next six months and one of them is the change in the way that the month is used to determine what your rent is. Previously, the housing associations were using the rent based on, for instance, if you went in on February 28th and said here’s what my income was for the month of February, you were told what your rent was for March 1st and you had to come up with it the next day. The way that we’re trying to do it is we’ll say, well, if your rent was this much for February, that’s what your rent will be for April instead of for March, and give people a month to be ready to pay that salary. That may cause some people who are in seasonal jobs some problems, but we’re going to monitor that over the next six months and see if that isn’t a better way to operate. We think it will be, but we’re certainly going to look in six months to see if it’s worked out. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I was talking earlier in my Member’s statement about the lack of improvement, I guess, in the government’s Employment Equity Program and new human resources amalgamation that a few Members have brought up in the past to the Minister of FMBS. I guess my first question to the Minister with the human resources service level agreement that rolled out in 2004 on the performance recording process, if the level targets and their achievements have been documented in annual reports to date and if the human resource performances have been monitored to date. Is there any reports on those initiatives? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. The honourable Minister responsible for FMBS, Mr. Roland.

Return To Question 67-15(5): Public Service Performance Review

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, later on today I will be tabling the Public Service Annual Report that will give some information on how the work has evolved at this point, not specifically to the amalgamation process, that we are providing some more information on that side of it. Earlier the Member spoke of the employment equity policy. That is not in place yet. We’re still using the affirmative action policy in the work we do, but we are working on a paper to bring forward to Members of this House. Thank you.