Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, June 9, 2016, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that the Legislative Assembly recommend the reappointment of the following individuals to the Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission:
Ms. Marian Berls of the town of Fort Smith for a term of four years; and
Mr. Charles Dent of the city of Yellowknife for a term of four years;
And further, that the Speaker be authorized to communicate the effective date of these appointments to the Commissioner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Notices of motion. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, June 9, 2016, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Ms. Nitya Iyer be appointed as Equal Pay Commissioner in accordance with the Public Service Act by the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories as recommended by the Legislative Assembly. And further that the Speaker be authorized to communicate the effective date of the appointment to the Commissioner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Notices of motion. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, June 9, 2016, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on June 9, 2016, it shall be adjourned until Monday, June 13, 2016. And further, that at any time prior to June 13, 2016, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact its business as it has been duly adjourned to that time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Notices of motion. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, June 9, 2016, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that the Speaker be authorized to set such sitting days and hours as the Speaker, after consultation, deems fit to assist with the business before the House. Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion today. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of just now.
Member is seeking unanimous consent to deal with the motion she gave notice of earlier today. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may proceed with your motion Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that the Speaker be authorized to set such sitting days and hours as the Speaker, after consultation, deems fit to assist with the business before the House. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Motion is in order. To the motion.
Question
Question has been called. The motion is carried. Masi.
---Carried
Motions. Item 19, first reading of bills. Item 20, second reading of bills. Item 21, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters, with the Member for Hay River North in the chair.
I now call Committee of the Whole to order. Mr. Beaulieu, what is the wish of committee?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee wishes to continue to consider Tabled Document 50-18(2), Main Estimates, 2016-2017, and today we would like to continue with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, and possibly Environment and Natural Resources. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed. We will take a short recess returning with Mr. McNeely in the Chair.
---SHORT RECESS
Would the Minister introduce his witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right I have deputy minister David Stewart and on my left Mr. Olin Lovely, assistant deputy minister of corporate services. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Thanks to your witnesses for appearing before us. We will return to page 62, Department of Education, Culture and Employment, income security, operations expenditures summary. Activity total, $47,578,000. We will note that page 63 is information item. To page 62. Questions? Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, on page 61 under the activity description it notes that income security programs include the following programs:
income assistance;
seniors' home heating subsidy;
senior citizens supplementary benefit;
NWT child benefit; and
student loan financial assistance.
On page 62 under the expenditure category, we identify all the respective categories, one of which is identified as “grants, contributions and transfers.” In this year's main estimates it's identified for $14,730,000. On page 63 we get a breakdown of the grants, contributions and transfers, $13,259,000 in student grants and $1,471,000 in homelessness program for a total of $14,730,000.
Mr. Chair, within this area of the budget document I can't seem to find a breakdown of those things that include Income Assistance, Senior Home Heating Subsidy, Senior Citizen Supplementary Benefit, NWT Child Benefit, and I think I might understand part of the Student Financial Assistance under the form of student grants.
I'm wondering if the Minister or the department, although I would appreciate that this is probably going to fall under the fees and payments category on page 62… I'm just wondering how Members decipher how those particular pots of funds are broken up? How would we be able to see that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Minister.
Thank you. Some of those programs are listed under income security but for some of the other ones that he was asking there are some allocated in fees and payments as well. If the Member would like a further breakdown we can provide that to the Member, of dollars that have been allocated for all of them. It is in the description report we are funding all areas that he's having these questions about, it's just under the operations expenditures summary. It's in income security as well as fees and payments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister, for that clarification. Mr. Vanthuyne, any additions?
Mr. Chair, if I wanted to know how much we paid or are proposing to pay this year in Senior Home Heating Subsidy where would I find that in this document? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Minister.
Yes, under the summary here you'd find that under utilities.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Mr. Chair, I won't belabour this. I respect where the Minister is going with this. I'm for the record expressing a challenge. The department has the following programs: income assistance, Senior Home Heating Subsidy, Senior Citizen Supplementary Benefit, NWT Child Benefit, and Student Financial Assistance. It would be recommended that within the budget document that we have those actual programs broken out so that we know what the financial allocations are to those specific programs year after year. The reason why I ask that, Mr. Chair, is because a lot of those programs have been criticized in the past as it relates to their ability to keep up with consumer price index or you know indexing of some level or another. I want to be able to look at that. I want to be able to look at past years' histories on the expenditures in those particular programs and determine if there is any value in debating whether these programs should in fact receive some form of indexing. Right now as it relates to the current version of this budget document that's impossible to discuss. I would like that to be considered for future budgets, but if in the meantime the Minister can commit to Members to get us a breakout of what we're proposing for those actual programs rather than just where it might lie in the expenditure summary it'd be well appreciated. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We can get the breakdown of all these programs to the Member or interested Members. We do go through a cycle. We do go through the business-planning cycle where requests like those also can be made before the main estimates are printed. In terms of more specifics on the main estimates, when we do print them maybe we can talk with Department of Finance on when they're printed out. However, we do also have a public accounts document that's tabled in this House every year. In that document all the programs the government has is able to get specifics on amount of dollars that was being allocated and the amount of dollars that were actually spent. I do know the Member has brought questions up in the House the other day and I made references, once again, to the public accounts documents that shows how our government spends dollars and once that is tabled. I'd encourage the Member to look at those numbers as well, but this is something we had discussed with Department of Finance in terms of programs services. If there's specifics that he wants then we can get the department to provide that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. For the purposes of clarity, we will include pages 61, support detail, 63, support detail to operations expenditures summary as identified on 62. I recognize Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I know that I've asked the Minister some questions about indexing of income assistance over the last week, and there was some further discussion of that to increase that appropriately even here in the House today. I understand that there has to be changes brought in, legislative changes, in terms of the NWT Child Benefit, the Canada Child Benefit, but when I look at our schedule, it looks like that legislation's probably not going to get into the House until October or November, and presumably at the end of that session we might need the Commissioner to sign off on it, so would the changes actually be made retroactive to April 1st or for the tax year? I'm just trying to understand the schedule here and when people could expect to see changes to the benefits that they receive. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister?
For the income assistance changes, it will be August 1st, as mentioned in the House. We just have to get some minor changes done to the regulations for the child benefit. As the Member said, we are going to have to make some legislative changes to reflect that and that could be a little bit longer.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate the answer from the Minister. When those legislative changes come through, can they be made retroactive to August 1st or do they only come into effect on the signing of the legislation by the Commissioner? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister?
Yes, in terms of retroactive pay, we would have to talk to the federal government in that area. In terms of the other one, we just have to wait until the legislative proposal actually gets approved.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess I'm a little confused now if I wasn't before. There's the Canada Child Benefit, the NWT Child Benefit. Do we have to change our Income Tax Act to ensure that people can take full advantage of both of those benefits and when would those changes actually legally come into effect? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
