Debates of March 10, 2005 (day 53)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment to do that and I think that the Minister understands that the Social Programs committee cooperated with the Minister with regard to many of the budget items. I would be the first one to admit that this was one of them. It was always understood that this program was funded for $550,000 or near there last year and that they only spent $350,000, so we agreed that for any amount that they didn’t spend, we would agree to cut that.

What I am understanding now is that the funding will only be half of the $350,000 needed, which will only be $180,000. Would the Minister talk to the board about reinstating that $180,000? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 589-15(3): Women And Children’s Healing And Recovery Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Clearly, the authority has significant flexibility in some areas when it comes to funding and the $33 million that they administer. They have made some determinations already. They’ve met with the NGOs but, as I just indicated to the Member, I will talk to our department and we will get in touch with Yellowknife Health and Social Services on this issue.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Supplementary To Question 589-15(3): Women And Children’s Healing And Recovery Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe the Minister understands better than anyone else how hard it is to manage a health budget. The Minister continuously comes back here for supplementary funding. It is not reasonable to expect a health board to eat up a cost like this. I would just like to get a commitment from the Minister that he would ask the board to find the money from within. If not, would the Minister consider helping them out a little bit?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 589-15(3): Women And Children’s Healing And Recovery Program

Mr. Speaker, this particular area of reduction, about $900,000 and some, was spread across all the boards and authorities across the Northwest Territories. So I will raise the issue with the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority, but clearly if there is any move on this, it will have to be territory-wide because it would be unfair to assume there would be any less problem or suffering or difficulty in Inuvik or any other authority. However, I will raise the issue with the Yellowknife Health and Social Services keeping in mind that they have a $33 million budget. Stanton has about $60 million and some, so basically there is about $100 million in health and social services dollars located in Yellowknife. This is an overall cut of about $600,000. The board has made the determination of how they want to deal with that, but I will revisit it with the board. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, the Honourable Michael McLeod. Earlier, the Minister announced a new deal for community governments. Included in the budget, Mr. Speaker, there was $1 million allocated to identify, consult and plan for the use of the enhanced deal. Can the Minister provide more detail on how this money will be spent? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod

Return To Question 590-15(3): New Deal For Community Governments

Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; there is some money identified for planning and consultation of $1 million for this upcoming fiscal year. It’s to give us some resources to have a consultation process with the communities. We would be able to talk to the community leaders and it would also allow us to talk to some SAOs at some of the different criteria we are looking at and some of the projects in the capital plan and have a good thorough discussion on the needs of the communities out there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.

Supplementary To Question 590-15(3): New Deal For Community Governments

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Presently, my understanding is that most communities have a community plan in place or they have five-year capital plans. Why would the department want to consult and plan when there are plans in place for five-year capital plans in the communities? Why not take some of that money and put some other plans in place that are already identified? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 590-15(3): New Deal For Community Governments

Mr. Speaker, it’s important that the community recognize that under the new deal, we are looking at allocating money directly to the communities as part of community infrastructure. For us, historically, that has been a fairly small amount. It was anywhere between $13 million and $17 million. As part of the new deal, this government has decided to increase that amount to a $25 million pot that will be accessible to communities.

Throughout the years as our plan has evolved, a lot of projects that historically used to be involved were not accepted, especially in areas like recreation projects and a lot of other initiatives that communities may desire to put in a community. So we have to make sure that communities are aware of what our initiative is, are aware of what we are planning to do with the new deal, are aware of the new funding that’s coming forward under MRIF and also the gas tax, so we can have discussions around all these issues to ensure that communities don’t come back and say we didn’t think that was allowed under the planning. We want to make sure everybody is involved, including the SAOs, that everybody has a chance to have their say. That’s why we are doing it. Some projects have not been high priority anymore. That may change and I think we need to be inclusive of all the communities. So that’s what we are trying to do. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.

Supplementary To Question 590-15(3): New Deal For Community Governments

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am still not convinced, Mr. Speaker, that $1 million in communities does about 500 cubic metres of gravel to do our roads in Tuk or erosion programs. I understand what the Minister is saying. When can this $1 million be available to communities? When can the department identify these needs for the communities?

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 590-15(3): New Deal For Community Governments

Mr. Speaker, we should be clear that the $1 million is for planning and consultation and not for actual capital projects. The capital dollars allocated for next year are around $17 million. We are planning in 2006-07 to increase the capital budget for communities to $25 million. So we have to get out there. We have to make sure everybody is included in the discussions, everybody is consulted, everybody knows what the game plan is, so they can tell us what projects are out there and why they want to deal with certain initiatives in the communities. That is what those dollars are for. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last week, I raised the issue of access to federal funding for the University and College Entry Program, known as the UCEP program. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment made a commitment to speak with the federal government about the discriminatory nature of the program towards individuals of Metis heritage. I have follow-up questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Given that there are more people, both status and non-status, to access the UCEP program than there is space and given that it may take some time before the federal government will align the federal criteria to recognize the rights of Metis people which have already been recognized and integrated into many federal program areas, will the Minister consider finding the resources to increase the capacity of programs immediately and will the government show leadership to the federal government by permitting Metis access to spaces in the program? Thank you.

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

Return To Question 591-15(3): University And College Entrance Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can certainly consider putting extra money to support students to access programs into the business plan and take a look at how much support we have for that approach. I am prepared next week, when Mr. Scott is here, to raise the issue with the Minister. I would hope that the federal government would recognize their responsibility and live up to their responsibilities by putting some money into the program to deal with the current demands just from status people and that they would also fund the program so that Metis people could access it.

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

Supplementary To Question 591-15(3): University And College Entrance Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister’s commitment to go to bat in terms of getting extra funding for the Metis people. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister inform the House about how the UCEP program differs from the upgrading programs provided in the communities? I am looking for information on the content and format of the programs and not the funding. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 591-15(3): University And College Entrance Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In many ways there isn’t a significant difference in the program. The biggest one is that adult basic education can be undertaken by anybody. The USEP is designed to provide travel expenses, living expenses, tuition and books for people who can achieve university level entrance within one year. That’s probably the biggest difference, because adult basic education could require somebody taking ABE programs two or three years to get to university level entrance.

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

Supplementary To Question 591-15(3): University And College Entrance Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister look into the possibilities of using GNWT’s additional resources? He made a commitment earlier to look at that to increase the capacity of the UCEP to make it more accessible to the NWT residents, especially through the student financial services in regard to the Metis people. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 591-15(3): University And College Entrance Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s always something we could take a look at. About seven years ago, Mr. Speaker -- maybe not that long, five or six years ago -- there was a forum that was empowered to review the Student Financial Assistance program and provide the Minister of the day with a number of recommendations. One of the specific directions they were given was to provide advice on to whom or what sorts of programs should be supported through student financial assistance. They held a number of public hearings and invited people from every community in the Northwest Territories to attend hearings and provide advice. The report they sent back to the Minister of the day was that student financial assistance should not be used for programs except those leading to diplomas, certificates or university or college degrees. So the program has since that time been governed by that approach. Certainly we could take a look at whether or not that’s consistent with what Members and the public think is still appropriate. So we’ll examine it, yes.

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

Supplementary To Question 591-15(3): University And College Entrance Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the response from the Minister. Can the Minister inform this House with an action plan as to how he plans to get the attention of the federal government to look at its policies of how it’s administered or funded through our government in terms of assisting aboriginal peoples? However, on this program we do not include the Metis people. So what type of action plan is he going to look at and when can I expect something to see that things are getting done by this government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 591-15(3): University And College Entrance Program

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I already committed in this House that by the time business plans are presented to the committees that I would update Members of the House on any actions I had taken to try and achieve this. As the Premier had noted earlier, there is an opportunity for all Members to lobby the federal Minister next week and I would certainly welcome the Members’ intervention on this issue as I would hope to intervene as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, also the Minister responsible for lottery revenues in the territory. I know my colleague was talking about winning a billion dollars or if he had a billion dollars, but…The questions I had for the Minister I just wanted to understand a little bit about the lottery revenues here in the Northwest Territories. As I understand it, Sport North controls the lottery booths that are here in Yellowknife. I’ve heard from many people in Yellowknife that access to these lottery booths, and it’s a past-time for many northerners to play the lottery, to buy tickets, and they close the booth at 6:00. If you’re in southern Canada you can go into many convenience stores and buy tickets around the clock. I’m wondering, is there a way that we can increase lottery revenues to the organizations that need it by increasing the length of time that these booths are open. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Return To Question 592-15(3): Lottery Revenues

Mr. Speaker, I have to admit I’m not familiar enough with the new lottery regulations. In 2004 our Department of Municipal and Community Affairs along with Sport North and the Department of Justice, completed a review of the Lottery Act and regulations and the new regulations will govern how the program will be conducted. The Member is correct; right now the control of the sports lotteries are controlled by Sport North. The new sports council is being formulated. We have set up an implementation team. They are defining the nomination process and council selection that’s taking place this month. We’re hoping to have our first AGM for the sports council in April of this year. As part of their responsibilities we’re hoping that they’re going to lay out a resource management plan which will include a lot of this stuff following the lottery and support for the lottery and how they’re going to increase their revenues. But I don’t have the details on the actual regulations with me at this point, so I’d have to get back to the Member on that issue.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 592-15(3): Lottery Revenues

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d be the first to agree that Sport North and the staff that they have do a first-rate job at running the lottery booths, especially the ones I’m known to frequent on occasion here in Yellowknife. The question I’d ask the Minister, and he doesn’t have to provide an answer today, but I’m wondering if the organization, if it’s a new council that’s going to receive the lottery revenue, if they’ll receive an increase in revenue if terminals are located in a variety of different locations or could we expect to get more revenue? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 592-15(3): Lottery Revenues

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the tasks that the new sports council will be having to undertake is to see how they can maximize revenue flow. At this point I’m not in a position to say whether that’s going to involve more terminals or longer hours or where the terminals are going to be located. So I would have to seek that information and try to come back and provide that to the Member, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 592-15(3): Lottery Revenues

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So after I think the Minister mentioned April 1st, is Sport North still going to control the lottery booths or is it going to be the new sport and recreation council? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 592-15(3): Lottery Revenues

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The new sports council will spend this next coming year to organize a number of things including how they’ll develop their resource management plan and how they’ll develop and put out their communications and marketing plan and they also have to look at consolidating their offices, office space. We expect them to have, by this fall, a draft operating plan. We want to see business plans, we want to see a whole number of things for them to come forward. Our plan for them to start operating as an entity is for April 2006. Our first AGM for this council is April 2005 and they’ll spend a whole year getting ready to be up and running by April 2006. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 592-15(3): Lottery Revenues

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Then on April 1st, 2006, who’s going to control the lottery revenue? Will it be Sport North or will it be the new sport and recreation council? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 592-15(3): Lottery Revenues