Debates of March 30, 2004 (day 11)

I believe in the briefings that the Minister provided, out of the multi-millions that the federal government was allocating, we would be entitled to about $500,000 of that. My final question is on this immunization program. They are not always scheduled. I do believe that the meningitis question came about because this was going around and there were opportunities for youth and teenagers to be getting together and the Minister felt that it was prudent to immunize them against meningitis. My question is, is there a scheduled and predictable immunization campaign that is going to happen next year? If we don’t have anything like that, does that mean that we don’t access the federal program? I am sure you can’t create a need where one doesn’t exist, but I just want to know how we access that program, and is it on an as-needed basis or is it something that we can tap into? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would refer that to the Minister of Health and Social Services for that detail.

Thank you. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, with regard to the meningitis immunization program, the plan now is to do the yearly immunization that are born in the ready age group. We have made the substantial initial investment; now we want to be able to keep it up and move into what is called a universal program where all of the children are protected, and it will be a lot less costly. It would be built into the daily practice through public health in the communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

One further question to the Minister of Health. I would have thought that we were doing those immunizations anyway, and we were paying that out of our health budget I would think. I don’t think anybody in the Territories pays for immunizations, especially babies. Unless I am wrong, I am assuming that they have been getting that treatment anyway. So would this not be a little bit of extra help we are getting to our health budget from the federal government? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Some jurisdictions had moved prior to the Northwest Territories to do universal immunization programs for meningitis, provinces like Alberta, because of the fact that they had outbreaks. It is a very expensive program, about $40 an immunization. So we did it this year. It came relatively unplanned as a result of the situations in the Sahtu. As the Member noted, we thought it was prudent to do and Cabinet agreed based on our best medical advice. Now we just have to do the annual immunization of the, as they call them, coverts that come through in terms of the age, the young children that are already immunized. That is going to be built into our budget and business plan now that we’ve made this initial investment.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Health and Social Services, special warrants, $1.395 million.

Agreed.

Not previously authorized, $1.598 million.

Agreed.

Total department, special warrants, $1.406 million.

Agreed.

Not previously authorized, $1.598 million.

Agreed.

Page 11, Justice, operations expenditures, public legal services, not previously authorized, $315,000.

Agreed.

Registries and court services, special warrants, $330,000.

Agreed.

Not previously authorized, $170,000.

Agreed.

Community justice and corrections, special warrants, $1.25 million.

Agreed.

Not previously authorized, $145,000.

Agreed.

Total department, special warrants, $1.58 million.

Agreed.

Not previously authorized, $630,000.

Agreed.

Page 12, NWT Housing Corporation, operations expenditures, NWT Housing Corporation, special warrants, $103,000.

Agreed.

Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could I get some more information on why the Housing Corporation is buying this house and what they are planning to do with this house? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this is the remnants of the program that we have in place or had in place and the employee purchased it, a buy-back program, that was started in previous governments. This is the remainder. We have grandfathered those that were already in the system that had agreements that the government would buy back their units once they moved from the community. So we’ve transferred that responsibility to the NWT Housing Corporation so it’s now in their budget and this is following up on one of those commitments that was already remaining. It was already in place, but it used to be called the employee house purchase plan. The remaining grandfathered employees who are in there, slowly as time goes by, will be bought out as the agreement allowed for. So this is one of those that has come up. We will see it from time to time until we conclude all those deals. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. NWT Housing Corporation, special warrants, $103,000.

Agreed.

Total department, $103,000.

Agreed.

Page 13, Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, operation expenditures, environmental protection, not previously authorized $65,000. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am looking at these numbers here and it says $35,000 for salaries and benefits for the administrator. I don’t think you can hire anybody for $35,000 full time. So I want to know if it’s a part-time position. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, that amount equals approximately seven months for the 2003-04 fiscal year.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am going to raise this point. If you look at the budget that we just passed for RWED, there were 489 PYs and we know there has to be some vacancies there, five or 10 percent, which could be up to 40 people. I can’t believe that the department with an $89 million budget and 489 PYs has to get a supp to fund $65,000. Why could they not fund this from within? Is this a case of just allocating the budget to just clear the books from their money from within?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this is not previously authorized, so it’s adding to the bottom line of the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. Again, because it was midway through the year, it was felt that they did not have the resources in that activity area. So it came forward and was approved and that’s why it’s in this document. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Not previously authorized, $65,000.