Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talk about the infrastructure in our small communities and I specifically spoke about the potholes and Fort Good Hope’s chipsealing program that the government has eliminated. I want to ask the Minister of MACA, in light of all the initiatives we have done to empower our communities to make their own decisions and the limited amount of funding the communities have to compete with other priorities, is MACA looking at other options within the municipality in the NWT Federation of Municipalities or even the Government of Canada to look at how we can help small communities deal with chipsealing issues, repairs or just to get these programs into the communities because we have such a limited budget here in the North?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I’ve stated on a number of occasions in the past, responsibility for community infrastructure now lies with the community. We have been fortunate that we have been able to access the Building Canada Plan money, the infrastructure stimulus money, as well as all the infrastructure money that we give to the communities. They have received a significant amount of money. If there are any projects that are meaning to be done in the community, it would be a community responsibility to identify the projects and work with the funding that they do have.
With the amount of responsibilities that we give to the communities, there needs to be the matching dollars to go with the responsibility. I want to ask the Minister if there are any discussions, either with his Cabinet or his own staff, to look at other additional support funding such as the ones that he’s listed off. We appreciate it, but there are ones we could look at within the life of this government to see if funding like this could be discussed at a federal-provincial level to look at chipsealing programs and dust control in our communities.
With the responsibility that we’ve given the community, we like to believe that we’ve given them a significant amount of money to help them with that. It’s a benefit to the community in a number of ways.
In all our dealings with the NWT Association of Communities, meeting with the mayors and councils and that, we’ve really had no concerns, and we continue to work with them and making sure that they have the capacity, that they’re trained to take on the responsibility. My understanding is the Minister of infrastructure, Mr. McLeod, will at his first opportunity be raising with the federal Minister, once he’s named, our desire to explore other funding options for the Northwest Territories.
I look forward to that. It’s good news that the Minister has noted that the Minister of infrastructure along with the honourable Minister to look at how they can support communities. I want to ask the Minister if he’s going to involve the other municipalities in the North to look at how they can get their message to the Minister of infrastructure once the meeting is held with this government to look at dollars that could be supported in the communities for infrastructure such as the potholes or if we want to somehow initiate some partnership on chipsealing some of the communities.
Each community has five-year capital plans and I’ve had the opportunity to see some of the plans. They’ve identified some of their priorities in the community and I want to commend them for doing a very good job. We have a very strong NWT Association of Communities membership. The president sometimes attends the Federation of Communities and Municipalities, FCM, and they have opportunity there again to raise any concerns that they might have with funding from the federal government to the Northwest Territories. It is an ongoing work but we continue to support the communities with a lot of technical expertise and training. We’ll continue to go along those lines, but the communities themselves have done a very good job at working with the money that’s given to them.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister, with the support of technical and training to the communities, has the Minister entered any discussions with a company called Easy Street that can look at repairs to the chipsealed roads that are already done in the communities that have done main street chipsealing?
That is a program that is no longer available. This was before the communities had the responsibility of making their own decisions. I’m sure if the community has some concerns, then they will initiate discussions with Easy Street and see if it’s something that’s feasible for them to apply to their roads. At the end of the day, I’d like to point out that the ultimate responsibility and the decision lies with the community.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve received a copy of the recent e-mail from INAC’s Ottawa-based director of resource policy and programs updating agencies and groups on progress under the federal government’s May 2010 Action Plan to Improve the Northern Regulatory Regime. The memo refers to work on developing an NWT surface rights board act. I don’t recall committee receiving any information on this. Certainly I’ve heard nothing on any action that could redefine the jurisdiction of the NWT Water Board. I’m wondering if the appropriate Minister could tell me whether his department is aware of and/or participating in these surface rights consultations.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we discussed somewhat in this House last week, this process is driven by the federal government. They’ve, for the most part, treated the GNWT as just another stakeholder. There’s been some improvement in that relationship since the signing of the AIP. The proposed surface rights legislation which is contemplated in the MVRMA, there was a first draft done in 2010 and we’re still waiting for a possible second draft. Things were delayed because of the election.
I appreciate the Minister’s remarks. I just hope the others that are being consulted include their membership a little more efficiently, or at all, than our Minister has. So far my best source of detailed information on the Mackenzie Valley Resource Manage Act, surface rights and Water Board matters is an industry journal and the sharing of information by public parties. Yet principle three, as you know, of the 10 Guiding Principles of Consensus Government, includes “open and respectful communication between all Members is the most essential feature of consensus government. While it is impossible to reach unanimous agreement on all issues, the opportunity for all Members to have meaningful input into important decisions is fundamental.” I would suggest that the MVRMA is important to our Members. Can the Minister explain how the record of consultation with Members on these amendments honours the 10 Guiding Principles?
The Member has been quoting from documents that I don’t have. I take his point about consultation. This is a federal process. This is federal legislation. We have been, for the most part, up until recently, treated like a stakeholder, much to our chagrin. They’re expecting the second draft. Most of the changes being contemplated at this point are legislative in nature. There’s been no significant reply to our response to the McCrank Report that we submitted back in 2009 where there was significant changes put forward and recommended by Mr. McCrank, some of which we took exception to and did not support. That report is public and filed. This process so far is federally driven and is focussing a lot, by our estimation, on legislative changes.
Thanks to the Minister again. If I could just ask him to imagine if he feels chagrined at being treated as a stakeholder, what Members on this side of the House are feeling at not being consulted at all.
INAC’s arbitrary May 12th deadline for the MVRMA consultations has come and gone. The invitation to provide input was apparently even suspended by the department during the federal election, although no corresponding extension to the deadline was given. Committee and Assembly Members had no opportunity to provide their views during this consultation. The act itself actually has specified conditions that must be met for peer consultation. Will the Minister commit to contacting the DIAND Minister and asking that the deadline be extended while the input of Members is requested and included in this government’s response?
My understanding is that the deadlines that were set by the federal government have slipped because of the election. Cabinet is not going to be sworn in or appointed until possibly tomorrow. We have this on our list to follow up on, along with many other issues. I will, of course, make note of the Member’s concerns.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister taking note of my concerns. I’m just hoping that means actually consulting with us, keeping us informed what he finds out and so on. We’ve had McCrank; we’re waiting for the Pollard Report. The possibly connected MVRMA surface rights and Waters Act consultations are underway in some unexplained way. We have the devolution AIP and we have yet to ask our citizens for their specific views on these important matters. Can the Minister say when we’re going to put aside these regulatory scatter guns, get our Aboriginal partners back at the table, invite the specific views of our citizens, and proceed with one comprehensive made-in-the-NWT approach to charting our regulatory future? I’d prefer to see this before we take the plunge, not after.
This whole process is a classic example of why Northerners have to have control over their own decision-making in this area; regulatory reform and resource development, land and water.
Here we are in this Assembly trying to find out what the federal government’s up to. They haven’t told us clearly. They’ve made some comments about something dramatic that they want to do. We are concerned that they’re going to do things that are not going to be in our best interest as a territory. There’s been some improvement in relationships since the signing of the AIP where now the federal government has acknowledged that we’re in the process of transferring that responsibility finally to Northerners.
If the Member is content to sit here as a second-class Canadian waiting for the federal government to decide our future, then we will be here for a long time. I don’t think that is what most people want, not listening to the results of Mr. Abernethy’s poll that he took. We are moving on this. This is a classic reason why we want devolution. Members will be kept involved, but at this point we do not control this process. The federal government still has the authority to do something dramatic and we don’t know what that is.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll have questions to the Minister responsible for homelessness today. In my Member’s statement earlier today I talked about the issue of the Betty House and how particularly it is important to addressing the need for women who need transition housing. It’s a significant step forward in addressing this particular problem and I recognize the important work provided by the YWCA as well as the City of Yellowknife, for moving this initiative forward.
BHP Billiton has generously offered and given a cheque for $700,000 to this association so that they can work forward to accomplishing this project and addressing that need. My question to the Minister responsible for homelessness is: what is the government’s specific contribution to this project ensuring that women have a place to go?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Homelessness, Mr. Miltenberger.
We have made no specific contribution of that nature. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, what we have here is particularly very clear, in my mind. We have another community organization stepping forward addressing what really, rightfully, should be a government responsibility.
Mr. Speaker, I would ask the Minister, again, responsible for Homelessness, specifically, will there be a contribution from this government towards this initiative, and if so, when and how much? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we have a contribution and a plan and an interdepartmental plan that pools resources to deal with homelessness across the Northwest Territories. What we have here is another situation where infrastructure is being developed because of the local will to do the construction with no O and M money in place to run it as of yet. We went through the same long process with the dementia centre and we are not in the situation fiscally where we are in a position to offer up millions of dollars of homelessness money as it doesn’t now exist unless we take it from the few dollars that are shared among other communities.
These folks are moving ahead on an initiative and they are hoping to cobble together the resources to do it. We are not in a position, at this point, to contribute further support and investment to infrastructure here at the same time as we’re trying to deal with a lot of the other issues outside of this community. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, BHP Billiton has generously stepped forward, as I’ve said, on a couple of occasions, and again their generosity needs to be acknowledged, but yet again I say this: that private sector is stepping in what truly is a government responsibility. Mr. Speaker, if these people were anywhere else, government would step down in some type of form or capacity to support an NGO to help protect these particular women at risk, yet when an initiative is presented to help provide some coordinated and safe transition housing, the government is stepping away and saying it’s a community organization, they’re doing their thing, none of our business.
Mr. Speaker, there are merits here and what type of initiatives or interest would it take to draw the government’s responsibility in this particular case, because I think it’s very important that they are stepping in in a government role. Thank you.
We are, as a government, contributing millions of dollars in this community to assist in any number of buildings, with the Salvation Army, with the Bailey House, with the YWCA. All the other facilities that are on the ground here in this community are, for the most part, funded by the Government of the Northwest Territories. What we have here is a community initiative that is they’re bringing together funds and now, as we move forward, the Member is trying to push this government separate from our budgeting process, separate from our capital planning process, to fund operations that we’re not in the position to do that.
If any other constituency were to come forward and try to push in the back door to get into the capital plan or to get O and M money without going through the proper process, there would be great unhappiness in this Assembly by many parties about somebody that was seen to take that kind of route. This is a project that is deemed important by the community. They’re doing a lot of good things to get it funded, but as a government our capacity is extended to its fullest at present. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, it’s a real shame that I’m hearing this opinion from the Minister, and it’s very disheartening for those people who are trying to bring this project to life, again, supporting women who are at risk and who need an opportunity to stand on their own.
Mr. Speaker, this is more than just capital dollars; this also then leads into O and M dollars and programming dollars to make sure that this initiative does blossom and provide the types of focus and support that’s needed.
Mr. Speaker, the last question would be what type of community support, programming support and O and M support is this particular Minister willing to look at to address this initiative? It’s one thing to build it, but it’s also another thing to help support people to get on their own feet and enable them to pursue opportunity. That is one of the visions of this government and I’d like to see that we meet that challenge. Thank you.
The Member is aware of the financial circumstances that this government is under. I made a statement, as the Minister of Finance, laying out very clearly the challenges we face in our almost non-existent fiscal flexibility. We just heard yesterday in the House the concern about what happens if there’s a major fire season, for example. Where do we get the money from? The Member is clearly aware of those restrictions.
So we have, at this point, no capacity. We have a list that is a great, long list, Mr. Speaker, of very many commendable projects that all would require our assistance that Members have stood up in this House and raised on an individual basis, on a constituency basis, that we do not have the capacity to fund. They’re all good projects. Betty House is like that. We do not have the fiscal capacity at this point to be adding O and M money at a time when we all know we are trying to manage our money very carefully to face the challenges before us. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I was speaking about the arrears problem we have across the North and the way the government is collecting. Mr. Speaker, the residents of housing units have nowhere else to go, and given the small remote communities, we lack family shelter programs. Given the community housing situation is already overcrowded, will this government take the action to address the real challenges of the small and remote communities and not evict people, especially in the middle of winter? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a problem we are facing across the Northwest Territories. We are taking steps to deal with the rent collection. I have to point out, though, that our five best performing LHOs, as far as average arrears per unit, three of them are in the small communities. Our best average is in one of the smaller communities, so that showed me that these are communities that are honouring the commitments that they’ve made and these are the communities that we don’t hear concerns from, from the MLAs. This is one of the reasons I believe we are in the situation we are in today where we have so much arrears, is because of political interference, not only at this level but it gets to this level at the end of the day. It all starts with the board not supporting their LHOs when they’re trying to enforce rent collection. That hurts the LHOs. It hurts the tenant most of all because they realize they can go to the political leaders and have this brought to a forefront for a responsibility that was theirs and that they didn’t accept.
We want to work with these people, Mr. Speaker. We’ve made that quite clear. It’s not our intent to evict people in the wintertime, spring, summer or fall. We just don’t want to evict them, but they have to work with us, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, it comes to a point sometimes of where eviction is the last option. Thank you.
Well, political interference, I guess that’s a pretty big one. That’s my job. I represent the people in Nunakput. When people have problems, they come to me and I try to deal with them.
You know, Mr. Speaker, this government gets over $30 million a year from the federal government for the 22 units across the North. The same funding that’s either sitting empty or occupied, the money they collect is for O and M, Mr. Speaker. So why are we kicking people out in the middle of winter? It’s not right.
Mr. Speaker, I’m asking the Minister if he could reconsider the evictions that are going on in the communities. Come to my community of Paulatuk and try to work with the community. I met with the Minister, he promised me that but I want to hear it so the people in the community can hear that the Minister is coming and the department is coming to try to make a difference in the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I’ve been up to Paulatuk, I’ve heard their concerns. The concerns I heard there weren’t so much tied to arrears as to the operation of the LHO. I can tell the Member and I think he realizes, that one of our senior management from headquarters has committed to going to Paulatuk and working with the folks up in the Member’s riding.
Again, I say, Mr. Speaker, the eviction process, when we get to the eviction process, that’s basically the last straw. They’ve been given every opportunity for time to enter into repayment plans and when we get to this stage that we’re at now it’s because they haven’t honoured the commitments that they’ve made on three or four occasions. It’s unfair to those… We have people that have come forward and made repayment plans, have made bulk payments. They’ve honoured their commitment, therefore, they continue to stay in their house. But, again, it’s a challenge and we’ll continue to work with all the communities to see how we can best address this. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister is correct about the mess that ECE left this housing situation in. I am blaming... You guys left a big mess. The department can’t even find out. People are making payments, or I’ve got pieces of paper in my office stating that they made a payment and it’s not reflecting on their bill. Mr. Speaker, the department obviously with the Minister saying that he did go to the community, yes, he did, but we have to try to work with them, not kick them out. You’re not in Yellowknife where if you go outside you’re going to be living in a tent. That’s not right. You’re in a position to make a difference.
Mr. Speaker, maybe we should put a motion forward to delete all arrears across the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, is the Minister willing to work with me in the community to keep the people that are on the eviction list in their houses until we can get this sorted out? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, a motion to delete all arrears across the Northwest Territories is not going to benefit the tenants. Then we just may be putting them in a position where they just accumulate arrears again, and most of all, and most importantly, it would not be fair to those folks across the Northwest Territories that paid their rent faithfully since 1972 and are still living in the same house. It’s not fair to them. That’s what we want, is to try to treat everybody fairly and equitably.
One of the goals of the 16th Legislative Assembly is safe, sustainable, vibrant, and I’d like to add independent communities. We’re trying to foster independence. We’re trying to make people accept their responsibility.
Again, Mr. Speaker, it’s not our intent to try to and put these people out. They’re been given every opportunity to work out a repayment plan and honour their commitment, and, unfortunately, that hasn’t happened so there has been an order for an eviction. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Considering housing issues are the number one problem in the territory, will the government commit resources to developing and supporting a regional coalition to assist families so that they do not have to be evicted? In addition, will this government commit to reviewing the way that the Housing Program is currently administered by seeking third-party community-based input from Nunakput? Thank you.
As part of our Shelter Policy review that we briefed committee on the other day, we had made a commitment to engage all the communities. I actually just had a meeting this morning with staff members and it is their intent to have regional meetings and meet with as many of the leadership in the communities as possible to get their input as to the best way to deliver housing in their communities and what improvements we can make.
We take our work very seriously and we want to make sure that we give everybody an opportunity across the NWT to engage with us so we’re not faced with situations like we have today, not only in the Member’s riding but we have a few other ridings where arrears are a serious issue. But we also have a number of communities, small communities, where they do an excellent job managing their arrears and making sure that collections are on time and up to date.
We have had situations where the responsibility for the assessment has come back to the Housing Corporation and I have committed to going back, we’re working checking back records there to see how much of the arrears were accumulated during the time where ECE was responsible for the assessment. Again, I have committed to getting that work done and reporting back to Members. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Colleagues, I’d like to remind you of your rules concerning question period and answer period. We’re well over halfway through question period and we haven’t gotten halfway through the Members yet. So, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
