Thanks to the Minister for that information, and I guess I’ll just have to wait for it to come in the fullness of time, as another Minister would say. I appreciate the fact that there’s going to be input from the public. I think that’s a good thing, but recently the NWT Association of Communities passed a resolution at their meeting in Hay River in which they said they urge the Members of the NWT Legislative Assembly to move forward with legislation prohibiting the use of cell phones and hand-held communication devices, excluding two-way radios, while operating a motor vehicle. I guess I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not the sort of input he is looking for is this kind of input from an organization that represents 27 of our 33 communities. Will he take this sort of information from our communities into advisement as well? Thank you.
I was at the NWT Association of Communities meeting. I didn’t vote on this issue. Mr. Speaker, I think we have compiled quite a bit of information. It’s fairly comprehensive. We want to have the ability to have that discussion with the EDI committee and we’re hoping we’ll have some time. In fact, maybe even during this session we’d be able to do that or in the next little while. If we’re going to do anything major, we’d need to have it at least into the House for discussion by next sitting. That’s something that we have been looking at. However, before I make that decision, before I make that commitment, I need to be able to have some feedback from committee and have that face-to-face discussion.
I don’t think I heard an answer to the questions, but that’s alright.
I did mention in my statement, I quoted a GNWT policy. I have a question for the Minister. I’d like to know whether or not he’s aware of this policy. The department has a public education campaign on distracted driving, I believe. I’d like know if the Minister will be publicizing and promoting this GNWT policy as part of the department’s distracted driving public education campaign. Thank you.
I believe I was the one that informed the Member of this clause that’s in our policies. It is public information already. I’m not sure how much more public she would like to make it, but if that’s not what she’s asking, I’d sure like to sit down with her and seek clarity on her quest.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you. I’m not sure if I got it from the Minister or from my assistant, but I got the information. I guess, having had difficulty getting another policy from the government recently, I’m a little sceptical about the public availability of our GNWT policies. Basically, what I’m looking for from the Minister is that we ensure that our employees are aware of this policy and that they adhere to the policy. So my last question to the Minister is whether he can tell me of efforts on the part of either the Department of Transportation, any other department within government or the government as a whole, what efforts are there to enforce this policy amongst our employees? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, if the Members or our staff were not aware of this policy, we certainly would not be able to enforce it. Our supervisors and each department are responsible for providing that information and they’re also responsible for providing discipline in this area. That is public information that the Member’s referring to. It’s on the website, I believe. It’s a policy that is government-wide and it’s public. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of ECE regarding the food basket. Mr. Speaker, it adds to our frustration the government’s formula for calculating social assistance. It’s simply inadequate to compare food prices between Yellowknife and Sachs Harbour. It’s just not realistic.
Mr. Speaker, the people don’t get enough money for food and our people are going hungry. People are living in poverty. No wonder; the cost of living in Nunakput is 81 percent and in some areas higher, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is not right in a rich land like ours.
So I ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment: will this government change the way the food basket is calculated for us to get assistance to the people of Nunakput who can’t afford good food? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are currently, through income security and a variety of support to the communities to deal with basic food, shelter and clothing allowances. We also have other subsidies such as seniors’ home fuel subsidy, public housing rental subsidy, which will be transferred to the Housing Corporation soon, and a variety of supports that are available such as NWT child benefits, child care user subsidy, and senior citizen supplementary benefits, along with other benefits that we do provide. We’ve made some changes to our income security in 2007 to increase our funding as well. At the same time, we just highlighted $400,000 towards a new initiative on promoting healthy foods in the Northwest Territories. The $400,000 will go directly to the children in need in the Northwest Territories, to the schools. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank the Minister. He’s referring to the breakfast program for the schools in the Northwest Territories and I am thankful for that. Mr. Speaker, there are many federal government programs that this government can tap into to provide the communities with affordable healthy foods. I wonder if this government is taking full advantage of these programs. I see, with the federal government changing the Food Mail Program, the subsidy will go directly to the stores in the communities. I wonder if the government had anything to say about the change. Would the prices really go down, Mr. Speaker? I would like to know, Mr. Speaker, if the federal programs this government is using to complement the assistance our government provides to our people without enough food. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we continue to deliver a subsidy program to the communities. It’s also adjusted by the region. So the higher the costs of the community, the rate changes in that area as well.
With the federal subsidy that was delivered through Canada Post previous years back. There have been some changes in that area. I believe they’re focusing on three main companies that will be delivering that for the food delivery. This will not complement what we do. We will continue to deliver the subsidy program to those communities that are in need, the 33 communities that we service. Mr. Speaker, that federal delivery program is with another department at this time, but with the Income Security we continue to deliver that subsidy program. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I brought it up more than once, you know. When you go visiting elders in the communities they always try to feed you, give you tea and whatever they can feed you to give you a meal. Mr. Speaker, the cost of living in the communities is a lot higher than Yellowknife or anywhere in the South Slave. Mr. Speaker, it’s wrong for the people to suffer. People are suffering in the communities. Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister: will the government find a way to increase social assistance so it meets the most basic needs of people even in the communities where prices are high? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we did increase in 2007 for basic food, clothing and other expenses. We have a program that’s always changing the Income Security Framework. Definitely, those are areas that we continue to look at and we continue to make changes.
Mr. Speaker, the Member is alluding to the high cost of living. We include that into our programming as well. So we’re fully aware of the high cost of living in the communities and continuously we change our programming. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the program is not enough. The funding that the people are getting for social assistance is not enough to provide proper clothing for the kids, not enough to buy food for the month -- it’s lasting three weeks. I get calls every third week of every month in my hometown. People need help. We’re not helping, Mr. Speaker, and I’m going to hold them accountable in regard to that. Will the Minister commit to me to come to the communities and walk through the stores once this food implementation program gets kicked off, to see if there’s any change in prices of food and it’s being passed along to the people? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, with the recent announcement of the power rate reduction, I’m sure that will support and also benefit the community. With regard to the Income Security Framework, we continue to provide that service, Mr. Speaker. Again, we are aware of the high cost of living in small communities. We did visit the Member’s riding. I did visit the Member’s riding when I was a Regular MLA and toured the store as well. We know the high cost. That is why we want to increase our programming as it is comes out to funding as well. We did increase the funding in 2007. We will definitely look at it again. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I gave praise to those who were participating in the Stem Cell Challenge there and the swab program. I certainly think that more people, as I mentioned in my Member’s statement, should consider the Living Donor Program. I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services what work has been done to date to bring forward a program for living donors. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I appreciated the Member’s statement on Stem Cell Challenge as well as the one from Mr. Abernethy. I would like to join them in encouraging everybody in Yellowknife to take the opportunity of this challenge and register and take steps into becoming a donor.
Second, the answer to the Member’s question, Mr. Speaker, the GNWT is part of the National Donor Registry System. We do participate in helping and assisting in that way. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, what type of public campaign or information awareness campaign does the GNWT provide for the citizens of the Northwest Territories here so they know they could consider this option? How are they approached on the particular subject? I have been made aware that most people don’t know anything about it. I would like to find out what the government is doing to make sure that it is available, whether people want to register for kidney donation or other types of matters, that they know where to go and what to do and how our government supports that. What does the government actually do to promote these things? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as the Member is aware, we are a small jurisdiction and our health care facility or system doesn’t do actual organ transplants or anything like that. This is the reason we work with a national body. We are part of the National Registry System. I believe we have a mechanism in place with personal directives as well as driver’s licence, but I need to confirm that, but I believe we are part of that process. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am a realistic type of person, so by no means I was trying to assume that we were going to perform organ transplants here in the Northwest Territories or run the system by ourselves. It is more about making sure that it is available and available here in the North. We have had advocates return to the North, long-term Northerners who have come here and actually met with the Minister, that I am aware of, and certainly spoken to me about how important this is. One of the things that they keep highlighting is that it seems to be elsewhere but not here. The promotion of this opportunity is either non-existent or it is extremely low. That is kind of the point I am trying to raise here today. I would like to know what the Minister of Health and Social Services can do to help raise the awareness and sort of accessibility of these types of programs for individual citizens so they can take part in it. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman in question no longer lives here but he is an advocate for government’s action to encourage and promote and raise awareness on organ transplant and organ donation. In fact, he was quite surprised at how advanced our personal directive legislation was. He asked for a copy of that because that legislation goes further than other jurisdictions in terms of making options available through living will and personal directives so that people can make choices about whether or not they want to donate organs while they are able to make those decisions, and is not done in the traditional way which is done by way of a will. I think the gentleman was quite pleasantly surprised at the advanced stage we are in in the Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With all due respect, those are fantastic things. I don’t mean that they aren’t, but the fact is those tend to be the end of the road decisions that people are making. The fact is they tend to be the last minute when people don’t know what to do. I guess that is sort of the whole purpose of my set of questions today here, is the fact that the awareness of these types of things seems to continue to be significantly low and how important they are cannot be magnified enough, these gifts of life that we can provide other people, whether it is blood, a kidney, a lung and those types of things.
I am well aware of many cases where people have received organ transplants through the different donor programs. That is the whole issue that I am trying to raise here today. Will the Minister take the step by trying to raise the awareness of this initiative, what our government can do and certainly the network our government works with to make sure that people are registered and certainly a way or a direction so people can get more information on these types of initiatives? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I do agree with the Member that this and other initiatives or services or ideas that the government supports has to be made aware on an ongoing basis. When this personal directive, for example, first came out, there was lots of awareness raising, but I do take the Member’s point that it has to be continuous. The department is lending support to the Stem Cell Challenge for example. We will continue to do that. I take the Member’s point that we have to do that on an ongoing basis. I will get back to the Member on how we do that and how we could do this better. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have spoken in this House numerous times about the secondary diamond industry in the Northwest Territories and the fact that it is floundering right now. It is dormant. There is not much happening in the cut and polish industry here. I think a lot of that stems from the government’s inability to deliver a policy so that people know what the rules of engagement are, if they are going to invest in the Northwest Territories and if this government is going to back this industry up. I think it can work, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister, I know we had gotten together last September, there has been a framework developed, but where exactly is the Diamond Policy that is being developed by this government? When are we going to get that out the door so that people know what the rules are and how things are going to work here in the NWT? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are very pleased to be able to work closely with committee on developing this Diamond Policy. We have been working with them every step of the way. We met with them in November. We fully briefed them on the old Diamond Policy and what areas needed to be changed. We certainly appreciated the direction we received from committee. We have gone out to consultation. We want to make sure we do this properly, make sure that due process is followed and we have consulted internally first. There are a number of other government departments that play a very important role in promoting and delivering on the secondary diamond industry in the Northwest Territories. We have also consulted externally. We have had to consult with stakeholders such as the producing diamond mines, manufacturers and now we are in the process of analyzing what we have heard. We fully expect that we will finalize our policy within the next two to three months. We do continue to have well-functioning secondary diamond industry. We continue to have people working and cutting and polishing diamonds. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, my fear is the investment that should come as a result of the new policy, the jobs that should be here, my belief is we might be losing these cut and polish folks who have moved to Yellowknife if we don’t bring in the new policy sooner rather than later.
I’d like to ask the Minister if there’s anything the department can do to try to evaluate if we may lose people, and I’m talking about the cut and polishers that have shown up here in Yellowknife and live and work, or they’re not working now, but live in Yellowknife. Has the department done any kind of study to see if these folks are going to be around three months from now when the policy is finally done and people know what’s going to happen? Thank you.
Thank you. It has been a challenge in trying to change, to review our Diamond Policy for a number of reasons. One is we’re working with the express direction that we should no longer provide loan guarantees. So our whole objective with the review of our Diamond Policy is to make a system in place that makes it more feasible for manufacturers to operate so they have a better opportunity to have a sustainable business.
As well, making these changes, we want to find a way to keep the existing cutters and polishers that are in town to continue to be able to find full and meaningful employment. As well, we need to find ways so that we can access more rough that we are entitled to through our agreements with the various producers. So that’s what we are working on. We have a number of proposals that are in the works and we are expecting to be able to come up with something meaningful in the next two to three months. Thank you.
Thank you and I know the Minister is committed to seeing this industry survive and committed to seeing it flourish. It is, I believe, a bit of a shame that we’re taking as long as we are. In the real world, in the business world, things move a lot more quickly than they do at a government pace and that’s unfortunate. I’d like to ask the Minister if, and I know he said two or three months, but the only time that I think Members are going to be back here, there’s a bit of a timeslot mid-June and also at the end of June. Can we get maybe a commitment from the Minister to try to get that finalized product to committee the last week of June before everybody heads back to their constituencies for their summer recess? Thank you.
Thank you. I think that would be an ideal time, now that we’ve committed to having committees meet in June. I think that would be an ideal objective for us to work towards and I’ll certainly commit to the Member that we will finalize or have in place our draft policy in final form to be reviewed by committee in June. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled List of Interactivity Transfers Exceeding $250,000 for the Period April 1st, 2009 to March 31st, 2010.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Minister of Transportation’s Report to the Legislative Assembly for 2009 on the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act (1990). Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Northern Voices, Northern Waters – NWT Water Stewardship Strategy. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Tabling of documents. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
