Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize some constituents: Kyla Kakfwi-Scott, if she’s still up there, and is that her sister up there? Yup.
---Laughter
I’d also like to recognize Christine Windman of Weledeh and, of course, Lydia Bardak, city councillor. I don’t know if Mr. Whitford is still up there. Is he? Mr. Tony Whitford – everybody knows Tony – and any other members of the Weledeh riding that I might not be able to see here, given my eyes are getting old, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a great pleasure I get to welcome to the Assembly here today Mr. Brian Desjardins, the executive director of NWT Tourism. Also, Ms. Jenni Bruce, the chair, and also with them is Mr. Ron Ostrom and Carlos Gonzalez. Welcome. As well, I’d like to welcome Mr. Tony Whitford, no stranger to this House and the former Member for Kam Lake. Welcome, Tony. And Ms. Lydia Bardak, city councillor. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. After 17 years I’m glad you remembered who I am.
I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize a good old Metis boy from Fort Smith who’s made very well, and my companion for dinner just about weekly, and a man who has a long, sterling reputation in serving the people of the Northwest Territories, my friend and colleague, Mr. Tony Whitford.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. I’d like to welcome my daughter here today, Kirstin, who flew in from home. Welcome.
My executive assistant Shirley and her daughter Nina Larson. Welcome, Nina.
Then to Mr. Yakeleya’s family, welcome to the House. Then Mr. Tony Whitford again. I always tell Tony that you’re the only guy that probably did every job in the Legislative Assembly right across the board. Keep up the good work, Tony. It’s always good to see you.
I’d like to welcome all visitors here in the public gallery today. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to recognize the community of Enterprise for being distinguished with the Energy Action Award from the Arctic Energy Alliance. The Hamlet of Enterprise receives its water by trucked delivery from Hay River. To save money and energy, the community decided to reduce its water use. Community members and businesses exchanged their top-load washers for energy-efficient ones, Energy Star front-loading washers, replaced toilets with low-flow toilets, replaced shower heads and taps with low-flow models. Qualifying members received Energy Efficiency and Incentive Program rebates from the Arctic Energy Alliance for their efforts. Not only was water use reduced, there were fewer water truck deliveries to Enterprise, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions. I’d like to congratulate the community of Enterprise. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s speech, my questions will be for the Minister of Health today. After a review of the Midwifery Program is completed, when will the department deliver the commitment of the Midwifery Program?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is no question from the department that midwifery would be an important part of the health system. The plan is to look at the Midwifery Program in the fiscal years of 2013-2014 to see where we could possibly put some midwives in position. We also have to do this in conjunction with a review of the physician services.
I’m concerned with some of the terminology. An additional review we will see. I’m just wondering when the department will see those regional positions go out to the communities and start to deliver those babies and put the names on the birth certificates that rightly should be there.
Submission will be in the business plan for 2013-2014 for the Midwifery Program.
Can the Minister answer me the question of the financial investment that the department is looking at committing to this Midwifery Program?
That’s going to be up to this House on the amount of money that will be committed to it. We will be reviewing midwifery services in communities where a lot of births originate and which don’t actually occur in those communities. As an example, Hay River is one of the communities where there are many births originating but very few, if any, births at all that actually occur in Hay River. We’re looking at that type of a system to determine which midwifery program will come before the other.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, my priority would be Hay River, but I am interested to see if the department is committed to putting those positions out into the regions prior to… There’s also an indication there would be some in Yellowknife, but would the department commit to putting those positions out in the regions first?
Although the births that are originating and most of the births are happening in Yellowknife, Inuvik, Fort Smith, Alberta and a few in other provinces, we are looking at the communities where the mother is from, the originating mother is from. The ones with the highest numbers in those but the births don’t actually occur there where they have to be transported to another community. Hay River is probably number one on the list for the mother originates from, the birth is originating from but actually do not have the actual birth in that community. Then we have other communities after that.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, the Honourable Robert C. McLeod. Since 1996 a policy came into place in this government where seniors living in public housing over the age of 60 would pay zero rent. I believe the initial intent of this was to target seniors in small, remote communities where people in the housing units had not ever been involved in the wage economy, had come more from a traditional economy, but in the government’s wisdom decided to apply it to every community and every senior living in public housing regardless of means or income. Now we are being forced to revisit that very, very generous program.
I would like to ask the Minister, as a result of the consultation with some of the seniors by MLAs, the complaint has come forward that seniors were not adequately consulted on this change. I would like to ask the Minister what efforts were undertaken by the Housing Corporation to ensure that seniors were consulted before the implementation of this new policy.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We feel that we’ve had considerable consultation across the Northwest Territories on the whole shelter policy review. We had an opportunity to meet with NWT Seniors’ Society and received their input. We believe that this is an issue that has been consulted quite extensively across the Northwest Territories.
Some representatives and leaders of seniors’ organizations are now asking to postpone the implementation of this policy in order to conduct further consultation. I would like to ask the Minister if he thinks that further consultation would result in a different decision by his corporation that he oversees.
As I said, we feel like we’ve consulted adequately and if we were to delay it as per the wishes of some Members across the NWT, I don’t think too much would change. Therefore, I don’t see much need to delay the implementation and take this out again.
In terms of the feedback that did come back from the seniors, can the Minister please tell us if there was a categorical disapproval, or did this new policy review meet with categorical disagreement from the seniors, or was there also some widespread support for this?
As with most changes that are made within the government where you start charging people money, there is going to be some concern and that concern was obviously raised and we hear it continue to be raised. What I was quite pleased about was the amount of support that it had from seniors across the Northwest Territories and I always use the particular example of a gentleman, a senior living in public housing, saying I only make $1,500 a month but I’m willing to pay my share.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly that has also been my experience, that the message is mixed and I have in fact heard comments from some seniors saying that if I’m a tenant of the Housing Corporation, at least if I’m paying my $90 a month rent I feel like I can phone them up when my tap is dripping or I can ask for the kinds of services that any tenant would ask the landlord for. Certainly the feedback that we have received is very mixed as well.
I’d like to ask the Minister if it’s this government’s intention to then proceed with the implementation of the rent charged for seniors beginning on the planned date.
It is our intent to implement all the changes as per the shelter policy review on July 1st of this year and that includes seniors’ rent.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today in my Member’s statement I spoke about the recent Elders Parliament and the recommendation made by the elders to delay the implementation of the proposed changes to the public housing rent scale that will affect all seniors throughout the Northwest Territories. I kind of wondered about that. One of the things that some elders have raised with me is they’ve been living in the same house for many decades and I kind of wondered how this perhaps could affect them.
My question to the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation is that the Minister recently released a new strategic plan for Housing. Is there anything in that strategic plan that is specifically directed to the housing needs of elders?
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We feel that at the Housing Corporation we look after our seniors quite well. We have a number of programs that are designed especially for seniors; seniors Home Maintenance Repair Program. We feel that we look after their needs pretty good. We have a lot of seniors we recognize are living independently and they’re receiving no assistance from anyone and they still have the same bills to pay. So we try and do what we can as a corporation to look after the seniors’ needs.
There are a couple of new initiatives that we plan on rolling out within the shelter policy review. We had an opportunity to discuss those with committee and we’re receiving some feedback and then we’ll make those programs that we’re planning to offer public.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is just to perhaps explore options. As I indicated, elders have been living in homes for many years. They’ve raised their families and have paid rent for many years and they face an increase. I wonder if the Minister could tell me if there are options out there for elders to take over ownership of the houses where in some cases they have been paying rent for decades.
We recognize that we have a lot of seniors that have been in these units for, as the Member has said, decades and almost since some of the units were built in the ‘70s. There’s always an opportunity there to discuss with the seniors the option of purchasing the unit. We look at the value as it pertains to the community that they’re in and we work out something with them.
But we also have to recognize that it’s quite a jump to go from paying, well, zero in some cases, now $70 to $80 depending on where you live, to having to maintain the unit on your own.
It costs us an average of $16,000 a year to maintain a unit, and that includes a seniors unit. It can go as high as $24,000 in some cases. We have to be sure that we do our homework with them and not set them up for potential failure, as much as we would like them to be homeowners. We’ve also taken the initiative in some cases where seniors have been living in the houses for years, they’ve moved out, so they’re kind of over-housed with a three-bedroom house and just the senior, but we recognize the sentimental value that the unit has to the senior so we do keep them in there for as long as we can.
I like what the Minister is saying in terms of an opportunity that perhaps could be explored with the elders. Would the Minister of the Housing Corporation be willing to look at transferring ownership of those units? We’ve done this, I think perhaps this government has done, surplus and aged homes that are perhaps beyond maintenance but at the same time are respectable units that elders have occupied, to see if the Housing Corporation would look at transferring ownership of those units at no cost to the elders.
We’re always willing to look at that option; however, as I said before, we have to ensure that we don’t set the seniors up for failure. To go from zero right now to having to maintain the unit yourself, there’s quite an extensive cost to that. We want to make sure we work with the seniors to be comfortable that they are able to take over home ownership of the house. There’s always that option there and we’re more than willing to explore that with the seniors that have been living in their units for a long period of time.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to follow up on my statement on tourism whereas there are potential reductions. I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI, being that tourism is one of the NWT’s highest goals and objectives, I’m surprised that we will be facing some reductions. I’m just wondering why we are heading in this direction when we should be supporting and enhancing the tourism sector.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. Certainly we heard the Finance Minister with his budget address earlier today, we’re trying to maintain what we have as a government. We’re spending $10.4 million on tourism and we do have the Tourism 2015 plan where we’ve got $1 million earmarked annually specific to some marketing initiatives and also Aboriginal tourism initiatives across the territory. We do need to look for ways as we go forward and our revenues do grow, look for opportunities to get some more money into marketing and product development here in the Northwest Territories. I see us advancing this. I see Tourism 2015 as a way we can do that.
Certainly if we look at our neighbours in the Yukon, their marketing budget is much more than ours but at some point in time there will be a highway down the Mackenzie Valley and our transportation infrastructure will be to a degree where we will see increased tourism traffic here in the Northwest Territories and our budgets will increase accordingly. Thank you.
If the Minister is talking about increased volumes, then it certainly has been increased in the last few years and yet we’re faced with some reductions in our tourism budget. I just don’t see it and my constituents don’t see it. Every little dollar helps our NWT economy, Mr. Speaker.
Once again, I’d like to ask the Minister what prompted him to reduce our budgets. It’s been increasing in the nine years that I’ve been MLA and now this is the first time I’ve seen our tourism budget reduced, Mr. Speaker.
I wasn’t aware that we were reducing the budgets in tourism. Over the past five years we’ve also come up with $5.6 million in the Tourism Product Diversification funding. Again, this year, in this budget there is $10.4 million earmarked for tourism.
Again, maybe the Member could just clarify where he believes the reductions are coming, because I haven’t seen any reductions and I don’t believe we’re reducing in any area in regard to tourism. Thank you.
