Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT Housing Corporation is committed to implementing a fair and sustainable public housing rent scale. It is one of the strategic actions outlined in Building for the Future: Northern Solutions for Northern Housing. It was also identified as a key component of the 17th Legislative Assembly’s priority to address housing needs.
Last month I released the public housing rent scale that will be implemented on July 1st. This rent scale addresses the many concerns we have heard from residents and Members of the Legislative Assembly over the past several years.
First, residents wanted the public housing rent scale to be simpler and more predictable. The previous approach was a complicated model with many adjustments in calculating rent. Tenants didn’t always know what their rent was going to be from month to month. As an example, last month there were 311 public housing tenants with incomes between $2,500 and $3,750. These tenants paid 167 different rents ranging from zero to $1,050. With the new rent scale, all household incomes in this range will pay between $325 and $365, depending on community. This will allow tenants to know their rent from month to month and plan their household budgets accordingly.
Residents also told us they wanted the public housing rent scale to address the disincentive to work. The new rent scale eliminates the bias against employment income, allows residents to earn extra income without rent changing, and provides for modest rent increases as income levels rise. The new minimum rent is set at between $70 and $80, depending on community, and
maximum rent at $1,445 to $1,625 with rent increasing as household income increases. This means that low-income tenants will pay about 4 percent of their income. Maximum rent will be 19.5 percent of income. The maximum rent under the old rent scale was up to 30 percent of income which translates into an overall 10.5 percent reduction in the maximum rents we can charge for higher income working Northerners in public housing. The overall changes to the rent scale will mean more money available to families to spend in the communities on their children and for the necessities of life.
The new maximum rents will be particularly beneficial for seasonal workers. During months that they are employed, seasonal workers often faced large rent increases, with rent as high as $4,600 per month in some communities. These workers often depend on this income for the entire year and the new maximum rent will ensure there is no disincentive to residents that depend on seasonal income.
Finally, residents also wanted the new public housing rent scale to be fair. The new scale means that rent for public housing tenants will be the same for tenants with similar incomes, regardless of the community they live in. This helps to address cost of living in our highest cost communities. For example, it costs about $42,000 per year to operate each public housing unit in Paulatuk. This is much higher than for lower cost communities like Hay River where costs are typically about $12,000 per unit per year. Keeping public housing rent similar, regardless of community, contributes to the sustainability of all NWT communities.
The changes we are making must be done in a manner that helps ensure the sustainability of the public housing program. One result of the introduction of the new minimum rent is that seniors will now pay rent in public housing. I understand this is a major change and that not everyone is going to be supportive. The reality is that the number of seniors residing in public housing is increasing as the population ages. At the same time, costs to operate public housing continue to increase and funding from the federal government to operate social housing is being eliminated.
Fairness is also a factor in this change. For example, last month using the old rent scale there were two households that earned essentially the same monthly income of $3,690. The first household is a single mother with two children who was charged $985 in rent, or 27 percent of the household income. The second household is two seniors living alone who paid zero rent. With the new rent scales, the single mother will pay $325 in rent, about 9 percent of income, and the seniors would pay $160 in rent or 4 percent of income.
The lower rent for the seniors with the new rent scale in this example, is because there will be an income exemption of $1,000 for each senior in the household as part of the calculation of income. This lowers rent for seniors compared with other households.
Mr. Speaker, the new public housing rent scale is simpler, more predictable and fairer. It addresses the disincentive to work and it does these things while ensuring the program remains sustainable, given the declining federal funding. This change will go into effect on July 1st and I will continue to keep the Assembly updated on this initiative. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Northwest Territories parks and campgrounds attract thousands of visitors to our territory every summer. They are a vital element of our tourism sector, and one we continue to invest in heavily by ensuring they are maintained, improved and made more accessible to visitors. These facilities are also enjoyed by our own residents and contribute enormously to the quality of life that we enjoy here in Canada’s North.
The 2012 parks season formally opened on May 15th and two new initiatives from the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment are making it easier than ever for visitors to access the territorial parks system.
We have developed a new NWT parks webpage to enable visitors to learn more about our extensive network of parks and recreation areas, book campsites and plan their visits to the NWT, all in an attractive, up-to-date and user-friendly format.
Our new webpage contains valuable information about all 34 parks in the Northwest Territories system. It includes interactive maps, events calendars and photo galleries, and promotes and increases tourism by highlighting nearby communities, cultural experiences and wilderness attractions.
Use of the on-line booking tool for NWT campgrounds has continued to rise, and campers can book sites at more parks on-line.
We have also introduced a multi-park seasonal day-use permit in the North Slave region, giving parks users in this region full summer access to day-use facilities at the Fred Henne, Prelude Lake and Reid Lake territorial parks for a single reduced fee.
We hope that this initiative will encourage and allow even more residents, especially families, to discover and experience the naturally spectacular parks facilities that we have right here in our backyard.
ITI invested over $1.5 million in infrastructure upgrades and enhancements to the parks system last year. We continue to work through our regional offices to identify project enhancements that will increase the attractiveness and accessibility of our parks.
Mr. Speaker, continued investment in the NWT’s spectacular parks infrastructure is key to supporting and growing tourism in the NWT, and reflects this Assembly’s priority and commitment to strengthen and diversify the NWT’s economy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to update the Assembly on programs that give our Aboriginal youth a stepping stone to serving their communities in the RCMP.
Our Assembly has identified a goal of diversifying our economy, ensuring that people in each community and region have choices. The Aboriginal Community Constable Program and the Aboriginal Pre-Cadet Training Program are innovative training programs that support this goal.
The Community Constable Program continues the original pilot program with a second intake of candidates. There are two positions available for Aboriginal people 19 years or older to attend a 20-week session at the RCMP Training Academy in Regina. Each cadet will learn the skills they need to become sworn peace officers and leaders in their communities.
Each cadet is paid for the time they spend training, including a week-long trip back to their home community. Once training is complete, the constables have an additional six-month field training posting in an NWT detachment to round out their experience.
With the deadline for applications coming up on June 1st, we will have a number of candidates vying for the positions available. The training is rigorous, as the work community constables perform is demanding. Cadets learn to assist regular police officers in investigations and to be secondary support response personnel. Most importantly, they are a vital link between the community and the RCMP.
The second program is for those aged 19 to 29 who want to see if the RCMP may be right for them and to gain valuable work experience. The RCMP Aboriginal Pre-Cadet Training Program is running from May to August. This 17-week training session will appeal to those who wish to learn about careers in policing or who want to challenge themselves mentally and physically. This program enhances self-esteem and encourages cadets to become role models. Graduates are ready to further their studies, work in justice-related fields or pursue career options with the RCMP.
Through these paid training programs, I want to highlight the rewarding career opportunities available to our residents. We are always exploring opportunities with the RCMP to encourage NWT residents to consider policing-related careers.
Although it is not an official program, I would also like to highlight today the good work recently done here in Yellowknife by bringing youth in the Canadian Rangers to Yellowknife to have them work with Corporal Tammy McKenzie of “G” Division. They received firsthand experience of what it is like to be an RCMP constable, including manning check-stops.
I ask Members today to let the youth in your ridings know about these programs, and I encourage anyone who is interested in a career in policing to talk to the RCMP officers in their communities or visit the RCMP website. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] This time of year in the springtime a lot of people like to be out on the land, and in the mornings the birds sing and it’s getting warm again. In the communities the freight comes in from down south also with the barges. Because of that, items are sometimes expensive. However, we do need things from down south in the communities. Things that come in from the South is either by barge or trucking, so sometimes when they do get the items from the South this is what urges the children in the communities with regard to freight and food, and things are kind of expensive. Sometimes we don’t really know how to preserve the foods from other parts of the world. Sometimes people are in the bush and thriving on wildlife food such as moose and migratory birds.
There’s a lot of people that still live out on the land and it does seem like that way of living is still thriving well. Sometimes yearly there are people who do subsist on the wildlife out in the bush, they do get some assistance annually. There are some young people that sometimes help the older people out on the land and sometimes when they do kill wildlife they share it among the communities. Also, the elders help them in treating the wildlife meat.
There are some items that we have talked about as a government, is the Community Harvesting Program and it will be good if it continues to be used by people who do wildlife living out in the communities. Mahsi. [Translation ends]
The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In yesterday’s budget address the Minister of Finance made a very bold statement about the importance of lowering the cost of living to the access of lowering our power costs generated by hydro. He further referenced the need for an outside-the-box thinking to resolve this dilemma. You know, he’s very right; but does this government have the appetite to make the needed infrastructure investment to follow through with such a bold, motherly statement?
The NWT resident is facing unprecedented costs for living in the North, from high food prices to extreme travel costs to massive increases in their energy costs. I always wonder what truly keeps people wanting to live in the North with such a high living cost. That said, there is an outside-the-box project that could alleviate a large portion of this energy costing issue and immediately lower the cost of living. The answer is transmission lines.
The construction of a transmission line from the Taltson hydro plant via the South Slave through Hay River and connecting into the Alberta grid system would for the first time allow the full electrically capacity of the Taltson project. Think about it: Lower electricity prices for the South Slave, forfeiting the changeover of our government buildings to pellet boilers, and maybe the potential for export power to our southern neighbours. This would immediately affect all ratepayers, lower all the energy cost demands for the entire territory, wean us off our thirst for fossil fuels and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
Now I know there are some naysayers out there that make reference that this cannot be done due to grading issues, NWT precipitation records, technology challenges and cost investment. I say to these people: Offer me a large-scale alternative that will have the same economic and tangible return on our investment and I think the answer is very clear.
So I say to this government: If you truly mean what you say in wanting to lower our cost of living and energy costs, then I would expect us to stop putting these bold statements into print. Let’s make the business case, let’s do the proper investment, and let’s leverage our support unilaterally to something we know that will have a direct impact to the bottom line of all taxpayers. Let’s stop penalizing our residents with continued rate increases and energy costs and let’s start generating the millions of dollars transmission lines could offer.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to bring some emphasis to a policy issue within the Education department, a policy which will affect the post-secondary aspirations of our high school students. I think Members know that the NWT high school curriculum follows that of Alberta and I ask why then do our policies not do the same.
Last September, Alberta Education, in a misguided move, determined that French second language exams could only be written by students taking those courses, that other students could not challenge the exam. Not surprisingly, NWT Education followed Alberta’s lead and we also removed the challenge provision for French second language courses from NWT students. But Alberta, once they fully realized the full implications of their new policy, rightfully reversed their policy decision one month later and they returned to their original situation.
NWT Education, however, did not. Our students are now at a disadvantage in comparison to their Alberta counterparts, and to what end? For what purpose? Any NWT student proficient in French is prohibited from gaining a potential extra credit, an extra credit that could make or break their acceptance to university or other post-secondary institutions.
Some schools require a high school language credit for entrance into a particular program and those same schools may not recognize an immersion language course, for instance, for that credit.
In addition, a student can be very proficient in French, a French-first language student, for instance, and they may not need to take a French second language course. They already have the skills, yet they cannot now challenge the exam to get their needed credits for graduation.
It’s hard enough for NWT students to compete for spots in post-secondary schools. This just makes it harder, Mr. Speaker. At a time when we should be helping out students achieve the greatest success possible, when they are embarking on a significant new direction in their lives, we are throwing up roadblocks for them to try to get over.
I’ve tried many times to understand the department’s rationale. I’ve considered this issue in the last several weeks and I can see no valid reason for this policy change. Why are we doing this, Mr. Speaker?
I will have this and other questions for the Minister of Education at the appropriate time. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My colleague and I will be returning to Hay River this evening for an appreciation night for the Town of Hay River staff. We will be honoured to host the Minister of MACA, the Honourable R.C. McLeod, in Hay River.
The appreciation of the staff in Hay River is greatly appreciated there. The local jobs affect the community greatly. The staff there have the opportunity to take on training, skills development in first aid, equipment training, water treatment and mechanics. We feel these are very important staff positions in the community. These people spend their money in the community and throughout the North, so we’re honoured tonight to attend that meeting. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to salute the good work going on in my Weledeh riding with the construction of two new homes with assistance from Habitat for Humanity.
Construction is expected to start in June on a new duplex in the Niven Lake subdivision, houses that will eventually be the homes of two four-person families. The new families will move from the rental market into home ownership, thanks to the socially progressive work of this organization and the affordable terms of construction and purchase.
Habitat for Humanity assumes a CMHC backed mortgage which families begin paying as soon as the homes are completed. It’s a no-interest, no down payment, 25-year mortgage. Payments are set at 25 percent of household income. Homes are constructed with volunteer labour and it’s expected that there will be donations of building materials. The new owners participate in the construction, with the required commitment of 500 volunteer hours. These are the first Habitat for Humanity homes to be built in the Northwest Territories and 18 applications were received for the two units available.
Habitat for Humanity has applied the socially progressive approach to home ownership across Canada and around the world. Sixty-nine new homes are being built this year in Canada, putting the organization over the 2,000 mark in homes constructed. The organization has launched home repair and renovation programs and been honoured with a CHMC Aboriginal Housing Award among other plaudits.
Provision for adequate, accessible and affordable housing for the people of the NWT is one of this government’s most critical challenges. While it’s great to see concerned citizens organizing themselves to lend a hand, it gives us pause to consider how well we’re doing meeting our own needs. We have made progress in offering our own home ownership programs and adjusting our rent scales, but far too many of our citizens still lack decent housing, rented or owned.
When it comes time to spend our tight capital dollars, we have to put the critical basic needs of our citizens first. Housing is a key factor in healthy families, communities and the economy. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before we got back in session, I had the honour to attend the Aurora College graduation in Inuvik where I was able to give a speech to the graduates. I was very honoured and grateful to participate and to see graduates of all ages right out of high school to even see seniors and older adults. For them to take the initiative and invest into their futures and accomplish what they had set out to accomplish, for that I respected each and every one of them for the hard work that they did to get where they were today.
Although I did speak only at the Inuvik event, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all graduates in the Northwest Territories through the Aurora College. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the instructors, the staff, the mentors and the families that supported these graduates as they went through the course of their years to get the diplomas.
As we know, the cost of living in the Northwest Territories is very high, that student financial assistance only provides so much money and a lot of these families – sometimes single parents – go through a hard time to get through those trials and tribulations to overcome those obstacles to get where they are today. That takes a lot of courage and a lot of determination. For that we should respect our graduates of the Northwest Territories.
With that said, I would like to take the opportunity to address what I had mentioned in my speech to all of the graduates. I did mention that our greatest resource in the Northwest Territories is not our oil, gas or diamonds; it is our people. In the Northwest Territories it is very unique that we help our people. We share with our people. We take them under our wing and help them become better people. If they are struggling, we try to get them out of those situations.
We need to invest more in our education, our health and our wellness of our people so that they can become educated, they can become healthy, so that they are the ones who can go out and get the jobs in our education systems, our schools, even translators. We need to put that investment there.
Once all our resources are gone in the Northwest Territories, we are going to be left with the people who were here first. We are going to be left with the people that are struggling to get through these jobs, left with people who are starting to get sucked into the hardships of economy development with the alcohol, drugs and addictions.
As the economy slows, we have to look at investing into something else and that is people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to speak about the potential impacts of the federal government on our park system, most particularly the Nahanni National Park in my riding. The residents and the leadership of Fort Simpson are very concerned about these reductions to these programs and services in the parks budget.
A few weeks ago I issued a press release stating my concerns, and today I look to our government to take a position and advocate on behalf to the federal government about how these impacts may be negative to the region and the people.
Canada is saying minimal impacts but my biggest concern is that, as we agree to expand our park, they had promised increased expenditures, increased jobs to the Nahendeh region and to the communities. Our region is a have-not and does benefit from the increased activity as a result of the expansion of the Nahanni National Park Reserve. I don’t want to see those opportunities missed there.
Once again, I would like to call upon our government to take a position and speak with the federal counterparts, that future plan cutbacks or reductions should not happen and we will have the discussion with the appropriate Minister during question period. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Tomorrow, May 26th, is a very important day in the Northwest Territories. The last government recognized May 26th as National Residential School Reconciliation and Healing. The point that I want to raise this morning is that tomorrow is a day that this government is the only government in Canada that has recognized this day for residential school survivors.
In the Northwest Territories we affect over 10,000 students, and many communities in the Northwest Territories are feeling and healing on a recovery and healing through the residential schools. This is a chapter in our life as Aboriginal people and people in the communities that was sadly enforced by policies of the past governments and the federal government, and for whatever reasons they were operated by the churches. It had a huge impact on our people and today we’re feeling the effects of it through the amount of alcoholism, the amount of addictions, the amount of issues dealing with families and even with our languages.
Tomorrow gives the acknowledgement to the students, to the families to say we no longer want to be the part of a victim; we want to be part of the people that stood for something that you were okay and that what was done to you may not be done anymore in the future.
This government needs to be applauded for taking a stand to acknowledge. I know June 11th, when I was working, I never thought I would hear a Prime Minister stand up in the House of Parliament and say on behalf of his government that he was sorry to the Aboriginal people, to me when I was six years old living in residential school.
We have to look at this and I look forward to this government doing something to commemorate tomorrow and future years as to what we can do to begin the reconciliation process and strengthen that process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Some of us in this Chamber may have heard of a little project referred to as the Deh Cho Bridge. As a matter of fact, it’s the largest infrastructure project that our government has ever supported to date. With all projects, it certainly has had its challenges, its issues and certainly it’s had its concerns. But frankly, let’s put it on the record: what project hasn’t had problems, challenges, or issues or concerns?
We all know that the Deh Cho Bridge was a project born out of the vision and aspirations of the people and the community of Fort Providence. It’s a project that brought together an excellent partnership to the table, the Dene and the Metis of that region. In an area that often has been described to me as certainly an economically depressed region, this was a great opportunity for these people to be involved in a project.
It’s well known that I’ve been a stalwart supporter of this project, this partnership, and I’ve certainly stood behind them steadfastly, the people of Fort Providence, who want to be part of their own destiny on their traditional lands. On a number of occasions the Deh Cho Bridge project has been referred to “a gong show.” Clearly in Hansard it is, in my opinion. I’m not speaking for the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation or certainly the people of Fort Providence, but I’m not sure how anyone can see or hear those repeated comments referring to it as a gong show as constructive criticism in any way; a viewpoint that I think is insulting and even maybe personal at times.
In speaking to the former Member, who I got to know over eight years, the Member for Deh Cho that is, he often told me how language use like that in the House is very hurtful to the people of the community, the proponents of the project, the vision of the people. So I’m not here to split hairs today, Mr. Speaker, but the fact is although there were numerous examples, the challenge is out there to find one example that seemed to stand for picking on a project of that nature.
Mr. Speaker, implied or direct, I want to make clear in this House today that any attempt to paint a picture that I do not support First Nations’ projects and their aspirations is wrong. I will continue to question the realignment of Highway No. 4 on the process, not the project, and certainly not the successful proponents and any attempt to make it any other issue will certainly be met head on by me.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given that we just received the budget address yesterday, very well delivered by our Minister of Finance, I must say. Many minutes of speaking on many pages, I said he didn’t skip or miss a word the whole budget.
On the matter of how we get to the budget and the speech that Mr. Miltenberger delivered yesterday, the address that he delivered, I’d just like to talk about a few anomalies as I see them.
We as Regular Members sit on standing committees that consider the business plans. The departments come to our standing committees, they outline for us what the activity of their departments is going to be, and we have some input. Mind you, a lot of the time that we spend looking at this is us receiving information about what the department is doing. However, even after that it is still received at a very high level. Those of us on this side of the House do not really get a close-up, first-hand kind of look at what goes on in the departments. The numbers that we get are large numbers, generally speaking, and they refer to activities which are also rather large. So if during this process we do come up with a creative idea for a change in focus or a new, modest initiative, we then feed that information back to the government. Alas, by the time it gets to them, it’s generally too late to include it in the budget.
These are anomalies that I see from my perspective and I’m sure the Cabinet could agree or disagree. It’s too late to work them in there, so now we are left with what other options do we have to bring that kind of input and suggestion and change to the process that we would want from this side of the House.
We’re often told that when there is such an initiative or change in policy, or focus, or priority, that the government has no money. So if you want that, Regular Members, then you need to look at the budget and find where you want to cut. I have a problem with that. We’re not in a position to look at that budget and see where we want to cut. Do you notice that when the government has an initiative? Often it will happen, interestingly, and they will say, oh, we have funded that from within. We do not have that opportunity on this side of the House to find out where there could be some money within a department to fund anything that we want as a priority or as an initiative.
I think that when we come up with these ideas, I don’t think the response should be from the Cabinet, well, you decide where you want to delete something. Because that’s all we have the ability to do, is delete when it comes to the budget. I think we should turn that back to the Cabinet and we should say, this is our priority, you find the money, you tell us what you’re going to cut.
I’d like to welcome our visitors here in the public gallery here today. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I was talking about the appreciation night for the Town of Hay River today, but my questions are for the Minister of MACA. I’d like to know what training MACA provides to municipalities for the help of the employees.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through the School of Community Government we have about 11 core courses that a lot of the municipalities take us up on. For example, in 2011-2012 we had 11 training events that were attended by 135 participants. We work very closely with the communities to offer them programs and training that will allow them to do their job a lot better and with a lot of support from MACA.
My next question is: What funding does MACA provide to the municipalities to do its training in the community itself?
The communities are given an O and M budget. When they feel that there’s training that is necessary in their community, then they will, for the most part, use their O and M money to offer training in their communities. However, as I said, again, we do have a lot of courses that are offered through the School of Community Government that a lot of municipalities take us up on, and they meet other people from across the Northwest Territories that are doing similar work and they can share experiences and best practices.
As I indicated, the economic benefit that the municipalities provide to their local economy is very strong and I’d like to know from the Minister if MACA is considering increasing some of the funding they provide to the municipalities to do infrastructure development.
