As I’ve told some of the Members, this is certainly an option we’re prepared to look at for potentially affected employees. And we are seeking some direction from the standing committees, as we briefed them. If we get some direction, we’re quite prepared to look at that.
Thank you, Mr, McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the fact that DIAND owes this government approximately $100 million. That money could go a long way to fulfilling some of the needs that our Finance Minister’s often described, as our expenditures are certainly…. We’re not able to keep pace with them.
This is a problem that goes to the highest office of this Assembly. And I’d prefer it not be pawned off to a particular Minister.
I’d like to know what the deputy minister, who would be well-informed on this file, is doing to help play a role and to help negotiate these dollars to be returned to the Northwest Territories, so we can use them properly.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Would you clarify for the record who your question’s addressed to?
Sorry, Mr. Speaker. That’s a problem of not getting any sleep. I meant to say the Deputy Premier. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. While I have some familiarity with the file, this is an issue that’s clearly within the mandate of the Minister of Health and Social Services. I will ask her to respond.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to advise the Member that I do agree with him in his Member’s statement.
Obviously, this is a big issue for us. They’re having progressive actions taken. As I indicated earlier in the session in answering Mr. Abernethy’s question on the same topic, the Premier has raised this issue repeatedly with the Prime Minister as well as the Minister of DIAND.
We, at the Department of Health, have communicated with the Minister of DIAND, asking for renegotiations. And we were actively negotiating right up to March 31, when we signed the most recent agreement. I’ve also indicated that I’m in the process of trying to get a direct meeting with Minister Clement so we could look at ways to renegotiate this agreement.
Remember, this is not just a situation of where the NWT is paying the bills — where we send the bill to the federal government, and they’re not paying that. That’s not the case at all, Mr. Speaker.
We have an agreement in place, which has a 2 per cent gap. The cost is rising at 5 per cent. We have about a 3 per cent gap we need to address. I and the whole Cabinet and Premier are looking at all possible options to push this file forward as quickly as possible and as strongly as possible.
It’s really nice to hear all possible options are being moved forward to fight this issue, because this is the same Minister it had taken over eight weeks to find out how much that file is. It was a simple question at the time, which was how much money is outstanding to the government.
Mr. Speaker, the Finance Minister has talked many times to the fact that we’re broke or our revenues aren’t keeping up to pace with our expenditures. I would think that the Minister would be phoning DIAND every day. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell this House: when was the last time this issue was brought up, and what is the response from that Minister who is responsible for this money that should be paid back to the GNWT?
For the record, I should state that when the Member asked about this question, we were actively negotiating this situation, and I had indicated this to the Member. The Member was not clear about whether he was asking questions on DIAND’s funding gap, and I had three questions I had to clarify.
Mr. Speaker, I could advise you that the former Minister of Health and Social Services wrote to the DIAND Minister on June of 2007. We again wrote in October of 2007. In early November 2007, the Premier talked to Minister Strahl about this issue when he met, and I believe when the Prime Minister was in Yellowknife that issue was discussed. I have written to Minister of DIAND Chuck Strahl to renegotiate this situation, as well as to Minister Clement, looking for a meeting. I’m hoping we can meet in person before September at the Health Ministers’ meeting in Quebec, if we don’t get the meeting by then. I hope to be talking to him in person then.
I’ve just heard a perfect explanation of nothing-itis. I mean, it’s a lot of talk, but no results on this file. If somebody owed me this type of money — and I’m not saying $100 million — I’d be calling every day. The fact is, it has been over nine years that this file continues to be a problem.
What message does Cabinet need to get through their head? The fact is: stop providing the services they refuse to pay for. Has the Department of Health ever taken a serious look at this file by saying maybe we should stop providing these services; get DIAND to provide the services, and the territorial government will subsidize the additional benefits. It would be a lot cheaper.
I can tell you that when I was on the other side, I was always looking for a silver-bullet solution. But when you are Minister of Health and Social Services, it would not be wise to stop providing health and hospital and medical services to Indian and Inuit people of the Northwest Territories. I’ve been saying this; I think Members should be very clear that this is not an account receivable with $96 million written on it that we can post to Ottawa and send a collection agency after them. If that were the case, we would have done that. I think it’s really important that all the people out there also understand this issue.
We have an agreement in place that was signed back in 1999, following the health transfer from the federal government, where a cap was placed. We have not been able to renegotiate this. We are trying to do this. Part of the situation, also, is that there is a different understanding between the federal government and us. The federal government believes they are paying this cost through their transfer money, and we want to make a different case on that. The only way to do that is to renegotiate. It’s just not about sending a collection agency after them, as we would an invoice outstanding for $96 million.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, maybe sending a collection agency would be much wiser. I mean, it’s $100 million. Does no one get this? We’re short $135 million. The Minister’s been in the ministerial office almost eight months, and all I’ve heard is nothing. We need some action on this. What about the serious result of stopping defending the federal government, and what about taking on the role you proclaim you’re in charge of and you’ve always fought for? So where are those results? Show the House this.
I don’t think it would be wise for me to reread what I’ve read, so let me just state again that the government considers this a very serious issue. We are looking at all options to see how we could reopen this agreement, so we can get the escalator at 2 per cent raised. I have discussed these…. We have to work with the Dene Nation leader, as well as all aboriginal leaders in the North. They have indicated their interest in working with us. This will be front and centre as we move forward to get a better agreement and reopen the agreement to start with, so we can change that escalator provision.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In reference to my Member’s statement on Highway No. 1, I’d also like to indicate that the same type of emergency closures happened on Highway No. 7 and the Liard Highway as well. The same types of things happened there, as well: the travelling public was uninformed and unaware there were issues on the road. When they went there, in Highway No. 7’s case, because there weren’t enough warning signs, they actually got stuck in the highway because the highway deteriorated really bad there.
I’d just like to ask the Minister: exactly what is the communication strategy when there are emergencies or road closures, and how do we inform the travelling public?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For all the highways in the Northwest Territories, the web site is updated, as the resource people working on them are dedicated to informing the public of the most recent, current, updated conditions of the highways this time of the season. I’d like the Member to know that due to the spring thaw, in the spring season there are unforeseen conditions that hinder the conditions of our roads, and with these unforeseen conditions of the spring season — heavy rainfalls and the conditions of the roads — sometimes our staff positions are not manned 24 hours. However, we do keep a close eye on our roads, as foremen, superintendents and workers are out there — even the travelling public — inform the staff of the conditions of the roads.
The point I’m coming from is: how do we mitigate these interruptions on our highway systems?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. I’ll allow the Minister to answer that question.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department certainly is very concerned at this time of the season, as I said, in the springtime and the fall time, in terms of our best ways and best solutions. I certainly look forward to Members’ comments and suggestions as to how we can close the window in terms of the mitigation of certain conditions we have. We certainly have those kinds of conditions in my own regions and we have very limited opportunity in terms of our winter road seasons, and these conditions sometimes are very difficult to work with. However, we do have plans in place; we do have systems in place. I look forward to improving our communication awareness in terms of letting the public know these are conditions that could be coming to the roads in their area.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m sure glad the Minister picked a question out of that.
Laughter.
One of the other questions I had is: where is the contact point when incidents do happen? Is there one single window where constituents can phone? And how current is the web site as well?
The department offers a 1-800 number to all residents of the Northwest Territories, and I’ll be very happy to send a notification right over to the Member’s office for his constituents and all constituents of the Northwest Territories. We have regional operations, and the regional superintendents know there are contact numbers for the driving public. The department continues to look for ways to improve their communication. The web site, I believe, is updated on a daily basis by our staff, and sometimes, even, our staff does come in over the weekends when conditions like this warrant it. We certainly appreciate the patience of some of the travelling public when they have to drive through some of the conditions we have endured for the last couple of months.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. These incidents happened on the weekend. Is there a way for the department to update the information on a weekend? That would really, really help the travelling public.
Mr. Speaker, I will check with my officials to ensure that with the incidences that do happen after hours and on the weekends, and sometimes in the wee early hours of the morning, there is a contact number for the travelling public to get hold of us if they have concerns on the highways, on our ferries, within our infrastructure. I will make sure this is directed to our officials and get back to the Member as soon as possible.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I was speaking about homelessness. Does the Minister responsible for the public housing department have any reliable information on the homeless, the number of homeless individuals in the smaller communities?
The honourable Minister responsible for the homeless, Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, there’s a distinction we have to make as we talk about the homeless. Or are we talking about individuals who may be hard to house? They are, I believe, in almost every community, including the one I come from. They have had every opportunity. Their families don’t want them staying in their houses. They have addictions issues. They have lifestyle issues. So if there is an issue of not enough houses for people, there are waiting lists for public housing.
We do struggle with the issue of hard-to-house, where they have often had programs, and they have often left the houses in considerable disrepair. So yes, it is an issue we struggle with. There is a program for homelessness, so there is funding over winter to ensure there is, hopefully, a warm place for every homeless person if they need it. But it is an issue on which there is no final solution that we have come up with yet.
Just for the Minister. Let’s just pick one and we could start somewhere. These issues are big in the smaller communities. Once you walk out of this building, you see it in downtown Yellowknife. We have to start somewhere. If the Minister and government are willing to work with us, as the Regular Members, to do something about it, I really urge them to.
Mr. Speaker, clearly we are interested in working with the committees and communities. In Yellowknife we’ve just opened Bailey House. We have the Salvation Army. We have the Side Door over here for youth. In some communities there are places for those who are hard to house to stay. But clearly, it is an issue, and we are willing to work with our Members.
What has the department tapped into from federal government monies on homelessness?
Mr. Speaker, there was some funding from the federal government that helped, in fact, build structures like Bailey House. It helped us put some money into homeless initiatives in small communities to help cover off those that are needed when it is cold and freezing outside. So we have put what money we have been able to get to use.
Unfortunately, what tends to happen when there is a federal announcement…. It is done on a per capita basis, and the amount of money that actually comes to the Northwest Territories is very small.
Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a question on that, Mr. Minister. In the smaller communities, families that are hard to house, or homeless, become a burden to family members with houses and to grandparents. So basically, we take care of our own. We try to. Will he help them and how?
Mr. Speaker, I’d be very interested to sit down with the Member if he wants to talk about his particular communities in Nunakput. As well, the Housing Corporation would be interested to sit down, along with the other departments that have a role to play here through the business-planning process, to take a look at what’s currently there. There is a small community homelessness fund. There’s other funding in the larger centres.
Clearly, it is an issue, and yes, it involves families; it involves communities. The government can be of assistance. It also involves individuals who, at the end of the day for whatever reason, make choices they don’t often want to change from. We have to consider all those factors. We’re interested to sit down and talk about that.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to follow up on my spontaneous Member’s statement regarding the Minister of ITI’s announcement about the Minister’s Advisory Panel on the Economy. Does the Minister agree that a strong and sustainable economy is one that actually includes social and environmental considerations best represented by members of those communities?
The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
I do agree.
Is it the intent of the Minister’s Advisory Panel on the Economy to ensure that it benefits all residents?
That’s exactly the reason we set up that panel.
