Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of trying to lay the foundation, and this government has indicated, quite publicly, it’s partnership principle of working with communities and agencies such as NCS, would the Minister commit to ensure that that partnership is developed and supported, and at the same time, would the Minister increase the maximum grant per community and the overall budget of the Community Broadcasting Program? Mahsi.
We are putting a lot of pressure on the federal government. We’ve met with the CEO of NCS. There’s another meeting on June 3rd to deal with that matter. There’s been a proposal submitted by NCS for upgrading equipment and so forth. Part of that discussion is the $6,000 maximum that we’ve been allowing to the communities.
Again, the Member has raised a point of possibly reviewing the program. That’s a commitment I’m making, that we’ll be re-evaluating our contribution. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s encouraging, once again, to hear the Minister commit to a working relationship with NCS. I know this, perhaps, could take a medium- to long-term solution, looking at trying to draw the federal government in as well.
In the interim and in the immediate need, would the Minister work with NCS to set up a maintenance and technology fund to address the immediate needs of long-term health of community equipment, especially with communities that right now are not able to access the House and be aware of what’s happening in the NWT? There are some communities that don’t have radio stations because the equipment is down.
Would the Minister step in at this point and commit to work with NCS immediately? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, June 3rd is a meeting with the CEO of NCS. I do believe that type of discussion will take place. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of the Department of Human Resources. I’d like to ask him some questions with regard to northern allowance that’s paid to our employees.
As a matter of course, the northern allowance is determined under the Collective Agreement between the government and the Union of Northern Workers, but the northern allowance is based on a base rate at Yellowknife rates and I do have some concerns with that. I don’t know that Yellowknife necessarily is the cheapest location in the territory. It is in some areas, not in others. I realize that this is a difficult problem because it is in a Collective Agreement, but I’d like to ask the Minister initially if he could explain the methodology that is used to determine the northern allowance and what’s the rationale for using Yellowknife prices as a base. Thank you.
Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a long question or a question demanding a long answer, but I’ll do my best to do it in a short period of time. The northern allowance is a negotiated benefit and it cannot be unilaterally changed or reduced or eliminated by the GNWT.
Many, many years ago – in the ‘90s – we used to have a housing allowance and a vacation travel assistance allowance. Those were eliminated as part of a negotiation. As a result, housing was rolled into the salary. At that time, there was a significant increase in salary, whereas VTA wasn’t. VTA became part of what is known as the northern living allowance.
On top of that, we’ve also calculated in a transportation component, which is the old VTA plus a cost of living component, which is based on a basket of goods and includes things such as food purchase from store, household operations, house furnishings and equipment, operations of automobiles and trucks, recreation, clothing and footwear. It does not compromise housing or electricity.
This is, as I’ve indicated, a negotiated amount. Yellowknife was selected as the base, and the bottom line of the northern living allowance is it’s intended to equalize the communities that are outside of Yellowknife to the rate and cost of doing business and living in a community like Yellowknife. It is for the North, it’s about the North, and it’s trying to provide equal opportunity for GNWT employees. And remember that the northern living allowance is just for GNWT employees who live outside of the centre. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
It’s “Mr.” Speaker, Mr. Abernethy.
---Laughter
I want to thank the Minister for that explanation. I realize that this is a difficult topic to discuss, but I am a little concerned that Yellowknife employees may be at some kind of a disadvantage. So one of the things that the Minister referenced was a basket of living expenses, I guess you would call it. It struck me that this basket does not include transportation. Transportation is outside of this basket. The other thing that is outside of this basket is mortgages.
So can the Minister explain, from his experience in negotiating this particular issue, why transportation and mortgage expenses are not included in the basket of living expenses? Thank you.
I indicated in my previous response that transportation is one of the primary components of this. There are two components. There is transportation, which used to be the VTA, and then there is the cost of living component.
If you go back and look at the history of negotiations over time, when we got rid of the housing allowance in the Government of the Northwest Territories in the ‘90s, that amount was negotiated by way of an increase into the base salaries of all GNWT employees. So housing has already been incorporated in. If you look at the increases that have occurred to the salaries over many years, the increases that have been negotiated exceed CPI by over 10 percent over the last 12 years. That is where that particular thing is negotiated.
We also need to remember that northern allowance is non-pensionable. The union has – and it makes sense – focused on increases to areas that are pensionable as opposed to non-pensionable. This allowance is intended to equalize the communities to Yellowknife rates, and it works and it is a negotiated formula and the union hasn’t sought to renegotiate that formula. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I totally agree with the principle for equalizing rates for our employees across all of our communities.
The Minister mentions that the union has not asked to evaluate or do any kind of revisiting of this particular methodology. I’d like to know from the Minister when the last time was that this methodology was reviewed. When was the last time it was looked at across the territory and was there an evaluation to determine if the fact that Yellowknife is the base rate is actually appropriate still? Thank you.
Once again, going back in time into history, the VTA that we used to have in the ‘90s became part of the component of the northern allowance. When we factored in the transportation component, that transportation component works out to about $3,400 in Yellowknife and we’re trying to equalize to those rates. Those are no longer realistic rates. The cost of getting out of Yellowknife has actually decreased in the last number of years as opposed to increased. So if we were to actually base the rates on the cost of getting out of Yellowknife, it would be a drop, and that hasn’t been negotiated.
I know for a fact we haven’t negotiated northern allowance changes for the last two Collective Agreements, but I can’t tell you for sure when the last time that occurred. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister. My last question has to do with transportation, as he just mentioned. I appreciate that the transportation costs are rolled in. I appreciate that the living allowance has been rolled into salaries. It’s my understanding that transportation is weighted fairly heavily in the criteria that make up the methodology that determines northern allowance, so I’d like to know from the Minister why transportation is weighted so heavily compared to, say, living costs.
The transportation component provides compensation to communities relative to the value of the cost of return transportation between Yellowknife and Edmonton via air and/or road. The cost of living component provides compensation to communities relative to the average expenditures for a food basket of goods and services compared to Yellowknife. Yellowknife would be a base. We would be looking at the cost of goods or the basket of goods in every other community as part of the formula to determine what other communities are getting, but if we’re using Yellowknife as a base, we need to make sure that it is an appropriate cost, and that cost was negotiated between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the UNW. As I have indicated, the cost of transportation out of Yellowknife has actually decreased but they haven’t bothered to negotiate down the price.
Right now, we have a formula – it works – that we use, and the union is supportive of that formula.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just going to follow up to a Member’s statement I made earlier this week, and it’s in regard to the gas situation that’s happening in Inuvik. We’re looking at finding solutions and actually making things a little bit better for our businesses and our residents in Inuvik. Actually, my questions for today are for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
I’d like to ask him, in regard to a statement that he had made March 13th of this year, in regard to the policy review considered in terms of replacing the net billing with the net metering program. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible if he can give us an update on where that policy review is, whether that’s in place now so that our businesses, our residents can start looking at these alternative energy sources that would cut down the cost of living in some of our higher communities.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That review is pretty well done. We’re migrating from net billing to net metering. That work is underway. We’re going through the process. We anticipate that by this fall we will be ready to move to go to the PUB and such. We, as well, have a briefing scheduled next week with committee to update them on the status of this particular initiative.
Glad to hear that the policy has been reviewed and looking at something in the fall. For businesses specifically that do create a lot of power and energy that will go back into the grid, would the Minister be able to give us an exact time and date so that these businesses can start looking at investing in some of these alternative energy sources that would lower their costs but also be able to get a return with the net metering? Would he be able to give us a specific date so that some of our businesses, our residents can start looking at investing in some of these alternative energy initiatives?
I’m sticking to a seasonal target at this point, but by fall, September, October, we expect to have all the necessary steps covered. We want to, of course, do our briefing with committee, get feedback from committee, and it’s going to apply to standby charges as well. I would point out that the net metering and the change is going to be focused on thermal communities and initially to look specifically at solar.
The Minister did touch on another question here that I was going to ask about the standby charges, and he did mention that they‘d be looking at possibly getting away with the standby charges, which is also great. Seeing as we’re at the beginning of summer here and we’re into 24-hour daylight here, and any businesses in the Northwest Territories that want to access this solar energy while we have a longer day period, seeing as we’re going to be passing this policy in the fall time, is there any chance that any businesses that might try to get an initiative now be able to recoup any types of savings come the fall, get that back over the summer months? Knowing what we know today, from this day forward if they get into the alternative energy sources, would they be able to recoup some of those costs back when the policy goes through?
I would suggest that if folks are interested, businesses are interested, that they look to the subsidies and grants that are available to start up and assist with alternative energy infrastructure; solar, biomass and that type of thing. Those have been increased; the amount of money has been raised; the ceilings have been raised so that the level of support, and I believe where it was $25,000 is up to $50,000. So if they’re just wanting to get started today and they want to think about it, then they’ve got to do their plan and they’ve got to buy the infrastructure and I think that would be the first port of call, and then as we get down the road with the regulatory changes, that will be the fall.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
The way it currently sits, there’s no incentive for these businesses or residents to really go into this with all the energy going back into the grid. I want to know with the subsidies, outside of the subsidies, would any of these businesses that are ready to go now, would they be able to get any kind of retroactive payback from knowing what we know now and when it comes through in the fall? Yes or no?
In this case I would suggest that virtue would have to be its own reward, the savings that they would have in their own businesses, and the answer would be no.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of MACA. I could also ask other questions to the other Ministers, but this one I want to focus on with the Minister of MACA and ask him what types of resources are available for a youth centre in Fort Good Hope. At the same time, I want to congratulate the communities of Ulukhaktok, Fort Resolution and Deline in regard to their youth centres. I want to ask similar types of questions to the Minister on a youth centre for Fort Good Hope.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The community of Fort Good Hope could do as some of the other communities across the Northwest Territories have done. Through their capital infrastructure money that they receive through MACA, they’ve determined that a youth centre is one of the priorities in their community. Therefore, the community has taken it upon themselves to build that community youth centre, and as the Member mentioned, there is a number of communities that have done an excellent job in putting some good projects on the ground.
It is said that it takes a community to raise a child. It also takes our government and the community government to raise a youth centre. So I want to ask the Minister if he’s had any type of discussions with the Minister of Health and Social Services or the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and even the community of Fort Good Hope, in looking at how can we put a comprehensive plan together to support a community youth centre in Fort Good Hope, where different programs and different funding from all the governments and Ministers to put an overall comprehensive plan together that would support a youth centre concept in Fort Good Hope?
I would suggest that the community determine whether it’s a priority. I mean, we’ve obviously given them capital infrastructure money. Also, once their youth centre is completed, then there is some other money through the Youth Centre Initiative that they would be able to access. I believe it’s $500,000 that is available to all the youth centres that apply. In 2012-13 I think we had 36 successful applicants. So, basically, everyone that applies gets approved for a portion of that $500,000. So the support is there. Again, at the end of the day, it would be a decision made by the community.
Obviously, as the Minister of Youth and along with my colleagues from Health and Social Services, we would support any initiative the community takes upon themselves to put a facility there for their youth. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the people in Fort Good Hope, led by the elders, want a traditional camp on the land. It’s their concept of a youth centre. It doesn’t always have to be a traditional infrastructure in the community, so they want a youth camp to bring the youth back to the land. I’ll ask the Minister of MACA to outline some programs and if he would work with the Minister of Health through the Community Wellness Plan, or with the Ministers of Justice, ITI and Education that would put together a comprehensive youth land centre camp that would support the community wishes.
Mr. Speaker, we would have to explore that further. The Member is asking about a youth centre and now a youth centre on the land, so we would have to explore that a bit more.
I must comment again that the community takes the initial initiative. They approach us; we assist in any way possible, and then we can go from there. But we’d have to explore that a little further. I’m sure this would apply to a youth centre on the land. I would have to look into that and relay that to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Fair enough, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for his openness, just as the Minister of Justice talked about the Community Safety Strategy where we’re taking a lead from communities in the Sahtu. So I look forward to the Minister possibly looking at this concept and getting a brief update as to his discussions with the other Ministers on this concept. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, again, it would be an initiative of the community to come forward to us with what their plans are. We can’t put a plan together and go to the communities and say this is what you’re going to do. We leave a lot of the final decision-making up to the community, and when they do that, then we will do what we can to assist them in any way we can.
There are a number of youth programs that we do offer. Maybe their initiative will fit into one of these programs. We don’t know that until they come to us and say this is our plan, how can you assist us, and we’ll go from there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to follow up on my colleague Mr. Nadli’s initiative about establishing a community radio initiative, but I want to focus more on Nahanni Butte. I just completed my spring visit there and the community still remains without a radio, either CKLB or CBC.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs how he can assist this community. The radios have ceased working as a result of the flood last year and the anniversary of that flood is June 3rd. It’s been a full year and I’d like to know how the government will be helping the community restore much needed radio services. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My understanding is, and I would have to confirm it, but the radio station may have been down before the flood. I will have to confirm that.
I’m not sure if it would fit into any of our programs. Again, I would have to do a little bit of exploring and see if something like this would fit into one of our programs, whether the community may have the ability with the money that they receive from MACA – one of my favourite lines and I know you guys are getting tired of it, but it’s one I keep using. I’m not sure if that falls under the criteria where they may have the ability to do that themselves.
But I will commit to the Member that I’ll follow up on this and see what they’re responsible for and what we can do to assist the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I’m glad that the Minister wishes to understand it more. I believe I did a Member’s statement in our February/March sitting, and the issue is one of public safety and safety of the community. If there is another incident where there is an emergency, all the radios provide emergency services. So that’s one of the focuses.
I think out of the two radio stations, there was one down before the flood, and as a result of the flood, the other one stopped working. I think the Minister can maybe work with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I know that Mr. Nadli was able to point out that there is a meeting between the Minister and I believe the NCS board to work towards restoring the services in Nahanni Butte. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Members do a very good job of pointing out the fact that these radio stations may be needed during an emergency and I’m reminded of the federal program. We don’t know the details yet. It replaces the Joint Emergency Preparedness Program. There is some funding that should help with this. We don’t know if it would fit the criteria. Once we know the details and if community radio stations who would issue warnings qualified for this, we would be sure that we will try as a department to access some of this money to assist some of these communities to upgrade their radio stations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I know that every time we put out a request before the government, it’s going to be big expenditures, but in this case to replace and get that CKLB up and running was about $7,000. I’m not too sure about the CBC aspect of it, but those are the numbers we are talking about, if the Minister can use those figures as he talks with his colleagues and works with his department in order to come up with a plan for the community. Thank you.
