Mr. Speaker, I’m also talking about the whole area of the delivery care programs in regard to seniors’ home repair programs and also in regard to the programs that people depend on. I mentioned in my Member’s statement that there’s a situation I have in McPherson where a contract was let, the company came in from Inuvik in October, then the ferry went out in Tsiigehtchic. So, basically, the contractor never came back and he only did half the work. I’d just like to ask the Minister if there’s a possibility of looking at those types of contracts going out at a reasonable time so they’re put out, say, after Christmas or whatnot, and people are able to access the communities through the Winter Road Program or even the summer highway program, but do it in a reasonable time. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the application process that’s going through right now, we’re hoping to have all these folks approved as soon as possible, so then the ordering of the materials can start, so it would fit into the scenario that the Member mentioned, because it is a concern as to the lateness of some of these contracts being started and we are taking steps to ensure that we’re out there quick and the work can get done a lot quicker than it is now. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, my next question to the Minister is about a situation that we have in McPherson where we have a half-completed contract, and now the homeowner does not have any hot running water because they never finished installing the hot water tank. So I’d like to ask the Minister, is there a possibility that the local housing authority or the Minister’s office direct the housing authority to complete the work and have it charged back to the contractor who never completed the work? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I’m not aware of the particular situation the Member is speaking of, but I will commit to the Member that I will look into it. If a contract has been signed with a contractor, then he would be asked to honour that contract and if he doesn’t, then other alternate arrangements will be made and if there are some costs to be borne, they would be borne by the contractor. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to reviewing programs and services of the government, again back to my original question, is that we have to also look at the program delivery side, not only the capital construction side, and see if we can correlate them so that they basically flow together. I’d just like to ask the Minister and his fellow colleagues of the ministry to work together to ensure that we correlate all our programs and services in consideration that we changed our capital planning process, but I think it should also apply to the program side. Thank you.
We are always trying to improve the delivery of our programs. We do evaluations every so often and this could be one of the things that we could have a look at and if there’s an opportunity there to change the process so we deliver our programs a lot quicker, more efficiently and have everything on the ground sooner, then I’ll commit to the Member that we’ll look into that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member’s statement I spoke about the need to look at placing some GNWT positions into smaller communities to address the employment rates in these communities. I have questions for the Premier.
Mr. Speaker, I understand a committee was formed in either the 13th or the 14th Assembly to look at decentralization. Can the Premier tell me what the mandate of that committee was and if there was any final report from that committee?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d have to get more details to do a full response to the Member, which I will commit to doing, but I believe it was the 14th Assembly. And if we’re on the same path here, the 14th Assembly was doing some work in regard to federal decentralization of positions out of Ottawa to the North. Thank you.
Can the Premier tell me if this government has a strategy to close the employment rate gap that exists between larger communities and smaller communities? Thank you.
There’s a number of initiatives that we’ve undertaken during the 16th Assembly when it comes to looking at program delivery or the way we deliver our programs in our communities across the North. Looking at that scenario and having to come back to Members to see if we will change the way we do our delivery could have an impact on the level of delivery and the level of services in our community. So that work is ongoing now, as a Legislative Assembly, along with the cost of living scenario where we’re looking at a number of fronts, looking at what we need to do differently as a government as well. Thank you.
Speaking specifically about decentralization, would the Premier commit to having discussions with the departments, through the Ministers, of course, to discuss, examine and develop some sort of strategy for transferring GNWT positions into the smaller communities? Thank you.
As this work is being done about how we deliver our programs and services in our communities and in light of the question from the Member, I’d be happy to, once we pull this information together, sit down with Members and go through what options may be presented as to how we deliver those services, and that could have an impact to the levels of services and employment in communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Premier commit to giving direction to departments through the Minister to take a serious look at what functions can be delegated to the smaller communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
A practice that we’ve had as this Assembly, and because I’m familiar with previous exercises, as well, whenever we go through our business planning process we do look at the level of services and how we carry out business across government, whether it is in growth or when we tighten our belts, so to speak. So getting direction and myself setting direction for this Assembly I would, again, go back to the Members and in line with this questioning the work we’re doing already on program service delivery in our communities is to sit down with Members to look at that information to see if we would set up an additional piece of work to look at what steps would follow on that work we’re doing. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement on the Seniors’ Home Fuel Subsidy Program to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
At this time of year we’ve got our elders that want to access this program. Maybe the Minister can just tell me a little bit about the program and some of the guidelines around it, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly the subsidies for the cost of home heating fuel for winter months for resident seniors aged 60 and older who own their own home and meet the income tests is one of the criteria. It provides an income scale and fuel scale depending on the length of the heating season. Community income threshold and fuel scale divide into three zones depending on which communities they are from. So those are the areas just capturing some of the policies that we follow through the program that we offer. Mahsi.
I’d like to thank the Minister for that answer there. It kind of details it a bit for myself and the public out there. I had raised this issue because there’s an elder in my community of Fort Simpson, as well as the other communities that I represent, Wrigley, Nahanni Butte, and I’m sure in other ridings as well, we have the issue where the elder or the senior is living at home and through no fault of their own they want their son or their daughter to live with them, but it’s household income that is, I believe, one of the determining factors.
So I’d like to ask the Minister, here we’ve got a sector or specific group, is there a way that we can change the guidelines, include a caretaker or a portion that maybe their income can be exempted?
We did make some changes to our programming back in April of 2008 where we’ve increased the threshold of $10,000 so that it did benefit some of the elders in the communities. But with respect to more changes, we’re always re-evaluating a program where it’s based on the household income. A caretaker, it can be generic where a caretaker could be making upwards of $100,000 living with a grandma. We can’t just ignore that, Mr. Speaker, and certainly those are the assessments that we need to undertake. Now we’re looking at options of individual elders in a household having two or three individuals living with them, whether it be their grandchildren or children, not to penalize the elder, but those individuals that are making a wealth of income. So those are options that we’re currently working with and we need more input from the communities and also the MLAs. So those are the program changes that we’re certainly looking forward to. Mahsi.
Certainly there’s a whole range of different family living arrangements. Certainly those that can afford it, should afford it, Mr. Speaker, but I’m talking about cases where the elder or senior needs that caretaking ability and often it’s a son or a daughter. I’m asking, can we look at the Seniors’ Home Fuel Subsidy Program, can we re-evaluate some of the parameters and guidelines and look at an exemption for caretaker? I don’t know; government has to design it. So that’s what I’d like to see there. Thank you.
Those are the areas that we can certainly look at. I believe we have looked at, as a department, how we can get around where a caregiver is looking after a grandma or a grandpa or a parent so we don’t penalize the household based on their income, but we have to reassess the household where what kind of income is coming in, how can we exempt in certain areas. So those are the discussions that we’re currently having. Certainly there are going to be changes. We’ll certainly notify the standing committee. If it’s going to be a positive impact in the communities with the seniors, certainly we’ll provide that information. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Minister did indicate they just reviewed it in 2008. Do they have plans to review the income thresholds of this program any time soon? Perhaps this year? Thank you.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We just wasted last year -- April -- and we did an implementation. So those are the discussions that we’re currently having. What kind of other changes should we undertake? If it’s going to be a threshold increase, we need to find out the cost factor and/or exemption in the household. So that discussion is ongoing and if there is, like I said, any changes, I’ll be more than willing to come back to the standing committee and get their input in the future of possible changes. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Many NWT residents spend time in our larger population centre from time to time and, in fact, of course, the Minister spends a great deal of time in Yellowknife each year. I’ve got a challenging question for him. I know from time to time he’s here with his family members and so on. Can the Minister, perhaps even with the help of his colleagues, tell us what numbers you’d call in Yellowknife to contact the police, to contact the fire department and to call an ambulance? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it’s 873-1111 and 873-2222. Thank you.
The Minister did indeed do very well. Recent polls show that the majority of Yellowknifers, and in fact in the Territories, could not do nearly so well. In fact, to this day I couldn’t have done it myself. However, knowing this, that the majority of people do not know those numbers offhand, that delays, of course, result in injuries and possibly more serious concerns. Knowing that 911 is technically feasible throughout much if not all of the NWT, why is the Minister stubbornly denying -- stubbornly denying -- the 911 service? Mahsi.
Oooh.
The money that we flow to the communities is part of their capital formula funding and is part of the gas tax money. We flow that to the communities. Questions were raised to me by other Members of the Assembly on infrastructure in their communities and I tell them that we flow the capital infrastructure money if projects they speak of meet the criteria. I think money that we flow to the city, the money that we flow to the seven communities that are the ones that were mentioned in the report comes close to $17 million and if those communities want to use that money to implement a 911 service, then they would have the authority and the funds to do so. Thank you.
Of course, this is a territorial-wide issue, it’s not just those communities. My understanding is that, indeed, the City of Yellowknife, for example, has already put up significant dollars and is willing to do more there, but I was ruled out of order on Friday for speaking about both 911 service and a cell phone ban. So I will now ask the most important question equally critical to both examples. How can the Minister justify the failure to protect the health and safety of the majority of citizens in these two cases when all the evidence of need, feasibility, economy, public desire and government responsibility call him to act in the public interest and take these two steps? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we do take the safety of the residents in the Northwest Territories very seriously. I’ll make that point quite clear. The seven communities that are in question here, there are a couple of them that have said that they’re not planning on 911 at this particular time. The one I spoke to in particular said they’re looking to enhance their own emergency services before they go to the next step of implementing 911.
The communities have it within their means to provide this service. Obviously it’s an important service for the city, because they initiated the report -- and I commend them for that -- and they believe it’s a service that’s needed in the city. So they would have to take that first step. They have the money to put the infrastructure in place.
We have many concerns that I have heard from some of the other communities and when we talk about a territorial-wide initiative, because it’s the seven largest communities in the Territories doesn’t make it a territorial-wide initiative. We still have 26 other communities out there.
I just want to assure the communities and the public, we do take the safety of our public very seriously. Money is provided to all communities to act on the priorities that they set in their communities and if 911 was a priority in Yellowknife, then they do have some funding from the government to make that come about. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was sort of with the Minister for awhile there, but once again he put it onto the small communities versus large communities. I think it’s a most unfortunate argument when we are talking about the safety of people and what’s achievable and where our responsibilities lie. So I guess I’d like clarifications from the Minister on that question, the banning of use of cell phones while driving and other devices, for example, simply because it only protects people in the larger centres. Does this Minister agree with his own reported reasoning that because there is no application to small communities, that is reasonable grounds? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the public is waiting to hear that.
I don’t think I gave the impression of small towns versus big communities. I have been hearing that argument a lot. I have no intention of saying anything of the sort. We are the Government of the Northwest Territories and that includes all 33 communities and not just seven. There are opportunities there that see 911 as a priority, to use the money that is given to them by this government to enhance their emergency services. That includes 911 and, Mr. Speaker, that would be a decision that they have to make.
I have already said I have heard from a couple of communities that are not going to pursue 911 at the moment. They would like to enhance their own emergency service. We do provide the service. Someone has to respond and if we don’t have a proper emergency response service, then 911 would really be no good. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs in terms of services in the communities. I want to ask about the ground rescue services for communities in the Sahtu.
From Wrigley to Colville Lake, there are 800 kilometres of winter road. I want to ask the Minister if there are resources being looked at by the Sahtu communities in terms of coordinating ground rescue services between the communities. We don’t have the luxury of having cell phone services or having those types of initiatives. Could the Minister advise me as to what type of work MACA and the hamlet are working on with the departments of Health, Justice, and probably even Transportation on what types of services could be delivered in the Sahtu?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do know that there is some funding available to some of the communities that do provide emergency services. We always want to improve the services that are delivered and if communities come forward with a good action plan, then we are always willing to sit down and hear what the communities are saying.
As far as the funding goes, that’s an issue that is going to need to be worked out if it falls within their community. I spoke to the Member previous. There is the gas tax money. Disaster mitigation is one of the criteria that is allowed under this pot of funding and there is also the capital formula funding. So there are different pots of funding out there and we are always willing to work with the communities and work within the government, the different departments, to see if there are ways we can pull all this together and have a proper response team. Thank you.
So what I am hearing -- and the Minister can correct me if I misunderstood this -- is that the communities that are on the winter road system in Tlicho, Behchoko…Sorry, the Tlicho, the Sahtu or the Beaufort-Delta, anywhere where there is a winter road system, the communities in that area come to the department with a proposal to coordinate or organize themselves regarding ground rescue services, and the Minister would be willing to look at this to see how they can coordinate with the different departments to have a coordinated management approach to ground rescue services on the winter road system. Thank you.
