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.
