Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the interests of transparency and accountability for the expense of major public dollars, I will ask the Deputy Premier questions on the significant cost of travel by elected officials and public servants.
Travel by Ministers alone in 2009-2010, in the first three months of 2012 totalled three-quarters of a million dollars. Quarterly reports are publicly available, which document the travel costs of Ministers, but we know that committee members also travel with Ministers. Whether these costs come from ministerial or committee budgets is all the same to the taxpayer. They are expressing concerns about travel costs.
What are the Minister’s views on widening the reporting parameters to include the cost for all elected Members travelling with Ministers, in the interest of transparency? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Deputy Premier, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Member is referring to 2009-10 is the last government’s budget. At the same time, the transparency and accountability is our foremost priority for this government. We do table those documents as well for the general public to be aware of what our expenditures are as Cabinet Ministers, the Premier and also Regular Members that do tag along to let’s say various meetings that happen in other parts or jurisdictions. We do invite them. They are part of the discussion that we have at the territorial level as well. We will continue to press that issue, where transparency is a first priority and also accountability. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the data I quoted was through early parts of this fiscal year. I certainly don’t see those figures. I only see figures for the Ministers’ travel, but I stand to be corrected. I would appreciate if the Minister could confirm that, by doing a little bit of research. The travel figures are a good start, but only report the expenses incurred by the Minister.
We know Ministers seldom travel alone. They are accompanied by their executive assistants, often by one or many department officials who wouldn’t normally be travelling without the Minister. Their costs should be included.
Will the Deputy Premier take action to begin including not only the Ministers’ costs, but the travel costs of all support workers travelling with the Minister? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, this particular area that we table those documents, Ministerial travel, we do have staff travel as well, deputies or EAs that are required at these meetings. We can obviously discuss that further with the standing committee and also Caucus, because the Member is referring to MLAs’ expenditures as well. We need to discuss that with the standing committee, maybe Caucus. We are open as a government, as the Executive, to produce any document that is required for the general public if that is the wish of the Regular Members. We are more than willing to work with that. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Deputy Premier’s remarks there. They are right on. I appreciate that commitment. I am, indeed, interested in all MLAs’ travel but, once again, many things are left out frequently. For example, when the Minister travels, there are events hosted by the Minister and also, of course, when that happens, there are consultants there to help arrange those and so on.
Will the Premier commit to also looking at including all of those costs so that when we report Ministerial travel costs, we really do have the full costs? I ask this because constituents and the public are expressing concerns about travel costs, given all of our demands on our resources these days. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, yes, definitely we are open to those ideas. We will be sharing that with the standing committee and also Caucus. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I made a statement on November being Diabetes Month. I wanted to follow up with questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
What counselling is available for the families of diabetes patients? How would a family in Fort Providence go about getting that counselling?
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in response yesterday, we are starting to work in the diabetes field. As the Member indicated earlier, it is relatively new. We are still about 2 percent under the national average in the Northwest Territories. Diabetes is a chronic disease. It is becoming an issue. We are starting off setting up the diabetes programs by doing pilot projects in Norman Wells, Yellowknife and Behchoko. Also, there is a Diabetes Program in Yellowknife that is available and through YK Health and Social Services. Recognizing that Fort Providence is part of Deh Cho Health and Social Services, however, the authorities can work together and provide support for each other for individuals to go to where the programs actually exist. Thank you.
I think it’s quite clear that we do have a very serious matter in terms of diabetes affecting mostly Aboriginal communities and people. So would the Health Minister arrange for diabetes patients in Fort Providence to have a choice of receiving care either in Hay River or Yellowknife? Mahsi.
Thank you. Yes, I think that is a good way to go. As you know, we are building a new health centre and a modern health centre in Hay River. We’re hoping that that could encompass more than what they are currently providing, and to not only the community, but to surrounding communities such as Fort Providence. We think it would be much more efficient for the communities of Providence, Kakisa and the Hay River Reserve to get their services in Hay River. It’s definitely an idea that we are working towards.
I’d like to thank the Minister for agreeing to the idea of at least having diabetes patients having these care services provided from Hay River.
Just building upon that, will the Minister also perhaps commit to the idea of a pilot project to be expanded to Fort Providence?
Thank you. Yes, the intention is to roll the program out. So Fort Providence will be a good candidate. I think a medium-sized community is what we want to expand into. So, yes, I will commit to expanding the program into Fort Providence. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What is being done in small communities to raise the awareness about being tested for diabetes?
Thank you. I think that the authorities basically have the information available, such as posters and so on and being aware of diabetes, what you have to do to prevent diabetes and so on. I don’t have a complete script of what each authority has to do in order to get the message out to individuals on the prevention of diabetes or what to do if you have diabetes, so I can get that information for the Member through the department. No problem. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement. I spoke about the difficulties that one of my constituents had in getting an income support cheque for the month of October and the delay that occurred. He applied well in advance of the end of the month, and yet didn’t receive his income support cheque until the 15th of October.
I’d like to know from the Minister at the outset, delays appear periodically, I can accept that, but I’d like to know from the Minister what length of delay does the Minister or the department consider acceptable for a delay in income support payments. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Client service officers work closely with the clients and we try to avoid most delays as much as possible, but there are times where we are challenged with the clientele producing valid documents, such as bank statements or other sources of income. At times we have to wait until we receive that documentation. So part of the process is we want to expedite the process, but at the same time we require those documents, according to our policies and legislation that we have in place. Mahsi.
To the Minister, the problem in this case was not that the documentation was missing. This client is extremely particular and would have had all the documents in order. The problem in this case was a staff shortage, and that was admitted to my constituent in an e-mail, that there was a staff shortage and things were behind. So I don’t think we can lay this particular delay in payments at the feet of the constituent.
This was definitely a department problem and I didn’t hear an answer to what the Minister accepts as an acceptable delay. But since there are delays and since there are staff shortages, which was the problem in this case, I’d like to know from the Minister what procedures, what policies, what customs are in place when there is a staff shortage for the division of income support to get cheques out on time. Thank you.
Mahsi. When there is a staff shortage due to maybe illness or vacation and whatnot, we do have individuals covering those bases as well. Again, we try to avoid those delays. There are different unique circumstances that we’re faced with. I need to look into further to the clientele that the Member is referring to. If it’s not the documentation that’s due to the lateness, then we need to find out exactly what happened within the staffing area at that time and we need to avoid that. We need to be proactive and having those resources, client service officers in those communities, not only Yellowknife but other communities, dedicated to serve that clientele. That’s our priority. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate that we want to provide the best service, but it’s not happening. The Minister referenced that the client service officers deal with their clients, they try to have a relationship with them and that’s all well and good, but in several instances now, I have had constituents tell me that their client service officer has changed and they have not been advised. They don’t know that that’s happened until they present their documents the next month for the next month’s payment, things get held up and somebody tells them oh, by the way, I’m not your client service officer anymore.
So to the Minister, I’d like to know if customer service officers are on top of their clients, if it is the goal of the division to provide good customer service, why then when a customer service officer is changed from a particular client, why is that client not advised in advance. Thank you.
Mahsi. I do agree that we need to have better communication dialogue with clientele, and we are improving in those areas. We will be providing training for the client service officers starting at the end of this month, early next month, having all of those client service officers across the Northwest Territories come in and provide training to them on best customer service satisfaction. That’s our priority and we’ll continue to improve in those areas. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I’m really glad to hear that training is going to be happening. I hope it’s ongoing. I would just suggest that the Minister consider mentoring as a training tool.
My last question to the Minister has to do with late fees. If an income support cheque is late and a client is paying late fees on, say, rent or a phone, are those late fees paid for by the department because it’s not the fault of the constituent? Thank you.
Mahsi. That particular area I need to look into with my department and I’ll definitely get back to the Members on the outcome of that. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I mentioned many times my constituents step up and take responsibility in emergency situations, many of which do not have training in first aid. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, will the Minister provide emergency response training in Fort McPherson, Aklavik and Tsiigehtchic? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In response to a recent incident in Fort McPherson, the department has committed to supporting the community, specifically that community, it’s something that can be expanded. It was also requested in Tsiigehtchic. First responder training is something that we commit to providing to the communities.
I thank the Minister for that assurance. I’d also like to ask the Minister if he will provide adequate funding to Fort McPherson, Aklavik, and Tsiigehtchic to provide ambulance services.
We’re going to have to determine what adequate funding is initially. Right now there is an interdepartmental advisory committee led by MACA that’s looking at this. There are no program standards for the delivery of ambulance services in the Northwest Territories, and we recognize that standards have to be developed for liability purposes. We have a plan, along with the other departments, to regulate emergency medical service providers through the Health and Social Services Professions Act.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have no further questions at this time.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Public Works and Services on petroleum products. I have talked about the trappers and the increase in fuel costs to do the trapping. I want to ask the Minister why the prices are so high in the Sahtu. Other smaller communities just had a 10 cent increase, I think, in Tulita. The trappers are asking why the prices are so high again this year.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Glen Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The means by which fuel prices are determined hasn’t changed. Costs are based on what it actually costs to buy the product by the GNWT, the cost to ship it to the communities, and there is an admin fee put on it so that individuals in the communities who are distributing it have the money to cover their services, and there are some taxes as well. The means by which these numbers are determined hasn’t changed, but it does result in a higher cost as the product gets more expensive for us to buy.
There are two price lists that we have in the community of Tulita: non-government customers pricing of gasoline in Tulita at $1.76 a litre, and then we have the government customers pricing, which is $1.61. What is the difference?
I will commit to getting that information to the Member and being able to explain it in more detail, but I do have to get the specifics on that before I can respond to the question.
When the Minister provides the information, I want to ask the Minister if he would take it to his colleagues and maybe they could designate the trappers into the government customers pricing so the trappers can pay the $1.61 per litre rather than the non-government customers paying $1.76. I ask if they would consider categorizing the trappers into that item where government customers are only paying $1.61.
I’d certainly be interested in talking to Cabinet and committee about that possibility and discussing it in more detail with the Member.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
