Debates of November 27, 2007 (day 3)

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, that information, upon being delivered to our department, will certainly be available for consultation with our fellow colleagues. That is still a work in progress. So once it’s finalized, then we will be sharing it. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know I’ve been here for a while, but I didn’t think I was an MLA for Yellowknife now.

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Mr. Speaker, my Member’s statement before I spoke to the fact that I believe that we failed this individual by not providing them with the quality of life that they so rightfully deserved. I think we have an opportunity now to maybe right some wrongs. I’d like to direct my line of questioning to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’d like to ask the Minister, whose decision is it as to who is eligible for motorized wheelchairs? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Return To Question 21-16(1): Provision Of Wheelchairs For Quadriplegics

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first of all I’d just like to thank the Member, who is also the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Programs, for asking me the very first question as Minister of this government.

Mr. Speaker, in terms of the decisions about who gets access to health equipment, it’s provided by the health authorities that govern the health programs in our regions, along with the advice from the medical advisor.

Specific to the constituent that the Member mentioned earlier, I just want to express and send our condolences to the families. It was really hard to hear from the Member this morning that this constituent had passed away on the weekend.

So I think that’s the answer, in terms of how one could get the equipment. This lady did receive approval for equipment in 2003 and 2004. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Supplementary To Question 21-16(1): Provision Of Wheelchairs For Quadriplegics

I’d like to ask the Minister, what’s the criteria that individuals have to meet to receive a wheelchair? Would it be a recommendation from a rehabilitation centre in Edmonton that they may have just come from? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Ms. Lee.

Further Return To Question 21-16(1): Provision Of Wheelchairs For Quadriplegics

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the information that I have is that Mr. McLeod’s constituent was approved for a wheelchair -- first a manual one and later on an electric one -- and it was with the support of the medical advisor, the doctor, as well as the health authority. There was a lot of support for this constituent to have that wheelchair equipment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Supplementary To Question 21-16(1): Provision Of Wheelchairs For Quadriplegics

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think if we dig a little further, we’re going to find that this motorized wheelchair was removed from this individual. But I would like to ask the Minister if Glenrose Rehabilitation Centre in Edmonton is an expert and they deal with a lot of NWT residents that do sometimes get confined to wheelchairs. I would like to ask the Minister if she would request Glenrose do a review of the wheelchair accessibility in Inuvik and recommendations that they might come up with to take care of some of these problems. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Ms. Lee.

Further Return To Question 21-16(1): Provision Of Wheelchairs For Quadriplegics

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can advise the House that, in fact, the Member has asked for this request to have involvement of Glenrose and I’d be happy to make that commitment to do that. Specific to the Member’s constituent, however, Mr. Speaker, I could advise you that I think the reason why the electric wheelchair might have been taken away, or not taken away but it was out of service, is because of the incident that there was in a long-term health care facility where the electric wheelchair was seen to be dangerous to the facility and it was a policy that was made. But I am willing to look at that again. But that was the reason why it was recommended that a manual wheelchair be used, and there were some other health issues involved that might have contributed to that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to quote from the Hansard, unedited Hansard of October 19th. I was questioning Premier Roland about the extent of our involvement and commitment to the Deh Cho Bridge. I asked about the point of no return, and at that time the Premier responded that “I am not prepared to sign a blank cheque.” If the Premier was not prepared on the 19th to sign a blank cheque and understanding that our level of financial commitment has now significantly changed with the signing of this concession agreement, if the conditions are met and this government wants to pull back, which is the point I was trying to get at when I was asking the questions when I talk about the point of no return, will the Premier agree that having signed the concession agreement now, the extent of our liability is no longer in our hands? It’s in fact in the hands of the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, their ability to comply with the conditions of the signed agreement? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Return To Question 22-16(1): Deh Cho Bridge Concession Agreement

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would state the same thing I stated when the question was asked in the form it was asked, that there are some key, as an out quote from unedited Hansard of October 19th, “There are some key issues that are still left out there and one of those that was in the paper for public interest was that navigable waters permit. So that’s one of those things, and a final financing deal that comes down.” So there’s a number of factors. Right now we’re liable for the loan guarantee that’s in place until these requirements are met. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 22-16(1): Deh Cho Bridge Concession Agreement

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the conditions are met and if, for some reason, through political wishes or direction of this 16th Assembly, we don’t proceed, we are considerably more at risk of an unquantified, at this time, liability. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 22-16(1): Deh Cho Bridge Concession Agreement

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. If all conditions are met, then the Government of the Northwest Territories' liability, if we decided for reasons of our own as the 16th Assembly to pull back from that project, the liability can grow significantly if the liabilities or the conditions have been met by the other parties. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 22-16(1): Deh Cho Bridge Concession Agreement

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that was the case exactly on the day that I asked these questions, yet no reference was made to the concession agreement having been signed, putting this government at that potential significant, greater liability should the conditions be met.

In response, in another question, the Premier states, “it’s not too late. The 16th Assembly and its mandate has not signed a deal on proceeding forward...” I’d like to ask the Premier how he could reconcile that to the fact that a concession agreement had been signed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 22-16(1): Deh Cho Bridge Concession Agreement

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, although the Member doesn’t want to go back to the history, the question does go back to the history. A decision was made by a previous government. We’re in a place where there are a number of factors that have to be met for us to honour that agreement. There is no contractual signing for steel or construction. That will be done through the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation once they have all their pieces lined up. That’s where we are right now with the project. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 22-16(1): Deh Cho Bridge Concession Agreement

Okay. Let me ask this then, Mr. Speaker. The concession agreement lays out conditions that the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation needs to meet in order for this agreement to proceed. There are deadlines contained as in any agreement. There would be timelines included in that agreement. If those conditions are not met within those timelines, could I please have this Premier’s commitment that this government will not embark on any further extensions or changes to those timelines should the conditions not be met? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 22-16(1): Deh Cho Bridge Concession Agreement

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the conditions aren’t met, and there is a time limit to the conditions being set in place, if they are not met, then I will commit, as Premier of the 16th Legislative Assembly, before any further decisions are made on this that I will work with committee members. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I spoke about the fact that block funding under the New Deal does not meet infrastructure needs for smaller NWT communities. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, for a community like Lutselk’e to build infrastructure, like their recently completed arena, under the New Deal. Can the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs inform this Assembly how a small community could build a large piece of infrastructure, like a swimming pool, under the New Deal? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Return To Question 23-16(1): Community Infrastructure Block Funding

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the New Deal is proving to be a very good deal.

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The whole concept of the New Deal, Mr. Speaker, was an initiative to promote greater autonomy of the community governments and allow communities to set their own priorities. The calculation that was used for the formula took into consideration the replacement value of a basic package of infrastructure for the community and looked at replacing all of that infrastructure over a 20-year period.

We’ve worked really closely over the last while with the communities to develop long-term goals for infrastructure and also a plan to meet their short-term goals. We’ve really worked towards being very flexible and creating opportunities for governments to provide funding. The community governments have now more opportunity than they did historically. They have the ability to borrow money. They have the ability to create partnerships, and they also can use some of their capital dollars as leverage to access other funding, such as funding from the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Supplementary To Question 23-16(1): Community Infrastructure Block Funding

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Everyone here is aware there are many unforeseen factors that affect budgeting from year to year. Competing priorities relating to health and safety of residents will always trump recreation infrastructure. In better words, if the water truck breaks down before it’s supposed to, it will be replaced. Does MACA help the communities that are facing unforeseen capital costs through no fault of their own through the New Deal?

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 23-16(1): Community Infrastructure Block Funding

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member brings forward concerns that have been raised to us by community governments and we have committed that we will work with community governments as we move forward with this initiative. We have to recognize, of course, that capital planning and capital projects are in need of constant evaluation and are changing on a daily basis. As part of this process, we encourage our communities to set up reserve pools to replace infrastructure. We’ve also created a lot more flexibility in the capital budgeting by way of if there’s a surplus, for example in operating and maintenance dollars, they could use that to replace the water truck. However, Mr. Speaker, having said all that, we still have our extraordinary funding policy that allows us to deal with emergencies and situations where there was no anticipated cost and the community is struggling to recover the cost. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Supplementary To Question 23-16(1): Community Infrastructure Block Funding

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister let the Assembly know specifically what his department does to help communities access funding from different sources, like the federal government, for their infrastructure needs?

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 23-16(1): Community Infrastructure Block Funding

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In recent years, Mr. Speaker, we worked very closely with the NWT Association of Communities. We’ve also worked with LGANT, the Local Government Administrators of the Northwest Territories, and we’ve also worked with the community governments themselves to look at leveraging dollars from different resources. The federal government is a good example. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has the Green Fund that we’ve helped communities access. There’s also the impact and benefit dollars that flow to communities that communities have been using to help with some of these projects, including Lutselk’e. They’ve used half a million dollars of their own money to spend on the arena. Detah is doing the same. A number of communities are doing that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is all for the Minister of ITI, I believe, Bob McLeod. The Minister responsible for climate change, perhaps.

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I understand the Minister attended a federal/provincial/territorial Ministers' meeting recently where the need to respond to climate change was discussed as a priority and infrastructure in particular was discussed. How will the Minister ensure that infrastructure related to ITI and developed in the North will address the concerns of climate change? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. McLeod.

Return To Question 24-16(1): Approaches To Government Infrastructure In Response To Climate Change

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For a while there I thought I’d go through this session without a question.

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The northern economic development Ministers met in Ottawa Thursday and Friday of last week. In the discussions on climate change and in the three briefings that were presented to the northern economic development Ministers, it was pointed out that climate change is in fact a reality and this is a first instance where the issue of discussions on utilizing infrastructure as it means for adapting to the effects of climate change. This was discussed in the context of a number of different impacts of climate change and primarily with regards to buildings and with transportation. The discussion amongst the Ministers is that initially it will be primarily amongst the individual provinces and territories and their greenhouse gas strategies and as they implement them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Supplementary To Question 24-16(1): Approaches To Government Infrastructure In Response To Climate Change

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Was it recognized that building infrastructure is an important opportunity to also mitigate climate change? That is, reduce the causes of climate change at the same time as adapting to it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 24-16(1): Approaches To Government Infrastructure In Response To Climate Change

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, it was also discussed in the context of mitigating climate change and the opportunities for utilizing infrastructure to do so. Thank you.