Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Elders Home Program was about one of 17 different programs that were offered by the NWT Housing Corporation and in order to streamline the process, every one of the initiatives that was offered at the time would still fit under one of the four Housing Choices that we have now. Thank you.
So the Minister has indicated that if the elder chooses and is approved through the current guidelines, that he can build his house on the land. I think part of the parameters of the original program was that if it was an elder, it was a forgivable loan and they paid the freight to his traditional lands where he wanted to build his housing unit. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. My apologies, the honourable Minister responsible for Housing, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is the basic shelter policy that Housing is looking to update as we speak. They did have some work done on it and then we realized that we needed to make some adjustment for it to fit within the CMHC guidelines for the basic shelter. So that’s where the process is at right now and I will follow up on the Member’s question as to the status of the elders program and what became of that. Thank you.
Actually I was quite happy with the first answer when he said it still existed.
---Laughter
I think I had an elder from Fort Liard that applied for it. He was basically told no, but certainly it’s something that the people want to see reinstituted and I certainly support that and I would like to convey that to the Minister.
So just once again, if he can confirm to me that there are some guidelines or there is a program that can still fit the needs of the Elders on the Land Initiative. Thank you.
We’re always trying to find ways to meet the needs of the residents of the Northwest Territories and this is one of the programs.
I’d advise the Member that the basic shelter concept policy is one that we’re renewing right now and to see if some of these programs would be able to fit under there. It’s a discussion that I would need to have. The Housing programs evaluation will be done very shortly and once we see the results of that evaluation, then we’d need to make some adjustment, if the will is there. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I wasn’t clear on what evaluation the Minister was talking about. Are they re-evaluating the four programs? I think for me the more important thing is to evaluate the use and uptake on the old Elders on the Land Initiative, to look at it and reinstitute it, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister include that in the review that he’s speaking about? Thank you.
The Member is correct; there is an evaluation of the four Housing programs to see how they’re working and if there’s any adjustments that need to be made or recommendations, everyone will have a chance to have some input into the evaluation and see how it’s working at the regional and the local level. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about my concerns of the regulatory system and the fact that the process has been buckled down with not only just confusion, but probably delay. Mr. Speaker, I can probably ask a variety of Ministers the same types of questions so I’d like to focus my direct questions towards the Premier of this House, because I think his position could both represent the environmental concerns as well as the industry concerns that ITI may have covered. So, Mr. Speaker, my question directly to the Premier is: where is the development of the streamlining of the regulatory process as presented by the McCrank report and further followed up by the GNWT’s response? Where is that in the federal government’s hands? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have responded to the federal government through the Minister of ENR and we responded to Minister Strahl on this initiative as that’s where the McCrank report issue was generated. We’re waiting for their official response as to what they would incorporate. We’ve put in a number of recommendations where we feel things could move forward fairly quickly and easily without major changes to existing structures in a sense of land claims and so on. So we’re waiting for them to respond back to those issues. Thank you.
I need not give the Premier any lesson about how important industry is to this economy, but, Mr. Speaker, a number of people are very concerned as to what’s taking this Minister -- the federal Minister that is -- so long to address this issue. It’s a significant issue for the whole Territory and no one needs to be reminded about the recession and our much relied upon corporate taxes when economy is working.
So, Mr. Speaker, to the Premier once again, what is taking this issue so long that’s stalling it, from their point of view? Thank you.
It’s difficult to answer what’s holding back the federal government. Of course, there are quite a number of issues that have to be dealt with. It’s a complex matter, it involves a number of departments, it involves settled claims, it involves different areas of responsibility and that example is one why we continue to pursue devolution and resource revenue sharing, for example, so we can streamline through that process as well. Thank you.
Of course, I don’t expect the Premier to know exactly what is in the Indian and Northern Affairs Minister’s mind or the agenda, but I do hope there are certain communications that go on that help to allude this.
Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member’s statement today, recession is a great time to deal with things that people kind of put on the backburner, and streamlining the regulatory process is a great time to say why don’t we address these things now because we don’t have a lot going on. It’s a great time focus in, in a fair way, to balance industry’s needs and wants and environmental concerns and the balance it takes.
Mr. Speaker, what pressure is being put on by this government to make sure that they address this problem in a timely way, which I would define as the best time to do this work? Thank you.
In the area of the McCrank report, our response, we’ve had a number of Ministers follow up, not only myself. We’ve had the Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, we’ve had the Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment make their approaches. Recent meetings were held, as well, in Ottawa. This was one of the items discussed. So we continue to raise this issue, continue to pursue the initiatives we think can be done, for example, like board appointments that can be done rather straightforward rather than waiting for a full response on that report. So we continue to apply pressure and continue to try to move this initiative forward.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as easy as this next question sounds, it’s not meant to be simple and I believe it’s really complex. The real issue right now is what is it going to take for this Assembly to get on the radar of the federal government. What is it going to take that this is an important issue to the people of the Northwest Territories as well as the growth of the Northwest Territories? Is there a singular message that we can send for them to realize that we are important and that we mean to do business? Thank you.
We’ve continued to highlight the significance of that report, their response and the potential impact it would have on the Northwest Territories. I think the bigger question, as the Member has asked, is what are we going to do in the North with the aboriginal leadership and ourselves coming together in a common voice saying this is where we think we can work together and pursue the changes that are required. So I think that’s the avenue that we are going to start to put our energies into, is start coming up with a common message and support from a northern perspective on that initiative. Meanwhile, we continue to do our piece and try to see what can be moved along, but the real change will come when we use a regional aboriginal leadership table to pursue these types of initiatives. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural resources. We all know that we have an extraordinary high cost of living in the Northwest Territories. Yet, even though we are sitting on some of the best fresh water in the world here, we continue to import, in little clear bottles, tons of water. I don’t know how many millions of bottles or hundreds of thousands of bottles. I don’t have those statistics with me today. But as the Minister responsible for the stewardship of our environment, what is this department doing to discourage people from consuming bottled water? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we’re spending millions of dollars to make sure that communities have good potable water. We have recycling to encourage people to return their containers and they’ve been going down south. There are abilities there for communities to pass bylaws about water. There would be an ability for this Legislature to send out the message that we’re not going to have bottled water at any of our functions.
The Member raised a lot of the very critical statistics in terms of the impact and cost of energy for bottled water. I agree with her that we have some of the best water in the world and it’s puzzling when you go to communities and you see water brought in from Ontario or from...(inaudible). So those are some of the things that we are doing and some things that can be done. Thank you.
The department, I don’t know what department launched this campaign, but there was a Drop the Pop campaign because of the high sugar content in pop and soft drinks and the harm that that is bringing to people’s health. Has the Minister ever contemplated some type of similar campaign to drop the bottled water?
As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, we here in the Legislative Assembly do not use bottled water anymore, but I don’t think people are aware. I really don’t think the awareness is there, because why would people spend the kind of money that it costs to ship bottled water into the Northwest Territories when our water is better, and a lot of the bottled water just comes straight out of a tap anyway and probably doesn’t even meet the scrutiny that our standards for drinking water does. Has the Minister ever contemplated a campaign to discourage people from importing and drinking bottled water?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of all the things on the to-do list, the answer would be, regrettably at this point, no. Thank you.
I would think that even through our education system and throughout schools, there would be a ready avenue to affect the thinking and the knowledge of young people on this very important topic. I know in the schools, too, there has been a campaign to get away from junk food and unhealthy beverages. Would the Minister see collaborating with the Department of Education on such a campaign to be an easy and perhaps cost-effective way to get the message out to our younger citizens about the unnecessary consumption of bottled water? Thank you.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. I think that has potential. As well, as I indicated in my early answer, the municipalities have the authority, as well, in their jurisdictions to pass the bylaws about if there is going to be bottled water allowed or not at public events and those types of things. I will talk to my colleagues. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess to some extent even speaking about this in the Chamber is some way of creating some public awareness. Mr. Speaker, it’s my impression that with the Beverage Recycling Program, it’s a bit of a conflicted message. People say if I buy this lovely case of 36 bottles of water in plastic bottles, I am recycling those so I am doing something really good for the environment. But it’s a bit of a double standard, a bit of a mixed message. A lot of the beverage containers that we bring in here we probably shouldn’t have them in the first place. Is there any opportunity through the recycling of the Beverage Container Program that we want people to bring back beverage bottles, but we don’t even want them to use them in the first place? Is there an opportunity through that program that already exists to deter people from drinking beverages in small containers? Thank you.
In fact, we are soon going to be processing and recycling our 100 millionth container in the very near future. The issue is to encourage people to bring back the containers. I agree with the Member that there is possibly an opportunity to look at a stronger message about not drinking bottled water at all in conjunction with the communities’ education and health to promote the benefits of drinking local water. I will pursue that with my colleagues. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement was regarding the income support cheques and why are the cheques declining in the amounts. People have been noticing the department changing the way cheques are delivered, the amounts are going down. What makes the situation worse is the amount has gone down more than once this past year. People are concerned with the uncertainty. They are wondering if their cheques will go down the next time.
Mr. Speaker, will the government provide community governments with a plain language summary of why residents’ income support cheques have been declining? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with respect to the issuance of monthly cheques, it could vary in various circumstances where individuals may not have provided enough information such as a tax return or a tax refund, whether it be a source of income has changed or there has been a deposit into their bank account without informing the client service officers. So there are all these areas attached to the information providing.
Certainly we can have our staff do an informal or formal presentation to community government if that needs to happen. We certainly want community members to be aware of the programs that are available to them. If there are issues, then we need to highlight those issues. One of the challenges is those clients need to provide as much information in a timely fashion or else there are going to be challenges like we are faced with today. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, will this government re-evaluate the way income support cheques are distributed and how various government departments deal with their residents in smaller remote communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we are always re-evaluating our program to make it successful into the communities, especially the most isolated communities. Certainly we can take on the task. We need to find out what is truly happening in the communities. Like I said, we have our client service officers or on-duty client service officers that do their work. At the same time, sometimes it is out of our hands where not enough or a lack of information has been provided, so that creates more frustration for clientele. At the same time, they have to come with the full information. So certainly we can do our part and meet with the community. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, given that the government currently administers income support, it is not working. Given that the people, especially in our smaller remote communities, are suffering, will this government commit to immediate changes proposed by the communities and MLAs so people don’t have to suffer anymore, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Member is referring to a generic area of challenges. We need to find out the root cause. What is the real issue? Like I said, it could be the lack of information being provided. That is always the case, Mr. Speaker, dealing with client service officers. Concerns come in. It is almost always, 80 to 90 percent of the time, that not enough information has been provided. I think that we need to strengthen that area. Certainly that would be our clear message to the communities when we visit the community. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Mr. Speaker, we ask for too much information sometimes. The people are suffering in the communities, Mr. Speaker. I brought this up for the last two years I have been here, that people need help. Too much information in regards to the way this program has been run. They should get out to the communities sooner than later, hopefully before Christmas by the time we come back for meetings. Mr. Speaker, if the Minister needs help doing it, I am here to help him. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. I’m not sure I heard a question there. Mr. Lafferty, do you want to respond?
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Member is there for me as well to assist me. I think we need to collaborate on this, because I don’t have all the answers. I certainly don’t know exactly what is happening on a day-to-day basis in the Member’s riding. Certainly that information will be available for our department. Certainly I will look forward to working with that. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister responsible for the chief information officer of the government and the Department of Finance. My questions are directed to Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, as I stated in my Member’s statement, this government plays an integral role of improving the information systems we have in our communities regardless if it is telehealth, improving our systems into our schools, improving the technology in regards to services by way of programs being delivered by our NGOs or even by the local governments. I think this government has to step up to the plate and ensure that we are advancing in the area of electrical advances.
In the next number of months, there is talk about getting televisions off the analog system onto a digital system. We, as a government, have to move also. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for information. What is this government doing to improving the service delivery to our residents by government obligations, regardless if it is the Department of Health and the Department of Education, and government services in our communities to ensure that we have access to programs and services either on line or through telecommunication uptake, regardless if it is cell phone service or digital systems? Thank you.
