Debates of October 13, 2004 (day 19)

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Let me just start off by sending my greetings out to my constituents in Tu Nedhe. Let me say it’s nice to be back in the House and I look forward to working on some of the many issues and concerns that have been brought to my attention by my constituents, residents of the NWT and Canada.

Mr. Speaker, as you and my colleagues are well aware the political landscape of Canada has gone through some significant changes over the past few months and, thanks to the diligent and persistent work of our leadership, we as northerners have an enormous opportunity to make great achievements economically, socially and politically. But we must remember, Mr. Speaker, that these opportunities do not come about without some sacrifice by our people. The sacrifices I am talking about are those dealing with the health, social and cultural well-being of all of our residents from all areas of the human spectrum: from infants to the elderly, educated and uneducated, employed and unemployed, aboriginal and non-aboriginal. We are all affected by any profound changes in our political and social environment, but change is usually good and a step towards making positive changes is what this government is working on. Mr. Speaker, many of these new challenges on change will assist us as government representatives accomplish some of the goals and aspirations this government has set out in the strategic plan released in June 2004.

Mr. Speaker, more sacrifices are what we will have to bear in order to make some of these goals in the strategic plan a reality. I believe this government will have to look within and make sacrifices from within in order to achieve some of the goals such as becoming self-reliant peoples and communities. The people of the Northwest Territories have already made too many sacrifices on their own in the past in order to bring us to where we are today. I respect them for all of what they have offered and contributed to the betterment of our land and our people.

I feel now that it is time that we, as a government, challenge ourselves to make more positive changes in areas of accessibility, accountability and attitude, accessibility and accountability to our citizens in addressing issues and delivery of programs so that they are addressed and worked out in a timely, effective, and efficient manner, and in the attitude of our public service so that these positive changes can be realized at the grassroots where many residents have become too complacent about what the role and responsibilities are…

Mr. Villeneuve, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.

I seek unanimous consent from the Members to continue my statement.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you. …so that these positive changes can be realized at the grassroots where many residents have become too complacent about what the role and responsibilities are of this government and why the system of program delivery has grown quite cumbersome and confusing in some areas, resulting in a loss of trust by residents in our system of government.

Mr. Speaker, I hope I and my colleagues will make this a priority during this 15th Legislative Assembly; to make these and other positive changes happen so that we can all benefit in the long term. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since becoming a Member of the 15th Legislative Assembly, we have led very busy lives and have had to make some very difficult decisions. This summer, I had to make a difficult decision as well, a personal one that included my family, in a sense that we have decided or, as my children would look at it, I had decided that it was best that my family be close to me. So we made the journey this summer leaving Inuvik via truck driving the Dempster Highway and relocating here in Yellowknife. I am here in Yellowknife for the purpose of the work that I have been given, the responsibilities I am here to fulfill.

I just want to let the constituents of Inuvik and Inuvik Boot Lake know that even though I am here in physical form and body, my heart is still back in Inuvik and my commitment is still to the people of Inuvik Boot Lake, and the work I have done on behalf of them I will continue to do. But I have to accept, and my family as well, that it is important that our families remain close. I felt that it was best that my children got to see more of their father on a daily basis rather than hearing them over the phone or watching them on the television. One thing I learned from my father is that you need daily input and guidance to turn out to be a productive and healthy person of our community. So just to the people of Inuvik and Inuvik Boot Lake, I have relocated. Many people I have been talking to I informed them of my plans to do that. The move went well. My children are in school and still missing home, as we call it. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is good to see you and our colleagues here again. As others have said, Mr. Speaker, we do have a lot of work in front of us during this 15th Assembly. Mr. Speaker, I want to ensure my constituents and this House that I will be working diligently for them from this side of the House to keep our government accountable and to make sure they are fiscally responsible without cutting our core programs and services that are important to the Tlicho people and our communities across the Northwest Territories.

There are many important issues for the Tlicho region, and I want to make sure that our government is considering them in preparing its next budget and in setting the legislative agenda. First and foremost, Mr. Speaker, is our Tlicho agreement. As the Premier indicated today, one piece of legislation remains to be passed by this Assembly in order to implement our agreement. I look forward to seeing it in the very near future. Then we will be ready to implement as soon as the federal legislation gets through Parliament.

Tlicho communities are very concerned about aging community infrastructure, especially infrastructures that are tied to public health and safety, such as firefighting equipment and facilities, community roads and water and sewer services. The government’s capital plan needs to reflect this. Lack of adequate and affordable housing for elders, families and single people is also a major problem affecting Tlicho residents and the North. I will be looking for this government to ensure that they make investments in this area to address this particular situation. Youth and elder programs, winter roads and health care are also priorities for the Tlicho region. I will be working and looking forward to seeing that also in the next budget. In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I look forward in questioning the government about these and other issues during this session. Mahsi.

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Thank you, Mr. Zoe. Item 3, Members’ statements. Before I leave Members’ statements, I would just like to draw attention to the Members of the rules governing Members’ statements. They are to be two-and-one-half minutes in length. When requesting unanimous consent to conclude, we would appreciate that Members use that time to conclude their statement, rather than going into a lengthy Members’ statement from then on.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Ms. Barb Hood, the executive director of the NWT Seniors' Society, a frequent visitor to the gallery. I would like to welcome her again. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Senator Nick Sibbeston. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize in the gallery my father, David Roland, the man I look to for guidance and direction, and thank him for all of his training.

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Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you. I would like to recognize my neighbour and fellow Hay River North resident, Mr. Gordon Norberg.

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Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I have a couple of people to recognize. First, one of my most feisty seniors in Yellowknife Centre, I could call him the honourable Ed Jeske.

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I also would like to recognize two others: Lydia Bardak and Nancy Galway. Nancy is the coordinator of the programs for the John Howard Society. She is leaving the North to return to Labrador as a social worker. Ms. Bardak is taking over part of the transition of the John Howard Society. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize my wonderful wife, Lucille Pokiak. She came down to support me. Thanks a lot. It is good to see David Roland. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is always a pleasure to recognize Mr. Tony Whitford, former Speaker of this House and a constituent of mine. Welcome.

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Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am proud to have with me today in the gallery my three children, Keone, Diedra, and Candace. I would also like to recognize two former residents of Fort Simpson: Terry and Anita Villeneuve. Mahsi cho.

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Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize two of my staunch supporters from Tu Nedhe. They are my mom, Terry Villeneuve; my sister Anita; and I believe my dad is outside for a smoke break.

---Laughter

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Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize a constituent of mine, Mr. Gordon Norberg, and also my executive assistant, Ms. Sue Tkachuk, in the gallery.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, further to my Member’s statement earlier today, my question goes to the Minister responsible for FMBS, the Honourable Floyd Roland. Could the Minister tell this House what measures he’s taken to accommodate the extra work that’s been necessary to go through the files of all the correctional officers and the extra files that would have gone to that office from the health care professionals who have had their jobs re-evaluated over the last few months? I would like to know what extra measures he’s taken as the Minister to accommodate this task. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Minister responsible for FMBS, Mr. Roland.

Return To Question 205-15(3): Calculating Retroactive Pay For Employees

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in Ms. Lee’s Member’s statement, she hit all the points that are very accurate in the fact that we have a very heavy workload for the individuals in the payroll office. As the Premier stated earlier, as a government, we’ve decided to live within our means and tried to do what we can with what is available. Unfortunately, on this side of the equation, we are not considered frontline workers, so when the government looks at reduction scenarios, it’s that end of the boat that ends up taking a fair bit of the brunt of any reduction scenarios of past governments. We haven’t added any new positions.

Over the past summer, unfortunately we had a number of months -- approximately four months -- where we were understaffed in that area and trying to complete the workload. We are back on track. It is still taking some time, as the Member noted, and we are continuing to work with the staff and trying to get back up to speed with that. I would like to point out that there are a total of 39 retroactive payments on the Justice side. We have 13 remaining and hopefully those will be concluded by mid-December.

On the health care side, there were 226 retroactive payments. Hopefully by the end of November, we will be concluded; there are about 12 left of those. So we have been doing our job, as slow as it has been – and we have to apologize for that – but we just don’t have all the resources to put extra staff in place. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your first supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I suppose in my statement I laid out the problem and the answers. The reason I did that is for regular people with common sense, it’s really hard to believe that a government that runs a billion dollar budget, that were given the money to pay for these retroactive payments, that they could not find any resources within to accommodate this extra task and to say that it was a budget-cutting measure or that it’s a lack of money. That doesn’t make any sense at all. Maybe it speaks to a lack of an efficient computer system. What kind of payroll system do we have? We have millions of dollars going through the payroll system, and a person has to actually go file by file, page by page, to look at all the hours of work. This really speaks to a non-functioning system.

Mr. Speaker, in my private conversations with him, I have asked…

Ms. Lee, do you have a question?

Supplementary To Question 205-13(5): Calculating Retroactive Pay For Employees

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is one I asked before to the Minister and one that he said he would consider. He said he would consider giving interest for the money that he’s been keeping that belongs rightly to these people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 205-15(3): Calculating Retroactive Pay For Employees

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First let me say, for the record, I have not been keeping money from the employees myself. We have been working to try to correct the situation. Mr. Speaker, an example of what has to be done on a lot of occasions, especially on the Justice side, because there are so many shift changes, acting appointments and so on, that in one employee’s case, there could be 200 transactions that have to be looked at and adjustments made going back to the point of the change. One case could take 200 different transactions to come up with the final number that needs to be paid out. On the specific question of the interest, we have looked at that and the Financial Administration Manual does not allow for us to pay interest, so we have not gone in that direction. Thank you.

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

Supplementary To Question 205-15(3): Calculating Retroactive Pay For Employees

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can I ask why this cannot be done? We have over 2,000 or 3,000 employees and we have a computer system. This is the year 2004. We have approved a lot of money for computer systems. Why does this have to be gone through manually? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lee. Ms. Roland.

Further Return To Question 205-15(3): Calculating Retroactive Pay For Employees

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have been upgrading our computer systems and we continue to do so. One of the problems we find is we are still pulling back departments into an area where we can use the same platforms, as they say, in the computer world and have systems talk to each other. Still, the fact remains that even though it’s in the system, when a retroactive agreement is reached we have to go back in the file. Depending on the timeline that’s involved and how many changes the position has taken, whether it’s acting, a new pay level or up to a new pay range, there are many factors that have to go into it such as overtime, acting pay and casual pay. We have to look at all those things and make those adjustments to the point of the date the agreement was reached. We have been doing our work. It’s been slow. We have been understaffed over the summer. My understanding is we are back up to staffing levels. We had to hire more people and we’ve done that, but that is within the existing arrangements we’ve had and resources we had. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Supplementary To Question 205-15(3): Calculating Retroactive Pay For Employees

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister indicated that there was a total of 30-some employees who were entitled to retroactive pay. My information is that there were 52 correctional officers, but no matter what number you look at, it’s really quite unbelievable that it takes a whole year to go through 52 files. I want the Minister to answer the question that he hasn’t answered yet, and that is whether or not he will pay the interest for those who haven’t gotten the money for a whole entire year by the end of December. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 205-15(3): Calculating Retroactive Pay For Employees

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe I did answer that. When the Member asked this of me, I did commit to looking into it. We have looked into it and under the Financial Administration Manual, section 803-4(3.1), there is no provision for interest to be accrued and paid out. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Question 206-15(3): Driver's Licence Renewal Process

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is to the Minister of Transportation, following up on my earlier Member’s statement with regard to people under hardship and duress due to the lengthy process about getting renewals for drivers’ licences. Would the Minister be willing to reconsider implementing the notices for renewal for peoples’ drivers’ licences? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Mr. McLeod.

Return To Question 206-15(3): Driver's Licence Renewal Process