Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, two years ago the world economy experienced a downturn unprecedented since the Great Depression. The turmoil touched everyone including Canada. The NWT economy shrank in 2009. Employment fell by 5.2 percent and mineral exploration by 80 percent.
We are encouraged by the fact that the positive signs of growth observed earlier this year appear to be confirmed. Forecasts of NWT economy are predicting growth in 2010-2011 fuelled by a rebound in the diamond industry. The Conference Board of Canada forecasts that our economy will grow by 4.8 percent this year and 9.3 percent in 2011. Mineral exploration is forecast to increase by 125 percent this year to almost $100 million from $44 million in 2009, although it will not reach the levels seen in 2008. However, because labour markets have yet to gain the same traction, employment growth will lag the recovery somewhat. This is consistent with the outlook we presented in the 2010 budget last January.
Despite these positive reports, we cannot assume that we are out of the woods yet, economically speaking. The world’s economic outlook continues to be uncertain. Economic growth in Canada appears to be slowing and the state of the U.S. economy is troubling. We have adopted a fiscal strategy to see ourselves through these uncertain times. We know that our plan is a sound one. We must manage our way ahead with continued caution and vigilance.
We entered the downturn in relatively good financial shape, which allowed us some room to respond to the decline in economic activity in the NWT.
The 2009 and 2010 GNWT budgets were prepared based on a conscious decision to mitigate the effects of the recession. This included maintaining spending levels and pursuing an aggressive plan of infrastructure investment.
Over the previous and current fiscal years we will have invested more than $700 million in infrastructure in the NWT, not including the Deh Cho Bridge. However, we do not have the fiscal resources to maintain current levels of investment indefinitely.
The budget we approved last March assumed a slow economic recovery following the upheaval of late 2008 and early 2009. We recognized, however, that our fiscal plan needed to include measures to return to a sustainable path over the next few fiscal years; measures such as maintaining a tight rein on spending growth and reducing capital investment over time to historical levels.
We are not alone in the fiscal approach we are taking. All governments in Canada are expecting a period of tight fiscal control as they seek to return to balanced budgets.
The fiscal strategy laid out in our 2010 Budget calls for new spending to be capped at 3 percent per year starting in 2011-12, net of compensation increases. It also calls for a return to lower levels of capital investment once current projects are completed.
Yesterday I tabled the 2011-2012 Capital Estimates. Our capital plan proposes investments of $126 million, not including infrastructure contributions to communities and the NWT Housing Corporation. These will bring the total planned investment in 2011-2012 to $171 million. This means that over the life of the 16th Legislative Assembly we will have invested over $1 billion in badly needed infrastructure in the Northwest Territories.
Despite the forecast growth in the NWT economy, we should not expect dramatic growth in our own tax revenues.
We will be monitoring corporate tax information in the coming months, to learn what effect the downturn had on 2009 corporate income in the NWT.
In late September the Department of Finance issued a discussion paper seeking input from NWT residents on options for introducing a revenue-neutral carbon tax to encourage a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and hotel tax to fund tourism strategies. Both of these options have been brought forward in earlier consultations and while neither of these options reflects current GNWT tax policy, they are intended to stimulate public discussion that can inform further work.
Last week the department hosted the third roundtable on fiscal and revenue options, where representatives from a broad range of business, social and environmental organizations, as well as community and aboriginal governments, talked about these options and provided their thoughts. While there was not unanimity, there was a general consensus that both of these options deserve more thought and research. I encourage all NWT residents to read the discussion paper and submit comments by the end of October.
Mr. Speaker, the approach laid out in our fiscal strategy will return us to a sustainable fiscal path. But achieving this will require strong discipline on the expenditure side. We are entering the final year of the 16th Assembly. With the limited time left to us we need to focus on consolidating the gains we have made, and finish and deliver what we have begun. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to update Members and the general public on recent housing construction and related vacancies in the NWT.
Over the summer, I, along with fellow Members of Cabinet and this Assembly, had the opportunity to tour communities in our Territory. One of the more common questions we were asked pertained to vacant housing units. It is understandable that concerns have been raised about vacancies in our housing portfolio, especially given the level of core housing need in many of these communities. Therefore, I would like to provide some context for why there are vacant units and outline our approach to put families into these much needed units.
The federal share of the $117 million in federal and territorial funding for northern housing under Canada’s Economic Action Plan was designed to put housing on the ground within a short time frame as an economic stimulus measure. Failure to build housing quickly would have put the NWT at risk to having funds reprofiled to other jurisdictions if the funds were not utilized on a timely basis. As a result, the NWT Housing Corporation seized the opportunity to conduct an expanded construction and repair program to ensure that this funding would create a long-term and lasting impact, and improve housing supply and conditions in our communities. It meant recognizing housing needs in communities, building homeownership units before allocating through the normal program intake process, and repairing units to utilize this funding at a rate far beyond historical levels. While this approach allowed us to provide good quality housing to many families, it also meant that a number of units remain unoccupied pending the fall program intake.
The NWT Housing Corporation has over 4,000 public housing, homeownership and market housing units in its portfolio. At any given time, particularly during construction season, many of these units are unoccupied due to modernization and improvement projects to improve the quality of housing for NWT residents, resulting in many units not being available for occupancy. Given the significant federal investment, this situation was more pronounced during the summer of 2010. During this period we had the opportunity to undertake major renovations and retrofits to approximately 173 units. In addition, a further 44 units were beyond economic repair and targeted for replacement. Vacant public housing units are not a static number and changes often as allocations are made on a monthly or more frequent basis by our community partners, the local housing organizations.
Construction of public housing units is targeted at replacement as public housing stock has remained static at 2,400 units since the decline of federal funding for operations and maintenance was begun in the 1990s. While federal funding for the construction of new homeownership units has been appreciated, it is clear that the housing needs of the NWT cannot be fully realized through the construction of new homeownership units. This is particularly the case in rural and remote communities. The federal investment has proven to be a challenge as homeownership units may not be meeting all of the housing needs of NWT communities. While we recognize this challenge, we also recognize the importance of seeing these units utilized as quickly as possible in order to meet community housing needs.
Our approach to deal with the vacancies in our communities begins with our Housing Choices program intake. Over the past six weeks NWT Housing Corporation staff have been in all of our communities accepting applications for HELP, PATH, and CARE, as well as providing one-on-one counselling to applicants. As you may be aware, program intake ends today. Early indications are that the interest and demand for these programs remains strong in many communities and I am confident that we will fill many vacant housing units in our communities through this process.
Should our program intake not fill all vacancies, the NWT Housing Corporation has developed other options to deal with vacancies. First, the NWT Housing Corporation will pursue a targeted program intake in those communities. This will ensure that any and all eligible clients are given an opportunity to benefit from available housing.
Secondly, should there continue to be vacancies following the second intake, the NWT Housing Corporation will undertake discussions with those communities to determine their priorities and suggestions for the possible use of these units to address their specific housing needs.
The NWT Housing Corporation will also discuss with the GNWT and communities the potential of converting these homes to public housing. As I stated earlier, the best housing option for many residents in need in the NWT is public housing. With the decline of O and M funding from CMHC, the NWT Housing Corporation continues to be limited in its ability to add new public housing to its portfolio.
We recognize that many communities have less public housing than they need and in some specific communities there is no public housing program. Therefore, the GNWT has to consider the addition of public housing units to our portfolio as an option, not just to fill vacant units but as a part of our overall approach to providing affordable housing now and into the future. I have also directed the NWT Housing Corporation to identify potential gaps and mechanisms in current programs in order to better meet the housing needs of NWT residents.
In closing, I believe Members would agree that our accelerated construction has resulted in housing on the ground in communities where there is a continuing housing need. The NWT Housing Corporation has been able to build nearly 700 units over the past five years and repair over 1,000 public and private dwellings, all within our fiscal capacity.
The NWT and other jurisdictions have benefited greatly from federal investment over the last several years. The GNWT has also recognized the importance of housing and has invested significant funds to ensure that we can achieve the maximum benefit from federal investments. With the sunset of federal funding for construction just a few months away, these investments are quickly drawing to a close. The past five years of construction has left an important legacy in our communities: adequate, suitable, and affordable housing that can meet the housing needs of our residents for years to come.
Our challenge now is to not only benefit from these investments, but build upon them as we move forward in an effort to promote further investment in housing that will continue to meet the needs of our residents.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Colleagues, before we proceed I would like to draw your attention to the gallery to the presence of a former Sergeant-at-Arms. Ms. Nicole Latour-Theede is there with us.
It also gives me pleasure to welcome my constituency assistant from Hay River. Ms. Diana Yaeger is in the gallery.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. It is with great sadness and honour at the same time that I pay tribute to the last chief of Rocher River, a community that has not existed since the early 1960s.
On May 24th of this year Mr. Paul Biscaye passed away after being ill for almost two years. Paul leaves behind his wife of 57 years, Theresa, and six daughters, Anne, Sabet, Georgina, Julia, Violet and Gloria. Paul is predeceased by his only two sons, Raymond and Fred John. Paul was blessed with 10 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Paul was born near Big Gap outside of Rocher River in 1930 and was raised in the Rocher River area. After marrying Theresa, they continued to live there until around 1968. In his early years he trapped and lived around the Thuben Lake area and Rocher River, spending the summers fishing in the Simpson islands.
Paul was the last chief of Rocher River. He was a well-respected elder who lived a healthy life and was a role model for all. He got along with everyone and was known for teasing the young people and often made up nicknames for them.
Although Paul only had a grade 2 education, he was very knowledgeable. He was a trapper, a fisherman, and worked with prospectors at staking, worked at both Pine Point Mine and Giant Mine. However, his career was mainly in the sawmill in Fort Resolution where he retired as a self-taught millwright.
In his later years Paul dedicated his time to promoting the Chipewyan language and the Dene culture. He enjoyed being out on the land, playing cards with friends and watching hockey. In Fort Resolution he was voted the number one fan. He would even come to Yellowknife for the local Easter tournament and spend hours at the arena watching hockey.
Paul was a very sociable person. He enjoyed getting out, visiting and meeting people. I remember him as being a very friendly person, and this was evident by the respect he was given by both young and old. Paul was awarded the Elder of the Year by Akaitcho Territorial Government in 2002.
Paul was the last Biscaye in his generation, he did not have any siblings. However, his name and legacy will live on through his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I would like to thank the family for allowing me to do this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about a situation that has come to my attention in my constituency office from numerous constituents. Mr. Speaker, it has to do with the delivery of specialist health services. In theory, it would be a great achievement to attract medical specialists to the Northwest Territories Stanton Territorial Hospital and to service people of the NWT in their home territory and avoiding things such as the high cost of travel, accommodation when they have to go to the city, separating families when they need medical attention.
Mr. Speaker, when a new discipline or specialist service is brought on stream here at Stanton, what is expected is that anyone who is a resident here who had previously been seeing a specialist in southern Canada would then automatically begin to see that specialist. In order to justify having that specialist, it is necessary to ensure they have a caseload that would warrant their attendance and residency here in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, like I said, in theory this is a wonderful achievement and it is a great idea, but the complicating factor in this is that some people have been receiving medical treatment from a specialist in the south over a number of years. They may have a chronic illness that has required them to establish a doctor/patient relationship with a specialist who knows that patient, who knows their case well, and an argument can certainly be made for the merit of continuity of care and the comfort it would give that patient knowing that they can continue to see the doctor who knows them and who knows their case.
Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what the solution is to this problem, but it has arisen numerous times in the last month in my office and in Hay River. I am not sure, again, how we can address that, because, of course, we do want to have those specialist services available here. But when they are something new that is brought on stream, how do we deal with those people who already have a longstanding relationship with a physician in the south? Later today, Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services on that and see if we can come up with a system that would be fair to everyone. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
MEMBER’S STATEMENT ON
GNWT SUPPORT FOR
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I listened to the Premier, and in his sessional statement he talked about the Northwest Territories and he made reference to the Assembly goals that we were going to try to achieve through this Assembly. He mentioned two of them: healthy, educated people and one of the other goals was an environment that will sustain the present and future generations of our people.
Mr. Speaker, I fully support these goals, but how do we get to them? Well, there is a means that we can achieve them. Mr. Speaker, by doing some research from the NWT Bureau of Statistics, it shows that in our communities in the Sahtu our traditional activities are heavily supported by our people in the manner that people live off the land, they hunt and fish, they trap and use country foods. Mr. Speaker, it’s very high in our communities in regard to the numbers that show up in the stats of people that go out on the land to practice the tradition to live their culture and to teach and to educate their children about the land. These values are very strongly supported, as these numbers indicate.
Also, Mr. Speaker, the number of young people in our region is very high. In the entire Sahtu region, Mr. Speaker, 45 percent of our population is under 25 years of age and, Mr. Speaker, you know that the Sahtu has only seasonal jobs up to six months at best and people with low... The economic wage salary scale is way down. There’s a high percentage of families with less than $30,000 of income coming in per year. So a lot of people rely on country foods, rely on the land. So I want to ask the Premier, when questions are asked, about what type of programs will the government do to support trappers and hunters and families to go out and live on the land, to support them due to the high cost of living we have in the Sahtu region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Later today I’ll be asking the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services some questions on the Community Health Nurse Development Program. This program is a competency-based, on-the-job training program to train nurses so that they’re competent to work in community health centres.
It’s a great program, but research shows that this program, since it was developed in 2005-2006, has graduated about 20 nurses into community health positions. Of these, 14 are still working as community health nurses in the Northwest Territories and, for the record, six of these individuals are indigenous aboriginal nurses who have either returned to their home communities or to their regions.
Bottom line, this is a great program. My concern today is the fact that over the summer I’ve heard from a number of people that this program has either been cancelled or that it has been postponed and there’s no intake, or that it is being reviewed and it may no longer exist in the near future. Given the success of this program and the value this program adds to our health system, I’m very concerned by these rumours that I have heard. So today I’ll be asking the Minister whether or not this program exists, and what we’re doing to ensure that it does continue to exist, and what we’re doing to get nurses in community health centres. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to speak today about a trend that is developing in the decisions that are being made in the delivery and provision of health care services at Stanton Territorial Hospital.
My colleague from Great Slave spoke yesterday about the relocation of the medical travel offices out of Stanton; only a small 8.5 by 11 sign posted on the door, no more face-to-face interaction, no transition plan, no communication plan, and it lacks any cultural sensitivity whatsoever. This is completely inexcusable. How exactly are emergency medical travel situations going to be dealt with? To make matters worse, these offices were replaced by administrative offices; this, Mr. Speaker, in the most prime patient care real estate in that hospital.
Mr. Speaker, two years ago there was close to $30 million in the capital plan earmarked for Stanton Territorial Hospital. That money disappeared last year from the capital plan and I hold the Minister responsible for that money not staying in the plan. Far too many decisions are being made on that facility in the absence of any long-term vision or plan for the hospital.
Over the past three years this government has paid off accrued deficits at that hospital in the magnitude of $18 million. Eighteen months ago the Minister came to committee with a plan to fight the deficit. Mr. Speaker, to my knowledge, the deficit continues to bloom out of control at that hospital as well as at other health authorities across the Territory.
We need a remedy. Is the diagnosis chronic underfunding, loose billing practices, unfunded positions, poor management, or a combination of all of those? The bottom line is we need to find a way forward at Stanton.
My fear, Mr. Speaker, is that because of these burgeoning deficits, the public will be targeted by this government to pay more. I’ve been informed that management at the department and at Stanton are now planning to start charging people to use televisions in their hospital rooms, and also the department and hospital are looking at implementing a pay parking system at Stanton Territorial Hospital. Mr. Speaker, I hope they don’t take any lessons from the Department of Transportation on how that works at the Yellowknife Airport. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Tomorrow, October 16th, is World Food Day, a day with the theme of United Against Hunger. It’s an opportunity for us to reflect on our food, our food supply, and to think about who has food and who does not.
Throughout the world, no matter where you look, there are people who are hungry, people in poverty, and here in the NWT our residents are not immune to that problem of hunger and poverty.
In the last 10 years or more we’ve seen an increase in the number of food banks in the NWT and a marked rise in the number of people using those food banks. More and more our people are struggling to have enough food, enough of the right kind of food to have food security.
But what is food security? It’s having enough food that is affordable, that is safe and healthy, that is culturally acceptable, food that meets dietary needs, is obtained in a dignified manner, and is produced in ways that are environmentally sound and socially just. A big definition but it works.
So what are we doing about NWT food security? In general, not enough. But we have a number of programs which work to help our residents achieve food security. With the help of the federal government recently, with some funds from a program called Growing Forward, the GNWT started a Small Scale Foods Program. Resulting from that, we now have about 29 community gardens here in the NWT, gardens which provide food for the community and its residents, and some of these community gardens give as much as one-quarter or more of their produce to either a local food bank or a women’s shelter.
Locally grown foods are cheaper, more environmentally friendly -- there’s no need to transport them, so no greenhouse gas emissions -- and they contribute hugely to local food security.
Mr. Speaker, as Members know, in Yellowknife, assisted by the Donation of Food Act two years ago, an organization called Food Rescue was established here. On a daily basis Food Rescue provides food to numerous non-profit organizations; NGOs providing services to those less fortunate. These NGOs can now ensure greater food security for their clients because of donations of foods from Yellowknife businesses, and those donations are orchestrated by the dedicated and hardworking volunteers of Food Rescue.
There are smaller programs as well, such as the Breakfast for Learning program, which ensures that school kids get exposed to healthy nutritious foods and meals. Yet, Mr. Speaker, many of our residents still struggle with food security, an issue to which this government must give a higher priority. In a rich country like Canada, there’s no place for poverty. We should not have people who are hungry. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is an urgent need for government action on a growing problem plaguing our people, that of payday loan companies’ exorbitant interest rates and hidden charges.
People living paycheque to paycheque and people gripped by substance abuse are among the clients of these firms. Usually small amounts are borrowed for brief terms, but as borrowers learn, added costs are anything but small.
Two court decisions in Yellowknife have proven that when you add up all the fees and charges, the annual cost of a loan can be as much as 1,000 percent. So a $200 loan can end up costing $2,000. The court decisions threw out these loans as illegal and uncollectable. This didn’t happen automatically, though. People with limited means had to go to court to have this loan sharking struck down. How many never even get investigated?
The Criminal Code sets a maximum interest rate of 60 percent of principal per annum. That’s no help when desperate people have to navigate confusing and complicated loan forms with copious amounts of fine print that don’t clearly state the full costs of borrowing. Failure to enforce existing law doesn’t help.
Other jurisdictions have acted to end this victimization, with laws of varying strength. Work is being considered by this Assembly to introduce such law, I hope. We need to expedite this work and ensure that the law is strong.
Four firms have sprung up in Yellowknife in recent years, all conveniently located near liquor stores and bars. It’s obvious that business is good. I say business is too good.
I don’t know what’s happening in other communities. I’m very interested to hear whether there might be similar things happening in Inuvik and other centres.
We have a chance to introduce model legislation that controls profiteering on the needy. I call on the government to move this law forward as a priority and to increase enforcement of existing law. To this end, I will be asking questions of the Minister responsible for consumer protection.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On October 4th and 5th the community of Ulukhaktok experienced a 27-hour power outage. Here is the assistant SAO Joseph Perry’s report. It’s with great pride that I write you about the recent power outage. The community lost power last Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. and it was restored Wednesday afternoon, affecting over 20 households as well as the airport. Special thanks goes out to the housing foreman and his crew, airport maintainer and his crew, municipal foreman and his crew, recreation director, administration, and all of the other teams that worked together and set the action plan in motion to make everybody as comfortable as possible.
The most important task was to restore the heat. Generators were placed in strategic locations to ensure that everyone had their furnaces running and at least essential power. The housing crew set up split shifts throughout the night to ensure all generators were full of fuel and that none failed.
The recreation director collected donations of coffee, tea and snacks, et cetera, and opened up the shelter for those who wanted to join in with others for comfort and just to talk.
The airport maintainer ensured the heat was restored at the airport and was standing by with flare pots to light the runway in the event of NWT Power Corporation being able to make it in that night. Two people were on the phones standing by all night in case a plane would arrive.
Everyone in the community remained calm and assisted in any way they could. Again, the first priority was to restore the heat, make sure all the food was available for those in need, and keep the people informed of the situation.
This is a fine example for everyone working together in the community of Ulukhaktok and they are commended for their understanding and patience during emergencies. Communication, cooperation is alive and well in Ulukhaktok.
The NWT Power Corporation arrived as soon as the weather cleared, due to icing conditions. They diagnosed the situation and quickly restored the power and were extremely professional and diligent in their duties.
I would just like to thank everybody in Ulukhaktok and thank the Power Corporation for their good work. I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to give my condolences to our cousins, family and friends who lost their loved ones in the Nahendeh riding over the summer and fall. In great sadness I want to say that it was a particularly difficult one for the communities as we lost a total of 11 this summer. I would like to note that nine were elders.
Most recently, Ms. Corinne Modeste from Fort Simpson passed away last week at the age of 81.
Bella Norwegian of Jean Marie River died on September 22nd at the age of 94. Ms. Norwegian had been a midwife and healer for many years. She was predeceased last May by her son Fred Norwegian.
Thomas Poitras died in Fort Simpson on the bank of the Mackenzie River. His friends called him Pork Chops. He leaves his widow, Dorothy Michel.
Recently retired from Renewable Resources, Mr. Isadore Lomen from Fort Liard fell overboard while pursuing a moose on the river. He loved the river and spent time with his family in a cabin.
Mr. Johnny Sassie was born at Bouvie Lake in 1953 and died of cancer in Fort Liard. He leaves behind his wife Corinne.
Mr. George Deneron, also of Fort Liard, was a calm and kind elder who followed a traditional lifestyle and was an advisor to the band.
Elder Rosie Horesay from Wrigley -- it was my favourite place to visit -- she never had ill will to anybody.
The oldest resident of Wrigley, Ms. Helen Ekanale, died of old age at the age of 95.
Willy Sake, another kind-hearted elder who was from Jean Marie River. He loved and stayed on the land until his passing.
Ms. Ina Bertrand of Fort Liard, a young woman who lost her struggle with cancer.
An elder, Mr. George Horassi, a snowshoe maker from Tulita who moved to Fort Simpson.
Also to Ms. Terry Remy-Sawyer, also known as Terry Norwegian, the mother of my constituency assistant, Ms. Pearl Norwegian.
Once again I offer my deepest sympathies and wishes of courage and strength to the families who lost their loved ones to deal with their losses.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about the liberation treatment offered to MS patients throughout the world. I’m hoping that the Minister of Health and Social Services here today will hear the call for some type of action on this particular issue.
Liberation treatment is now offering new hope in a way that has never been seen before when it comes to MS patients out there. They’ve had drug therapy and certainly physiotherapy to keep their lives in some type of order, but it is a problem that is pointing in one direction. Liberation treatment has come forward and is offering a new style of promise to people who have not had hope before on stopping this disease.
I believe it’s time that our government take a serious look at this opportunity before us. If anything, as they say out there, it doesn’t work quite well or perfect on every single patient, but those who receive liberation treatment will tell you that it has changed their lives in a profound way, that it has returned the quality of their life back in a way that they never dreamt of before.
Saskatchewan is moving forward in a way to give this a full shot on giving the chances back to these people who have MS. Other provinces are seriously considering this. If we look at the cost alone just on liberation treatment, we’re talking in the range of $20,000 to $40,000 per treatment. The reality is, how do we compare that to the cost of drug therapy that they’re receiving today?
Through research I’ve found that a particular person who is on drug therapy specific to MS could be costing about $1,000 a month just on drug treatment. That’s about $12,000 a year just on treatment in their existing position. That doesn’t even consider the secondary protocols of drugs, such as to treat their depression, which could range anywhere into another $5,000 to $8,000. We could be spending almost $20,000 a year just on drug therapy that we could be saying, wait a minute, if we offer them any chance at hope, maybe they don’t need this MS drug therapy, maybe they don’t need the depression therapy because their lives have returned.
In short, this comes down to quality of life. If the government wants to do it on numbers alone, all we have to look at is drug therapy two years in a row would pay for the cost of treating someone through liberation treatment. But if we want to do it from the human point of view, the point of view that cares about people, cares about their outlook on life, that brings back promise to them, I think giving liberation treatment for those MS patients out there brings hope and certainly helps their outlook on life.
I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services later today regarding this matter. Hopefully we’ll have some good discussion.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Finance. Sorry, the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
This past summer the Minister and I toured the Sahtu region and we met with the members of the communities of the Sahtu. We heard from the communities in terms of support for the hunters, the trappers, the harvesters on the land and that the high cost of living in the Sahtu is something that is quite a concern for us. More importantly, the high cost of pursuing their traditional activities in terms of eating wild food from the land.
I want to ask the Minister, in these types of discussions we have with our people, what type of support will the Minister look at to support our traditional activities to support our people.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There currently exists a selection of programs that support the traditional activities on the land that are housed in ITI and MACA. As well, one of the things we’re looking at in terms of new support would be through the business planning process coming up. We’re looking at the expansion of the funding program that now assists community hunts.
In terms of one of the programs the Minister talked about, the Community Harvesting Assistance Program to support traditional hunts, I know from the reports I’ve been getting from the Sahtu in the last month that there’s been a huge increase in interest of hunters going out and pursuing this activity with their children and families. As you know, there’s a high number of families with less than $30,000 of income.
I want to ask the Minister, in terms of the high cost of living and the uniqueness of dealing with the situation in the Sahtu, is this type of funding going to be looked at in terms of the high cost of living in areas and allocating dollars to communities that do have higher costs to pursue the harvesting activities.
This I know is an issue of great concern to many of the members of the communities outside of Yellowknife where harvesting and hunting are significant activities. As the Member is aware, discussions have been held in relation to the business plans and Strategic Initiatives committees and work that’s being done. The intent is, having travelled with the Member to the communities in his riding where we heard in almost every community about as we look to live off the land and we look for other opportunities other than may be available through some of the caribou herds that are in decline, the need for assistance. It’s on that basis that we’ve had those discussions and we want to come forward with some options for expanding the funding for the CHAP funding.
Can the Minister inform the House as to when some of these changes could come to light in terms of sharing the CHAP funding program with the communities?
Being part of the business planning process, it has been discussed. It has been built into the main estimates. The House will be gathering for its final major budget session in late January or February, going into March, and that’s when the matter will be decided by the House.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In terms of the outline that the Minister has informed the House, how soon after that discussion will we know if it’s a positive discussion or positive outcome that the communities will know that they will be eligible for some of these support dollars that they desperately need to continue on with the harvesting of their traditional foods?
Mr. Speaker, the business we do in the south is tied to, of course, the fiscal year which ends March 31st and starts April 1st for the new budget. The budget for the House will be passed and approved and we will start the flow April 1, 2011.
