We can certainly provide the information we have within my department of Education, Culture and Employment. I did talk about the inventory we have on hand and the number of vacant units that may be available.
I need to continue to work with Minister McLeod, the Housing Minister, on this particular item as well, because they’re the ones that have all the inventories of the units at the community level. We’ll provide that to the Member and also keep the Member informed of what’s happening in the community of Aklavik and also Members in the isolated communities. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Housing.
Listening to the interesting debate we had between the Minister of ECE and the honourable Member, I have similar types of issues in terms of affordability of homes. I have to commend the Housing Corporation for increasing the housing stock in the Nahendeh riding, but we’re having affordability issues, meaning that people aren’t being approved or getting into these homes.
I think part of the issue there has to do with it being a non-market community. Government guidelines and procedures…. I believe they’re selling them at economic rents or at the economic rate it costs to construct them, but the issue is that in our small communities they’re being constructed at a high cost, and I think they should be sold at market cost. I’m not too sure how we’re going to get around this. Mr. Speaker, if the Minister could speak to that.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, we have a number of programs that have been incorporated in the last while to assist the people across the North to get into home ownership or, in the case of repairs, to apply for repairs. In each case there is a threshold that is established. We look at calculating the maximum construction cost. We look at factoring in the interest rate, land costs, shelter costs, and we also then amortize that over a 25 year period.
For the most part, Mr. Speaker, it seems to be working well. In the last while we’ve had a huge investment in home ownership through the Affordable Housing Initiative and the Housing Trust. That money was provided on a cost shared basis from the federal government. We’ve put a lot of units on the ground. We have heard from a number of people across the North that the opportunity to access this program is too limited. We are reviewing the thresholds to ensure that maybe we could open it up a little bit so that it’s a little more flexible.
That’s the absolute crux of the issues in many of the small communities. The affordability window is just so small and the income threshold, I believe, has to be reviewed. Is the department or is government going to look at reviewing the threshold this coming winter?
Mr. Speaker, the NWT Housing Corporation, including myself, has sat down on a number of occasions now to look at some of the areas that have been causing issues to come forward. The threshold seems to be an area that we need to commit to doing a review on. It’s been a while now that this program’s been in place. We’re hearing a lot of feedback in this area, and we want to do that.
The other area, of course, is to be able to deal with the large number of questions and requests that come in from the general public to the MLAs and also to me as Minister. We are working on a new initiative there, also, to look at the appeal process. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do both of those things sometime over the winter.
Does the existing program take into account the remoteness of the smaller communities like Jean Marie? Is the income threshold lower, or is there more room for deduction, as it were, from the payment plan, Mr. Speaker?
Mr. Speaker, the answer to that question is yes. Each community has a different income threshold, whether it’s the maximum or the minimum, and each income threshold is designed and calculated from the cost of living in that community.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Is that threshold limit applicable to all the programs that are there? Is that the same program available for CARE as it is in HELP? Is that the same income threshold?
Mr. Speaker, this program is designed towards the Homeownership program. The CARE program is a lot more open and fewer conditions are placed on it for homeowner repairs.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be to the Minister of Health today. I’ll be following up on both my Member’s statement and my questions from yesterday, which addressed my concern about this young mother, two in tow, a three month old nursing baby with her, who had trouble getting a hospital room and waited 34 hours.
I was reading Hansard questions yesterday. To understand some of the complexity, the frustration I’m feeling on this side of the House…. The Minister said we send people….that we use Capital Health services, because services like urology…. Well, Mr. Speaker, I was talking about neurology. That’s the frustration I’m having over here, trying to communicate this problem. I mean, it’s the study of urine and I’m talking about a stroke.
Mr. Speaker, the question to the Minister at this time is: there must be some type of contract we have with Capital Health, and there must be a proviso within that contract that says we communicate with the Northwest Territories government, and within that contract there must be something that stipulates accessibility for northern patients going south. Is there such a clause, and would the Minister be willing to make that known to myself as the Member, the family, as well as the rest of the House?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to just ask that the Hansard be corrected to read “neurology.” That is what I said.
Mr. Speaker, we do have a contract with Capital Health so they can provide services that we cannot in the North. We don’t have special status with Alberta, but we do have access to service that Alberta and Capital Health gives to its own residents. My understanding is and we are aware that there is a shortage of beds and facilities all over the country, and sometimes we experience some difficulties. I would be happy to provide the Member with any details of the agreements he would like to know and that I could get hold of.
Well, if I try really hard and understand that answer, what I’ll do is I’ll assume that there must be some proviso and detail that talks about potential status if the hospital is full.
Mr. Speaker, when I raised the issue about notice or communications to the Minister’s office vis-à-vis through Stanton or whatever from Capital Health and it talked about beds being full, the Minister said there was nothing, but I am getting indications that there was information passed to this government through Capital Health. I would like to be clear: does Capital Health inform this government in any way if no hospital beds are available? How do they do so, and when was the last correspondence on that matter?
Mr. Speaker, as I stated yesterday, this is a medical decision. A medical doctor at Stanton decides that somebody needs to go elsewhere to receive medical care that we cannot provide here. The medical doctor would be in touch with somebody in Capital Health to receive our patients. So it’s a medical decision; it’s a medical practice decision, and I believe in this case that decision was made by the medical practitioners.
Mr. Speaker, I certainly wish we were in a court of law so we could treat the Minister like a hostile witness to get her to answer the question. The answer wasn’t in there anywhere. My question was about the detail of communication.
All indications are that there is information that flows from Capital Health to the Northwest Territories through Capital Health, maybe through to Stanton, then it gets to the Minister’s office. So, Mr. Speaker, I will have to find another way to say the same question: is there any type of communication that gives the detail that beds are full or not?
Mr. Speaker, I don’t know what the Member means by “all indications.” I did get a call from the media telling me that the Member is suggesting I got an e-mail two weeks ago. I don’t have any such information, and I will make it clear: we do not have any information that says anything like the Member is suggesting. I don’t know what the Member is saying with “all indications.”
Once again, this is a medical decision made by the medical practitioner at Stanton, who felt that this patient needed to go to Royal Alexandra Hospital. That’s the decision that was made.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, I am glad the Minister drew in Royal Alex, because she is very adamant that this patient went to the Royal Alex. But I actually contacted the hospital; I contacted Capital Health, and she is not at Royal Alex. As a matter of fact, she’s at the U of A. So I seem to be a little…. And there’s no problem with the Royal Alex, but obviously the detail isn’t there.
The Minister said in her remarks yesterday that she spent all day trying to do her best to get this patient into a room. There is a reference to contacting or finding information about Calgary and Grande Prairie. Well, Mr. Speaker, I called these agencies. I called the Queen Elizabeth, too, in Grande Prairie, and they said clearly that there is no way they could see 34 hours as a reasonable amount of time.
I would like the Minister to show me what correspondence and efforts were made to reasonably demonstrate that there was a push from our government to make sure someone did not have to wait in the emergency room 19 hours for an enclosure and 15 more hours for a bed.
Mr. Speaker, I will be happy to provide the information as to the work the staff did, the calls the nurses made to talk to the patient’s husband in Yellowknife as well as Northern Health Services Network staff this government has hired in Edmonton to help our northern residents who are sent there. I don’t have that information handy, but I would be happy to provide him information on the steps we took to assist with this situation.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are about capital projects in the Northwest Territories.
I believe that when we are considering the priority placed on capital projects, the highest priority is the protection of people. To that end, I have been trying to get tabled in this House, or given to me or given to the education authority in Hay River, the air quality reports that were done at Diamond Jenness after it was discovered that asbestos was in there.
I have been told that perhaps I am asking for the wrong report. Maybe it’s not air quality I should be looking for; it should be the report on the content of asbestos in the air. Now PWS got the reports back. The air was sent out; it came back with reports. Why can I not get a copy of them?
We are talking about spending some $20 million on an office building in Inuvik to consolidate government employees. I would like to know if where they are located poses any risk to their health. In Diamond Jenness we have windows that don’t open, inadequate heat in the winter and inadequate cooling in the summer. We have an air quality issue there.
I would like to ask the Minister of Public Works and Services again: are there any reports that would indicate the presence of asbestos in the air in the high school in Hay River?
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, after the Member’s comments yesterday in the House, we did a follow-up. We are and we will be providing the reports to the Member if not tomorrow, then early next week. The reports indicate that there is no asbestos in the air. The air quality reports all report that the air is safe.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister for that. I really do look forward to getting it and actually visually inspecting those reports myself, because, you know, rumours do abound. I have heard that the reports had come back indicating even in a very small quantity, parts per million in the air — I’m not sure how it is measured — that there was asbestos in there. So I look very much forward to seeing those — not that I don’t believe the Minister, but I would like to see it with my own eyes.
Back to the issue, though, of the quality of the environment in which the students are educated in Hay River in the Diamond Jenness Secondary School. The school is old. We are told that some of the rationale for building this building in Inuvik is because the office where the government employees are is old. Well, our school is old. What is the priority here?
Mr. Speaker, in the case of the Diamond Jenness there has been a review done on the status and condition of the facility that recognized that there’s a need for a mid-life retrofit. We have identified a budget for it and have provided the recommendations to go ahead with the retrofit.
However, the school requires more than just a retrofit, which would bring it back to the same standards as when it initially was built. There is a desire from the community, from the education system to provide some upgrades in terms of programs; therefore, the functional review is being done by Department of Education. When that comes back, it will be put back in the capital list.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has referred to the replacement of the schools in Inuvik, and I do not dispute that schools in Inuvik need to be replaced. You know, the Premier said they have been on the books since he was elected 13 years ago. Well, the problems in Diamond Jenness have been around as long as I have been here as well.
I would like to ask the Minister of Public Works and Services: what is the priority of this government — the comfort of government employees or an environment that is good for the educating of our children?
Mr. Speaker, comfort is important for our employees, for our students. Safety is the bigger issue. In the case of the school in Inuvik we had a recommendation and assessments that the school should be replaced. In the case of our employees in Inuvik we have them housed in old warehouse buildings that were loaned by the federal government and converted to offices. There is an issue there, and also the Perry Building has been declared unsafe, unsuitable for use.
In the case of Diamond Jenness it needs to be retrofitted and it needs to be upgraded, and it also needs to be enhanced with a program review and new programs. We need to take all those steps, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you. For the benefit of those people in Hay River who are maybe following and are interested, what did the visit of the Minister and designating the Diamond Jenness renovation as a red flag project mean? And from where we thought it was going to show up in the capital plans, where is it now? Why the difference in the timing?
Mr. Speaker, at the time of the community visit and the visit with the school and talking with the people there, including the principal and the MLAs, we had indicated that the school had been reviewed for a condition rating and that it was earmarked by Public Works as needing a mid-life retrofit. The price tag around that was, I think, $21 million. What needed to be done was a functional review, a program review by the Department of Education.
Since the time those discussions took place, the Department of Education has embarked upon doing that, and I think those discussions are underway with the education people in the town of Hay River.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement earlier today with the Minister of Housing.
The fuel spills that are occurring in N’dilo and Dettah as a result of the aging fuel tanks are costing us a lot — two incidents, 160,000-some dollars, over $80,000 per incident — and it’s probably a couple of thousand dollars to replace the tanks.
Under the old SDPMI program, the Yellowknives Dene could replace the tanks and be reimbursed by the Housing Corporation, but under the CARE program it has to be approved ahead of time. This has proved onerous. This has been brought up with the Housing Corp for the last eight months. Again, it’s a straightforward, relatively low cost initiative. Is the Minister intending to act on this opportunity, or are there barriers to be dealt with here?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have standards in the NWT Housing Corporation that require us to review and assess our public housing units. We expect that we need to change the tanks at least every 20 years. We have our action plan where we have started doing.
In the area of private homes, we like to work with ENR to put the word out to private homeowners that they should assess and inspect their tanks on a regular basis to ensure there are no leaks. We have a program, as the Member has indicated, called CARE, that will provide for people in the lower income brackets to apply to replace their tanks if they need assistance. That program is for all the people in that income bracket.
Mr. Speaker, thank you for those comments from the Minister. That, too, is my understanding, and that’s the starting point for this discussion here. The Yellowknives Dene have raised this issue, as I said, over the past eight months on behalf of these elders who are low income private homeowners. Has the department assessed their tanks, and have you developed a schedule to replace those tanks according to the expression of concern and the tens of thousands of dollars this is costing both the Yellowknives Dene Nation and us?
Mr. Speaker, that issue has not come to my attention. I have not come forward with a plan to deal with the Yellowknives Dene. I have not been notified that there is an issue there.
Mr. Speaker, it’s been raised with the Housing Corporation, and I don’t think we can pursue this further if the Minister is not aware of this. I would take the initiative to provide correspondence, and I anticipate that the Minister, perhaps, could commit to dealing with this as soon as possible, since it is now eight months and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation has not heard back from the department on this. Would the Minister commit, once I provide him later today with this correspondence, to doing a quick response?
I’ll gladly take the information provided by the Member and follow up with our officials to see why it’s taken such a long time for a response to be provided to the Yellowknives Dene. We’ll also share that information with the Member.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you very much to the Minister for that commitment. This, again, is very costly all around if we don’t act. These are disasters waiting to happen. Rather than fiddling while Rome burns, I’d like to see some action. Does the Minister agree that this is an appropriate role for the Housing Corporation to play and that they have a responsibility under these programs to do this?
I would agree that the private homeowners have a responsibility to look after their own homes. We have programs that can assist them if their income is not adequate to meet their needs.
We have embarked on a campaign to replace our tanks that are on public housing units, and we will commit to working with ENR to launch a public information campaign to make sure people are aware there is a limited lifespan that these fuel tanks will stand up for. There are other concerns. There’s condensation and other issues that factor in there. There could be a shortened life other than 20 years.
There are a number of things I can commit to, but at the end of the day I want to make sure it’s clear that we need to be approached by the individual to assist, and we also need the individual to be providing due diligence in looking after their house.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
