Debates of October 18, 2004 (day 22)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, because the regulations were in place the way they were, I don’t believe that it could be forgiven or forgotten or ignored. The rules will have to be applied as they were at the time that the issue or the problem happened. It may interest the Member to know that I have given direction and we are changing some of the rules to make it easier for students to qualify for full-time performance during the year, because we will agree now that a full-time course load is equivalent to 60 percent as opposed to 75 percent. That will be starting for first-year students and working through the system next year. So we are trying to make the system more responsive to students, particularly those who are coming into the system or into post-secondary education from small northern communities for the first time. But it’s not possible for us to go back and change the way regulations deal with people retroactively. I believe that there may be some possibility to examine payment schedules and so on, but the end result will have to be the same because of the way the regulations were set out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier in my Member’s statement today I spoke in favour of the centralized IT service referred to as the TSC. I stated earlier that I think it’s time for the government to implement not an opt-in participation policy, but a mandatory policy for a centralized technical service centre. Pooling our common resources just makes sense. Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister of FMBS is will the Minister work with the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation to ensure that the Housing Corporation’s transition into the TSC happens this year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Integration Of The Technology Service Centre And NWT Housing Corporation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the decision made on forming the TSC was done with consideration of what departments and capacity we had within government, pulling the resources together and ensuring we created an environment where things would move along in a positive way. We have determined that this move was the right move, and to go back now to look at making it mandatory is something that we can look at doing. So I could go back to my Cabinet colleagues for further discussion on this that, in fact, we make it mandatory on other groups. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Supplementary To Question 234-15(3): Integration Of The Technology Service Centre And NWT Housing Corporation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Minister. The words positive, standards, centralized and even sometimes the words harmonization of standards of how we implement things and how we run things and coordinate things come to mind when I think of this, but, Mr. Speaker, would the Minister give me an indication as to when he will bring that discussion to Cabinet in regard to the folding in of the NWT Housing Corporation into the greater picture, the greater good of the TSC? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 234-15(3): Integration Of The Technology Service Centre And NWT Housing Corporation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank the Member for his positive comments about the TSC. In coming together, in bringing this together, it has had its difficulties, but we’ve been working through them and looking at the next phase of bringing the service together to be more efficient as a government. So I don’t have a timeline as of yet. I’ll speak to my departments that are involved in this and look at what timing we can put in place for this discussion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Supplementary To Question 234-15(3): Integration Of The Technology Service Centre And NWT Housing Corporation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I realize persuasion is always a lot nicer than forcing people and I’m not suggesting that the Minister become a leg breaker, but I think this policy needs to be a mandatory policy so we don’t deal with this in the future. I’d like to hear the Minister say today that he will look towards making this a mandatory policy where all departments, boards and agencies get involved. I should say where applicable. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 234-15(3): Integration Of The Technology Service Centre And NWT Housing Corporation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Where applicable we will look at coming forward with some options to my Cabinet colleagues. Once we’ve had that discussion, we can share it with Members of this Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement earlier today I spoke about the issue of drug and alcohol treatment in the region. There are a number of unacceptable shortcomings in the way that addictions treatment is currently being carried out in the Sahtu; for example, the delay of allocating space for the community wellness workers in Deline and Fort Good Hope. My question to the Minister of Health and Social Services today is will the Minister of Health and Social Services provide this House and the Assembly with an update of the space allocation of community wellness workers in Deline and Fort Good Hope? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Return To Question 235-15(3): Update On Space Allocation For Community Health Workers

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member has raised an issue that we have discussed before, and I would like to inform the Member in this House that we are taking the steps and we are going to be planning to address those shortcomings. We’ve been working on it for some time. So I’d like to give him that assurance. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 235-15(3): Update On Space Allocation For Community Health Workers

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Speaker, I find it unacceptable that this government has not made the drug and alcohol treatment in the regions a priority, given that the survey just reported in the news about the alcohol and drug issue that’s going to be a big issue with the development of a pipeline. I read in the 2000 report of the delivery of addiction services in the Northwest Territories, I was particularly interested in having a mobile addiction treatment centre taking into consideration the recommendations of this report, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister if he would commit to looking into a mobile addiction treatment centre program in the Sahtu region. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 235-15(3): Update On Space Allocation For Community Health Workers

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there were some efforts made on the idea of trying to put mobile treatment into place in some communities, and I’d be glad to share that information with the Member and then we can take a look at it with the same information base and try to determine what is the best way to proceed. I agree with the Member that there is potential for mobile treatment, and that was the idea when we started those efforts some time ago. So I will get that information for the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 235-15(3): Update On Space Allocation For Community Health Workers

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister. Would the Minister commit to a time frame that we could work with the other regions in the Mackenzie Valley? I’m going to be asking this on behalf of the Sahtu, that we could come together and look at the possibility of looking at a mobile treatment program that they could foresee sometime in the Sahtu region in light of the potential of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline coming down. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 235-15(3): Update On Space Allocation For Community Health Workers

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we stand ready to sit with the Member. So there’s no confusion, Mr. Speaker, we stand ready to meet with the Member or the Social Programs committee to look at how we are delivering those services, and we do agree that there is a huge impact of resource development that is underway and we want to best be able to deal with that. So the offer is there and we would be happy to do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 235-15(3): Update On Space Allocation For Community Health Workers

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I stand ready, Mr. Minister. Mr. Speaker, I’ve asked the Minister if he would again commit to meet with -- I know he made some offers to the standing committee -- the Sahtu leadership in terms of gathering information. It’s a huge concern in our region in terms of making a commitment to meet with the RWED Minister in terms of the social impacts in the communities. Drug and alcohol programs are a big issue for our region, so I guess I would ask him if he would commit to also meet with the Sahtu leadership. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 235-15(3): Update On Space Allocation For Community Health Workers

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d be happy to work through the Sahtu authority and the staff that’s there, as well as the Member, and look at the most appropriate way to deal with this issue. If that entails, as well, meeting with the leadership to talk more specifically about alcohol and drug concerns, then, yes, we will do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Along the theme of waste reduction and recycling in the NWT, we go through something like 25 million containers a year for various products; 25 million among a population of just over 40,000. It’s a remarkable number and it’s one of the reasons that a year ago this Assembly passed the beverage container recycling act. My question is for the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development to ask him about when we might expect to see this act implemented across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, the Honourable Mr. Bell.

Return To Question 236-15(3): Waste Reduction And Recycling Legislation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member indicated, the legislation in the life of the last government was in fact the Waste Reduction and Recovery Act. The first program falling underneath that legislative piece of work was the Beverage Container Recovery Program and that’s what we’ve been working on. The Member will remember that we struck an advisory committee a few months back. I think there were nine members from environmental organizations, from communities, from industry, who sat down to discuss the program and come up with some advice to us on regulations and a methodology for development of the program. We’ve had the benefit of that input. My department has been working with Justice to develop those regulations. We think we’re pretty close now, and the next step is a call for RFPs to go out this month that will speak to how the regional processing centres and the community depots will be structured across the territory. We’re now thinking that by the end of March we can roll this program out and I’m certainly looking forward to that. I think it’s going to go a long way toward developing a recycling ethic in the territory. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 236-15(3): Waste Reduction And Recycling Legislation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That sounds very progressive. I know one of things that was of concern when we were putting this bill together was the ability across all the communities to put this into effect. Can the Minister give us some sense that, indeed, all of our communities will be able to act on at least some part of this new initiative? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 236-15(3): Waste Reduction And Recycling Legislation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we’ve determined that it would be cost-prohibitive to set up what we’re going to set up in the regions, these processing centres in every community across the North. I think what we’ve decided to do is establish community depots that will feed into the regional processing centres. It’s our intention that all communities will have community depots; whether they’ll all be up and running by the time this program is rolled out on April 1st, I’m not sure. A lot will depend on the proposals we get back as we go out now with an expression for that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 236-15(3): Waste Reduction And Recycling Legislation

Mr. Speaker, one of the principles of the act is that both the manufacturers and the users of containers will pay for their use and that is, of course, from the manufacturing to the actual use and retail delivery and then the disposal. It’s a good principle. But it is something that, because there will be costs assessed at the retail and consumer level, is going to have an impact on the cost of these goods and materials. Can the Minister advise, either through the committee or his analysis, what will the impact be perhaps for the average northern family of the cost of implementing this? Is it going to cost us more to do our shopping and run our businesses because of this act? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 236-15(3): Waste Reduction And Recycling Legislation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m still awaiting some of the input from the committee to determine what makes the most sense in the application of these fees. My sense is there will be an amount paid by consumers as they pick up these beverage containers which they will get back if they recycle. So I think the incentive is there for people to recycle in order to keep costs down. It also made sense, I believe, to have industry involved in the development of this program. The last thing we wanted to see was people finding a way to circumvent our fees by getting beverage containers from other jurisdictions. So we’ve been working with industry to better understand how we might prevent that. But I think the important thing here is that we have a well thought out program that makes sense and encourages recycling by providing an incentive. I think the monies, the rebates, coming from that recycling should do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 236-15(3): Waste Reduction And Recycling Legislation

Mr. Speaker, through the course of this analysis and this work, will the Minister bring to the attention of the public and this Assembly any estimates or any projections on what some of those costs may be? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 236-15(3): Waste Reduction And Recycling Legislation

Thank you. I can certainly work with committee to do that. One of the unknowns here is how successful we’ll be at recycling. There is a cost to setting up this program and I suppose if we do a very poor job of recycling, then that program cost will be paid off much more quickly. If we really take up this recycling ethic in earnest, then it will be over a longer period of time. I hope that we do take that up, and certainly we’ll work with committee so we can analyze this and discuss, in fact, how well it’s progressing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Floyd Roland. I’m just wondering if the Minister could advise the Members of this House what it’s going to cost the government to set up the new Family Law Legal Aid office in the Centre Square Mall. That’s in terms of leasehold improvements, and, as well, maybe if he would like to provide the House with a detailed costing on that arrangement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Minister of Public Works and Services, the Honourable Mr. Roland.

Return To Question 237-15(3): Cost Of New Family Law Legal Aid Office

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the office space the Member is speaking of is one that is worked on between the Legal Services Board, being the client, and Public Works and Services, as the one involved in the issuing of the RFP that went out and trying to see if any of the RFPs that were returned fit the criteria, and, going on that, recommend to the parties involved that that would be the way to go. My understanding of the process on the office space was the RFP was issued. Three responses were received. Two were on time, but did not fit the RFP. One came in but was late. Phone calls were made to all the parties involved to see if there was adequate space or alternative space and if they’d be able to meet that. From the information I’m provided, I’m told that two responses did not fit the criteria, even after the calls. The final company, the one that has the contract now, did have space and discussions went ahead on that basis. My understanding is that in the RFP it also went ahead with the requirement for general office space. So that would be the parameters that this RFP went out on, and I understand that we fall right in within that category when we compare some of our other leases out there. Thank you.