Debates of October 19, 2006 (day 11)

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member’s statement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. 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.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker and colleagues. Mr. Speaker, the next Health and Social Services Authority board meeting will be held in Fort Resolution this Monday on October 23rd. I encourage the Minister to direct board members to provide some assurances that it is working to address these matters and provide timelines, deadlines and recommendations from the two reports that have been drafted since March 2006 that hopefully will address and rectify problems in this area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the past two and a half years, I have been talking about the RCMP presence in Sachs Harbour, but today I would like to go through a little different process.

Last night, on CBC North, there was an interview with Corporal Violet Pokiak of “G” Division of Yellowknife here regarding the recruitment of people for RCMP programming in Halifax. I understand Corporal Pokiak will be travelling to all the communities in the Northwest Territories over the next four years, trying to recruit people in the Northwest Territories. I think, on behalf of the RCMP, that is a good process out there that they are working towards. I hope that during the travels of Corporal Pokiak, that she will be able to draw all the young people into the communities and look at the workshop that she’s having. I hope that at some certain point they will be able to encourage all the young people that we do need the RCMP aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories and I hope they can take advantage of this process.

Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to recognize that the RCMP and “G” Division are doing a good job in trying to recruit people in the Northwest Territories to go south to try the RCMP Access Program. I wish them very well in their endeavours to recruit these young people .Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the last few months, the GNWT introduced a policy where across the board, with very few exceptions, the GNWT employees cannot bank any more than 75 hours of overtime. Not only that, once an employee has reached that in any fiscal year, they cannot refill it again. Mr. Speaker, this means that most of your overtime, above and beyond that, is paid out in cash. This is a problem, Mr. Speaker, because, believe it or not, money is not everything to our people. They want to have the choice of being able to take the time off instead of getting cash, but the shortage of workers sometimes does not make it possible, Mr. Speaker. For all the positions in the GNWT that are required to perform clawback and travel duty, the bulk of which are in the health care field, this policy has been detrimental to the morale of these employees, Mr. Speaker. The fact that some sections of the Stanton Territorial Hospital, for example, are allowed to bank more than this is a problem as well.

Mr. Speaker, I have been receiving correspondence from the workers who say they feel that they work so hard and they do many hours of overtime and are on call, some by choice and some not by choice. These extra hours of work are necessary because there is a shortage of allied health care workers everywhere and the patients deserve access to health care services in the Territories 24/7. It is our public right, they say. But as a result of these restrictions, they feel penalized for providing the quality care northern patients deserve. The loss of the ability to refill their overtime banked means they have lost their freedom to choose when and how their time in lieu is taken. Until the GNWT takes responsibility of this serious retention and recruitment issue and provides the money necessary to fill those vacant intermediate positions in hospitals and in all health care offices and facilities in the territory, Mr. Speaker, this seriously affects the health care services in the North. I would like to take this moment to ask the government to revisit this issue and scrap this policy that is demoralizing all of the health care workers who are working tirelessly because of the shortage of labour and the importance of the health care services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just recently my colleagues were making a statement on residential schools. I would also like to make a statement, Mr. Speaker, to that effect.

Growing up in Inuvik, I was one of the town boys. There were the town boys and the hostel boys. I grew up beside these boys. I went to school with them, but I didn’t realize, Mr. Speaker, the conditions that these boys had to live in. Lately, with all the research that I have been doing and questions I have been asking, I had a chance to reflect on the conditions that they put up with. I have a whole new admiration, Mr. Speaker, for the many boys who went to residential school and the way they are doing today.

I hear them talking about the term survivor and that’s a real appropriate term because, Mr. Speaker, I believe that’s what they are. They are survivors. To hear comments being made questioning some of that has upset me that much more. It’s hard to imagine the frustration that a lot of these survivors felt when they heard the comments coming from the Premier to the media. Have these people not suffered enough, Mr. Speaker, without having the head of the government make such comments and open old wounds?

When I heard this, Mr. Speaker, I have to ask myself a question; a very serious question. Have I not done enough to hold the Premier accountable for his remarks? Have I not done enough to show my support for these survivors and hold the Premier accountable for these remarks? Mr. Speaker, in speaking to a lot of them, some of them wish they were town boys, so they could go home at the end of the day, but that was impossible. To this day, Mr. Speaker, all they wanted was to be believed. Thank you.

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Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. In the area of development and regulatory matters, the Northwest Territories does not have a great score card in the industry of mineral and oil and gas exploration, Mr. Chair. We often hear the statistic quoted that Alberta, on an annual basis, processes hundreds of applications for exploration of natural resources and, yet, a number of approvals here in the Northwest Territories, basically you can count them on a couple of hands.

The major deficiency that’s been identified, a chronic deficiency, has been the lack of capacity in the regulatory boards established under the Mackenzie Valley Resources Act. Getting appointments to this board has been a chronic problem for our government, Mr. Speaker. We have allocated, as the GNWT, a number of seats on these boards and we have had some difficulty of late getting the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, who has the duty to appoint, to listen to our nominations. We have had refusal by the Minister of Northern Affairs to accept our appointments and now, with at least one of these vacancies running up 10 months, it certainly is easy to understand why the resource exploration and development industry sees the Northwest Territories as not a very attractive place to do business. At the real front end, we can’t even process the paperwork. Getting the nominees on this board and having our voice at this critical decision-making point is an essential part of the way we do business. Mr. Speaker, I think we are being denied that opportunity by a Minister in Ottawa who's got some other agenda other than our best interests, which he has a duty to represent, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have been a Member of this House for almost three years and I continue to enjoy the opportunity and privilege to stand in this Legislature and represent the constituents of the riding of Kam Lake, the city of Yellowknife and this territory. I take my job and this position very seriously.

Yesterday during question period, while my colleague Ms. Lee was questioning the Minister of Health and Social Services and this was in response to an off the record comment I had made that the Minister of Health and Social Services should perhaps ask his colleague Mr. Dent about what happens when you just solely listen to your top level bureaucrats in your department and you shouldn’t perhaps accept for fact everything that your deputy minister or CEO may tell you.

Mr. Speaker, I have a message for the Premier and his Cabinet. Maybe they should all go for a tour of the various departments that they represent and are responsible for every once in awhile just to touch base with the employees who are there on the ground doing the front-line work, and discuss with them and meet them to see what their concerns are and make an effort to address them.

As a Regular Member, I take great pride in the fact that employees from all areas of our government’s operation can call me and get me to address their concerns. Mr. Speaker, they should be allowed to continue to do just that. Mr. Speaker, I will stand up and continue to fight for their issues. Our employees should not feel scared or intimidated to come forward because of reprisals of senior managers. Why is this such a touchy subject for this government? Are they afraid that they might be taken to task for something or might actually have to do something? It’s a problem, Mr. Speaker. I believe what this government needs is some whistleblower legislation and the sooner, the better. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

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Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize my constituent Peter Huskey that’s in the audience. There is another constituent, Francis Washie, who was here also. I would like to welcome them to the gallery. Mahsi.

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Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize one of my constituents. It was an oversight yesterday, Arlene Hache. I didn’t recognize her yesterday.

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Thank you, Mr. Handley. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we have missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Legislative Assembly. It’s always nice to have an audience. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement today, as well as on many other occasions, I speak about the need to ensure that we have a territorial dementia centre built sooner rather than later. Mr. Speaker, it is a serious concern that I have that there may not be funding in this upcoming capital budget plan for our next budget fiscal year. Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister of Health and Social Services is, what is the current status of the territorial dementia centre facility that is supposed to be a partnership between the Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens for Seniors and his department? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Return To Question 133-15(5): Territorial Dementia Facility Centre Funding

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I met with YACCS a couple of weeks ago and indicated to them that the dementia facility is not in the ‘07-08 capital plan. It is on our list should there be any new money that comes available, along with a number of other projects. We continue to do the work. There was $1 million allocated to the dementia facility planning last year. That money has not been fully expended. In fact, it’s only been partially expended. So we are continuing to look at that. We have been in contact with YACCS. We are going to be much more actively involved to work with YACCS in terms of the scope of the project. We will keep the need clearly identified and make sure it stays on our business plan request for the coming year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Supplementary To Question 133-15(5): Territorial Dementia Facility Centre Funding

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the Minister was in the House yesterday when our Finance Minister gave his statistical update. Mr. Speaker, I know he must have heard the Finance Minister say we had $18 million higher than our original projection. So what is the Minister doing about putting this dementia centre up on the priority list? What is he doing to knock down, kick down at whatever, get that door off to speak to that Finance Minister to make this project a real go? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 133-15(5): Territorial Dementia Facility Centre Funding

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have been going through the business planning process, the capital planning process. The Minister of Finance gave a statement in the House about the fiscal update. He indicated that there is a requirement to have a certain amount of surplus to be able to fund our capital infrastructure. The money that was in the budget, the money was fully subscribed to. We have a much longer list of projects than we have resources. It is on our list should new money come available, but at this time there has been no money added to the capital budget and that is the reality as far as I know. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Supplementary To Question 133-15(5): Territorial Dementia Facility Centre Funding

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to hear the Minister’s list of priorities, because I am not sure we have another need out there that demands such a high priority as our dementia facility. We need to be treating people in a proper facility suited to this specific need. Will the Minister tell me today, where are his priorities on this facility in comparison to any other priorities? Is it the top priority of his department to get this dementia facility built in a timely way in the city of Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 133-15(5): Territorial Dementia Facility Centre Funding

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to point out to the Member that this is not just a list of health projects, but there is a government-wide list of a whole host of projects that are important, not only to Yellowknife but to communities all around the Northwest Territories. Our decision is to focus on Stanton, as we have indicated to committee, as well as a potential to move on to the consolidated clinic.

The dementia facility clearly is on our to-do list but, for the funding that was available for this year, the focus is on those two particular projects in Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Supplementary To Question 133-15(5): Territorial Dementia Facility Centre Funding

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I say this with respect both to the Minister and other departments, but I don’t really care about other departments when I talk about the Health Minister. I want to hear about the Health Minister’s priorities. I know other Ministers will be kicking on the Finance Minister’s door if they heard there was one single dollar available for any of their projects or programs. I would like to hear from the Minister. With respect to other departments, like I say, I don’t care about that. I want to hear about the facility for the dementia centre. What is he doing to kick down that door to say I heard there is some loose money out there somewhere in a surplus, let’s do something with it that will have real needs. So what is the Minister doing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 133-15(5): Territorial Dementia Facility Centre Funding

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not aware of any loose change within the context of our entire fiscal circumstance. I have outlined to the Member the process and where the facility stands. There is also many other critical projects out there. The dementia facility has just come into the capital plan this year. It’s now on there and we will continue to move it forward in the coming business planning cycle. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for the Premier and this is in relation to the appointment of GNWT representatives to the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board…I’m sorry, the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board, a position that has been vacant now for some 10 months.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier was, I recall, quoted in a recent media interview as saying that while the initial nominee of our government has been rejected by Minister Prentice of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, that our government should really undertake to give him a few more selections. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to ask the Premier in this regard, just what is the discretion of the Minister of Northern Affairs to reject our nominee?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Return To Question 134-15(5): Appointments To Mackenzie Valley Land And Water Board

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Because this is a federal board, the federal Minister has the final decision on any of the members. We simply put forward nominations; he can choose to reject them if he chooses. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 134-15(5): Appointments To Mackenzie Valley Land And Water Board

You know, Mr. Speaker, when these boards were created, and we are going back about 10 years now, the NWT fought for a degree of representation and autonomy so that we knew that our voices were indeed going to be heard, along with those of many First Nations who also have designated spots on those boards. Just why is it that we are not pressing the Minister to accept our nominee so that we can be assured that our position is being heard as clearly as possible and not subject to the whims or biases that a federal Minister might want to have, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Premier.

Further Return To Question 134-15(5): Appointments To Mackenzie Valley Land And Water Board

Mr. Speaker, I can assure Members that we have been pressing the Minister for several months now and, as I say, it is the Minister’s discretion, the final decision, I should say, on our nominations as well as nominations from other parties including aboriginal organizations. So he has that final say. Mr. Speaker, in order to resolve this, we recognize the need to have someone and have that position filled. In order to move ahead with this, we have agreed with the federal Minister to give him more names. If he can’t make a decision based on the names we have provided, we will give him more names. Recently, the Minister responsible, the Minister of ENR, had sent a letter out asking for nominations from Members and others. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 134-15(5): Appointments To Mackenzie Valley Land And Water Board

Indeed, Mr. Speaker, I have that call letter in my hand right now and it’s certainly something I am going to give a lot of attention to. We went through this process earlier this year. We came up, I believe, with a good name, one that had my confidence. I wanted to ask the Premier if he got any reason from the Minister of Northern Affairs for the rejection. What are the criteria that the federal Minister wants to put on our nominee, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 134-15(5): Appointments To Mackenzie Valley Land And Water Board

Mr. Speaker, no, I have not gotten any reason why the Minister will not select the one individual we provided. The Minister did say, though, that if we give him one name, the answer is yes or no. He appealed to me, can you give me more than one name so I can choose. In order to get this position filled, I have agreed to. Yes, we will give you more names, if that is what you wish, Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Supplementary To Question 134-15(5): Appointments To Mackenzie Valley Land And Water Board

Here we go again, Mr. Speaker, still under Ottawa’s thumb trying to get anywhere at all with resource revenue sharing and devolution. It’s tough enough that we can’t even secure our own independence with one of 20 people on a board. We are not even able to get that far with Ottawa. Will the Premier, indeed, once consultation is through, put forward a name that we know we have confidence in and insist that the Minister of Northern Affairs take that as the true and full voice for the NWT, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 134-15(5): Appointments To Mackenzie Valley Land And Water Board