Debates of October 19, 2007 (day 2)

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. (English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about the youth in my constituency. During my campaign, I focused on youth. Among other things, it was one of the most important issues in Tu Nedhe. As you know, our youth represent the future. They can be a vibrant element of our communities and yet they can also be innocent victims in unfortunate situations and circumstances.

According to a census done last July, youth under the age of 19 represent almost one-third of the total population in the Northwest Territories. In my riding of Tu Nedhe, youth under age 24 represent 41 percent of the population. With this statement, Mr. Speaker, I am making a commitment to the people of Tu Nedhe that in addition to the many important issues and concerns I have heard during my campaign, I will be paying special attention to the concerns and needs of today’s youth in Tu Nedhe, Mr. Speaker, including recognizing and honouring, from time to time, the successes and achievements of various youth from my riding here in the Legislative Assembly.

We are all familiar with the saying "It takes a whole community to raise a child," but what about the resources, tools and expertise needed to support the community, Mr. Speaker? We need to ensure that, as a new government, we continue the good work of the work that has begun before us. Also, it is incumbent upon the new government to take a proactive approach to ensure that the appropriate resources, tools and expertise needed to support our youth are not only maintained, but identified as one of the government priorities. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I begin today, it is Friday, which is Red Friday, and I am wearing

red to show my support to the troops and their families and their commitment to us, as well.

Mr. Speaker, NGOs are a vital component to the fabric of the NWT. They offer and deliver programs, important programs and services that the government can’t do and sometimes doesn’t even want to do. In my opinion, these organizations are, in essence, picking up where government fails to act. In some cases, as well, these NGOs continue to get the short end of the stick when it comes to funding, lack of core funding, Mr. Speaker. Their funding does not reflect the increased costs of the times that we’re living in now. Many of these NGOs operate on shoestring budgets and contributions given by government, and this will be no surprise to this new Cabinet. It’s time we start showing our appreciation to this NGO sector.

Mr. Speaker, while during the election process for our Premier, I had questions for our two Premier candidates about wanting to know can we start off on the right foot by revealing NGO funding and making sure that the programming relevance is what we want. Mr. Speaker, I ask that this government take a less bureaucratic approach and start off on the right foot by taking immediate action with this problem and working and delivering a strong solution so we can finally deal with some of these shortfalls our NGOs, again, our vital fabric to the North, get treated fairly.

Mr. Speaker, the Alison McAteer House, as I pointed out the other day, is run by the YWCA and its funding struggles are well known to this community, and I’m certainly sure it’s well known to this Cabinet. Mr. Speaker, we can’t allow them to close the doors because they want to pay their employees fairly. Mr. Speaker, all they’re asking for is fair compensation.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for our Premier later today and I look forward to his enlightening answers to make sure we start this government off, this Assembly off, on the right step. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, we’ve just gone through an election process where we’ve heard a lot of issues, going door to door and hearing our constituency raising issues by way of problems that they see in our communities. Mr. Speaker, one of the biggest problems I see is the poverty that’s still out there in our communities. We hear about the high cost of living, the high cost of rent, the problems delivering programs by way of income support for individuals who are walking the streets for three months with not a nickel in their pockets because they either missed a meeting or were told we can’t help you so…But, again, Mr. Speaker, the poverty that is in the Territories should not be there, yet we may rate as one of the high statistics in regards to the economic and the gross domestic product of producing diamonds in the country and we’re still living in poverty in a lot of our communities. The problem that we’re having by way of attracting people to our communities and the high cost of living, especially in the area of housing, from people that are living in income support are basically who are receiving a good paying job and having no alternative but to go to public housing to find shelter and paying $2,500 a month to rent a home to raise their families and finding out that they’re no better off going to that community find a job; they’re better off to go into larger centres.

Mr. Speaker, we also have to deal with the high cost of living by way of the power costs, the shelter costs and also the high cost of groceries in a lot of our communities. Mr. Speaker, we, as a government, have an opportunity to do right by the people we’re here to serve, and revise our programs and services so that they work; they’re not penalizing people through our income support reforms that we’ve done. If anything, we’ve got a bigger crisis by way of people in arrears, people who cannot afford shelter and people that also can’t take advantage of programs and services because of the restrictive guidelines that we’re using to enforce it.

So with that, Mr. Speaker, those are some of the issues I heard during my campaign and I want to ensure to Cabinet that we have to do everything we can to ensure that we have a process that will get our people out of poverty and put them back to be able to have reasonable and sustainable living in all our communities. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the past many weeks have been a very busy time, starting with the month of September, the election period, culminating with October 1st, polling day. It was a busy and exciting time as each of us had the opportunity for a very concentrated dialogue with constituents about the issues most important to them. I found that exercise to be invigorating, and a renewal and a recharging of my enthusiasm to pursue those issues. Some of what I heard was not new, but many of the suggestions and ideas about how to approach them were new and focused on issues in a way that I hadn’t had a chance to previously hear or think of. Now, as different areas of responsibilities are determined, we will get down to do the work that we were elected to do. I very much look forward to the next four years in this role, working with former and new Members alike. Some of the issues of great importance that I heard about in the community of Hay River include, and these are just some of them:

overdue, mid-life retrofit of the Diamond Jenness Secondary School;

progress on the replacement or renovation of our hospital;

taking the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority into the GNWT-wide system;

improvements to the communications around medical referrals to avoid waste and valuable resources;

sufficient education resources in our classrooms;

the completion of the assisted living facility in Hay River, staffed by GNWT employees;

initiatives to address the cost of living, including a review of the payroll tax and the rebates;

a review of the support to seniors and persons with disabilities ensuring fairness to all regardless of marital status;

recognizing the value of our NGOs, such as the family support centre, youth programs and ensuring that they are adequately resourced;

support for our community's aging infrastructure challenges;

establishment of a comprehensive community energy plan;

safety and security of our community through adequate resources to meet the demands on our local RCMP members;

providing tools and programs to our residents to allow them to participate in supporting the law enforcement activities;

crime prevention and awareness programs;

curriculum in our schools to prevent children from turning to drugs and alcohol.

These are just a few of the issues that I will be placing emphasis on in the weeks and months ahead. I believe that this is going to be a productive fours years. We share many issues in common as Members collectively. We respect and support each other and we can improve things for the benefit of all northerners.

I would like to thank the people of Hay River South for giving me the opportunity to return to this Legislative Assembly for my fourth term. I very much look forward to serving them to the best of my ability. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to begin with a quote from the Earth Charter, issued in 2000:

“We stand at a critical moment in the earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.”

Mr. Speaker, I’m very concerned about climate change and some of our environmental challenges. But as brought out in this Earth Charter statement, I am also very excited about the possibilities and the promise that’s offered in the solutions to some of these things. It’s going to take some new thinking. It’s going to take some new ways of doing things. I heard on the radio the other day where it looks like we’re a government with no change. I’m hoping that’s not true because I see a real need to do some things differently. We have now entered the point where there is an irreversible degree of climate change. Even if we stopped our greenhouse gas emissions today we couldn’t stop climate change. But we’re not at the point of dangerous climate change, as they call it, where our losses really soar. So we have a window of opportunity here and I’m really looking forward to bringing some ideas of how we can work on solutions to that. In particular, I’ve heard the word balance between development and the environment; we need to restore balance. This is clearly happening because we are out of balance, and I’m looking forward to some creative ideas of how we restore balance.

I know this has been raised throughout many discussions already that we’ve had, both informally and formally, and there’s will on both sides of the House to get to work on this. I think we can do this by drawing on local resources and local skills in new ways to meet many of our needs and address many of the things Mrs. Groenewegen was mentioning here, her list. It’s just how we do things and we can do that in ways that benefit all our residents and our northern environment and the global environment. Mr. Speaker, thank you very much.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the 16th Assembly, we’re going into, I believe, the most important four years in the history of the NWT, and all 19 of us in here play a big part in how the next four years shape up. We, as other colleagues have mentioned, have heard issues from a lot of constituents during the campaign, and we want to act on these issues. Now that we’re starting to get some order in the Assembly here, Cabinet’s been selected and -- they haven’t been assigned portfolios yet but they have been selected -- you’re going to have to start listening to what people are telling you. We, on this side of the House, are going to tell you what people told us and want us to relay onto the government because you have an opportunity as the new Cabinet to make sure that the next four years run smoothly and things get done. If there’s deadwood within the system, get rid of it, because we have a fresh Cabinet now and it should be a fresh government, a fresh start, and start doing what people want us to do. I want Cabinet to go in there and say that I will be the dog that wags the tail; I’m not going to have the tail wag the dog. I think that would be a good attitude. You are the leaders of the department; you give them the direction based on what you hear from us and we give you that direction based on what we hear from the people.

We have to act on it, Mr. Speaker. We are in a very important four years. We have some projects coming up; we have decisions that have to be made; and we have to act on it. We can’t just go through the motions for another four years. We have to be, as one Member said the other day in his campaign speech for Cabinet, we have to be proactive to the needs of the people in the Northwest Territories and not react after the fact, which I think has been happening too much lately.

One thing I did forget to mention yesterday when I was doing my opening statement, I have to commend the people of the Northwest Territories that went out and voted, because they’ve exercised their democratic privilege and it is a privilege to be able to go out and vote. A lot of people don’t have that and sometimes we take it for granted. So I would like this new government, all 19 of us, to listen to what people are telling us, act on it and act in their bests interests…

Mr. McLeod, your time is up.

---Applause

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Today, too, I would like to get straight to work and give government some of my thoughts that I received as I went on my campaign trail, Mr. Speaker, and one of them is the transfer of the housing subsidy to the Education, Culture and Employment department that occurred last term, Mr. Speaker. I believe that was a mistake to transfer this program. We had changed how we deliver housing to not delivering housing now, Mr. Speaker. Right now we have good, hard-working people who are now in arrears. Once it was affordable and bearable for them to make five or six hundred dollar a month payments, and they made it, Mr. Speaker; but now, where we are now assessing them through full market rates and we're charging them 15, 16 hundred dollars a month, Mr. Speaker, that might work for large centres, but it does not work for small communities like Jean Marie, grannie from Nahanni. It's just not working there. It doesn't make sense to have these absorbent prices for market rates.

As well as another significant change, Mr. Speaker, is that elders and our low income people are not eligible for houses anymore and that's wrong and that's a fundamental shift from us, as a government, being able to help and benefit our people. I'd like this government to address that, and think about that and have some solution for this House for the next sitting in November, Mr. Speaker.

What the change has really done there, Mr. Speaker, is the changes have made our lives more cumbersome for our people, that we have created more of a bureaucracy in the Housing Corporation with difficult to interpret guidelines and procedures. People are really frustrated, Mr. Speaker, and people are really falling behind, and it's really having an impact on their lives, and the lives of their family and the lives of their communities because they are the backbone of our North and I believe we should stand behind them 100 percent, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi cho.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, like my colleague from Inuvik Twin Lakes, would like to use my Member's statement today to speak about my expectations of the new Government of the Northwest Territories.

The people in our communities and us, on this side of the House, are waiting to see which portfolios will go to which Ministers. I'm watching closely, Mr. Speaker, on what happens over the next few days, because the questions, the concerns and the issues are accumulating and the session, for the public's knowledge, doesn't start again…The next sitting of this House doesn't start again until November 27th. That will be our first opportunity to question the new government on our constituents' issues.

Mr. Speaker, as the House will sit again on November 27th, that's five and a half weeks from now and I and the residents here in the Northwest Territories fully expect that Cabinet will be up to speed on issues in the various departments. We have a great deal of experience on that side of the House and I would expect that the quality of our discussions during the next sitting will be good. I expect the Cabinet will follow through on all the promises each of them made on Wednesday during the Territorial Leadership Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I have a copy of all the speeches that the Cabinet Ministers and the Premier made on Wednesday and I will be here each and every day holding each one of them accountable for what they said and for the actions that they take. I don't want to see another government that reacts by bouncing from issue to issue. I want to see a government that takes a proactive approach to governing our territory. That is a government that has a vision; that is a government that has a goal and a strategy for the future of our people. I don't want to see a government making decisions without consulting the Regular Members of this House. I don't want to see a government that will look after their friends first and people second. People should be their number one priority, Mr. Speaker.

Hear! Hear!

The Members of this House and the people in our communities will be watching closely to see how this all unfolds. The government has to listen to us, Mr. Speaker. We are the voice of the people here in the Northwest Territories.

The last government had some difficulty listening to the Members, the Regular Members of this House, Mr. Speaker. I want this government to pay attention to what the Regular Members of this House have to say, because we do listen to the people that live in our communities and we bring their concerns forward.

I know one thing is for certain: We won't go anywhere unless we work together. We need cooperation from the government; we need cooperation on the Regular Members' side to achieve some good things for the people here in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker, and I certainly am looking forward to working with the new government to achieve some good results for every one of our citizens here in the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, while I was on my campaign trail in regards to my people in Nunavut, people in such as Paulatuk having to deal with black mould, elders dealing with not being able to open doors in their units in the winter months and that's a safety issue for myself. I'd like to see if we could make a change with making sure our elders are given two cheques a month instead of the one. Because of their shortfall every month, there's a week with having nothing in their fridge, in their cupboards.

Also, for my youth, making sure, us being the furthest in the territory to come down to Yellowknife and stuff, making sure our youth are able to travel and giving them the opportunities as well as the children from the south.

Another big thing was education. In our communities in Nunakput, I find there's a lot of social passing going on. That's got to stop. We've got to make sure we're giving the teachers the help they need to make sure that our children are getting a proper education instead of having to go through another year of Grade 12 when they're done.

Also with my access road 177 for Tuktoyaktuk.

---Applause

Yay!

That's a big safety concern for my community.

Our community graveyard is full. My sewage lagoon is full and we have trouble decanting every year. My water source, we're later and later every year of getting water. My dumpsite is almost at capacity; and gravel for my roads in the community, which is level with the permafrost; and the shoreline erosion that we deal with every year. Mr. Speaker, thank you for your time.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize some of the government interns that are here with us today. These are graduates from universities and colleges; the best and the brightest that are coming to take over the rest of us. I'd like to start with Michaela Johnson, who happens to be my daughter and pride and joy; Debra Price, Blair Anderson, Margaret Bell, Crystal Coleman and Samantha Paulette. Welcome to the Legislature.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Miltenberger has stolen my thunder; I was going to recognize the interns, as well. I would like to welcome you -- if we want to carry on from yesterday -- from this side of the House; you've been recognized from the other side. I would like to specifically recognize my son who is an intern with Aboriginal Affairs. Welcome, Perry.

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Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize an elder from the Sahtu: Andrew John Kenny.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize a former constituent, Samantha Paulette. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement today I talked about the concern that many NGOs have, which is about funding. Mr. Speaker, I also highlighted one of the NGOs here in Yellowknife, the Alison McAteer House, that probably could best be described as probably on life support right now when it comes to funding. Mr. Speaker, during the election of the Premier process, I mentioned I would push them hard on proper funding. So my question to the Premier here will be today, it is will he investigate this problem with NGO funding right away and will he take steps to ensure that the YWCA in Yellowknife, the Alison McAteer House, gets proper funding to make sure that they can keep those doors open for a women's shelter? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Return To Question 1-16(1): Resources For Non-Government Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of NGOs has been raised in a number of governments and as a number of Members have raised during this process and as we begin our work as the government of the 16th Legislative Assembly, we will, indeed, take into consideration the manner and the way we work with NGOs. Ultimately -- and this is the beauty of our consensus system -- we'll need to work together to come up with the priorities we need to set as a government as we proceed forward. So NGOs will be a part of the mix in that effort to move forward. Thank you.

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

Supplementary To Question 1-16(1): Resources For Non-Government Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Premier's answer about NGOs will be part of the mix, but the fact is this organization is on life support right now. Their funding is dwindling; they're threatened with the fact, the reality, Mr. Speaker, that the doors will be shut pretty quick. So would the Premier start this session off, this Assembly off, by answering the question directly, which is will he investigate the funding at the Alison McAteer House to make sure that they can keep their doors open for women? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 1-16(1): Resources For Non-Government Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fact is, the GNWT, as we have contracts and contribution agreements with every organization out there, there's annual funding put in place. Nobody is stopping that flow of funding to happen with the agreements that we do have in place, so we're going to continue to meet that commitment that is put in place. But as we establish, as I go through this work of establishing the portfolios with the different Ministers, those tasks will be looked at and working with Members of this House to come up with the appropriate balance.

The problem is, I've found in the past, when governments react to one specific situation without taking the whole picture into consideration, that's where we run into problems and that's why I'm committing to work with Members of this Assembly to come up with a package, an appropriate way to deal with NGOs across the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

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

Supplementary To Question 1-16(1): Resources For Non-Government Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, we seem to avoid the…The question keeps getting asked and the answer keeps getting avoided. The fact is, the YWCA's Alison McAteer House -- I'll say it clearly -- has a real possibility of being shut down and it's not because the funding agreement is going to be pulled, the fact is the funding agreement is not set up in such a way to fund them properly. So what is this government going to do as of January to pick up the services offered by this closed women's shelter if something is doesn't immediately? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 1-16(1): Resources For Non-Government Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is making it sound like we're going to have to deal with a closure. We're going to work to ensure that the services are there for individuals who are in need across the Northwest Territories. We have an arrangement with a number of organizations. This one, as the Member has raised, is something we will continue to work with and look at. As we have portfolios assigned, Ministers will be looking at the issues that come to their table, and, believe me, they're already there. As one Member said, it's been a while and it will be a number of weeks before our next sitting. The issues continue to grow out there and they will be dealt with and we will try to do our best as we proceed forward. Thank you.

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

Supplementary To Question 1-16(1): Resources For Non-Government Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I'll have to compliment the Premier. He did give us a little more there, which was work so that services are there. That's a little smidge of a step of a real answer, Mr. Speaker. So will the Premier ensure that under all possibilities, under any reasonable way, we will make sure that this facility does not have to shut their doors for women? Will he guarantee that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 1-16(1): Resources For Non-Government Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we talk about accountability and transparency for the government, we're going to set high standards. But those high standards also have to be met with organizations that receive funding. When they know budgets are planned at the beginning of the year, they're going to have to work within that environment as well as we have to work within ours. I commit, as Premier of the Northwest Territories of the 16th Assembly, as your Premier, I will work with you to make sure we come up with the best possible solution to ensure that those most in need in the Northwest Territories are taken care of. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the previous government made a spending decision, a decision to spend an additional $2 million a year on the Deh Cho Bridge project; a decision that wasn't ratified by this House, the Regular Members on this side of the House. I wasn't going to ask questions, but today I'm going to ask the Premier what is the status of the Deh Cho Bridge project, Mr. Speaker? A lot of people would like to know. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A lot.