Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, October 27, 2008, I will move the following motion:
Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that Tabled Document 7-16(3,) Ministerial Benefits Policy, be referred to Committee of the Whole for consideration.
Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion today.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS Section 23.(1) of the Human Rights Act provides that the Commissioner, on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly, shall appoint a Director of Human Rights to carry out the responsibilities set out in the Act;
AND WHEREAS the Board of Management is tasked with recommending an individual to the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Assembly is prepared to make a recommendation to the Commissioner;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Ms. Thérèse Boullard of Yellowknife be reappointed as Director of Human Rights during good behaviour for a term of four years by the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories as recommended by the Legislative Assembly.
AND FURTHER that the Speaker be authorized to communicate the effective date of appointment to the Commissioner.
Motion carried.
The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS Section 48(1) of the Human Rights Act provides for the establishment of an adjudication panel composed of at least three persons appointed by the Commissioner on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly;
AND WHEREAS the Board of Management has considered a number of qualified individuals for appointment and reappointment as adjudication panel members and the designation of an existing member as Chairperson;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that the following persons be recommended to the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories for appointment as members of the Human Rights Adjudication Panel during good behaviour for a term of four years:
Mr. James Posynick of Creston, BC; and
Ms. Karen Snowshoe of Inuvik, NT;
AND FURTHER, that pursuant to Section 50(1) of the Human Rights Act, the Legislative Assembly recommends to the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories the designation of Mr. Adrian Wright of Yellowknife as Chairperson of the Adjudication Panel.
Motion carried.
The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS Section 23.(1) of the Human Rights Act provides that the Commissioner, on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly, may appoint one or more Deputy Directors of Human Rights to carry out the responsibilities set out in the Act;
AND WHEREAS the Board of Management has recommended an individual to the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Assembly is prepared to make a recommendation;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Deborah McLeod be reappointed as the Deputy Director of Human Rights during good behaviour for a term of four years by the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories as recommended by the Legislative Assembly;
AND FURTHER that the Speaker be authorized to communicate the effective date of appointment to the Commissioner.
Motion carried.
The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I MOVE, seconded by the Honourable Member for Thebacha, that notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on October 24, 2008, it shall be adjourned until Wednesday, February 4, 2009.
AND FURTHER, that any time prior to February 4, 2009, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact its business as it has been duly adjourned to that time.
Motion carried.
The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.
The Member is seeking unanimous consent to deal with the motion she gave notice of earlier today. Are there any nays?
Nay.
I hear a nay. Motions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the Ministerial Benefits Policy motion that I gave notice of earlier today.
Unanimous consent granted.
You may proceed with your motion, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS the Ministerial Benefits Policy has been tabled in this House;
AND WHEREAS the Ministerial Benefits Policy requires detailed consideration;
NOW THEREFORE I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that Tabled Document 7-16(3), Ministerial Benefits Policy, be referred to Committee of the Whole for consideration.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The motion is on the floor. Motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called.
Motion carried.
The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7, oral questions.
The Member is seeking unanimous consent to return to item 7, oral questions.
Unanimous consent granted.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had a couple of questions today for the Minister of Transportation to get to the issue of right hand drive vehicles and their registration here in the Northwest Territories.
I do believe that rules have to be applied equally and fairly across the board when dealing with our residents. In a case that was brought to my attention over the summer, there was a vehicle purchased back in May of this year. It was taken to be registered at Motor Vehicles here in Yellowknife and was denied registration. It still hasn’t been registered to this date.
At that time, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Transportation had said that no other right hand drive vehicles would be registered in the Northwest Territories, but it has come to my attention that the department has registered other right hand drive vehicles subsequent to saying no to this individual.
I would like the Minister to perhaps just give me an explanation of what their policy is when it comes to right hand drive vehicles.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The emerging issue of right hand drive vehicles and the number of them that are coming into our area has been a concern for some time now. Most of these vehicles are coming from Japan.
We have been working toward and looking at developing a policy over the past spring. Earlier this summer we decided that we needed to move forward and put in a policy that requires right hand drive vehicles to be inspected on a 12 step safety and equipment inspection. Prior to that, we did not have a policy that applied to right hand drive vehicles, and there was a vehicle that was refused for registration because they did not have a safety inspection. There was another vehicle that was approved because they were safety inspected in another jurisdiction, and that one went forward and was registered.
The vehicle in question was over 15 years old, and according to national standards, that vehicle would be able to be registered in Canada.
It’s insured. It was able to get insurance. There is a bill of sale. It had all the necessary documentation. I’m just wondering, after this happened, what would allow another right hand drive vehicle to be registered in the Northwest Territories when this one couldn’t.
It’s a relatively simple situation, where one vehicle had a safety inspection and the other one didn’t. We approved the registration of the vehicle that had the safety inspection, and we required the other person who came forward to go through a safety inspection. And we did put the policy together to define what that would mean.
What does the Department of Transportation base its safety inspection on? Is it tagged to another jurisdiction? How does that work? How they did arrive at what vehicle is safe and what vehicle isn’t safe on the road?
First of all, we need to comply with the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. We have also looked at what the other jurisdictions are doing. We have talked to the transport officers in our departments and also talked to those in the public sector who work in the area of safety.
We look at all the vehicles that come from other jurisdictions, including right hand vehicles now, that are required to have compliant parts. A lot of these vehicles are coming because of the ability to sell them fairly cheaply in this country. However, they don’t always have adequate safety parts on them, including proper windshields, bumpers, headlights, reflectors, so those things need to be in place. We’ve put together a policy now that incorporates a testing or compliance part to it, and it seems to be working well.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
I thank the Minister for that. I certainly do understand the aspect of public safety on this. It seems, in terms of dealing with right hand drive vehicles, the department seems to be making things up as they go along. On the Internet, on the website, there are no policies or information posted for residents who are entertaining the idea of purchasing a right hand drive vehicle. Will the Minister make sure the information gets out there for the public so that if they are looking at purchasing a right hand drive vehicle, they know what the rules are, they know what the policies are that are at play here in the Northwest Territories, and it’s not just a case by case basis and policy on the fly?
We certainly will commit to doing that, Mr. Speaker. We’ve nailed down the inspection requirements; we have informed all our staff.
My assumption was that it was also in public information so that people know what the process is. We’ll commit to looking at the Internet and other sources of having that information brought forward.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. I’d like to ask the Minister if he could direct his staff to look at the small communities where they are considered to have a high cost construction season. It’s almost over now, and some of these people are locked into the high cost of fuel from just generally high costs in small communities. Would the Minister direct his staff to quickly get materials that will make the houses more efficient — wood stoves, weather strips and whatnot — that are needed for our low income families in the small communities?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re moving forward as fast as we can on providing energy efficient homes in the Northwest Territories.
A couple of days ago we announced our new EnerGuide 80 design requirements that will have energy efficiency at the forefront. We are also embarking on doing evaluations of all our public housing units across the Territories. We have 2,300 units, and we would like to do a rating on all of them and see if we can do some upgrades so that we can save some of the heating and energy costs and provide energy efficient homes.
We are also reviewing the situation of how we can assist the people who own their own homes and have private homes that may need upgrades and energy efficient programs. There are other programs available through this government; however, the Housing Corporation is doing its own review to see how we can help.
I’m referring to home ownership, of course, where the individuals have to pay their own operating costs. I was wondering if the Minister could have the staff concentrate on the home ownership section, especially for homes where individuals are responsible for their own heat, power and so on but are deemed to be low income, within that income window where individuals will get assistance from the Housing Corporation.
We’re trying to focus on all the different aspects of energy efficiency, from public housing to home ownership programs, including people with low incomes. We would certainly be glad to work with the Member if there are any outstanding issues or concerns regarding people in his riding.
We have programs that most of the people can apply to currently and that may assist. But as to a specific program designed for energy efficiency for homeowners, that’s something we haven’t been able to firm up yet. We’re working on it and would be glad to share that once that’s done.
I guess I’m more or less thinking about a specific group of people: homeowners in small communities who have low incomes. I don’t really need a specific program. I suppose the Housing Corporation has consolidated all of their programs into 14 programs, and each of those programs is supposed to be able to encompass the assistance towards all home ownership clients or all housing clients.
I’ll ask the Minister again if they could take a portion of CARE and concentrate first on home ownership clients who are paying their own operating expenses, before getting into the public housing end, where the operating cost is paid by the Housing Corporation or the government.
We certainly can move forward on the recommendation the Member has provided.
We’re actually looking at more than just the CARE program. We’d like to see if we can bring things forward through the strategic initiative exercises that we have ongoing. We are considering that, and those things will be brought forward during the business plan. That will be packaged up, hopefully, with the CARE program and should help the homeowners across the Northwest Territories.
