Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize Mr. Denny Rodgers, a board member with the Business Development Investment Corporation. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up with the Minister of Health and Social Services on my Member’s statement that I raised about the closure of the Edmonton City Centre Airport, or the imminent closure. There was a recent city election in Edmonton and, unfortunately, the city supports the closure of the airport, but with that, Mr. Speaker, I know that when they get re-elected that there are a bunch of procedures that have to happen.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, does she have a plan to engage the new mayor and councillors and indicate how much of a stakeholder we are and how important the Edmonton City Centre Airport is for the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I mentioned that this was the responsibility of the airport, what I meant was the decision to close the airport was within the jurisdiction of the municipality of Edmonton.
Mr. Speaker, it should be made clear, and I’ve said on many occasions, that this is a very important issue for us and we have a responsibility to make sure that our public and our patients that need to use the Alberta facilities and Edmonton facilities are taken care of.
In that regard, I have been communicating with the Minister of Health in Alberta who, along with his Premier, have set up a quality council who are going to review the medical travel component. Mayor Mandel has committed that the runway will not close until there is a clear and workable plan. Our officials, under my direction, are in direct contact with the head of the quality council, who is coming up with a plan.
I should also mention that our Premier has met with the mayor in person weeks before the Member for Yellowknife Centre also did, and that I am working with the Alberta government and Alberta health services to make sure that our interests are protected. We have a commitment from the quality council that they will be consulting with us directly throughout the process and we are working with them. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the Minister has reiterated some of the plans and some of the engagements that she had with respect to the closing of this airport.
Has the Minister engaged the new mayor of Edmonton and the new council, and what is the strategy in order to let them know that we are just as an important part of the planning of the imminent or planned closure of the Edmonton City Centre Airport? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, yes, indeed. We have invited the mayor to come up this summer. The mayor had committed to come up, but given that they were going through the election this September wasn’t going to be a good time. I was hoping that that could happen when the committee members were here.
Regardless, Edmonton as a municipality has made a decision to close that airport. It has been going on for many years. It started in a phased approach. The plebiscite was held 15 years ago. The recent election confirmed again the public position on that. My job as the Minister of Health and Social Services and this government is to make sure that our interests are protected and heard. That is what I am doing. We are directly involved with the Minister of Health office in the Alberta Health office who is responsible for medical travel. We are part of that discussion. We are very much involved.
Mr. Speaker, I think one of the things that constituents hear, and also Northerners hear, is that as the days go on, the point of where the medevacs end up are getting further and further away. Now in the news they are talking about Calgary. I would just like to know how is our government getting involved to ensure that... I was going to say their wise and infinite...
How are they getting information from us on a daily basis? That is not something at least my constituents want to see going further and further away. In fact, I think for my constituents, the better alternative is to stay at the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital. How is the Minister continually engaging with the city and with the Alberta government in that regard, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, what our people need to know and I need them to know and the Members here should know is that when there is a medical emergency in any part of our Territory, they are connected with our medical providers at the regional level and a territorial level. There are doctors and nurses and care providers who are looking at the patient’s situation and deciding on the medical course of action. They will be sent to the Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife if necessary or if it is something that needs to go to southern jurisdictions right away, that will be done. Then our medical professionals get on their network of contacts to see where the closest facility is for that patient to receive care. In most situations, those are in Edmonton. It could be Grande Prairie if they have services that the patient requires. Sometimes it is further away. They will be sent to the closest facility where the necessary medical services will be provided. That would not change. We will continue to work with Alberta Health to make sure that plan is in place before the airport closes. That is the work plan right now. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is exactly what I am looking for. I am looking for a strategy by our Minister of Health and Social Services as well as our government. What is the strategy to take care of the medical needs and the emergency medical needs of our Northerners, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe there was a question. I agree with the Member that this is very important to us and we are fully engaged. We are engaged at all appropriate and necessary levels, at the Minister’s level and at the official level. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Finance from whom I received the written reply to my written question of May 19th regarding the cost to this government of supporting the Mackenzie Gas Project.
In my question, I asked the cost by year during the 16th Assembly for costs such as (b) travel and receptions by Ministers, MLAs and other officials, (c) staff positions and contractor services, and (d) communications, planning promotional events, publicity and advertising.
The tabled response I received, however, is inadequate and almost evasive. It does not supply the costs specifically requested by category in b, c or d. The amounts are lumped into mass totals by year and not detailed by the activities requested. Can the Minister tell me whether he will provide these amounts under the specific categories requested in my written question? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The information we provided gives a significant overview. The Member has requested more detail. I will commit to check with the officials to see whether we can pull that type of information together with any kind of alacrity. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate that response from the Minister. I had very good reasons, of course, for asking this detail. For example, the tabled response gives a sole identifiable cost of a particular trip to Calgary as $1,455. However, I have learned that this one trip listed as $1,455 actually cost several times this for travel plus additional costs for hospitality, media and consultant services. So $21,000, in fact, is a far cry from the $1,455 listed. I am not saying that it is not in the total response from the Minister, but it is very difficult to determine. Again, will the Minister assure that the information is in there so I can sort those details out? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what the Member’s other source of information is, but in my previous answer I made a commitment that I will check with officials and I will honour that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the AIP today. My questions are for the Premier.
What I am mostly looking for here is clarity. I think there is a lot of confusion about content of the AIP. I think it is up to us and Cabinet in particular to make sure that people really understand the content of the AIP.
I have read it. I have pulled it down from the CBC website and I have read it. I am curious what the Premier is planning to do other than what the Premier started with today. There was some information today, which is great. But what next steps is the Premier going to be taking to ensure clarity, ensure that people understand the content, understand what this AIP means to us in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process that we would have engaged in has a normal procedure that goes through with an agreement-in-principle. We would be preparing a public paper for their consumption in the areas of the AIP, what it means if there was a decision to proceed. Seeing that, as the Member pointed out, it is out there for public consumption and there are many comments being made now that some are made more in just not understanding the full document or out of context, and some positioning being taken out there by others, that we feel we will have to come up with a plain read document or somehow get out to the households in the NWT how we put the final touches on it. But we need to look at what type of information do we get out there and the timing of it, because we would also like to get the response back from the aboriginal leadership across the Territories and be in a better position to be able to respond from just the GNWT’s side.
We are looking at doing whether it is a household package or attaching something to the website. We will be coming to Members with that type of information before we do anything, though. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Premier for that. I look forward to seeing the plain language document or whatever we are going to call it when it comes out.
Like I said, I have read the AIP. It is not the easiest read out there. There is a lot of information in there. There are a lot of things that need to be thought about, considered and talked about.
My question to the Premier is: What kind of timeline are we looking at? You mentioned that there are some things that need to be done before this can come out, but people are talking about it today. If you go out into the streets, people will ask you and they’re asking me what does it mean, what is the content? Although it’s out in the CBC, we aren’t really in a position to talk too much about the detail. So when is this going to come out? When is this plain language document going to come out and be available to the people of the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We will have to sit down and look at what a plain language document would look like, the timing of getting it out, the method, going to Members for your input, as well, to see if we are on the right track and ensuring we are protecting the process we are in right now and informing the public as to the work that has been done.
As the Member pointed out, we started today to set the record straight, so to speak, on some of the information that’s gone out there. We are looking to do a number of other statements. So that is one of the ways we’ll do that along with this public document that we’re looking at creating. Thank you.
Once again, thank you for the statement from earlier today and I look forward to any future statements that are made by Cabinet to help encourage the understanding.
I’m curious, the document is out and as a Regular Member on this side of the House, I’m not scared of the AIP. I think it’s an important document. It’s nine years’ worth of negotiations put into this thing. We’ve come to a point where we have an agreement-in-principle which basically just, if signed, allows us to take the next step and begin the negotiations. So I’m not scared of the document. Let’s talk about it. It has been posted. Is there any reason why we can’t table that document here in the House? I’m curious about process now that it’s out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In respecting the process we have with the partners with this, the aboriginal governments as well as the Government of Canada, decisions are yet to be made on this and I don’t recall in the previous governments or whether it be with ourselves or other partners in this where a debate would happen on an agreement-in-principle.
We have almost 15 different tables of negotiations going on across the Northwest Territories about self-government and land claims and resources and those matters. As we go through those and a decision is made to sign an agreement to get to the final stage of negotiations, we don’t put those documents out here for debate. What we do, much like previous governments have done with the Tlicho Act itself in establishing that self-government, that bill would come to the House. Those things would come to the House for debate at that level.
But seeing that it is out there and there’s much discussion and debate happening in the absence of the context of this agreement, one of the things we want to do is work with the partners in here to see if they’re prepared to join us in doing something of this nature to get a plain language document out to households in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just for the record, I’m not interested in renegotiating the AIP. I know that we’ve had professionals who have taken our message to the federal government and they’ve negotiated this deal and they’ve got to the point where the AIP is done. It’s done. There’s no more negotiation on it. It’s in front of us. We either accept it or we don’t accept it. So I’m not interested in renegotiating it.
I’m just interested in standing behind it. It’s public. It’s already gone. The press has it. It’s on their website. I’m okay with standing behind this document saying, this is what we have, this is the deal that’s been negotiated, this is what we have to make a decision on today and put it out in front of the people and let them talk about it and let us help them understand what it means. So that’s the only reason I would suggest that we would benefit from tabling it, because it’s out there. We might as well stand behind it and start helping people understand it. So I’m not sure if the Premier said he would table it or he won’t table it. So just to that question, is there any chance we might table it just so we can really stand behind that document?
The process we have; one, Cabinet has yet to make a decision on this document. I think at that point, then it becomes something that we could either stand behind and support going forward or it becomes a moot discussion that there is no moving forward. But I agree with what the Member stated about the fact that we have come to a place, chief negotiators have sent a letter saying they’ve reached their mandate, this is it, time for a decision to be made Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member’s statement I spoke of the CMHC declining funds impact on the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. I have questions for the Minister of the Housing Corporation. Has the Minister given direction to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation staff to develop a plan to address the CMHC declining fund? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have started a preliminary plan on dealing with some of the declining federal funding from CMHC. The Member is absolutely correct. We are starting to look at how we can work with the different units we have putting multiplexes and just looking at the overall picture. So there is a preliminary plan that we are putting in place and we will continue to develop that as we go along. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister provide this House with a framework of this plan that’s been developed by the staff at the NWT Housing Corporation on the CMHC declining fund? Thank you.
I’d be willing to provide Members with a framework for a plan. Obviously, we’d have to be looking at things like managing our portfolio a lot better, extending the life of the units we have on the ground.
Another part of the plan would be arrears collection. We have approximately $23 million in arrears across the Northwest Territories and that would go a long way in helping to alleviate some of the loss of revenue we have from CMHC.
We are working with our colleagues in Nunavut and the Yukon to approach the federal government, CMHC, and let them know the effect the funding will have on the housing in the Northwest Territories, as well as working with my federal colleagues, the other Ministers of Housing, getting their support in trying to see if we can get that funding to continue. So we are working on starting to get the plans in place to deal with some of the funding. I’d be willing to provide Members with a bit of a framework, if that is what the Member is looking for.
Can the Minister outline other aspects of the plan that the NWT Housing Corporation will be employing as it pertains to creating homeownership out of public housing tenants? Thank you.
Ideally we’d like to see a lot of our public housing owners become homeowners. If it means a particular unit they are in, we are always willing to look at those options. With all the homeownerships we have put in the Northwest Territories over the number of years, we are getting to the point now where the Housing Corporation is actually starting to repair a lot of those units that we gave to the people in the first place. So that is something that we are going to have a look at. There may come a day where we may have to determine are we just a provider of social housing and maybe ease away from the homeownership part of it.
It’s hard for us to put up new public housing now because of declining funding, so what we are doing is putting up replacement public housing. So we are looking at a lot of different options that we can use as far as reducing our public housing stock and bringing new units on board to deal with the funding. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope the Housing Corporation doesn’t move away from homeownership. I think that’s the way to develop and build small markets in the communities.
Mr. Speaker, the CMHC fund has been declining for over 10 years now. What has the Minister and the corporation done to address the decline to date? Thank you.
The initiatives that I pointed out before were designed to deal with some of the declining funding to date; more specifically, the replacement rather than adding to the public housing stock. The Member is correct; we’ve cumulatively lost $5.8 million in CMHC funding in the past 10 years. This year alone is $676,000. We have a huge challenge facing us and we’re doing, as a corporation, what we can to try to deal with some of the challenges and that one of the messages that I’ve been, I wouldn’t say preaching, but across the Northwest Territories in all the meetings I’ve gone to with the public, is the importance of dealing with public housing arrears. Again, that $23 million will go a long way in helping us deal with some of the deficit and it will go a long way to being able to invest some of that $23 million back into the public housing stock. This is one where I think all of the NWT Housing Corporation tenants and clients are going to have to step up to the plate and realize that we are facing a huge challenge and that we’re going to have to make some hard decisions very soon.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like a number of my colleagues here, I’ll continue with the municipal airport closure issue. Assuming that does become the eventuality, this is going to cause significant concern.
When I met with the mayor of Edmonton, Mayor Stephen Mandel, he mentioned that Senator Patterson, the senator for Nunavut, had written a letter expressing his concern about this particular issue. However, he did sort of only sprinkle light interest that the territorial government has played a significant role in this, other than the fact that he’s basically mentioned that he knows of their interest. He doesn’t mention anything about how they’ve taken a proactive role.
The primary point I’m getting at is that the mayor had suggested that quite conceivably the Edmonton International Airport may be the new venue for a triage where protocols will be developed. Maybe Star Ambulance will be based out of there in such a way that it will be responding to those emergency cases. Not at one time did he mention that the territorial government Minister of Health was involved in the development of that plan to make sure our territorial residents are protected and safe in those moments of need.
Where is the government on that particular issue to ensure that we’re on the ground level of that development and that particular issue? I’d like to hear her perspective.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t think I can comment or respond to what the mayor said in his conversation with the honourable Member.
What I need to say is that while the decision to close the municipal airport is within the jurisdiction of the mayor and the city, the responsibility of looking after the medical travel issues is within Alberta Health Services and the Minister of Health of Alberta.
I am engaged in discussing with the Minister of Health in Alberta. My officials are engaged in directly communicating with her counterparts in Alberta. There is a quality council set up to work out a plan for medical travel. In fact, I believe I’m on record to say in the May session that one of the things that Alberta Health is looking at is a triage at the Edmonton airport. With all due respect to Mayor Mandel, I don’t believe he’s going to do the planning for medevac. It will be Alberta Health Services. We are involved with Alberta Health Services.
We’ve come to one of the main issues that seem to be the problem. It’s no different than this draft AIP problem and certainly with the health one, which is the fact of who is communicating our message to the government. It’s no different than when I had asked for plain language on the other issue. We need plain language on this particular issue to make sure that people know what’s happening.
What is the Minister doing to communicate to the public exactly the territorial government’s plan? What is the message by this government to ensure that the health care of all Northerners will be enshrined in any change or process that this will be protected? I tell you, the only person who is speaking out there is literally the public talking to themselves and the media sort of talking. But they need leadership and guidance from this government. Where is that communication plan?
