Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment today.
Several times over the last year Members have indicated to the Minister that Income Security changes are required. The one area in particular I’d like to reference is the method of calculation of income for seniors who are living on their own but who may be attended in their own home by a family member because they are unable, physically, to live on their own.
The current policy penalizes the senior’s Income Security payment because the family member’s income is also included in the household income, and the calculation of payments is based on household income. So my question to the Minister is: when can we expect this policy change in the income calculation for seniors living with a family member who is looking after them?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, that area has been brought to our attention as a department, and we are looking at options on how to deal with those seniors in their own home or in a public unit.
Just for the fuel subsidy, it will be in their own home. We are looking at where individuals working at the mine sites are living with their grandmas or their parents. It is based on household income.
At the same time, some individuals, community members, unfortunately do take advantage of that, where they are living with their grandmas or moms or grandparents. They’re not paying anything. This way, we’re trying to find out where we can work with the senior. Somehow individuals that are not paying have to start paying to some degree. So we are looking at the options.
My department is working diligently in this area, because winter is going to be here soon. We are working as fast as we can on how we can deal with this particular issue, because there are requests that are coming on this particular issue. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Mr. Speaker, I understand that there are difficulties in this and that there are people who will take advantage of a situation, but when a senior can stay in their own home instead of having to go into a public health institution, an elder care facility or a long term care facility, it’s a significant saving to the GNWT. I didn’t hear the Minister tell me when this is going to happen. I understand they are working diligently, but I feel that this is a matter that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. I would like to again ask the Minister when we can expect this policy change.
Like I said, we are working on this, especially this month, with the following few more months to go. Then, whatever we come up with, we need to talk to the Regular Members as well, because whenever there are changes, we need to notify the Members on the policy changes. As long as it meets the needs of the communities, the seniors especially…. We need to work with the seniors — how we can help them, especially with a recent increase of $10,000 for the Seniors Fuel Subsidy. We want them to qualify for that subsidy program, but at the same time, there is a threshold with their household income. So we clearly highlighted that. Like I said, my staff is working on this, and as soon as we come up with a package, we will certainly provide that to Members. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister. I do have to take a bit of an exception, I guess, to waiting for Regular Members. I appreciate that you want to run the policy by Regular Members, but I think this is a situation where seniors are being penalized because they wish to stay in their own homes. They are either disabled, or they are elderly and they need someone to care for them. I feel really strongly that this is a situation that shouldn’t be left for six, eight, ten or 12 months until it comes back to Regular Members and has been vetted by us.
I’d like to ask the Minister if there is any possibility that the department would consider putting a policy in place for a short period of time, basically on a trial basis over this winter.
Mr. Speaker, this is an important topic for us as well. It has been brought to our attention, like I said earlier. For a short period we would like to share with Members some possible solutions to these areas. I am willing to work with the Member or Members on this particular issue. We have to do this for the benefit of the communities as well. I will continue to work on this and expedite the process where we subsidize seniors so they won’t get impacted. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can’t speak for all Members, but I am going to guess that I don’t believe there is a Member on this side of the House who would object to a change in this policy that is going to assist seniors who cannot live on their own. So I would ask whether or not the Minister could commit to bringing something forward to Members, to committee, before we break this session.
I will commit to the Member that I’ll bring something back to the Member, also dealing with the household income. Whatever changes we make does come with the funding, so we need to take that into consideration as well. We need to find out how much it will cost us to change our policy overall for the Northwest Territories. So we need to do that math; factor that in. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services in regard to my statement and the motion I passed back in the 14th Assembly.
Mr. Speaker, the “whereases” refer correctly to the services that are provided in our communities — or in this case, the lack of services. If anything, the service has declined to a point where there are no services in the community of Tsiigehtchic and no programs such as mental health positions in Fort McPherson and also in regard to the medevac emergency service to get people out of our communities to the regional hospital or elsewhere. I would like to ask the Minister exactly what the department is doing to reinstate programs and services that were in place in our community and why it is taking so long.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the question from the Member. As the Member is aware, I have been to Tsiigehtchic twice since I became a Minister, and I have had meetings with the community. The Member has talked to me about this issue repeatedly. I do appreciate what the Member is asking me to do, and I have been working on this issue.
Mr. Speaker, as you know, right now all of the authorities are directed to operate in such a way that they balance their budgets. For authorities like Beaufort-Delta and Stanton, where they have been experiencing deficits, they are having to look at all the programs they have to see how they can still balance their budgets and deliver the programs. I have directed the department to see how we can extend, for example, the service time for nurses who had been practising in Tsiigehtchic — how we could extend their time or increase their services as well as mental health work. It is taking a little longer, because authorities cannot come up with the money on their own. I have to come up with the money within the system, and in order to do that, I need to look deeper.
So I want to assure the Member that I agree with the need to enhance services in the communities, and we have to look at it in an innovative way. I am fully committed to looking at what we can do to enhance services in small communities.
Mr. Speaker, it’s fundamental that we do provide programs and services in communities. Simply having a mental health worker, an alcohol/drug worker or even a community nurse.... At least it’s something. But when you do not have any of those aspects in your communities, the services and the people’s well-being are undermined.
So I would like to ask the Minister: exactly why is it that the Department of Health and Social Services in the Inuvik region has a policy as a budget reduction exercise to not fill vacancies?
Mr. Speaker, the Health and Social Services department, as well as all the other departments, is right now having to operate at a certain growth level that’s a lot less than what they are used to. Health and Social Services over the years had been growing at about 10 per cent. We are trying to live within a 3 per cent growth rate.
Having said that, I do agree with the Member about the need to evaluate and enhance the services at the community level. We cannot rely on the authorities to do that, because they have strict budget measures. I have to review the entire program that we have in Health and Social Services, whether it is mental health or nursing or community wellness programs. We have to completely change the way we are delivering our programs. We are undertaking that exercise, and I am committing to the Member to bring back a proposal that could work to enhance the program. But we have to use the money from within.
Mr. Speaker, again it sounds like a “dream on” answer, where basically nothing is going to happen. So I would like to ask the Minister this: why is it that the community of Fort McPherson, some 900 people, does not have a mental health position in which they receive services two days a month from Inuvik for 900 people?
Mr. Speaker, I was in the community of Fort McPherson with the Member in January. It was one of my first tours that I had as a Minister. I visited all of the Health and Social Services staff there. We have a whole floor of social workers, health protection workers, community wellness workers, the healing society; we have a lot of people there that are assigned to help the people of the community. What we are trying to do is see how we can service the community better by putting all those resources together and enhancing services in Fort McPherson. Mr. Speaker, I’ll just leave it at that.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know how to put this, but services in the Mackenzie Delta communities have declined to the point where it’s actually affecting people’s health. People have been medevacked, people have passed on because of not having a secure health system in the Inuvik region. I think it’s imperative that we talk to those families and individuals that have been affected by the lack of services and the implication that has had on the Inuvik region. They run a $5 million deficit, yet no programs and services are being delivered in the communities.
So again I’d like to ask how this government can operate in a deficit mode and not see any improvement in services. If anything, there are no services.
Mr. Speaker, there are services in our communities. I understand that the Member wants to have that service improved. We are working on a new initiative to support after care addiction worker programming. There are lots of proposals from the community and aboriginal governments in the Beaufort-Delta that we’re considering. I’m not saying wait forever. I have correspondence going to the Member within the next day or two that will state more clearly what it is that we’re doing for the Beaufort-Delta.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Mr. Speaker, I want to continue on from my statement earlier today when I was talking about how easy it is to come into this Assembly and ask questions of the government. I do think it is easier to ask questions than answer questions. I know I am critical; I know I question the government. But I also try, in questioning the government, to provide some suggestions and recommendations and to try to make things work here. You can’t just be critical. You have to try to work together.
One of the issues that’s really eating at me lately is this Mackenzie Gas Project. I want to get a better understanding of why the Government of the Northwest Territories does not have an equity position in this proposed project. I could ask the Minister of Finance, perhaps, for an answer to that question.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, the simple answer that I know of is that we just don’t have that kind of money, nor are we in a position to borrow that kind of money when you look at all the other competing interests we have, the reduction exercises we’re going through, the revenue option exercises we’re going through. That would be the main issue.
I do want to say that I’ve heard the Member’s concerns. Clearly, we’re committed to moving on the idea and concept of a heritage fund. We intend to come forward with information that would allow us to have that debate and discussion and hopefully get that structured and set up as a legal instrument that is going to be there for the future.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank the Minister. I know that he does have a genuine interest, like a number of my colleagues in this House, in finally seeing a heritage trust fund set up in the Northwest Territories. I know that he will work to try to get that done.
Again, I just want to get a better understanding of why an equity position in the pipeline isn’t attached to the negotiations that are currently ongoing with the federal government for resource revenue sharing and devolution. Why isn’t that part of it? Why isn’t the heritage trust fund a part of those negotiations today?
Initially we’re looking at the kind of arrangement that could be made on resource royalty sharing. There’s the infrastructure option that was put forward by the Premier on behalf of the Premier and Cabinet. The issue of an equity position was not really strongly considered, mainly because there were other things at play, and our own fiscal situation doesn’t give us a lot of free capital to get things done.
Mr. Speaker, that gets me to my next question. This billion dollar deal that’s on the table with the federal government in relation to the negotiations for resource revenue sharing and devolution was formulated by Cabinet. Now, I’m saying today, and I’ve said it before in this House, that there are other competing priorities, such as an equity position in the pipeline, such as the heritage trust fund. Members in this House just haven’t had the ability, like Cabinet, to put those types of things on the table or to discuss what the most important thing is for us going forward to the federal government.
Again, I just want to ask the Minister of Finance when we can sit down with Cabinet and have this discussion and finally figure out what exactly it is we’re after with the federal government.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.
The Member is speaking about the devolution and resource revenue sharing file, and that’s being handled through the Department of Executive and myself, working with Cabinet. I’ve gone forward and presented a proposal that has been put on the table. We know we’re working from a framework that was already in the system for quite a number of years. I’ve also spoken to the Member and informed him that there are a number of initiatives, if we get a proposal put forward, that we can build on as Members of the Legislative Assembly. That’s the process we’re involved with.
As for a commitment from Cabinet, again, as Premier of the Northwest Territories I’ll work with Members of the Legislative Assembly and bring the appropriate Ministers to the table when it’s needed.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Mr. Speaker, I guess a final question for the Premier. It’s nice that we can have this back and forth in public. Like I said, there are other things that I believe, as a Member of this House, should be on the table with the federal government. They are not today. How does the Premier address those concerns that individual Members might have, and how do we get those concerns on the table with the federal government?
Mr. Speaker, there are a number of ways of doing that. Internally, the Member is quite familiar with the process of business plans and how we get initiatives on the table and move forward. There are many competing interests, and we don’t have the resources to deal with all of them.
On the federal side, depending on the initiative, if it’s an initiative with ITI or ENR on different funds or policies that the federal government may be working on, we work with committees; for example, the devolution and resource revenue file. Members are aware that we already had a starting point when this government took over that file. We’re working with the federal government on that. The recent proposal has been put forward in trying to come up with a different approach. As I said to Members, we would also look at a number of these other initiatives. But I believe those decisions can be made in the North; we can do that here. We don’t necessarily need the federal government to make those decisions for us.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Mr. Speaker, my question today is indeed for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I want to follow up on my statement today on the opportunity we have for replacing the water delivery system in Dettah, saving on dollars and greenhouse gas emissions. Is the Minister prepared to pursue this opportunity to realize the savings on all fronts?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, the Member makes a good case for looking at these options. I would say to the Member that, yes, I am willing to pursue this option and see what’s out there that we can do to try to bring this forward.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you very much to the Minister for that commitment. I would suggest probably doing some due diligence and making sure that the city of Yellowknife’s water tests are true for Dettah. Dettah is situated even further out from Yellowknife Bay, so the opportunity for even cleaner water seems great. It just needs to be confirmed, and that the Minister would also meet with the parties involved here, certainly the leaders of Dettah and probably the Minister responsible for housing. Would this Minister commit to those meetings?
As part of my new role as the Minister for MACA I have been making commitments to meet with as many parties as possible to get myself up to speed and learn more about the communities and their concerns. I will again make another commitment to the Member that I would be more than willing to meet with all the parties involved. To me, it’s just part of the whole process of learning a new department.
I think I’m just about done for the day here. I appreciate that time very much and, of course, the brief follow-up. When would the Minister be able to arrange for these meetings?
Well, I will be here as much as possible. I will try and get a meeting lined up at the earliest convenience, because it really is just a short trip out to Dettah — 30 minutes, I think, one way. I’ll try. I’ll do what I can to make sure these meetings happen immediately. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister responsible for Seniors. In terms of the question to the former Minister responsible for Seniors in July 2007, what I was asking for is a one stop shop for seniors where they would have a place to go to be helped by the government in terms of all the services and programs they are eligible for.
I want to ask the Minister again: in terms of her role, in terms of her working with the NWT Seniors Society and seniors at large and the vision for seniors, could she see her way in terms of helping find a coordinated approach? The need is for seniors at the community level to go to one place where they can have someone there dedicated for the day to look at bills, invoices, provide services, applications instead of going to different locations. Could the Minister look at bringing forward a plan? Thank you.
