Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I discussed rent that is currently being collected on lots in the Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh riding. I’d like to ask the Minister of Lands questions. Would the Minister be willing to consider adjusting the rent currently charged on land to a reasonable amount, especially for seniors and other people on fixed income? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Lands has already instituted lease-cost breaks for seniors, in recognition of high lease costs. The department is also examining the lease payment structure in settled and unsettled areas and how leaseholders can gain title through outright purchase or lease. The options in the unsettled area are quite limited. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'm glad the Minister mentioned the Seniors and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief program. My next question is: will the Minister consider applying that senior citizens’ property tax relief for individuals in Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh that are renting their lot right now?
Masi. Minister of Lands.
We are quite limited to what we can do in the unsettled areas, because some of that land might be claimed by the claimant groups, but we would be willing to work with the Member and work with the claimant groups to see if there are any options that might be available to us. But because they are in the process of negotiation, as I said a couple of times already, our options are quite limited.
The Minister mentions the land claim organizations and the work that goes on there for those negotiations. I'd like to ask the Minister if he could contact those organizations, not necessarily trying to establish a side table, that is not my responsibility or authority, but just to have the discussion on this issue. This is a serious issue, and if individuals want to move forward to fix their units and so on, as I indicated in here, we need to resolve this issue. I would like to know if the Minister would be prepared to talk about this issue specifically with land claim organizations.
I take the Member's point about the high cost of leases. I think I have seen some of the numbers, and they are paying a fairly high cost. We can make contact with the claimant groups to see if there is a preliminary discussion we can have. As the Member said himself, we don't want to start a side table to deal with this. I will commit to the Member that I will make some contact with them and see if we can initiate a discussion as to how we can move forward.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for that response. Mr. Speaker, one of the options that may not be apparent to everyone that used to be a fairly standard process was an equity lease process, where the individual ends up owning the land. At this point, since they are renting the land, can the Minister look at something that may be just a little outside of the taxing authority, since they are renting the property and they are not taxing it, if they would look at something like rent-to-own once they have some sort of concurrence from the land claim organizations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am willing to have discussions in how we can move forward with this. We have to take a number of things into consideration. We would have to look at the legislation to see if we are able to even entertain that idea, so as I commented before, I will have a discussion with the appropriate parties and see if there is an opportunity for us to move this forward. I take the Member's point, again, about the rent-to-own, but because it's an unsettled area, it kind of slows the process down a bit. But we will have those discussions. We will see how we can move the issue forward.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I ask my question to the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. As we all know from the information provided, this government is going through some difficulties with resources, and we all know there's a high demand for affordable housing all across our communities in the territory. My question is: in taking advantage of the new federal plan and announced infrastructure dollars available, is our Housing Corporation applying to access federal infrastructure social housing funding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The simple answer is yes, but I will expand a little bit on that. The territorial government is actually working in collaboration with the other territories, the Yukon and Nunavut. We have developed a tri-territorial business case to assist with our federal engagement. A conference call between the three territories is scheduled for tomorrow to confirm that, and to talk about any more decisions that we want to make. I'm also going to be meeting with Minister Duclos in Ottawa next week to bring forward our case and to emphasize on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Could the Minister advise the House as to the application in some detail, how many units are being applied for, and which region they are going to?
At this moment, I won't be able to provide that information. We're just going down to negotiate and to talk about the need that we have within the territories, and to advocate that it not be based on just base funding, that it actually be base plus, so that they take into account the low population that we have and the vast area, and the lack of infrastructural needs. Once we have done that and we find out what the budget is when it’s released, then we will be advocating and specifying where the monies would be going.
My question is: after the program is designed and the efforts of lobbying and the efforts of trying to secure funding for that program, is the Minister willing to share that information through a briefing?
Absolutely. As soon as we confirm any steps within the process, then we will let the committee and the Regular Members know. As soon as the information that I have is confirmed, then you will know as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is: when can we expect the information, and how will it be passed on to the Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To give you a timeline is, at this moment, I can't give you that, because it depends upon the budget with the federal government and the negotiations that we do with them. How I will disburse the information will be probably through the Standing Committee on Social Development, and then committee can decide how to disburse that to the Members.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I would like to follow up on some of the questions that I had previously. Can the Minister please advise this House: Does the department authority track issues that are brought forth to them, and how is this process done?
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it depends on the situation. There are a couple of different ways information might come to an authority. As I said, we do have the patient representatives in the individual authorities, where individuals can go if they've actually had concerns about how services were provided. These patient representatives can actually do some investigation and research to find out what happened, and offer recommendations to the CEO to ensure that those types of situations, if any problems occurred, won't happen again. Those individuals track their own information and do share it with the CEOs, but that information is not always shared publicly. We also have situations where, if an individual is having difficulty navigating the system, we strongly encourage those individuals to get in touch with the system navigator who can help that individual navigate a system.
In both these situations, we are often dealing with individual client information, and that information, due to privacy reasons, would not be shared, but it is tracked through a system navigator at a department level and for the individual patient representatives at an authority level.
I thank the Minister for his answer. I understand the confidentiality of these matters, but is it in any way possible that you can track in specific areas -- say that travel is an issue, appointments are an issue. Are you are able to provide a breakdown to us on the other side so that we are aware of what the issues are besides what we have presently?
As a standard practice, the information pertaining to an individual concerned in a complaint is only shared as needed to help resolve that complaint, and at this time, there is no central collection or reporting of information on these individual cases. I can say that the CEOs from the authorities meet on a regular basis, where they can discuss common or reoccurring issues or themes, so that they can work with the department to resolve the bigger picture issues. I can say that, as we move forward to a single authority, we will be better positioned to have some tracking mechanisms to track similar issues so that we can ensure that we are getting that information, so that we can make system improvements as a whole to ensure that reoccurring situations of concern are not occurring in our system.
I thank the Minister for that answer and I'm looking forward to this new system. Hopefully we will be able to make better changes to it. The Minister spoke about an audit that was done in 2013 regarding the Dehcho Health and Social Services Authority. Can the Minister tell us if the audit was done by the department authority or done by an external process, and who was engaged in the process?
The department does occasionally do quality reviews and other audits of the regional authorities. In the situation that the Member is talking about, it was an audit that was actually done by the department. These are internal systems audits, and the results aren't shared, but as I indicated the other day, I would be happy to sit down with the Member and go through the audit with the Member so that he has an understanding of where we are and what we learned for that particular audit.
We do accreditations here in the Northwest Territories, and Stanton, the Beaufort-Delta, Hay River and Fort Smith authorities are all accredited. To be accredited, you have to have a number of audits done on a regular basis to ensure that the authorities and the facilities are meeting certain standards. As we move forward in one system, we’re hoping to get an accredited system as well as accredited facilities, which will make sure that there are regular audits and reviews being done of service delivery to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our residents.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
I thank the Minister for that answer and I look forward to meeting with him on the audit. I guess my struggle is that the people of Nahendeh have lots of concerns, and they are feeling like their voices are not being heard. In saying that, will the Minister and his staff be willing to come to the region and listen to the residents' concerns and recommendations to help improve the health and social services system in Nahendeh, and potentially have an impact on the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Absolutely. I’m certainly willing to do a tour with the Member through his riding, meet with the residents, and hear their individual concerns, but in addition to that, I would still encourage the Member to have constituents work with the quality assurance representative in their authority. If they are having trouble navigating the system, please have them get in touch with the system navigator, and as we move forward to a single Authority, there will be a wellness council re-established in the region where the individuals, the residents, will have a voice on regional delivery, but more importantly on territorial delivery. There are lots of things happening. I think there are some good things happening and they are going to help improve health care here in the Northwest Territories, and I am absolutely willing to meet with the MLA and his constituents in his riding.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Quyanainni, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement today I spoke to the fact that the communities in Nunakput, especially those with only barge and airline services, face the highest cost of living in the NWT. There are federal programs like Nutrition North that are supposed to help, but the program is flawed and it is hard to see the benefits to Nunakput residents. Can the Minister of Finance tell the Assembly what this government is doing to engage with the federal government on changes to programs like Nutrition North that will benefit my constituents? Quyanainni, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Premier and the Ministers, we take every opportunity we have to engage with the Prime Minister and the federal Ministers on issues like the Nutrition North program. We are fortunate that this term we have a Member of Parliament who is part of the governing body, and we also have a Minister from Nunavut who understands the food problems that Northerners in isolated communities face. We also know that the program is being reviewed, and we’re hopeful that positive changes are coming. We continue to lobby the federal government to follow through on their promise to increase the northern allowance by 33 per cent and hope to see it in this year's budget that is being tabled on March 22nd. This change, should it come through, will result in Northerners having more money in their pockets come tax time next year.
In my Member's statement today I also spoke of the high cost of fuel to heat our homes and to pursue traditional on-the-land activities like hunting and fishing, activities which can help residents lower the cost of living and eat healthy. Can the Minister tell us what the government is doing to lower the cost of fuel in our communities that are represented?
The cost of fuel is one that this government has taken immediate action on to lower the cost of living in the communities served by the Petroleum Products Division. The Minister of Public Works and Services announced on Tuesday that, effective February 5th, the price of home heating oil was reduced by $0.09 a litre in Paulatuk, $0.07 a litre in Sachs Harbour, and $0.08 a litre in Ulukhaktok. With this reduction, heating oil prices in these communities have been reduced by approximately 20 per cent over the last year. We recognize that the cost of heating fuel and gasoline in our smaller communities is a great concern to residents.
It was also announced by the Minister of Public Works and Services on Tuesday that the department will be closely monitoring the prices of fuel that is delivered over the coming months and passing any further reductions onto residents as soon as possible. The reductions in the gas prices have been a little less. They've been five per cent over the last year, but if the current prices remain, then we should be able to pass those savings on to the community residents as well. For the members of other communities, Tuktoyaktuk is considered a market community; the Petroleum Products Division does not operate in the community of Tuktoyaktuk. Through the NWT Housing Corporation, our home heating costs for public housing are subsidized at about $9 million a year, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources provides funding through the Community Harvesters Assistance Program, funds that can be used to offset the fuel costs for harvesters.
Can the Minister of Finance outline what other plans this government has to lower the costs of living for residents of the Northwest Territories, especially residents of Nunakput who face the highest costs?
Lowering the cost of living is one of the agreed-on priorities of this Assembly. In addition to the efforts that I’ve outlined earlier in this exchange, all of the departments are being tasked with examining their business plans to look for opportunities to lower the cost of living for NWT residents. I expect that we will have some proposals that we will be able to put in front of committee during the business planning review that should help. We continue to encourage people to move North to grow our population. This helps with our Territorial Formula Financing, and the more money we have means more money that we can spend on new programs to reduce the cost of living. We also have to look internally at reducing government spending in the near term so we can have the money to invest in programs that can help lower the cost of living for all Northerners, especially those in our isolated communities like the ones my colleague represents.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's statement earlier, I have a few questions for the Minister of Transportation. As I mentioned, many times travelling the Dempster Highway, we have whiteout conditions, high-blowing snow, high winds. It's challenging. Many times, travelling the Dempster, there are no delineators along the highway. I’d like to ask the Minister: will the Minister ensure that we begin work on replacing delineators along the Dempster from kilometre 0 to kilometre 30, which has the majority of high winds?
Masi. Minister of Transportation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Reconstruction on the Dempster Highway has been in progress for the last several years, and the department has spent numerous amounts of money on widening and doing significant safety improvements on that section of the highway, but due to last year's excessive rain and poor weather conditions, weather hindered the reconstruction work and also the replacement of the delineators for the snow levels and safety stuff that the Member is talking about. The department will be installing these things in the coming construction season, when weather conditions are favourable. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am sure the Minister will know first-hand the importance of signage and delineators along our highways. Does the Minster know exactly which sections will be worked on this summer? Is it kilometres 0 to 30, as I mentioned, or is it further down the highway?
