Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.
The position was in the Dehcho and they moved it to North Slave. Is that correct?
Mr. Minister.
Yes, that's correct.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.
I thank the Minister for that. However, I guess my question is: how come this information wasn't brought to our attention previously? One of the positions was cut; now this is the first time I'm seeing it and I'm seeing it in the business plans here. The information we're getting about cuts, are they only full-time positions? Is that the information, and that half-time positions are just showing up? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
As I mentioned earlier, in terms of when we're doing reductions on positions it's always tough when we always look at the best scenario, that if a position is moved that other people in that department or in that division can actually take up the work that needs to be done. With this particular position it was a vacant position. They moved that position to the North Slave. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Just to clarify. This position's moved into North Slave, which is a Yellowknife office, correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
Yes, it's moved into here in Yellowknife as I mentioned, but the North Slave, they cover other communities as well, yes.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. When are we going to find this information out, about half-time positions that are being moved? We have to look at the budget and we have to research to find this information? Because this is now two positions within your department that have been either deleted with reductions or transferred, and which is two positions in my riding. I'd like to get that clarified please. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
The regular process when we get to where we are today with main estimates, a review of the business plans and what's going to be proposed in the main estimates is done, a business planning review. We did go before committee with all reductions, all the information was given there. As well, in terms of some of the discussions, in terms of whether we're going to give updates on employees that have been affected, we committed to that and we also committed to the positions and areas from the questions that were asked earlier. The process is we do present all this information at business plans before we get to the main estimates here today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.
I thank the Minister for his answer, but I regretfully disagree. Like, I mean, at no point in time was I aware that these positions were going to be cut. Anything we receive from the finance department was in there. I guess I'll be more diligent in listening and looking at business plans from now on. I'm a little bit disappointed, you know, right now I've lost 1.5 positions in my riding, and two from this department or one full-time position if you look at the two halves. I didn't see it anywhere and I apologize. I guess I must apologize to my riding, because if I've missed it, it's something I'm kind of disappointed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
Thank you and we'll take that as a comment. Thank you.
Any further questions? Seeing none, moving on. Page 62, Education, Culture and Employment, income security, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $47,578,000. Questions? Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Previously, the department indicated it was doing work on the NWT Child Benefit to bring it in line with the new Canada Child Benefit. If the Minister could update us on the work to date? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister.
Yes, we did go before committee on this one as well. We are doing the work that's needed to be done. There are some regulations that need to be fixed within the Income Assistance Regulations. We’re hoping to have a lot of this work completed when the federal government puts their plan in place, which is July 1st, and we're hoping to have some of the work ready in August.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If the Minister could give us a firm date in August? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister.
It will be August 1st when we start doing the assessments of the income that was brought forth in July when the federal government implements theirs. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Does the department have an idea of what the new NWT Child Benefit will look like in terms of the benefits to northern residents? Like, will it be enriched? If we get an idea of what Northerners will be getting out of this to help with their cost of living and parental needs? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister.
There is going to be significant increases throughout the Northwest Territories. I did make comments in the House on this last week and, as well, going to be making another statement moving forward on how we are going to be implementing this program. There will be benefits for low- to moderate-income families. For more details, I can ask my deputy minister to get into a little bit more detail. Thank you.
Okay. Recognizing Deputy Minister Stewart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's two components to these changes. The one is the change, as the Minister talked about, to the Income Assistance Regulations to make sure that we're not counting Canada Child Benefit as well as the NWT Child Benefit, as well as support payments to families on income assistance in calculating that level. That'll take place in, as the Minister mentioned, August 1st assessing July income, so that'll have that impact. In terms of the NWT Child Benefit, there's a couple changes that are needed. One is changes to legislation, specifically the NWT Income Tax Act, so we'll be working with committee to try to expedite those changes so we can make them as quickly as possible. Then we'll need to work with the federal government to tweak their systems as well.
In terms of the sort of description of the overall benefits, the increased NWT Child Benefit will apply up to an income threshold that'll be in the range of $30,000 and then the benefits will start to go down, similar to how the federal system works. We expect families up to $80,000 income will receive some NWT Child Benefit. There'll be differential rates for whether there's children under six or between six and 17 years of age. All of that detail will start to get rolled out here now that it's been announced and we'll get the Members more detail on that in the upcoming weeks as well. That's sort of the general characteristics of the program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is that individual income or total household income, the $80,000 ceiling I believe the deputy minister indicated? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister?
Yes, that's net family income. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The federal government, when they rolled this out as an election promise, they could say the maximum this benefit is worth, I think it's around $530, something like that. Can the department provide that level of detail today, what the maximum benefit will be to families in a dollar amount? I respect that there's a lot of legislative work that needs to be done, but can we get a sense of what the new benefit will be worth to northern families? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister. Recognizing Deputy Minister Stewart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. What we're looking at now is for children under six, onechild family, this would be the maximum amounts, would be around $1,164. For two children, that would go up to around $2,088; three children, $3,000 and so on. For children six to 18, the amounts are a little bit less, $931 for one child, $1,670 for two, and so on. But we can get that detail to the Members, the exact calculations that'll be on that. It follows a very similar pattern as what the federal CCB is using. Our income thresholds are slightly different than the federal program, but, again, the reduction rate as that family income goes up is pretty similar to what the federal Canada Child Benefit will do.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Finally, just this is more of a comment, but when this program rolls out or when the new benefit is, having something like a calculator available on the ECE website and sharing that with the public would be, I think, a step in the right direction to let people know exactly what their benefits were, in fact, beforehand. If you know what the calculations are going to be and the it's just a matter of going through the legislative changes, communicating that with the public I think will ease a lot of the economic burdens that people are going through right now, so good peace of mind and I think a good exercise in communicating the benefits they're going to get from that. I would encourage the department to look at developing a tool like that and generously communicating it with the public. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister.
I appreciate the Member's comments and definitely take it into consideration. It's a great suggestion. With the amount of individuals and families we have on income assistance right now, clients, is going to be beneficial for them to understand the changes that we are going to be making in the months to come. Thank you.
Recognizing the clock. Committee members, I will now rise and report progress. Thank you, Mr. Minister. I will ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the witnesses from the Chamber, please.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your committee has been considering Tabled Document 5018(2) Main Estimates, 20162017 and would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Do we have a seconder? Member for Deh Cho. Motion is in order. To the motion. Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?
Carried
