Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the most courageous and positive proposals in the road map is the creation of a managed alcohol program. Of course, implementation of this proposal will require healthcare professionals who are very knowledgeable about harm reduction. Is the Minister prepared to do the pilot project that the road map suggests? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These questions came up, very similar questions came up, a week or two ago. At that time, I indicated the Department of Health and Social Services is absolutely open to doing a pilot in this area, harm reduction, managed alcohol, but the first thing we need to do, Mr. Speaker, is get the sobering centre up and running. It will be our priority once the sobering centre is up and running. We'll be in a better position to design a managed alcohol program. In my mind and I think the mind of others, the two of these come together quite nicely, and this would be the appropriate way to move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in reviewing the "Auditor General's Report on Municipal and Community Affairs," it appears that to correct many of these recommendations and the responses from the department, itself, will require further resources. It talks about adding additional resources for training, additional staff. Quite a significant amount of work needs to be done to implement this. Has the Minister begun the process of costing this out, and can she inform this House of what this increased funding will require of our government? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the new Minister I've taken over the Municipal and Community Affairs I was aware that the audit was in the process, but it was only yesterday or the day before yesterday that the audit was shared with me. It is a confidential document and is not allowed to be distributed until it's finished. So, being that I've only just been presented with the audit by the auditors, and I'm not sure if it was yesterday or the day before but just within the last two days, I haven't really thought about all of the costing, in all honesty. I'm still looking at the recommendations and seeing what, prioritizing, where we need to move forward with that. Thank you, speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister provided a similar response yesterday, that this is the first opportunity the Minister has been able to see the report. However, on September 7th, the media report reported the deputy minister at the time reporting to have seen a preliminary version of this report and to have made recommendations. In the final report from the Auditor General's office, the department agrees with all recommendations. Although I know the Minister is new in this role, the department has been working on this for at least a year, and that's from the Auditor General's office. If the Minister is not prepared to answer fully, what is the department saying? Surely the department must have a detailed and thorough plan to address these deficiencies and how much it's going to cost so this House can know if it's going to put more pressure on our fiscal crisis.
The Member is correct in many means. I mean, the Auditor General does work with the department very closely to address the areas. They look at the plan. They address the areas where they are going to look at. They ask questions. They ask for research. They get documents back. They ask more questions. So it is quite a process. The department does have some knowledge, preliminary, even guesstimates, preliminary, on where the audit is going to go. They are provided a draft. Then they are allowed to put recommendations in that. I believe it is a last chance to appeal any of the decisions that are made.
The Auditor General is very strict in saying that document is not allowed to be released until they are finished the report. Therefore, even as Minister, I do not get access to that document until I have met with the auditors. I am not sure if it is a legislation, but it is their rules that says that the document is not allowed to leave their hands until they are finished with it. So I have only received that document, and I am in the process of reviewing it. It is not the department's job to define what the priorities are. It will be my job to define what the priorities are. I take that audit very seriously and will be doing a thorough review of the audit.
I appreciate the Minister clarifying that for the benefit of the public. If that is the case then who is writing in the report that they agree with the audit and laying out action plans that include items that require cost? Thank you.
So the auditor does work with the management team within the departments when they are looking at recommendations when they are addressing what is going to be in the actual audit. That is done by the management team, but like I said again, that information is not share with the Minister until it is publicly released. That was only publicly released to me within the last couple of days.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In that case, Mr. Speaker, does the Minister then, as she does not put pen to these recommendations, does she in fact support everything that her management team has put forward, and will she find the means to pay for it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
When I met with the Auditor General, we went through the report thoroughly. I agreed with all of the recommendations, and I did make a commitment that I would work towards addressing the recommendations that are in the audit.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also have questions for the Minister of MACA. MACA prepared a report on highway rescue and ground ambulance services in 2006. Ten years ago, this was already an important enough issue to warrant a report. According to the Minister's predecessor, it is an issue that is brought up every year at the NWT Association of Communities' AGM. I have brought it to the Minister's attention in this House, outside of this House, the Town of Hay River has brought it to your attention, and I am sure they are not the only municipality to do so.
Given the desire to deal with this issue, for the funding and the legislation of highway rescue and ground ambulance services, I would like to hear the Minister's plan to address the funding and legislative issues related to ground ambulance and highway services once and for all. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs actually has done a lot of work with looking at the ground ambulance and the highway rescue services that we provide to the Northwest Territories. We do have some agreements in place where the municipalities that have the ambulance services actually are able to extend their boundaries outside of their municipalities. That is a coordinated approach that we do. The team was the Departments of Justice, Transportation, Health and Social Services, and Municipal and Community Affairs, who took the lead on that committee that we did.
I should also state that we also have air ambulance services that are provided. If there is a need, if somebody calls into the RCMP or the health centre and they need a medical response, it is sent over to a dispatch and the medical response will dispatch an air ambulance into the remote location. We have probably not the comprehensive that the Members would like, but we do have an interim plan until we can identify new funding to look further into this.
As stated many times by the Ministers, we need to ensure that we can do some reduction so that we can invest in new initiatives. This is a new initiative that will cost millions of dollars. We need to make sure that we are using our finances appropriately and that we can look for money to provide this service. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am aware of what has happened since 2006. The previous Minister gave me the same explanation. The plan seems to be the status quo minus the funding. That is not much of a plan. I don't want this to be my white whale, Mr. Speaker.
Does the Minister have an idea of when actual steps are going to be taken to start addressing this issue, even if it is next year, the year after, the year after, if they have a plan for 2025? Is there a timeline where we can expect real progress?
The departments have worked really hard on this issue. We do feel that we have a coordinated approach to dealing with it currently. I do hear the Member's concerns that we are not doing enough. I can't give a timeline on it, in all honesty, but I can commit that I will talk to the departments and see if we can provide a response to the Member on what kind of timeline we are looking at.
The bottom line is that no one has a responsibility to provide highway rescue services on the territorial highways. Twenty-seven communities don't have ground ambulances. That is the bottom line. I would just like to ask this: given this coordinated effort that I wouldn't really call an effective plan, would the Minister commit to at the very, very least keeping the $180,000 in 2017-18 budget?
---Applause
Again, public safety is a concern not only to the Member but to all of us on Cabinet as well as the Regular Members. We are conscious of our fiscal reality. But I can commit to working with Cabinet, the Minister of Finance and Cabinet, my colleagues, to see if we can address the issue.
Mr. Speaker, that wasn't a no. I will take it. I will follow-up again. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister.
Masi. I will take that as a comment. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will have some questions for the Minister of Housing. Last week I spoke about the nine-plex and the seniors’ complex that the Housing Corporation and the Health Department worked together to build, a nice facility. Will the Minister please advise the House if the Housing Corporation is looking at developing a four-unit complex for smaller communities to help ensure elders stay in their home communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is really nice to be able to say yes sometimes. So yes, we are actually looking at a four-plex model that we will actually be providing. We are trying to move away from the independent units. We recognize that there is more cost effectiveness and energy efficiency with units that aren't single. Yes, I can commit to looking at a four-plex for the smaller communities. Thank you.
---Applause
I should stop now. I got a yes and leave it alone.
---Laughter
I know, I know. Too late. It is on the record. Will the Minister look at maybe -- I'd like the answer "yes." Now will the Minister look at maybe a pilot project in my region in the smaller communities or one of my colleagues' smaller communities? Will she start looking at doing that? I know you're looking at it but actually let's get some action and actually do it and put some -- how do you say it? Feet to the ground and go and make a commitment to doing a pilot project next year in one of the regions or five pilot projects as you did with the nine-plex. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, I will commit to doing a pilot project of at least one four-plex for seniors in a small community. I will not commit --
Sahtu. Sahtu.
to it being in the Member's community
---Laughter.
in that I'm very conscious that I need to make sure that we put units based on need, not just units based on political will. So I will make sure that we look at the wait list, we look at the amount of seniors in small communities, and the small community with the greatest need will receive the pilot project.
Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I sort of, kind of thank the Minister for her answer. If it's a yes in my riding that would be great; however, I'd like to actually see maybe five four-plexes in there and look at that for a pilot project. So it's just in different areas of the territory, so if it's a designated community, hamlet, town, village, across the territory. Even some of them may be communities of Inuvik maybe we could look at, you know.
---Laughter
So we could look at that. So --
Yellowknife.
-- Mr. Speaker, can the Minister make a commitment to work with us to get these projects -- at least five. I know there's a long waiting list; I've heard of a whole bunch, and I think every Member here has heard that. So will the Minister make that commitment to at least five pilot projects? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, I'll talk to them. I will not commit to doing five in the communities. I try to honour my word and I try to be reasonable and be able to achieve what I commit to, and so I will commit to doing one pilot project of a four-plex and after that do an assessment.
Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a few more questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. So given the fact that these new services will be introduced to the intoxicated and homeless population downtown, what is the future of the day shelter? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, we just recently renewed the contract for the day shelter in its current location. I have made a commitment to move the day shelter to a different location recognizing the public outcry against its current location but we had to renew the contract because we haven't actually been able to find another location. We're prepared to move it as soon as we find another more suitable location for the day shelter.
However, on top of that, we have also moved forward with expanding the hours; it's now a 12-hour a day from seven to seven. That should happen in the next couple of months, we're just working out the details with the provider. There has been some suggestion that we try to utilize one building for both the sobering centre and the day shelter; there would have to be separate entrances. That might prove to be a way to control some of our spending, but we have to be aware that we may not be able to find a location that can meet both those needs.
So for today, the day shelter is in its current location, the hours are being expanded, and a few other additions are being added and hopefully we can find another location to satisfy the demands of the downtown core.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to report to this Assembly that the Standing Committee on Social Development has reviewed Bill 5, An Act to Amend the Vital Statistics Act and wish to report that Bill 5 is ready for consideration in the Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Bill 5 is ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 75(5) to have Bill 5, An Act to Amend the Vital Statistics Act, moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Member is seeking unanimous consent to waive Rule 75(5) and have Bill 5: An Act to Amend the Vital Statistics Act moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today.
---Unanimous consent granted
