We often see residents falling behind on their taxes and not filing. How does the corporation and its rent scale respond to households that don't have current income tax or tax information on file?
We are really trying to work with our tenants to actually file their income tax, especially for lowerincome people. When people do not file their income tax, they are losing out on income, for example, the Child Tax Benefit, et cetera, and their tax return monies if they are lowerincome, so it is something we are really trying to advocate for tenants, that it is in their best interests to actually file for their income tax.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, how much time would the department need once the survey is completed to actually make this change if that is what the people want? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated earlier the other day, the housing survey, once we get the results in, will be divided up. Some of them will be very easy fixes. Things like, for example, students being able to leave their communities without being penalized, people going for medical assistance and things, those are easy decisions.
Tougher ones, this one that might impact other departments, those ones will take a little bit longer. For example, if housing rent is contingent on them getting income support, then that is a crossdepartmental issue, and so we will have to work crossdepartmentally to find out answers to make things easier so that people can retain, maintain, or obtain housing.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I may have to wait until the Premier returns. My question is to the Premier on the Deline selfgovernment file. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. In my Member's statement today, I talked about two kinds of problems that stem from overprescribing medication. The first is that pharmacists sometimes make mistakes in dosage. What kind of government oversight exists to protect patients from this kind of a mistake? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know the department works very closely with the pharmacy association and others to ensure that prescriptions are being dispensed appropriately. For the detail, I don't have that at my fingertips, so I will take the question as notice and get back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The question has been taken as notice. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last September 1st we saw the first community-based self-government in Deline, the Deline Got'ine Government, and since the birth of this historic milestone, my question to the Premier is: to enhance and develop a model for others, what is this government doing since the signing of that agreement last September? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, along with the Member from Sahtu, was very pleased to be in Deline on September 1st to help celebrate the implementation of the Deline Final Self-Government Agreement, and since then our government has been working with the Deline Got'ine Government and the Government of Canada to fulfill this self-government aspirations of the Deline Got'ine Government as set out in their Final Self-Government Agreement.
Our government is committed to working in partnership with the Deline Got'ine Government to build capacity within our respective governments to improve program and service delivery to residences of the Deline district, and in the coming weeks, representatives from our government and the Deline Got'ine Government will be discussing an approach to formalizing the government-to-government relationships between our governments. Going forward with implementation we will be able to work with the other self-government communities in the Sahtu so that they can reach their final agreements and they can learn from what we did in Deline. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To better develop a model on a cooperation action plan through a series of collaborations, for example, will the Premier commit to having this team meeting with the DGG Government team to develop this action plan as a start?
Recently, our government and the Deline Got'ine Government collaborated on the delivery of a lands administration course to the Deline Got'ine Government, and this is to improve the capacity of both of our governments to understand and manage the Land Administration Program. Also, through the Deline Self-Government Agreement Implementation Committee, we will collaborate on future initiatives that will support program and service delivery improvements in the Deline district. The representatives on this committee will also work so that we can pass on this information to the other communities in the Sahtu, and as a result we'll have an action plan and we'll also see more immediate progress on those negotiations as well.
Will the Premier commit to sending me a schedule on the implementation committee and their progress that was made and the future schedule so I can keep posted on the program delivery initiatives of both governments?
I'd be pleased to do that, and I'd like to advise the Member that the first Deline Implementation Committee meeting was held on January 12, 2017, here in Yellowknife, and going forward we'll advise him of the schedule and the progress that we're making.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I talked about the Aboriginal Tourism Business initiatives that could be advanced by this government, so my question is to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. One of the challenges that we have as an impediment in the small communities is that sometimes we have bureaucracy and red tape that becomes an impediment and a challenge. One example is Aboriginal businesses, especially in small communities, want to take on boat tours and there's the challenge of getting the proper boat insurance. So my question is to the Minister, as I said earlier, recommendations for a strategic action plan on an Aboriginal tourism was released in 2013. What progress has been made towards settling guidelines for cultural experiences so that visitors know that they are paying for an authentic Aboriginal tourism product? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we tabled in this House here last fall, we tabled Tourism 2020 and it has a number of initiatives in that document: attract experience, Aboriginal tourism, community tourism and development, skills development, as well as tourism research and planning, and that's the focus areas of Tourism 2020. To answer his question directly on how do we work to promote Aboriginal tourism and cultural experiences, within that initiative, we moved forward, and one of the things is Aboriginal Tourism Champions Program. That's a new initiative in this. We built it on three previous ones that are still in there that are carried on and there's a bunch of new ones; but the one particular one is Aboriginal Tourism Champions Program, where an individual can come forward to work with the department and we will help them expand and improve authentic Aboriginal Tourism in the communities and help diversify products and initiatives for Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal Culture. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'd like to thank the Minister for his reply and it seems that there are great advances being made, and one of the examples that he's highlighting is the idea of mentorship. The second question is: what partnerships have been developed in support of Aboriginal Tourism for education, training, and funding product development? Perhaps maybe there's you know the ideal partnership with Aboriginal governments in each region that could possibly happen with this leadership.
The Member is quite right. We've worked on a number of initiatives, and the one particular one, to directly answer his question, is a Community Tourism Coordinator Program that has just been enhanced in the new 2020. The communities can come forward and put funding towards hiring this individual. I don’t believe that we totally fund the whole program. It would have to be a cost-shared basis with the communities or Aboriginal governments that want to come forward. We're even open to ideas of where multiple communities within a region may apply for this individual to help promote tourism and be the coordinator on that. As we've said, we've got the Aboriginal Tourism Champions Program that can come forward for each community.
Those are great initiatives that the department is undertaking and advancing. The whole tourism is about promotion, ensuring that people do know of the NWT and some of the unique gifts that we have to offer the world. So I wanted to follow up on the question in terms of the Community Tourism Coordinator, having an individual work with the community. Does that also mean the next step of perhaps communities developing a local tourism strategy for the communities?
That's exactly what this position would do. It would advance a regional product development of the region and packaging and the communities that hire this individual and work together, or Aboriginal governments that hire this person, to help them do exactly what the Member has said.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is: has ITI considered broader partnerships in aligning efforts with the Yukon, Nunavut, and the Aboriginal Tourism initiatives in other parts of Canada? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
We continue to reach out to all the territories and provinces on how we can enhance Aboriginal tourism in the Northwest Territories. The last report that I read, there are 32,000 Aboriginal people involved in Aboriginal tourism across Canada, and I believe the initiatives that we brought forward in Tourism 2020 are only going to enhance and improve tourism in the Northwest Territories and reach out to the world and show that Aboriginal culture and our languages that we have here bring more people to the North.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Health before the clock runs out. Cabinet seems to be able to find resources for its preferred projects, whether it's NTCL, Mactung, or roads. We're still waiting to hear, though, about improving our housing stock and other social infrastructure needs. Can the Minister of Health comment on how we're going to fund our growing social infrastructure needs, including the shortfall in long-term care, or shall we just tell our seniors to hit the many roads we keep on building? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member's question is dripping with cynicism. Bottom line is we know that we have significant needs in long-term care, 258 beds by 2026, and that's also factoring in doing more around aging in place, which is something clearly the Members want to see, as does Cabinet.
We know we have a capital need. That capital need has been included in the 20-year plan. That 20-year plan identifies capital projects but also some of the pressures that that will put on O and M which is utilized during our budget planning sessions when we're trying to figure out what we have money for today, how is tomorrow going to impact where we could spend today, and those types of things.
There's no question that there are going to be cost pressures on this government in the future as we roll out the 258 beds, and we know the cost is about $139,000 per bed to operate, which is about $35 million. We need to work together, we need to set priorities, and we need to be fiscally responsible so that we can make these important investments in this area but other areas as we move forward and we're committed to doing so.
I do appreciate the response and the work of the Minister. In an article that I'm going to table later today in the House it talks about how our territorial government, along with some provincial governments, caved in on the issue of the new healthcare agreement. As I understand it, the offer that was on the table in December was better than what we signed off for in January. So can the Minister responsible for the future of healthcare funding tell us why we signed this deal that offers us less money and will contribute very little towards our long-term care needs?
With the reduction in the Canada Health Transfer from 6 per cent to 3 per cent, which was actually implemented by the Conservative government prior to the election but adhered to and supported by the Liberal government when they came in, we were going to take a significant reduction in growth in CHT moving forward. That reduction has been maintained; it's still going to be 3 per cent, but on top of that we are going to get $6.1 million and $7.4 million for aging in place, long-term care, homecare, as well as mental health.
Those dollars are limited funding so they are time-sensitive. They come, they last for a period of time, and they're gone. We're going to have to be creative about how we utilize those funds in order to increase the services and support the design of meaningful as well as cost-effective programs moving forward. It does leave us in a position, though, Mr. Speaker, there is no question, where we're still going to have to find money from within to invest in these critical areas like long-term care, aging in place, mental health, and addictions. We are still going to have to find those dollars moving forward and we're going to have to do it in an age of slow growth. We're going to have to be creative, but I'm optimistic that we can. We know what we need to do. The trick is finding our way together as a unified Assembly to make that happen.
I do appreciate the response from the Minister, but as I understand it the original offer was for 5.2 per cent increase annually in healthcare, in the agreement that was under discussion. So why did we sign off on 3 per cent when the original ask was 5.2 and the offer that was on the table was 3.5?
What does not change and what cannot change is the federal government made a decision to reduce the CHT by 3 per cent gross, so it was only going to be 3 per cent or GDP, whichever is greater. GDP is tended to not be too high over 3 per cent, but that change was going to happen no matter what.
The provinces and territories attempted to get the federal government to see reason that 5.2 was a sustainable number as opposed to a growth number. There was a disagreement. They took the 3.5 per cent off the table completely. It was gone in December, but they did approach the territories and indicate that there is some money for homecare and there is some money for mental health as well as the 3 per cent.
There are other areas that we're certainly having conversations about; we'll continue to work with the federal government, who has been a great partner with us. They have contributed money to homecare above and beyond the money for Aboriginal homecare. So we're going to continue to work with them, see what other opportunities there are to get some specific funding to support the initiatives of the Northwest Territories, and we'll move forward. In the meantime, we continue to have fiscal challenges. I think we can find a way forward and I'm looking forward to moving forward with a plan to roll out 258 long-term care beds in the life of this Assembly so that we have those beds in place by 2026.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the response again from the Minister but I just don't think that that deal that was signed will cut it for us, and certainly this side of the House was never really consulted in terms of what was on the table or what they actually signed off on, but Cabinet seems to think there's going to be a bunch of federal dollars that are going to rain from heaven that are going to help us meet our social infrastructure needs. So can the Minister give us any details on this funding or when we can expect some details and how this is going to help us with our long-term care needs? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I know that there's some social infrastructure money that is available by application by the provinces and territories. I believe the Housing Corporation has been able to get some of those dollars. Those dollars are going to be used for basing the criteria. It's my understanding that those dollars are only available for independent living units in communities throughout the Northwest Territories, so it probably won't directly help with the long-term care. In the territories, where we want to do more to help people age in place and stay out of long-term care, the 258 is based on a low number of people going into the long-term care and doing a better job on aging in place, which is something we're also committed to.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my honourable friend from Mackenzie Delta was asking the Housing Minister some questions in regard to clarification on calculation of rent. So can the Minister please explain how rent is calculated if the income tax is not submitted? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So like I said earlier, we are trying to get all of the tenants to file their income tax. We have made some allowances for seniors, in all honesty, who aren’t really receptive to change, and so within a few situations we have allowed them to come in and give a monthly breakdown of rent. I should note that within our applications, and it's not new, it's been forever, we can still ask for the income tax for verification of rent. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
