Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the Member's opening comments, in his Member's statement, he is right that, over the past three years, public housing tenant power rates have been gradually increasing to adjust in line with what other households in the NWT communities are paying under the GNWT's Territorial Power Support Program. The impact from the last base rate adjustment would be approximately $36 per month for the average household, and then it was about $87 per month, considering all base rate adjustments over the last three years.
Mr. Speaker, we do face a challenge here in the Northwest Territories with the NWT Housing Corporation and the increased costs to run our programs, but utilities are a big cost of that. We are trying to find ways that we could address that, and I really appreciate the Member's comments, that these are all good goals moving forward, in his Member's statement.
I think we are on the right track. We want to work with communities' leaders so that they can be more self-reliant, be more energy conservative with how we do programs in the communities, but also ensure that we are able to sustain a lot of our housing programs and not just continuing to pay our tenants' power rates. We also have other programs that we do need to sustain throughout the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Housing Corporation also intends to conserve corporation funds through this initiative. Has the corporation calculated to what extent costs have simply been passed to income security programs in the Department of Education, Culture and Employment?
We always try to work closely with our partners, especially within the department. We keep them apprised of how many housing tenants we have and let them know of the programs that we are doing, especially with the tenants. When these programs came into place, we directly contacted the tenants to let them know what was going on. Our local housing organizations also give that information on what we are doing moving forward, but we do keep a good communication with all of our departments right across the government with our programs and how it can possibly impact their programs that they run as well.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister answered my next question, but I have one more here. In addition to adjusting power subsidies, what other actions is the Corporation taking to encourage energy conservation and reduce energy consumption in public housing?
Since we've put some of this particular program in since 2015/2016 I think it's really a positive note to say that power consumption has declined by about 8 percent in the communities. That means our tenants are becoming more aware of their usage as well as, like I said earlier, trying to be more conservative on their energy and also a little bit more self-reliant, but also understand that we've got other programs that we've got to sustain within the NWT Housing Corporation.
I do have a list of some of the programs that we have done in this area: we invest in energy efficient building practices, and that's well-known with the work that we've done with IRC as well as other Indigenous governments over the last couple years; alternative energy products, such as solar panels in some of the communities; solar hot water; district heating; LED lighting; home ownership programs that do promote energy efficiencies. As we look at constructing new homes, we always look at making them as energy efficient as possible. So we've taken a turn and we're going to continue to do that with future bills and also promote that with our partners as they're looking at building infrastructure in their communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the last couple days, I've been asking the Minister of Lands some questions about the process here. So, in this House, he talked about IGOs can identify which cabins are rights-based cabins. Can the Minister please advise what he and the Department mean by "rights-based cabins"? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we know, there are many structures on the public lands that are administered by this government. That's why we're engaging with Indigenous governments at this time to determine how we can find out how many there are and on what basis the claims that they are rights-based are made.
I think I've heard that a number of times. I've asked the Minister: what do they mean by "rights-based cabins"? That's all I'm trying to ask. What's their definition, or how are they getting this information out there? I'd like to know what that means.
As I mentioned earlier, there are a great number of cabins and camps out there, rights-based ones, that would be ones that are associated with an Aboriginal right to have the cabin or camp, so that's what we're looking into at this time. We really don't know how many there are out there. That's why we're engaging with the Aboriginal groups throughout the Northwest Territories.
That really didn't answer my question; it says how many cabins out there, and they're looking at it, and that. Again: does the Department have a definition that they can use that says "rights-based cabins" and how they check it off and say, yeah, it's used for hunting, it's used for trapping, is it used for this. Do they have a definition of how they make that decision?
We are dealing with this exact issue in our consultation with Indigenous groups throughout the Northwest Territories. Some of the conditions that we might see as important are Indigenous ownership located within an area where persons of that heritage have established or asserted rights, an assertion by the owner of the cabin or camp of his Aboriginal rights. So those are some of the basic things we're going to be looking at as we engage with Aboriginal groups throughout the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I greatly appreciate the Minister's answer in helping us understand it a little bit better. So, my last question here is: once these cabins are classified as rights-based cabins, I believe this is stage 1 or whatever stage it is in, is this the end of the process for Indigenous cabin owners? They're fearing that they're going to see their cabins be targeted for potential lease fees in the future.
Those are issues that certainly will have to be determined. Once we find out how many of the cabins are actually rights-based, we will be dealing with those additional issues, also. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents entitled, "Government of the Northwest Territories Disability Action Plan 2018-2019 to 2021-2022," "Northern Public Affairs, Volume 6, Special Issue No.1 2018: The Pan-Territorial On-the-Land Summit," and the "Northwest Territories Oral Health Action Plan 2018-2019 to 2020-2021." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Monday, October 29, 2018, I will move that Bill 29, An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 24, An Act to Amend the Elections and Plebiscites Act, be read for the first time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The motion is in order. The motion is non-debateable. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
Bill 24 has had its first reading. First reading of bills. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 27, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2018-2019, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The motion is in order. The motion is non-debateable. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
Bill 27 has had its first reading. First reading of bills. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 28, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2018-2019, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The motion is in order. The motion is non-debateable. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 27, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2018-2019, be read for the second time. Mr. Speaker, this bill makes supplementary appropriations for infrastructure expenditures for the Government of Northwest Territories for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
Bill 27 has had its second reading. Second reading of bills. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 28, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2018-2019, be read for the second time. Mr. Speaker, this bill makes supplementary appropriations for operations expenditures for the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
