Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I want to say that I'm very concerned about the Auditor General's findings that there are serious deficiencies in the delivery of child and family services, but that's not news to me. I have been involved at a national level working with the Council of Federation with the premiers, and every jurisdiction in Canada has serious deficiencies in delivery of child and family services.
I also chair the Aboriginal Affairs Working Group where Minister Abernethy and I led a review of best practices in childcare in all of the provinces and territories and we tabled a report, but that does not denigrate from the findings of the Auditor General. In my situation, I have to find out the seriousness of the matter. It's very serious. I read the Auditor General's report. The methodology that they used, they have reviewed 37 child files and 37 foster care files. They also said that the department provides protective and preventative services to over 1,000 children a year on average over the past 10 years. To me, one child in care that's not dealt with properly or who doesn't receive the proper care or protective care is an emergency.
I have to deal with becoming more involved with the file. As the Member said, I have some powers. The Legislative Assembly appoints the Ministers. I issue the portfolios. I have a couple of options. Before we get to those options, Members can speak to the Minister or we can have what we call "fire side chats," which in the past have proven very beneficial in improving our government's performance. If there are still concerns about the Minister's performance, as I said, I have two options. Either a Cabinet shuffle or one that we take very seriously and is a more serious is the removal of a Minister's portfolio.
I have reviewed the actions. I have looked at the report. It's a very serious situation. I believe that and I'm satisfied that the Minister has taken this issue seriously. It's very important for the public to know that this government is taken seriously. I'm waiting for my friend, the Auditor General of Canada, Michael Ferguson, to come on December 12th. I would like to discuss it in more detail because I don't know. I understood we dealt with the 2014 auditor in good faith, where we put in a foundation, and now for the report to come back and say, "Well, you know, you're worse off than you were before," I'm wondering what happened to their previous audit. I need more information. I know this is very serious. It's a very serious concern, and we are not going to take it lightly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like the Premier to harken back to his days as a deputy minister and maybe bring that iron fist out again to handle this situation because it is serious. The concerns of the public and Members of this House regarding issues with MTS had been shrugged off by the Minister of Infrastructure, and his responses have been defiant to the authority of this Assembly. It's clear to anyone who pays attention that the Members on this side of the House consider that behaviour unacceptable. I know that the Premier has been watching every day that we are in the House. He sees what we see. What is the Premier doing to handle this situation?
We knew when we got into the situation of operating a barging company that there would be some serious issues. It is a very challenging environment to operate in, and we recognized that there would be situations where we would not be able to make deliveries.
We have put in place a revolving fund, which allows us to try to make the three communities as whole as possible, even the communities that are not in the Northwest Territories, and we are spending approximately $3- to $4-million to try to deliver all of the fuel that the community needs. Of course, that is a top priority. We also will be delivering the food and goods that they had purchased, and some we just can't afford to deliver, such as vehicles and so on.
That is the responsibility we have taken on ourselves. As far as the operations of the barges, and I understand that there was fuel that wasn't up to spec, we will examine all of those in the normal course of operations, like we do in every operational situation, and we will take steps to try to make sure that it doesn't happen again. There have been suggestions that perhaps somebody was asleep at the wheel. If that was the case, we will find that out as well.
Right now, our priority is we have to get fuel into the communities. We don't want the communities to freeze up. We want customers to get their food and so on, and we will continue to operate on that basis.
My questions are more about what the Premier is going to do to get his Cabinet in line. It is clear that the Members of this House are not happy with some of the results that are being produced, the way that Cabinet is answering questions, and the way that they view the Regular Members.
I am not here to do the Premier's job for him, but I think he needs to sit down with the Ministers who everyone knows are causing some issues and make them realize that we are here to serve the people, that the questions coming from this side of the House are coming from the public, that we ask them for the greater good, and that defiant answers and refusals to answer questions and share information and work with the Regular Members is not appropriate.
Will the Premier sit down with his Cabinet colleagues and put them in place for us?
In my view, in my estimation, that is what we should all aspire to and certainly will have discussions with all of the Members of Cabinet as we want to do.
I think that is why I have relied on fireside chats, to try to make sure that we are all working, pulling in the same direction, and I find that when we treat each other with respect and when we work together, we accomplish a lot more.
I certainly thank the Member for bringing this to our attention again, and it is important for us to continue to pay a lot of attention to it and continue to aspire to improve in those areas.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I said, I was hoping he would bring up the old deputy minister iron fist, but I didn't hear that.
The fireside chats are great, and I admit that we haven't had enough of them. I brought this up before at the mid-terms, but the phones work both ways. I can walk down that hallway; the Premier can walk down our hallway. He knows the issues.
Will the Premier commit to reaching out more to the Regular Members so that we can build a better relationship with Cabinet and work better for the people of the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Certainly I will endeavour to do that, and the deputy iron fist, perhaps that was the good old days, but certainly I will continue to work very closely with the Ministers to continue to work to deliver on behalf of all of the Members and also to serve the people of the Northwest Territories. We always aspire to get better. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a few questions about the impacts of the Housing Corporation's adjustments to public housing utility rates. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister: how is the department's income security programs division responding where its clients have been affected by changing public housing utility rates? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding is that the withdrawal of the utility payments by the Housing Corporation was done in September 2018, so we haven't really seen a huge impact of it yet. I should clarify in stating that not everyone that is in housing programs is actually an income support clientele. It is combined.
Our goals within the income support program are to make sure that people have enough to meet their basic needs. We are ensuring that no one that is on income support that is in public housing or outside, not only in public housing, but in market housing, that their utilities are paid. The effect to the people that are on income support would be nil, other than basically they would now have to bring in their utility bill to be paid. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I asked a similar question to the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Has the department itself calculated how the Housing Corporation's changes to public housing utility rates has impacted demand on income support programs?
Like I said earlier, we haven't really looked at that too much, but it is a bigger thing than that, what I am actually concerned about, and I had spoke on that before in the House, is that income support will be necessary for some people. People with disabilities or seniors, people that have specific challenges in life, they might need support for their whole lives, but we also need to focus on people actually progressing in their life or productive choices.
That is why I had committed earlier to actually working with the non-profits, setting up a table before the end of this calendar year, so that we can work more on how we can support people that are on income support so that -- I hate to say this -- we don't have people thinking that they can just, you know, "I don't have to work. I can just lay on the couch and collect a paycheque," because that is not okay.
I don't say that in a derogatory term. I don't mean that derogatorily, but we have kind of set up a society that almost says it is okay, and we need to change that. We need to focus on giving people who are on income support the pride and the goals and the opportunities so that they can progress in life, and that is what I am looking to do. That is the goal of the focus when we meet with the non-profits is: how do we support people better than what we are doing?
We don't have non-profit organizations in all our communities, just for the record.
How will the department work with the Housing Corporation to ensure a coordinated government approach to this mandate commitment?
I am not 100 percent sure what mandate commitment we are actually talking about, because we have quite a few mandate commitments. I am sorry, but I have to ask clarification on what mandate commitment specifically the Member is asking about.
It seems to be a mandate commitment to have our public housing residents to have an increase in payment to their power bills. That is what I am referring to.
Thank you for clarifying. I didn't realize that the utilities was actually a mandate commitment, so I will have to look on that. I can say that we need to support people so that they become as self-reliant as possible, recognizing that self-reliance isn't something that will be attainable for everyone.
I understand the reasoning for the Housing Corporation's decision. I used to be the Housing Minister, and my understanding is that within some communities, because people weren't paying their utilities, houses were becoming the public car wash. When people were hot in the winters, instead of turning down the thermostat, they were opening windows.
I understand the theory on how we needed to get people more taking care of their utilities and realizing the cost. I think what we missed in that is that we need to look at income support as well. How do we reward people for actually being more conservative with the utilities? We are in a day of climate change. We are in a day of really ugly things coming for our children and our grandchildren if we don't start getting people more conservative, looking at how can I as a person help impact what is happening within our world, within the Northwest Territories? I need to look at more ways to be more positive and reinforcing and rewarding good behaviour versus punishing bad behaviour. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, my question is: does the NWT Housing Corporation have plans to expand the Northern Pathways to Housing program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do believe I did a Minister's Statement on the good work that we are doing with the Northern Pathways to Housing program.
Currently, we have one of those programs set up in Fort Simpson that is being managed by the Liidlii Kue First Nation. It is working really well, and I am proud to say that we have helped some people transition into housing or get the support and assistance that they need, whether it is treatment or to get back on their feet. We are going to get one shortly up in Behchoko here, and we are hoping to see some good results out of that. As I mentioned when I did that statement, we are going to be expanding one into the community of Aklavik.
We are going to monitor and evaluate, like we do all of our programs, and see where we can address some of the homelessness concerns and issues outside of the regional centres into some of the smaller communities. I am sure the Member is referring to Nunakput, and as we monitor and evaluate the program and see how we can expand it, we will definitely look at it. It is a pilot program, and on its initial stages and evaluations, we are seeing that it is serving the right purpose. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
During these past couple of weeks or, actually, during this session, we have seen realities. Sometimes we don't need studies to see that programs or departments are failing, and they are failing hugely. One of my colleagues mentioned to the Premier that they need to be accountable for the services that we provide to the territory. We really need to stand by that, Mr. Speaker. Housing in my region is becoming less and less as the population grows.
Mr. Speaker, core need as well as general housing availability are critical housing issues across the territory. Mr. Speaker, how is the Housing Corporation planning to increase available housing stock, specifically in Nunakput?
I will refer back to another Minister's Statement that I gave earlier this session, and that is the work that we are doing with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. We have seen some great success. Also, in partnership with the federal government, we have been able to build some new housing stocks in all of the communities in the Nunakput region. We are going to continue that partnership moving forward.
One thing that I have also mentioned, which is a great initiative under the NWT Housing Corporation, is that we are going to start developing these community housing plans that are going to identify what are the priorities, what are the core needs of each of the communities across the Northwest Territories, whether it is seniors, whether it is homelessness, singles, multi-unit units, and we will work with the community leaders and the stakeholders to address them.
There are a few things that we are doing. One other program that we have been working on is a new home ownership program, and we are going to be rolling that out, hopefully, over the next year, and identifying getting some new homes in each of the five districts that we have across the Northwest Territories.
As I mentioned before, I do pride myself on partnerships, and I am looking to work with the local governments, Indigenous governments, and I think one of our strongest partnerships that we have right now in the Northwest Territories is with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, and I continue to look forward to strengthening that partnership and helping them address the housing needs in their communities.
I appreciate the response. There is such a need for housing in every aspect, not just here in Yellowknife, but across the territory. We don't see it. We don't travel often enough to the regions to see the suffering, sometimes, of some people. I think, Mr. Speaker, we need to make a point of getting out more and maybe having sessions outside of Yellowknife. I know this is the legislature, but there are times when we need to go to different regions to see what it is really like over there.
Mr. Speaker, my next question to the Minister is: what other corporation initiatives are planned to address the need for additional transitional housing across the territory?
One of the things that we are doing within the NWT Housing Corporation is going through a strategic renewal to identify some of our priorities, look at our policies, and what needs to be changed to make it easier and better for people to either own a home or get into public housing.
As I mentioned, the community housing plans are going to help us identify those, because we will be working with leaders and the people in the communities for them to tell us what they need, and I think that is a big step.
For transitional housing, I know that is an issue right across the NWT, and we want to address that. We want to work with our stakeholders, our NGO groups.
We also have a program, the Community Housing Support Initiative, where we do work with community governments to help identify some of those needs and how we can work together to build, whether it's a transitional unit or just, kind of, housing stocks in their communities and promote our programs that we have.
There is a lot going on. The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, they have a good understanding of our programs. We meet with them on a regular basis, and we are hoping that information does filter down to the communities in the Nunakput region.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the response. There is a real need for collaboration across departments and, as well, with the government to Indigenous organizations and Indigenous governments in the territory. Mr. Speaker, there is a real need.
Mr. Speaker, to date, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation was given $24 million directly from the federal government to build homes in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. Mr. Speaker, with $24 million, one would think that $24 million would result in more homes as injections like this are key to the government. Over this session, I have listened to Ministers --
Member for Nunakput, what is your line of questioning?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with $24 million given to the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, one would think that that would inject more homes in the region, mind you, in the territory. Mr. Speaker, what is the Minister doing to ensure that the number of homes increase with the population in Nunakput and then across the territory? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I have named off a bunch of programs that we are doing. One thing that we also are doing and actually have a good partnership with the IRC is unit disposal plans. If we can get rid of some of these, whether they are derelict units or units that have reached their life cycle, then we open up land to build new housing units. We are continuing work with the IRC to address some of these housing concerns. We will continue to support them, work collaboratively with them, and continue to lobby and work with the federal government to see how we can get some of the Indigenous housing funding through their National Housing Strategy here to the Northwest Territories so other Indigenous governments can have the same success that the IRC is showing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Housing. Mr. Speaker, there were some questions on the power rates that were eventually increased to where, I believe, that the tenants in public housing are paying their own power. At one point, it used to be a payment of a small amount per kilowatt hour, and then it continued to grow until they are paying everything. One of our mandates is to lower the cost of living. I would like to ask the Minister: the benches that are set for rent, it depends on your income; you pay a certain bench. If the power that the tenants are paying is over and above that bench or if that bench is adjusted to accommodate for the fact that they are paying their own power? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, the NWT Housing Corporation is not planning to address the subsidized public housing rent scale. We are going to continue with this program as a user-pay power program. As I mentioned yesterday, we have seen a decrease of about eight percent in consumption, which means that tenants are actually taking responsibility. They are conserving more energy. It is a good program. We are seeing some good results. At this time, we are not planning to adjust the subsidized public housing rent scale. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to ask the Minister if he would consider making that adjustment for the bottom and, like, the power subsidy program, where, in the wintertime, everybody is subsidized at the Yellowknife rate, up to $1,000, and, in the summertime, everybody is adjusted to the Yellowknife rate, up to $600. I would like to ask the Minister if that portion of the power bill could make an adjustment to the actual benches of the rent.
As I mentioned, right now, we are not looking at adjusting that. I just want to remind Members of the House here, as well, that our shelter costs that our tenants pay are much lower than the national affordable standard of 30 percent of their income. Our tenants are still paying a lot lower than what the national standard is. Currently, we are not going to be looking at adjusting it.
We are looking at ways we can be more energy efficient. We have a lot of other programs that will offset that. We are continuing to work with our partners at ECE, Health. There are a lot of programs that we are working to try to lift people out of poverty but also give them the basic needs that they need to succeed.
The NWT Housing Corporation has developed some great programs over the last couple of governments. We will continue to support those programs, promote those programs, and strengthen out partnerships with local governments as well as our stakeholders.
I agree with the Minister. I realize that the maximum amount set in the rent scale is 19.4 percent, not 30 percent. The reason it is there is because they are public housing tenants. They have low incomes. They have to be below a certain income threshold in order to be in public housing. I am asking the Minister again to look at the power subsidy portion, which is that subsidy I referred to where everyone is brought to the Yellowknife rate up to a certain amount, if the Minister would look at making the adjustments based on that number. I think that would be the more appropriate way that would continue to have people be conservative with their power. I ask the Minister again if he would look at that. I am not expecting a commitment here on the floor but if he could look at that.
Yes, I can take a look at that. We do want our tenants and our residents of the Northwest Territories to be a little bit more energy efficient in how they conserve energy in their units. Obviously, some of our communities only have a set number of fuel. We want to make sure that we can continue to support and make sure our communities have the adequate fuel sources to keep their houses warm, especially during the winter months. We definitely can take a look at that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for that. That is very good. I guess one more thing on that is that I am asking the Minister to do that adjustment so that individuals who are hitting a certain income threshold and then they are maxing out at a certain percentage do not start to exceed that once they start paying their own power. I don’t know if that is more of a comment, I suppose. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Government Operations has reviewed Bill 18: An Act to Amend the Cities, Towns and Villages Act, and Bill 20, Ombud Act. Mr. Speaker, the committee wishes to report that Bill 18 is now ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole and that Bill 20 is ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole as amended and reprinted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
