Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Affordable daycare would give an opportunity for people to find work, and there are not many jobs in the small communities. Does the Premier agree that job creation should be one of the GNWT's highest priorities in reducing poverty? Thank you.
In all the speeches that I make, job creation is a number one priority. I think that we have been saying that for many years. Some people have said that creating jobs is the best social program going. I also say that we ask our children to stay in school and complete their education. As a government, we have to keep our end of the bargain so that, when they graduate, there are good jobs and good business opportunities for them. Recently, we have had some concerns with our NWT economy. I think that job creation has to be our top priority and that we have to keep focusing on creating jobs and opportunities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. We spoke earlier in this sitting about the need for an adult day program in Yellowknife, and he said that his officials were meeting on February 21st to discuss this issue and he would be able to outline the concrete directions being taken following that meeting. Today I am calling on him to do just that. Mahsi.
Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On February 21st, that meeting did take place. From this meeting, it is clear that there is a shared interest between parties to work together to build a model of care that really meets the inclusion and care needs of seniors in Yellowknife, while also filling some of the service gaps by building on the capacity that already exist within the city. There is a lot of capacity within the city. I am pleased that the meeting resulted in the formation of a steering committee to support the development of a concrete program development plan. This plan will see the authority and the department working to identify some social inclusion needs of individual seniors and the development of options for program enhancement that are required to meet the needs of these seniors and their families. Through this process, it is expected that we will identify seniors, individuals who with some extra support will be able to get the supports they need to attend different functions, different mechanisms, different events around town, and get that social inclusion that they're looking for in a safe and reliable way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the response from the Minister. Can the Minister tell us who is going to deliver the program to the adults who need it?
I think it will be a wide variety of stakeholders. Some of the events that already occur that these individuals can't get to will continue, so they will be working to find ways to get them to those events. We haven't absolutely 100 percent articulated who will be the individuals or the group who get those people to those events, and that's something that we're working on the detail with our stakeholders right now.
It sounds like the program is busing seniors around to different places in Yellowknife, which I find a little confusing. As the Minister knows, there are roughly two groups of seniors who need this program; people who are frail but cognitively intact, and people who are cognitively frail but may otherwise be fine. I'm a little unclear about not having a central place that is a base for providing these services. Is there, in fact, going to be that?
I don't see this as being a bus ride. That is not the intent. That's not what the Members and I discussed when we met late last year. What we're talking about is having an opportunity to provide a client-centred approach that really builds upon the existing organizational strength and moves us away from more of an institutional model. There was a lot of discussion about not having a model which is a place to plunk somebody, take somebody, and get support just there, but to find ways to get them engaged in community. Find them a way to be supported. It doesn't necessarily absolutely mean that we won't have a go to location, but some of those things are the things that we're looking to finalize and build into our model as we go forward.
Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I apologize to the Minister. I'm still a little confused about how this is going to work. Previously, the Minister had issued two RFPs for a service provider, and there was no uptake. It was my understanding that there was not a non-profit in Yellowknife that was able to deliver this service. I'm still a little confused about who is delivering this service, and when this service is going to be delivered.
When I met with the Yellowknife MLAs, and then we followed up and met with stakeholders, it was clear that there are a lot of stakeholders who want to be involved. A lot of stakeholders have something they can add to the idea of supporting our seniors who are either cognitively or physically impaired to engage and have socialization, getting to the community. There are a number of stakeholders who want to be involved. There are lots of opportunities to figure out how to get that engagement to occur. What we're looking at right now is how to work with those partners. The GNWT is clearly going to have a role, but we want to have the steering committee to actually help us quantify exactly what role each of us as parties would play. Recognizing that this has taken a long time and recognizing that the stakeholders recognize that this is important, they will be meeting in March, early March, to start putting together those pieces. I will keep the Member and all Yellowknife Members up to date on that work. I recognize how important it is, and we want to get it right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on questions asked by my honourable friend from Nahendeh, can the Minister responsible for the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission tell us what class and subclasses apply to the Government of the Northwest Territories toward the WSCC's rate structure? Thank you.
Minister responsible for the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to apologize. I didn't hear the end of the question there, but I will get the information in terms of the classes and subclasses for all Members in terms of work that WSCC does. As Members are aware, the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission does provide and promote workplace health and safety. I think that is foremost what we should be focussing on. I can get that information about what the Member just asked, and I will get that information for him, and the previous Member who asked the questions, and provide that information to all Members of the Legislative Assembly. Thank you.
I think we're well aware of the purpose of the commission. The Minister in response to the previous questions mentioned the GNWT rate which is about 93 cents. I just wonder if that applies across the board to all GNWT employees, all GNWT departments, regardless of the actual work being done? Is there only one rate for the Government of the Northwest Territories?
In response to the previous questions from another Member, we do pay about 88 cents per $100. As I mentioned, as an employer for the GNWT, one employer for all the departments, we are classified under a single industry code, that code being class 81. In the previous question that the Member asked, we will take a look into it, but as I mentioned, it would fluctuate if we decided to look at doing different departments. As the questions that were asked earlier, such departments as Infrastructure, Health and Social Services, Justice, when you compare it to our administrators and people who work in the administration staff, it would be different. It would go up for some. It might go down for others. As I mentioned, we do follow one single industry code, and that is being class 81.
Looking at the industry codes, the ferry industry pays $4.74. When the Department of Infrastructure is offering their own ferry services, they're paying 88 cents, as the Minister says. From the prospective of the private sector, that that seems to be an unfair rate to be charged. The Minister said he'll take a look at it, but can we get more than that? Can he actually commit to reaching out to the industry and having a real conversation with meaningful engagement with stakeholders who feel that the rate structure unfairly gives government a break when their costs keep going up?
As I mentioned in answering a previous question, why the rates did go up in 2019, as a government and as one employer, we do and focus on taking care of our employees. We want to promote workplace health and safety right across the Northwest Territories, and people who we do work with. That means that we're taking care of the increased costs of treatment and care for any of our injured workers, and will continue to do that. As a result, we will have to make sure that industry and people who we work with do comply with WSCC codes and standards, as well, so that we know, when they're working for us, that they're complying by standards and legislation moving forward. We will continue to take care of the treatment and costs, but we have to make sure that anybody who works under us as an employer does follow legislation and our standards.
Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister seems to be answering questions that aren't being asked. Nobody is asking industry not to pay these rates. We're talking about the rates, and whether or not they can be rebalanced to be fairer, given the government's rate. Florists and yarn and fabric stores pay $2.50, again, compared to 88 cents. Will the Minister sit down with industry and have a meaningful conversation with them so that he can get a better understanding of what their concerns are? Quite clearly, he doesn't get it. Thank you.
As I mentioned earlier, we do have a governance council that oversees the conduct of business and management of the WSCC. I am not sure if the Member heard me say that in a response to a question earlier. I can inform this governance council, and I am sure they are listening, about having these discussions. I also mentioned that I am at an arm's length in terms of my role as Minister responsible for the WSCC, and we will let the governance council know about these concerns that the Member has and that some of the partners in industry have, that we have had a couple of Members bring up today.
We do take it seriously, obviously. We want to make sure that everybody who does work in the Northwest Territories has the best interests of health and safety of our residents and our employees, and we want to make sure that they understand our legislation. I will make sure that the governance council does look into this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Housing on aging in place. I would like to ask the Minister if there is a plan to expand the program for aging in place beyond where it sits now, that is, $10,000. I would like to ask the Minister if there is a plan to expand that particular program? Thank you.
Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we just did a presentation to standing committee on the senior planning study. We did mention that seniors aging in place was probably one of our highest programs that has been applied to. On top of that, we are looking at doing a northern housing summit, where we are going to be able to get this kind of information out to all of our leaders, to all of our community members, so that that information can be presented to community members and/or seniors if they want to apply to the program.
In response to that public hearing that we had last week, I had mentioned that we do have to respect our seniors and make sure that they have every opportunity to live in their own independent units, and we will be making sure that we get that information out and sharing it with all residents of the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Currently the program has a maximum amount of $10,000. My question is more: can we increase that amount? Right now, the idea of aging in place is to age in place. Right? If you don't have the ability to go beyond $10,000, you are not going to allow the senior to age in his home, and that is the idea. Right now we have situations where the budget is maxed, and a person can't change their heating system, for example, to something more efficient. I would like to ask the Minister if there is a plan to increase the limit on the program, like the amount that an individual can ge?
I know that we have had a lot of successful applications with the seniors aging in place programs and whatever programs that they are able to apply for. I know that there are some cases that don't meet that criteria. For this Northern Housing Summit that we are going to have, we have invited the NWT Seniors' Society, NWT Disabilities Society, and we want to hear any other concerns that they might have had in that case. I can't speak to any case in particular, but I know that it has been a concern, and I think that those discussions we will have at the Northern Housing Summit and come out with some good recommendations and where we move from there. We try to be as flexible as we can when we are working with our residents and our most vulnerable residents.
I wonder if the Minister would just make a decision on increasing that amount. Right now what is happening is individuals are trying to get some help, they are trying to age in place, but the program is very limited. It does very little to support that individual to remain in the home. Barrier-free, for example, would probably cost $60,000 to $100,000, if that was the extreme, but barrier-free could actually allow individuals to age in place. I wonder if the Minister could just open the program up, make a decision about increasing that number of $10,000 to $20,000, $25,000, whatever the placeholder number can be at this point, but something beyond $10,000. You cannot install a wood stove or a furnace in a house for a senior who has an aging, inefficient furnace or wood stove for $10,000.
When we look at these applications for housing programs, whether it is for seniors or any of our residents, it is on a case-by-case basis. We do have a lot of programs that we can work with our seniors to apply for, and like I mentioned, if this is a big concern, we can take a look into it after the Northern Housing Summit. We want to hear from everybody. We want to hear from the communities. We want to hear from the seniors, disabilities, and make the decisions from them moving on. As I mentioned, we work with all of our residents on a case-by-case basis to address the need. At this time, I can't make that commitment to increase it, but we are pretty flexible in terms of how we deal with certain cases, and we will continue to do that.
Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is exactly my issue, the inflexibility of that program. The Minister is telling me that they would be flexible. Do the people on the ground, the officers, when an individual applies for a program, just change the program to make sure that the program that they do need is what they get? Do the people on the ground, officers, have that ability to make that change? Thank you.
We do base it on criteria, and as I have said in this House and in meetings, moving material into certain parts of our territory, because some of them are remote, is a concern. Also, having contractors available to do the job is another concern. There are a lot of things to take into consideration. I will sit down and have a meeting with my staff to see how we can address this, and I am really glad the Member has brought this up and brought it to our attention. Obviously, we do want to have more seniors aging in place. It would be a benefit to them, the culture, traditions, and languages.
Moving forward, I think that we will get more feedback, probably, from the Northern Housing Summit. As I mentioned, we will be inviting Members to attend that. I want to hear from the NWT Seniors' Society as well as our leaders in the communities on what the priorities are and how we address this. I would like to thank the Member for bringing this to our attention. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a letter here from the Council of Canadians, NWT Chapter. I would like to table it. It is on "Ensuring the NWT post devolution legislation recognizes UNDRIP." Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Wednesday, February 27, 2019, I will move that Bill 40, Smoking Control and Reduction Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Notices of motion for first reading of bills. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Wednesday, February 27, 2019, I will move that Bill 41, Tobacco and Vapor Products Control Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 38, Protected Areas Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
