Debates of March 1, 2006 (day 39)

I move, seconded by Honourable Charles Dent, Member for Frame Lake, that we appoint Mr. Dave Ramsay, Member for Kam Lake, as Speaker for the day.

The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question.

All those in favour? All those opposed? I will now ask Mr. Ramsay to assume the chair as Acting Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been ongoing growth in private and commercial vehicle use due to resource development. The climate is warming and bringing more precipitation and more variable weather patterns. Our transportation infrastructure is aging. The severity of each of these factors is expected to increase into the future. These factors are forcing the department to increase the operation and maintenance efforts.

Mr. Speaker in the past, the department’s own maintenance forces worked a standard 40-hour week, Monday through Friday. Maintenance requirements occurring in the evenings or on weekends were expensive as employees were paid overtime rates. It was always a challenge to respond in a timely and cost-effective manner.

To solve these challenges, the department has restructured its own force operations and changed the standard operation to a 12 hours per day, seven days per week. I would personally like to thank the Department of Transportation employees for their hard work and flexibility to accommodate these changes.

Mr. Speaker, this change in operations will result in dramatic improvement in road conditions during the winter months when adverse weather conditions are combined with increased commercial truck activity. This will make the highway system safer for all users. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Colleagues, I would like to direct your attention to the presence in the visitors’ gallery today of Martin Cronin, the British Consul General.

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With him as well is Ms. Carmen Moore, chief of protocol. Welcome to our proceedings.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This year’s Arctic Winter Games are about to get underway later this week and I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate all the athletes, the staff, the volunteers who will be travelling to Alaska representing the NWT.

In particular, I would like to recognize a number of constituents from Yellowknife Centre who have committed themselves to the game and the spirit of competition. Mr. Speaker, I am going to name all the athletes: Laurell Graf, badminton team coach; Michael Callas, junior male basketball; Alexander Hopkins, midget male cross-country skiing; Peggy MacConnell, hockey; Jordon Balint, midget hockey; Kelsey MacDougall, intermediate female soccer; Hope Charpentier, junior female soccer; Chi Nguyen, juvenile female soccer; Dustan Curtis, juvenile male soccer; Ian MacDougall, junior male speedskating; Marie-Christine Auge, juvenile female speedskating; and, Stephanie Bourgois, juvenile female speedskating.

Mr. Speaker, these individuals, along with the entire NWT Team, will represent us and I am sure will make us all proud. I have every confidence in their abilities and their sportsmanship attitude. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate them and wish them all good luck, as well as the whole team, in Kenai, Alaska. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recent events regarding a resident of Inuvik, who was travelling to Yellowknife for medical reasons, has lead me to question how patients are cared for when they arrive in Yellowknife. Is there any communication, Mr. Speaker, between the regions and Yellowknife as to what the patients are coming down for, and why do we have to put them in taxis? Is there not a boarding home van to pick the patients up, or was it after 5:00 p.m.? We cannot allow this to happen, Mr. Speaker. Why does the authorization have to come out of Yellowknife? Is this government’s idea of decentralization, or does it just apply to moving from one location to another in Yellowknife?

Mr. Speaker, travel authorization escorts should be made at the regional level. They should know the medical history of the patients and whether they require an escort or not. A case in point, Mr. Speaker, a patient just came down from the Beaufort-Delta recently for surgery. The doctor informed her she should have an escort because she will need help getting back to her place that she’s staying at in town here. Luckily, a relative of hers was in town and agreed to wait so she can take care of her when she’s done.

Mr. Speaker, when I get older and may need medical travel, I am going to ask my family to throw me in the back of a transport truck and ship me south because I am afraid of the treatment I may get here.

Mr. Speaker, the patient was a mother and a grandmother and, sadly, her family had to lay her to rest. I think we let them down, Mr. Speaker, and let’s not let that happen again.

Hear! Hear!

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Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (Translation) Mr. Speaker, throughout the session, I have been speaking mostly about one issue, which is our Dene languages and culture. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to highlight some things that are going to be happening in Behchoko.

During their meeting, they are going to have a hand game tournament. The tournament will be happening this weekend and people from all communities, from Behchoko, Whati, Tulita, Gameti, Wekweeti, Deline, Lutselk’e and also from Meander River communities will be coming to Behchoko to try out in this tournament. Sometimes some of the teams will be coming from each community, some bringing more than one team. So there are still more people signing up for the tournament. It’s going to be from Friday to Sunday and also, Mr. Speaker, this kind of cultural activity is very important for our people. This kind of activity has been happening for many years. They are not only going to come together because of the prize money, but also to be involved and coming together as brotherhood and celebrating who we are as Dene people. Some of these people have not seen each other for many years.

As for the Tlicho people, we are proud of our Dene ways. On behalf of the Tlicho people, I would like to invite Members of the Legislative Assembly to participate in this gathering. We would like to see you in our community to share in our culture and tradition. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I wish to speak about women’s achievements in various fields, especially in politics and sports. Mr. Speaker, yesterday in one of the meetings in the back room, one of my male colleagues suggested that I should stop being so anti-male. Obviously this is a highly offensive statement, but I am used to that in the world of politics. But it did get me to start dreaming about what it would be like if the Cabinet across the floor were made up of all women instead of all men. I am sure all of my questions and objections to what they are doing or not doing would not be considered as being anti-male.

Of course, if there were nine women and two men on this side of the floor, I wondered how one of them would feel if accused of being anti-female for simply doing his job. Mr. Speaker, this speaks to a much larger issue of the ever-decreasing rate of women’s representation in Canadian legislatures. In fact, with the recent federal election, once a leader, Canada now ranks 46th in the world, behind the even newly elected Legislature of Afghanistan. Of course, right here at home, we continue to have two women out of 19 Members and we have the dubious distinction of owning the only Cabinet in Canada without women.

On a hopeful note, Mr. Speaker, everywhere I go in the North, I see strong and able women leaders doing fantastic jobs in all communities and it is my fervent hope that more of them will join us in this House in the near future.

Mr. Speaker, it is also comforting to know that this is not par for the course in the outside world. When I was at Dalhousie Law School, between 1994 and 1997, my second year was the first time where there were more women law students than men and we definitely see women taking up a larger space of lawyers' and doctors' offices, and engineering, and many other fields in our community.

What about our women Olympians, Mr. Speaker? Not only do we have our very own Sharon and Shirley Firth of Guts to Glory to celebrate, but our newest women Olympians brought us two-thirds of all the medals won. They brought us a gold medal the first day and the last day, the most medals won by any Canadian Olympian of all times and the only hockey goal of the games, Mr. Speaker.

Hear! Hear!

Mr. Speaker, what this shows me is if we can just work through the manmade barriers, women will always achieve in spectacular fashion for the entire country and mankind.

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Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. In the last two days, Mr. Speaker, the issue of parity or at least some degree of fairness in wages and benefits for NGOs that deliver programs on behalf of our government has been a bit of a topic here. It’s interesting to note some evolution in that issue, Mr. Chairman. I would quote from Hansard of February 23rd from a comment that the Honourable Michael Miltenberger, Minister of Health and Social Services, said in regard to a question about wage parity. The Hansard record says of the Minister, “I don’t recollect when the time was that there was automatic increases given. It must have been in another century because it’s not clear in my present memory when that was. “

Mr. Chairman, I would also like to quote briefly from a letter, correspondence received from the executive director of the YWCA. She offers correspondence from July 13, 2001. This may or may not have been under Mr. Miltenberger’s watch as this Minister in the previous Assembly, but it is very illuminating to see that this letter advises that, “With the Department of Health and Social Services' assistance, we have been successful in obtaining additional funding to provide a 3.8 and 2.5 percent increase in salaries and a two percent increase in O and M. We are pleased to be able to provide some financial recognition for the important work your staff carries out in the community."

Mr. Speaker, from what the Minister said a few days ago and what came forward under the Yellowknife Health and Social Services authority directly attributing the department’s willingness to support our NGOs, there is a considerable difference in the Minister’s statement and position and what this department has actually done. I am going to be asking him to account for that difference when we get to question period. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I drive on the beautiful Nahendeh highways frequently for business and pleasure. One of my favourite songs is On the Road Again by Willie Nelson. However, I am not playing that song very often as our gravel roads continue to deteriorate quickly during the summer months. Today, in my constituency, many people are participating in Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent where it is a common practice to give up something or actively make the world a better place. These are the values I try to use every day while representing the Nahendeh. Will the Minister commit to enhancing the transportation infrastructure in Nahendeh, especially chipsealing Highway No. 1 and No. 7?

This government has developed a Tourism Strategy and transportation that must be included. Tourism dollars are valuable and cannot be taken for granted. Every year, the communities in the region, or territorial government, must actively and creatively initiate aggressive tourism projects to ensure tourism activity. This is directly tied to economic development.

There was a press release on the Tourism Strategy on February 27th called, Tourism 2010. This is a $15 million commitment by this government to help build tourism. Five key areas had been identified. However, according to my research, nothing had been earmarked for highway improvements. There is a gap as it fails to address the road system that our tourism needs. We must continue and accelerate the plans to chipseal Highway No. 1 and No. 7. This would not only improve the condition and safety of our highways, but also encourage tourism in a badly needed region. Safety is a primary concern of this government. As economic activity increases, so too must the resources to ensure our highways are maintained adequately and safely.

As expressed during my oral questions on Monday, tourism is a word of mouth industry, Mr. Speaker. Other regions in Canada with similar attributes get hundreds of thousands of visitors a year. I believe so can we. The completion of a chipseal Deh Cho trail is critical to this objective, Mr. Speaker.

In closing, our highways are a key to entrenching the tourism future for all residents. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

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Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, caribou management has been a topic of great importance to me of late, but equally important to my constituents is the issue of bison management.

Mr. Speaker, the Hook Lake bison recovery project has been providing food and employment opportunities to my constituents since its conception. The Deninu Kue residents do not want to see this project come to a sad and sudden end, especially after many years of active community participation and the gathering of scientific research this project has provided this government with in order to better manage our wildlife.

Mr. Speaker, the Deninu Kue residents will be meeting with the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources tomorrow to discuss the fate of this project, but it seems that it has been communicated to me that the fate of the Hook Lake Bison Recovery Program has already been sealed without the consent or consultation of the community members.

Mr. Speaker, I hope this is not the case. I look forward to the Minister’s visit tomorrow in which we can find and look for some direction to an agreeable, cooperative approach to our -- and I stress our, Mr. Speaker -- bison management plan that the community can agree to and cooperate with. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement today will be on the vehicle gravel materials to maintain the roads, driveways and build the necessary building pads for the further development in the community of Tuktoyaktuk.

Mr. Speaker, because the closest gravel source is not accessible by an all-weather road, the hamlet and community contractors have to wait until the winter months to build up their stockpiles for the upcoming years. With so many unknowns on the pace of development, the Tuktoyaktuk planning committee has identified and need for ready access to a gravel source.

Mr. Speaker, I have to wonder about our government where the Department of Justice can just get about $3 million in the 2006-07 Main Estimates to begin work on the courthouse in Yellowknife, but, yet, Municipal and Community Affairs has only identified a meagre $250,000 to address gravel materials for all of the communities in the Northwest Territories; peanuts for infrastructure in communities and millions for Yellowknife.

Mr. Speaker, Cabinet and the deputy minister in the capital planning should give serious considerations to the infrastructure needs of the communities. A need for gravel materials for roads, water access service and landfills are crucial to the safety of all residents and communities. This government should work with the Inuvialuit Land Administration to gain year-round access to gravel source 177 which is only 22 kilometres from the community of Tuktoyaktuk. Opening up gravel source 177 will address Tuktoyaktuk’s gravel needs for a number of years. I am concerned that, with the coming of the pipeline, the needs of the industry will take the priority over the infrastructure needs of the communities.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to encourage this government to enter into a dialogue with Inuvialuit Land Administration and the hamlet to secure the gravel source for the future of Tuktoyaktuk. Funding will also be required for the community of Tuktoyaktuk to secure the rights to this gravel source. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the news I read that the North of 60, there was a territorial challenge by the Nunavut government called, Drop the Pop campaign that will begin on March 27th to March 31st. It is challenging the Yukon government, the territorial government here in the Northwest Territories and also the Nunavut government. It is based on a creative concept in Nunavut. It is about having the communities and the schools avoid drinking pop for one full week. Again, this challenge went out to the two other territories. It is to create awareness for the schools in the communities about the dangers of drinking pop in the people’s lives. It is to promote a healthy lifestyle for the young people and also for the community.

Also, Mr. Speaker, there is funding available, I understand, to provide for communities and schools in terms of types of incentive that could have as children drop the pop for a whole week. Also, there is funding for participation in this challenge here. I look forward to the Minister laying out some type of strategy or some type of announcement for these school kids or communities to take part in this challenge as the Northwest Territories, like any other territory, certainly loves a good challenge, especially with our family territories across the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I think this is a worthwhile challenge. There are many other friendly issues that we could challenge each other on different areas of issues that we have faced with the North. I look forward to the Minister in terms of releasing an announcement on the type of support and incentive that we could come up to the challenge and look at the results when this challenge is finished.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward again to the Minister’s strategy in terms of having a challenge for the Yukon and Nunavut governments. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a constituent of mine, Barb Wyness with the UNW, in the gallery.

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Thank you, Mr. Dent. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. I would also like to say hello to Ms. Gayla Wick from the UNW, as well. Welcome, ladies, to the proceedings.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question this morning is for Mr. Miltenberger, the Minister of Health and Social Services, and it refers to the issue of making sure that the non-government organizations that we partner with receive a realistic pay and benefit package for their staff, something which we have lost a lot of ground on. Mr. Speaker, a few days ago, the Minister said that he didn’t recall when there was a time when automatic increases were given, and yet I have correspondence from the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Board dating back a couple years now, Mr. Speaker, to July of 2001, in which salary increments were put forward to the YWCA through the Department of Health and Social Services’ assistance. This was done, and I quote from the letter, "to provide some financial recognition for the important work your staff carries out in communities." Mr. Speaker, how can the Minister account for this written acknowledgement of the significance of the work that NGOs do and his own recollection of just a few days ago when automatic increases were not given? Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister Miltenberger.

Return To Question 490-15(4): Wages And Benefits For Non-Government Organizations' Workers

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this issue is one where there has not been consistency in the past. My account for not being aware of this information is due to, in all probability, my memory and not being aware of that particular detail. I do know that there is no annual increase to NGOs that are built in as forced growth. I know that the concern from women’s shelters, from every other organization that I have talked to, has been that often their budgets have been pegged at a certain level as they haven’t seen any increases for salaries, cost of doing business or anything. In this case, the YWCA was fortunate; but the reality is that we don’t have an ongoing method to build it into our budgets at this point. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 490-15(4): Wages And Benefits For Non-Government Organizations' Workers

Mr. Speaker, I believe we do have a way of building something like this into our ongoing budget. It is called forced growth. We do it all the time. We are going to be dealing with it later on today, I believe, when we consider the supplementary appropriation bill. This is something that I would be very much in support of considering if the Minister’s department or, in fact, others that deal with NGOs, feel that it could be warranted, to offer our partner NGOs an increment for salary and wages. Would the Minister consider using forced growth as a way of providing these NGOs with some wage and benefit parody, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 490-15(4): Wages And Benefits For Non-Government Organizations' Workers

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have indicated previously in this session and in this House, the government has developed a third-party accountability framework that is giving us a way to put a frame around this particular issue, recognizing the important work that the NGOs are doing and classifying them in different categories. The key number one category being that if the NGO does not provide the service, would the government have to provide it on their own with their own resources? As I indicated previously in this House, we are working on lists collectively that we can bring forward that would classify the NGOs that currently do business for us, in this case, Health and Social Services, to make the case that they be given that consideration on an ongoing basis within that third-party accountability framework. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 490-15(4): Wages And Benefits For Non-Government Organizations' Workers

Mr. Speaker, does the third-party accountability framework specifically, absolutely include NGOs like the YWCA? Does it capture those organizations within the intent and the purpose of the policy? Or does it only apply to those agencies such as Health and Social Services authorities, local housing authorities, district education boards, those ones that are directly mandated? I am trying to find out, Mr. Speaker, does our policy take that extra step to include NGOs that are not statutory creations of this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 490-15(4): Wages And Benefits For Non-Government Organizations' Workers

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The third-party accountability framework is designed to be able to recognize the work of NGOs. The health authorities, the DEAs are considered employees. They have collective agreements. They are part of our budgeting process. NGOs currently, in terms of when it comes to forced growth and other issues, are not. This third-party accountability was designed specifically due to the recognition of the fact by the government that this is an area that we would have to be able to better define so that we can address appropriately. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker…(Translation) I spoke on something very important yesterday which was the safety of the children and transporting them to their school. I talked about bussing. (Translation ends)

…from the isolated communities. The words I am sharing today are not my words, Mr. Speaker. These are the words of our respected elders in the communities. They want this territorial government to deal with this public safety that I addressed yesterday and today. The Department of ECE and divisional boards’ responsibility is to ensure the safety of our young school children. They need to go to school safely, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a question to the Minister of ECE is, what measures has the department taken into consideration to ensure bussing for isolated communities such as Wekweeti, Gameti and Whati as this year’s capital projects? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for ECE, Mr. Dent.

Return To Question 491-15(4): School Transportation Services

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department has no program for providing capital for buses to DECs. We provide money for transportation as part of the grant that we provide to DECs and agencies like the Tlicho Community Services Agency. It is up to those agencies to determine how transportation is provided. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 491-15(4): School Transportation Services

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister indicated, funding does consist of bussing if need be in the communities. Again, Mr. Speaker, I would like to stress that, with the current funding to Tlicho Community Services Agency, it is stretched as it is with no flexibility to contract out or purchase a school bus, Mr. Speaker. There is absolutely no room, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister commit in this House to invest in school transportation as part of the additional funding so there is no impact on the current funding that is geared towards providing core subjects, cultural and language programs and inclusive schooling? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.