Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister responsible for Seniors. In my Member’s statement I spoke of some of the elders I had the opportunity to host this past weekend in Yellowknife. I spoke with elders from Colville Lake, Délînê, Fort Good Hope, and I also spoke to some of the seniors and elders in Norman Wells.
I would like to ask the Minister responsible for Seniors: in terms of seniors’ care in the Sahtu as well as the other communities is there a discussion paper being examined or looked at in terms of coordinating all the seniors’ programs under one secretariat or department?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Seniors, Ms. Lee.
Mr. Speaker, there is not a plan to set up a secretariat for seniors separately. However, we have a Minister responsible for Seniors who worked with the NWT Seniors’ Society and other seniors in the territory to address the seniors’ issues they advocate for on behalf of the seniors in the Territories.
The NWT Seniors’ Society certainly does a lot of good work in the Northwest Territories. They involve the regional seniors in their meetings.
I’d like to ask the Minister if there are any discussions in the upcoming business plan, any type of discussion on the new initiatives that are initiated by this government in terms of looking at the possibility of putting together a discussion paper on the seniors’ secretariat, because that will benefit the people in the region in terms of how to work with the seniors at a more respectful level.
Mr. Speaker, whether there is a seniors’ secretariat or not, I think what the seniors are interested in knowing is that the government is responsive to some of the concerns that the seniors are bringing forward. The government has worked on and responded to the Seniors Action Plan along with the NWT Seniors’ Society.
Just last year we increased the seniors’ benefits, and it was indexed by communities, recognizing the differentials in the cost of living, especially in some of our smaller and remote communities. Income Security has increased the ceiling for the senior home fuel subsidy, where an increase of $10,000 as the limit that seniors can apply for has helped seniors. In terms of the new initiatives, the Strategic Initiative Committee on Reducing the Cost of Living is looking at reviewing the commercial power subsidy as well as enhancing and improving road access to remote communities.
All of these are geared towards dealing with reducing the cost of living in small communities, which at the end of the day is what the seniors are looking for, I believe.
Mr. Speaker, thank you to the Minister for the overall report. I’m asking again if the Minister would look at a secretariat that would have a little more weight than what we have right now. I know you have to work with other departments, other Ministers, and the different programs in other departments. For the seniors back in our small and most isolated communities, they have to go to different departments, different agencies and organizations to explain what their issue is. I’m looking for a secretariat where they could come to one place. We owe that to them and not let them run around the communities. They could come to one place where they can get all their issues dealt with under one roof by this government. So I’m again asking: would you bring this to your colleagues and to the House to have a discussion on a secretariat that would be more meaningful for seniors?
Mr. Speaker, there is no plan to establish a seniors’ secretariat, because within the fiscal environment that we are working on, we are not able to look at expanding government bureaucracy. Even if there were a secretariat, whoever is working there would have to work with departments across the government, because seniors are looked after by Health and Social Services, by Income Security, by Housing, and in many, many different areas.
I think the point, the more important thing, is that we work together, and the Minister responsible for Seniors does do that. We work closely with the NWT Seniors’ Society on the enhancement of programs. I think that is more important than setting up a separate junior department for seniors.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, the key words that the Minister used are “working together.” If it was working together, I wouldn’t be raising this issue.
I just came out of the Sahtu. These are the issues at Norman Wells. There’s a seniors’ house in Fort Good Hope where the floors totally need replacing. The seniors are going to be living with it through the winter if it doesn’t get replaced.
So I’m asking the Minister, in terms of having some discussion with her Cabinet through the avenues that are available, to work with them and come up with a plan that would have the seniors’ sector reorganized. Mr. Premier said he was not going to have the status quo; he wanted to shake things up and think differently, reorganize the departments, bring them together. This is for the seniors. It’s not for the bureaucrats or me; it’s for the seniors.
I’m asking the Minister again: will she look at a coordinated approach for our seniors, through the avenues that are available to her with the other Ministers, so they cannot run around the community throughout the months and can come to one place and say, “Thank you, government; you did this for us”?
Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate and take the Member’s point that we can always do better to improve our services and efficiencies. One of the things that’s been conducted by the Strategic Initiative Committee on Refocusing Government is to look at how to combine the services of Housing, Health and Social Services, and ECE in the way it’s structured so that at the regional level our communities are able to work together to better serve their communities and the citizens that we serve. Obviously, there’s always room for better coordination, and we will continue to make that effort.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
