Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to update Members on our fiscal situation and the challenges that Members of the next Assembly will be facing.
As the 2014-2015 interim Public Accounts that I will table later this session will show, we have achieved our fourth consecutive surplus last year, totalling $120 million. Our departments were diligent in keeping expenditures within budgeted levels. However, this is not enough. The public accounts will also show that our net debt has increased $37 million. This means we continue to rely on short-term debt to pay for our capital expenditures and we remain in a cash deficit position.
In June of this year we received the last of the 2014 resource revenues, and after adding in the estimate for the revenues we expect to receive for the first three months of 2015, we have recorded $63.7 million in resource revenues in the 2014-2015 Public Accounts. We have shared $6.3 million of the net fiscal benefit of the revenues already received with our Aboriginal partners under the Devolution Agreement. After sharing with the federal government and our Aboriginal partners, our remaining net fiscal benefit for 2014-2015 is $23.9 million. This allowed us to make our first contribution of resource revenues to the Heritage Fund. In August we transferred $4.7 million to ensure that future generations share in the resource development happening now. The remaining resource revenue will be dedicated to investment in infrastructure and debt repayment, consistent with our previous commitment to the Assembly and public.
In 2015-2016 we will continue to meet our fiscal challenges in spite of extraordinary expenditure pressures resulting from fire suppression activity and low water levels at our Snare Hydro system. This year’s revenue forecast has not materially changed from the February budget. Due to extraordinary expenditures related to forest fires and low water, we are expecting a reduced operating surplus at $105 million, down from $147 million projected in the 2015-2016 budget.
We need these operating surpluses to fund at least half of our annual capital investments, and our dedication to managing our expenditure growth in line with revenue growth has kept us in a surplus position. Going forward, even more fiscal restraint will be necessary to maintain surpluses because our revenue growth is forecasted to be flat over the next five years.
The flat revenue outlook means less fiscal resources to sustain programs and services and capital investments at current levels. Under current fiscal planning assumptions, our operating surplus will continue to decline to what would barely be a balanced budget by 2019-2020. That year could see us with a small surplus of $10 million and still in a short-term cash deficit position, living beyond our means as we continue to borrow money to finance operations and capital investment throughout the life of the 18th Legislative Assembly, something we said we must not do.
The key components of our revenue are beyond our control, so we cannot simply choose to grow them. The reality is that almost 70 percent of our revenues come from the Territorial Formula Financing Grant, which increases at the rate of provincial and local government expenditure growth adjusted by the NWT population growth. As provinces struggle to balance their budgets and manage their debt loads and we deal with flat population growth, our main source of revenue will also begin to decline.
While making up only 19 percent of total revenue, our own-source revenues are volatile and difficult to estimate and are linked to the NWT economy.
The NWT economy has experienced three years of growth, primarily because of activity related to the construction of the NWT’s fourth diamond mine. However, this fact masks the reality that the economy is only 85 percent of what it was before the global recession in 2008. Furthermore, economic activity is uneven, with southern NWT, especially the North Slave region, benefitting from mineral exploration and diamond mine activity, but other regions, especially the Sahtu and Beaufort-Delta regions, experiencing serious declines in economic activity. This economic slowdown has caused business opportunities to dry up and the population to stagnate, as families leave to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Yesterday’s Statistics Canada release of the July 1, 2015, population estimates show 0.2 percent population growth in both 2014 and 2015, caused mainly by less people leaving the territory. While these new estimates suggest that the retention efforts in our Population Growth Strategy are working, other important initiatives of this strategy, including increasing immigration to the NWT through the Nominee and Express Entry programs, may also be bearing fruit. However, It does not change the Northwest Territories fiscal outlook and we cannot relax efforts to address our economic challenges.
What happens in the resource sector has a dramatic ripple effect on the rest of the economy in relatively short order and we are keenly aware that our resource sector is strongly linked to the global economy as the prices for NWT resources are set in the global market. Both workers and capital can easily leave the NWT when the economy slows down or another province experiences strong growth. Simply having the resources is not a guarantee that they can or will be developed.
The scope and timing of new resource projects are uncertain. Currently, potential new mines are having difficulty obtaining financing, and low prices have caused oil and gas activity in the territory to decline significantly. New drilling and exploration projects in the Beaufort Sea and Sahtu regions have been put on hold. At present there are no potential projects large enough to replace the existing diamond mines and the resource revenues they provide our government when they stop production. None of the existing diamond mines are projecting production past 2031. The first mine projected to close is Diavik by 2023, just eight years away.
Resource development depends on exploration investments made by private companies with plenty of worldwide options for future growth. A new mineral discovery may take more than a decade to become a productive mine and the rate of exploration investment has decelerated. Total mineral exploration is at levels similar to 2009, when the global economy was in recession, and very little oil and gas exploration has been undertaken over the past few years. Without exploration, new resource development does not happen.
This is our dilemma. We need to make investments in our economic future now by ensuring our territory is attractive and welcoming to potential investors. Infrastructure investment can help encourage resource exploration and development and we need to position ourselves to capture the benefits of a global economic recovery. However, our projected revenues are flat and our existing expenditure pressures continue to intensify. Taxation and other measures to increase our revenues are not the answer; these would only raise the cost of living and doing business here and discourage the investment we need.
The solution is growing our economy and growing our population, which means investments in infrastructure are required to not only support resource development but to diversify our economy, lower our energy costs and, in turn, lower the cost of living and operating businesses in the NWT. In short, we need to spend money to create future prosperity, but that means managing current expenditures so that we have the fiscal resources to invest for the future.
As we look to our future post-devolution and the need to grow our economy, there are key things to be done. Specifically, we need to commit ourselves to settling outstanding land claims. This will bring political certainty to both the GNWT and Aboriginal governments. It will bring economic certainty and opportunity to industry, opening up 144,000 square kilometres of mineral rich land that has been under interim withdrawals for decades, allowing for potential development. Settled claims also mean no more tens of millions of dollars spent on protracted negotiations, saving three levels of government critical fiscal resources.
Going forward, the GNWT will need to do more to free up fiscal resources to continue to meet the difficult challenge of maintaining existing assets, improving housing stock and meeting legislative requirements. We have to create fiscal capacity by ensuring expenditure growth is still controlled, implementing reductions in areas where reasonable and looking at ways government could be structured more efficiently.
If current planning assumptions remain unchanged, our operating surplus will continue to decline over the life of the 18th Assembly to as low as $10 million by 2019-2020. This will require us to lower our investment in our capital program after 2016-2017 to ensure we are able to manage debt and adhere to the Fiscal Responsibility Policy. This means our infrastructure deficit will continue to grow.
We cannot borrow our way out of this quandary despite the increase in the federally imposed borrowing limit to $1.3 billion. Increased debt today leads to higher future debt repayments. Using the increased borrowing room entirely would add almost $30 million annually in expenses for interest and debt repayment. The operating budget would be required to cover these extra costs and we would be in deficit by 2019-2020.
We need to ensure we are living within our means, watching what we spend on operations so we can continue to invest in infrastructure to grow the economy. The current outlook projects both flat revenues and increasing expenditures. This leaves us with a narrowing surplus and a capital investment profile that is cut in half by 2019-2020. Economic growth and diversification will require capital investment so that mine closures in the medium term do not push the economic base past a tipping point. Make no mistake, I am confident that as we transition to the 18th Legislative Assembly, the resilient people of our fine territory are up to the task. Aligning our expenditures to our flat revenue growth will be challenging but necessary as we continue on our path to creating a sustainable economic environment that will allow the future Legislative Assemblies to provide our residents with programs and services they require. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Honourable Minister of ITI, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is immense oil and gas potential in our territory and this government is committed to establishing the tools and resources with which it can be developed in a balanced and responsible way. We are also committed to ensuring that Members of the Legislative Assembly, the public, Aboriginal leaders and other stakeholders have a role to play in the development of those tools and resources.
Like our mineral resources have in the past, we believe that oil and gas resources can provide needed economic opportunities for our communities, residents and businesses, while still respecting and sustaining the lands, water and environment to which we are intrinsically tied.
The GNWT has inherited, through devolution, a well-established and proven regulatory system that ensures resource development decisions in the NWT are made in the public interest and are informed by appropriate scientific and technical information, traditional knowledge and public input.
As we move our territory forward, we will continue to improve this legislative framework to reflect the needs and priorities of our residents. We are supportive of an open and transparent approach to advancing resource development in the NWT and of incorporating best practices for industry reporting and public disclosure as they emerge.
To this end, our decision- and policy-making will continue to be guided by what we learn and determine from our many dialogues, debates, engagements and formal consultations.
The input sought and received this summer on proposed regulations governing hydraulic fracturing and the development of a made-for-the-NWT Oil and Gas Strategy are examples of that.
In keeping with our government’s commitment to strengthen and refine regulatory processes following devolution, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, together with the departments of Environment and Natural Resources and Lands, sought feedback on draft Hydraulic Fracturing Filing Regulations. We held 14 public engagement sessions in 12 communities in the Northwest Territories and received input by mail and e-mail as well.
Our work to develop an NWT Oil and Gas Strategy is also being guided by engagement with communities, territorial stakeholders, leaders, subject-matter experts, Aboriginal groups, industry and the public. Once a strategy is drafted, we will again seek input from these key groups and incorporate their comments and feedback.
I would like to thank all of the individuals, organizations and businesses who have contributed their input into both of these initiatives.
Through our discussions, NWT residents have told us that they want, and deserve, a greater level of understanding regarding their government’s plans for the management and realization of our territory's oil and gas resources.
We agree. That is why I announced earlier this month that the important dialogue that we have begun regarding the safe and responsible management of oil and gas development in the Northwest Territories will not conclude with our government. Rather than implement proposed hydraulic fracturing regulations at this time, we are now taking the necessary steps to continue the public engagement, education and discussion into the 18th Assembly. In this way, we can provide both the time and information that our people have asked for.
Mr. Speaker, the Finance Minister told us in his fiscal update that the NWT is experiencing an economic slowdown. This is a serious challenge to creating the jobs and opportunities Northerners want and will also reduce the revenues our government collects to fund the programs and services our people expect. The only long-term way to address this issue is to reverse that trend and grow a strong and diverse economy, starting with the tremendous natural advantages this territory already enjoys, including our oil and gas resources.
It is the role of government to take the lead in creating the conditions needed to attract and sustain oil and gas activity and to do so in a way that ensures that residents and communities of this territory benefit fully, from exploration, to development, to production and the transportation of our resources to market. This government is committed to resource development in a manner that is balanced, sustainable and responsible. By keeping both the environment and the economy top of mind, we can continue to build a bright future for this territory.
The public engagement that we undertake is always an important step in our work and we will not rush it.
This government will continue resource development dialogue with the public, Aboriginal governments and industry stakeholders so the future of this territory is guided through collaboration and mutual respect. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
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Mr. Speaker, it isn’t very often we can say that weather forecasters were spot-on with their projections; however, this fire season it seems they got it right.
The fire season started very early. In fact, it may be one of the earliest on record. It seemed like the 2014 fire season just spilled over into 2015. There were several hold-over fires from the 2014 season, fires that burned deep over the winter. By early June the numbers and frequency of fire occurrences were record setting. The effect of extended drought was really evident through the South Slave, Deh Cho and North Slave regions. Fire behaviour on most of the fires was explosive. Fire crews reported having issues finding water sources to run their power pumps.
Large fires began to show up on the landscape in the Deh Cho and South Slave regions. Several communities were impacted, including Trout Lake, Jean Marie River, Fort Simpson, Hay River, Enterprise, Fort Providence and the Hay River corridor.
Large numbers of heavy equipment were hired to help deal with the fire situation. Finding additional wildland fire resources to help stem the tide of these fires became a serious challenge as western Canada and the United States, suffering under the same drought as the Northwest Territories, began to take up any available resources in the country. A National Critical Resource Protocol was established to divide available resources according to need, the protection of human life being the priority. As you are no doubt aware, Saskatchewan was indeed the most affected province in the country, requiring the most help with several communities evacuated. Despite conditions here, the NWT was still able to render some assistance, along with Ontario and the Maritimes.
Fortunately, as meteorologists predicted, conditions changed from mid- to late-July and we began to get some substantial rain. This, of course, helped firefighters get the upper hand and establish control. In early August the North Slave joined in the fray as a fire near Hearne Lake began to grow beyond the control lines of firefighters and into the Reid Lake area. Cottagers were evacuated and firefighters from other parts of the NWT and Alberta moved in to help the region deal with this fire. Again by mid-August, wetter conditions moved in and curtailed the fire. Priority areas of the fire were brought under control and extinguished.
For those statistical analysts, there were 241 fires in the NWT and 622,000 hectares of land consumed by fires, which is above average. However, things could have been a lot worse. Last year, as you recall, the NWT had 378 fires which consumed 3.4 million hectares and the Government of the Northwest Territories spent $55 million on wildfire suppression. To date, expenditures for 2015 are close to $32 million. However, we can say, with glad hearts, that no lives were lost and very few values-at-risk were affected, which is, of course, our ultimate goal.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Forecasters are already looking at large-scale global weather models and into forecasts for next year. Forecasters are predicting an El Nino winter, warm with limited precipitation which, depending on the actual outcome, may affect our water levels for next season. It seems that the drought through the NWT will continue.
As such, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, or ENR, will continue to be proactive and ready itself for the next fire season. A debrief of this year’s lesson learned will take place in the fall and public meetings will take place over the winter.
The rollout of the new Air Tractor 802 Fire Bosses continues. The first two planes have been built and are awaiting avionics and floats. The entire squadron of eight aircraft will be ready by May 2017 and will be integrated into the department fleet over the 2017-2018 fire season. New aviation and personnel contracts will be negotiated over the winter.
Mr. Speaker, I cannot stress enough the value of the FireSmart Program. Everyone has a responsibility to help prevent and protect their homes, cabins and communities from the risk of wildland fires. Property owners and communities should be using FireSmart tools to reduce their risk of loss from wildland fire. It was noted over the past month,
Mr. Speaker, that some of the cottages and cabins on the Ingraham Trail were
FireSmarted. This made firefighters’ jobs of protecting these values that much easier.
FireSmarting homes, cabins and communities allow firefighters to concentrate on fighting fires and is in these difficult years a simple solution to a very complex problem. Information on FireSmart is available from local ENR offices and local community governments.
There is still much to do before the next fire season. ENR will clean up and put away the gear from this past summer and prepare for the next. Firefighting can be a dirty, laborious and under-appreciated job. Our hats are off, Mr. Speaker, to the firefighters who return every summer to protect our communities: young women and men from the North and across the country who should be applauded for their efforts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a little bit of trivia, when I was sworn into this Legislature the first time, there’s a video footage of my family out in the Member’s lounge and my husband was holding my daughter in his arms and Jillian was six years old. Now almost all of my grandchildren are now older than six years old, but today I want to talk about the rights of grandparents.
I’ve often got on the plane to fly here to Yellowknife to do my work and thought that I’m blessed because I could not be doing that work if I did not know that my five grandchildren were in good hands, in good care and that they were safe and being well cared for. Not every grandparent has that blessing and has that privilege to know that. What’s even sadder is that sometimes grandparents don’t have the ability, and they are blocked from intervening when it comes to the well-being of the grandchildren.
So, today I want to talk about the rights of grandparents in the Northwest Territories. When it comes to rules for visitation and custody, grandparents’ rights is an evolving field across our country. It’s affected by new case law as well as changing understandings of what family means and what role different individuals can or should take to ensure a child’s welfare.
But there’s one thing we know for certain, and that’s that our NWT visitation and caregiving legislation doesn’t even address grandparents directly. This isn’t the case in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec or the Yukon. These jurisdictions expressly recognize grandparents and clearly give them opportunities to pursue their cases. Nova Scotia introduced a package of grandparents’ rights legislation just last fall.
We know from public hearings on the Child and Family Services Act that NWT grandparents often play a vital role in their children’s lives. They can provide care, emotional and financial support, and essential links to traditional cultures in home communities.
The Standing Committee on Social Programs highlighted these in our recommendations on the Child and Family Services Act, and I quote, “According to one weary grandmother who has fostered several grandchildren, ‘I’m tired and I’m angry and this government is actually going backwards. When are things going to change for the better?’” That’s about grandparents and foster care, but today I want to extend this conversation to also speak to grandparents seeking something as simple as visitation and custody.
These are complicated questions and in every Canadian jurisdiction, legislation requires us to always prioritize the best interest of the child in any decision or ruling.
I’d like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
But while the jurisdictions vary in the details of their approaches, several have at least taken steps to bring grandparents further into this conversation. The NWT must be the next jurisdiction to bridge that gap and formally recognize grandparents in our legislation.
Later today I’ll have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I had the privilege of tabling a report, entitled “Measuring GNWT Fiscal Performance and Accountability.” So, today I wish to spend some time referencing my findings and talking about our operational capital spending over the past 15 years.
When one looks at spending, one must look at our spending growth rate from year to year as well as our forecasting ability to stay on budget. So, my testing in this area begins in the year 2000 and includes this fiscal year. Obviously, we have the ability to evaluate four Legislative Assemblies, starting with the 14th Assembly under Premier Kakfwi, the 15th under Premier Handley, the 16th under Premier Roland and, finally, the 17th under Premier McLeod. So, what did we discover? We found out that the total increase of year-over-year operational spending from 2000 to today was 115 percent. The Bank of Canada calculation of the inflation rate for the same period was 33.23 percent. Therefore, the GNWT operational spending during this 15-year period is much more than triple the official inflation rate.
Further to our findings, it was interesting to note, of the four Assemblies during this review period, the McLeod government did win with the highest honours in overall operational spending dollars, but did come in second place for least overall growth during its term. So, to be fair, the McLeod government did have some measure of restraint to deal with growth following the devolution implementation, otherwise its ordinates in the operation spending growth would have propelled its placement much lower.
However, the second measurable operational performance comes down to how we manage the accuracy in spending forecasts. In other words, how do you minimize supplementary appropriations?
We all know sometimes there is unavoidable spending, such as droughts or firefighting issues; however, large or repeated supplementary appropriations may also signal a need for better budget controls and forecasting.
The C.D. Howe Institute recently ranked the GNWT eighth of the 14 Canadian governments in terms of its accuracy and spending forecasts for the years 2004 to 2015. Yet, it is important to note supplementary appropriations fell dramatically in the final year of the 16th Assembly and the first year of the 17th Assembly but, unfortunately, have risen every year since then.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
In the end, the final report card for the McLeod government on operations spending growth and forecasting is a B minus. Increased inaccuracy in budget forecasting during the life of the 17th greatly affected this grade. Yet, luckily, this grade could have been much worse if not for the controls in place during the new NWT responsibilities following its devolution. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the past four years, it’s been an interesting job, but in some ways it’s been frustrating. Our government sometimes has flaws in it. We see that through some of the constituents who we have. A lot of these constituents are low income or students.
One of the examples that I’m going to talk about today is we have some students who have grown up in the Northwest Territories, lived here all their life, went from kindergarten to Grade 12, after Grade 12 moved on, decided they were going to go somewhere else, to some other jurisdiction for a year or two, and now want to come back and get education here in the Northwest Territories. But now our government says no, you’re not a resident of the Northwest Territories anymore. That credit that you had for student financial assistance, you’re not eligible for that for another year, once you become a resident again. For one whole year. These are Northerners. A lot of these students’ parents still live here.
We are trying to promote the Northwest Territories, get more people to live here, get our students to come back, and our government has a stringent rule on this residency issue.
I’ve heard many scenarios from other colleagues about people leaving for a short period of time – a year – and losing a whole bunch of their benefits like that. Our government needs to be flexible and responsible to the public of the Northwest Territories.
I will have questions today for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment how we change this residency for northern students and these Northerners to come back, get education, better their lives and make the Northwest Territories a better place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. In the past I’ve stood up in the House to celebrate the hardworking town of Enterprise, our gateway to the NWT. Even though it’s a small town with a population of just over 100 people, Enterprise is home to great enthusiasm and a lot of exciting ideas for economic development.
I’ve also spoken before to support biomass opportunities in the Deh Cho and South Slave regions. Today in Enterprise, residents look forward to the possibility of a new wood pellet plant to bring jobs to the region.
I support this project. This month the hamlet council passed an agreement-in-principle to sell 3.2 square kilometres of Enterprise land to the mill project. Forest management agreements signed in 2014 ensure harvesting, providing access to timber resources, employment, and business opportunities for jointly owned Aboriginal development corporations.
Deh Cho communities are ready, willing and able to build our economy on sustainable resources and industries that complement our traditional economies, use residents’ existing land skills and offer fresh opportunities for employment. Biomass projects boost local access to alternatives to fossil fuels, not to mention the expense and pollution that goes with them.
Work like this brings new jobs and fresh revenue to communities, and biomass projects help our small lead in environmental stewardship.
I’m excited to see these enterprising residents and small business owners working and I hope they’ll get the support they need.
Initiatives like this can bring a much needed industry boost to the South Slave and Deh Cho regions. Despite my excitement, I can’t help noticing that the NWT Biomass Strategy expires this year. I urge the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to continue this important work.
Later I will have questions about the support for the wood pellet industry in the Deh Cho and South Slave regions.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT announced last week that they are reviewing a $32 million claim submitted by the contractor for the Inuvik-Tuk Highway. As we’ve heard time and time again, this is an iron-clad contract. It’s a fixed price and there will be no need for extra money. Boy, if I had a dollar every time I heard that.
I’m also going to remind everyone that this was a negotiated contract which was promised not to cost more than $299 million. So what happened? As fate would have it, an e-mail error through our good colleague Mr. Menicoche certainly sheds some new light on this project. It makes MLAs start to wonder how long would we have been kept in the dark about the $32 million claim if this e-mail wasn’t received in error or, frankly, good luck. Frankly, discussions and decisions like this to fund the project further happened behind closed Cabinet doors while Members are on the campaign trail.
For many of us this is certainly déjà vu all over again when it comes to the bridge deal. Ironically, many of us have been hearing for months and months that there have been many problems with this project, but yet every time we ask, don’t worry, everything’s fine, everything’s on budget, no big deal.
It’s fair to say we may have 32 million problems. While this is being scrutinized, I certainly hope they’re watching it very closely. But to be fair, now that the cat is out of the bag, let’s look at it this way: This is a request for more money. The claims are being reviewed, and yes, it is normal to put in claims for construction projects. It’s a normal part of business. But if you don’t know this, well, you may have been lucky by being one of those lucky few who had one of those unicorn projects dazzled with fairy dust and have had no problems. But that largely doesn’t exist. The fact is projects do have problems. The issue that really is at hand here is the extra costs that we don’t know are coming. What are they, how much will they cost, and how will the government deal with this?
Is the government on the hook for more money? I don’t know. I don’t even know if they know. All I know is they’re asking for more money. In other words, will they keep the Members of the Assembly in the dark? Frankly and humbly, no decision can be made without informing Members. We need to be part of the discussion, we need to be part of the debate and we certainly need to be part of the final decision. I’ll be seeking that type of assurance from the Minister later today.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, as promised, case number two of Education, Culture and Employment’s Student Financial Assistance policies that don’t work as they should.
This problem is the same problem that Mr. Bouchard was speaking about earlier, and it’s the denial of an NWT resident for student financial assistance funding. The student who attended all of her primary and elementary schooling in the NWT has been out of the territory caring for an elderly relative, all the while filing taxes in the NWT as an NWT resident. She has now returned to the NWT, intending to take a nursing program at Aurora College, and has been denied student financial assistance funding due to the rigid application of the residency requirement.
“We can’t accept your application,” she was told. The policy says you have to be out of any post-secondary school and live in the NWT for a year before you can get funding. No exceptions.
If we’re trying to drive residents away, this seems to be a pretty good way to do it. This logic, like the logic I mentioned yesterday, also defies my understanding. In a territory where it is a declared priority of government to add residents to our population – 2000 in five years is the goal – we are refusing to make it easy to repatriate someone who wants to come home, who wants to live in the North, who has been schooled here.
We will help with the education of a Southerner who has been here just a year but deny the Northerner who grew up here, it seems. Why do we insist NWT residents have to be out of any post-secondary school for a year before we will fund them? What’s the rationale for that part of the policy?
I offered a solution to yesterday’s problem. Well, here’s a solution for today’s problem as well: amend the policy. Allow a student who’s received all of their schooling in the NWT to re-establish their residency by living here for a more reasonable length of time, like three months instead of 12 months.
Both of these issues, these undesirable endings described today and yesterday, didn’t have to happen. We need to grant a flexibility to the student financial assistance staff making funding decisions so students in an exigent situation can be accommodated and supported to advance both their education and our territory. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the years of this 17th Legislative Assembly, I’ve stood in this House many times to speak to the importance of having recovery and treatment programs for the people who are battling with mental health, alcohol, drug addictions, and they need those services. We continue to see those in a high need throughout the Northwest Territories.
You’ve seen in the news recently our Standing Committee on Social Programs did a tour on one of our bills and we constantly heard the need for a treatment centre here in the Northwest Territories. There’s been a lot of underlying issues, and it’s not only alcohol addictions but we also deal with grief, we deal with trauma and, more importantly, residential school and the experiences people have had with those. It takes more than just a day to get an assessment or for somebody to go into the emergency room and be let go the next day or within a couple of days. We need to find a better way to deal and address the issue of people who are battling with their addictions and can’t get the help on their own. There’s got to be a process where they get a full observation and assessment.
I know here in Yellowknife, if you go to the psychiatric ward they’ll keep individual patients here for seven to 10 days and get a complete assessment. That’s not offered on a regular basis to the people in the communities or even the regional centres, and as a result, a lot of people are slipping through the cracks and continue to fall down into bad situations within their communities. It affects not only themselves, it affects their families and it affects their communities.
However, I know that we do have a lot of people who go to treatment and they come back with very successful stories; they come back wanting to help their fellow residents in the communities, but sometimes they come into roadblocks by not having the services and the programs in the communities to assist.
Looking at some of my statements from the past, I want to make reference to one question I did bring up in 2011 with the Youth Conference Report. Even our youth recognized this in 2011, where they wanted consultation for regional treatment centres with the end goal of creating treatment centres with culturally sensitive multicultural staff, trained professionals and unique treatment plans for youth, adults and elders.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
As I said, the youth of the Northwest Territories spoke up about this four years ago. I brought it and I asked questions in the House and we’re still trying to battle to get some really good support service and recovery programs. We’ve got to listen to the youth; we’ve got to listen to our elders who we heard in the communities and our residents of the Northwest Territories. This is more about whether or not we have enough people to have a treatment centre in the Northwest Territories. This is about people’s lives.
I will have questions for the Minister later on today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The first few years of a child’s life are crucial to learning and development and much of what they could learn depends upon being able to hear. Forming neuropathways during brain development, language skills, the soothing voice of their mothers when they fall, shouted warnings to avoid injuries, and lullabies before they sleep all require the ability to hear, and hear well.
For families with babies hard of hearing, however, hearing aids are expensive and not every family with a young child in need of them is able to afford to give their child the lifeline to the world that a hearing aid represents. Fortunately, we have coverage for Aboriginal babies, but unfortunately, we do not currently have a universal hearing aid program to ensure coverage for all needy children.
Closing the gap and covering these children in their crucial first years of life would require a very modest change to the current GNWT supplementary health benefits as it does not fit under the current policy. While the 16th Assembly failed to address this policy void, resolution of the need for additional hearing aid coverage for children in the NWT is long overdue.
While only a few babies a year need this support, the impacts are desperately large for each of these few individuals who suffer because of our lack of action. Filling in this gap is critical, yet it is inexpensive. A decision paper started in 2010 and delivered in 2012, after considerable research by audiology experts breaking down all costs associated with providing a comprehensive hearing aid program, found that the cost of a hearing aid program for children not covered by another plan for their first 18 years was only $14,500 per child with an annual cost for the total NWT program a meager $22,000 per year. Costs to government, let alone families of affected individuals of not providing hearing aids to these children were found to be much greater than the costs of providing them because of education and other issues that arose without this support. Shame on us for not getting this done long ago.
Such costs are covered for our seniors. Every province with a respectable hearing support program provides coverage for all children. We screen all newborns for hearing impairment and we know that hearing impaired children need hearing aids by age six months, yet we are leaving some vulnerable children without the tools they need to learn, grow and prosper. Again, I say, shame.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Mahsi.
---Unanimous consent granted
The policy gap has been identified, the cost calculated to be minimal, while the positive effects on those in need can be huge. I urge the Minister of Health and Social Services to find 20 or 30 K in his annual budget of over $300 million to address this developmental necessity. Dealing with issues identified in early childhood must be a priority, and providing hearing aids for all of the children in need of them is certainly one that we can and must achieve. I say to the Minister, get this shameful gap filled now within the life of this Assembly. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The people want their loved ones to live out their last days at home, not in Yellowknife or Inuvik or anywhere else.
People in Deline want to know why it’s so difficult to get palliative care beds in that community. I’ve been working with the community of Deline and have brought this issue to three Ministers so far. My last hope is with this Minister.
I have questioned the Minister on February 23, 2015, seven months ago, regarding the Deline palliative care study. This summer both the Minister and I met with the Deline leadership and we were advised at that time the health staff were planning to travel to Deline this summer, 2015, to assess the suitability. What happened there?
Last week the Sahtu Secretariat met with the Premier and the Ministers. An item that was discussed was the request for palliative care beds in Deline. Prior to that meeting, Chief Leonard Kennedy wrote to the Minister, carbon copied to me, stating, where is the Deline care beds study and stating why they need it. What happened to the commitment he made to the people and I in Deline.
I want to know why does this community request to have palliative care beds in their community have to take an SSI meeting with the Premier, and now we’ve been told that this study will be done in two weeks. October 9th, by the way, Mr. Speaker. The department doesn’t get the need, doesn’t get the urgency to make this happen. I want to know why the Minister is dragging his feet on this request. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Sometimes you have to challenge government; sometimes you have to commend them, so that’s what I’m going to do today.
On September 15, 2015, I had the honour to celebrate the opening of the newly built John Tsetso Memorial Library in Fort Simpson. It was my pleasure to join the Honourable Jackson Lafferty, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment; Dehcho First Nations Grand Chief Herb Norwegian; Liidlii Kue Chief Gerry Antoine; Mayor Sean Whelly and the residents of Fort Simpson to celebrate this long awaited and very special event.
A library is the heart of a community. It is a place where our children can nourish their imaginations and learn important life skills while having fun. The John Tsetso Memorial Library has been an important part of Fort Simpson for many, many years, providing a range of popular programs and services promoting literacy.
Mr. Speaker, as you and my colleagues in this House are well aware, I have expressed my concerns many times over the years about the condition of the library. Since the closure of the Deh Cho Hall in about 2004/2005, the library has struggled to manage its collection and meet the community’s need in a less than ideal space. Now, in addition to the new space, the library has expanded its collection, added iPads with a digital language app loaded on them, DVDs and new furniture for the patrons.
It took a long time – over eight years – and a great deal of urging to get the funding for the new library facility in the GNWT’s capital budget process. I would like to thank my colleagues for their support, who toured the small resource centre some seven years ago during the 16th Assembly. I also wanted to thank the Minister for his contribution to this important project and thank the Village of Fort Simpson for their involvement in the management of the project.
The new John Tsetso Memorial Library has room for an expanded collection, better spacing for library programming, public access computers, iPads and an awesome northern collection of books by NWT authors and about local history in the Fort Simpson area.
I am excited for the people of Fort Simpson, the Aboriginal users who will benefit from this new facility. I also want to encourage people to get out, renew their library cards and use this wonderful resource. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I need to raise the urgent concerns of the community of Aklavik. Gasoline and heating fuel prices are putting extreme pressures on my constituents. There are also potential power rate increases. Prices have increased by 35 percent. That means gas that cost $1.60 per litre in August now costs $1.90 per litre today, just one month later.
The people of Aklavik had no warning that this was going to happen. When Beaufort-Delta Petroleum took over fuel delivery, the company did not meet with the hamlet council. They didn’t let their clients know of a rate change in advance and rates weren’t increase gradually. The change was sudden and substantial.
In communities that depend on diesel, fuel prices already make up 47 percent in the retail for electricity, the largest cost component. In the GNWT’s response to the 2014 Energy Charrette, the government plans to improve their data on community fuel use and to use renewables to reduce our consumption, but urgent action is also needed here today.
This afternoon I will be tabling a petition, signed by Aklavik’s homeowners, hunters and trappers, community government representatives, recreational vehicle users and many other residents. In the petition the people of Aklavik raise very serious and legitimate concerns about high costs of gasoline and heating fuel, and they support a call for proposals for a new distributor for fuel and gas products in Aklavik. The hamlet will be looking for companies that can provide fuel to the community at a more reasonable rate. I hope that the GNWT will support the community.
I will have questions for the Minister of Public Works and Services about next steps later today.
Mr. Speaker, I once again rise to recognize a wise elder, Mr. Andrew John Kenny from the Deline First Nation government.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Ms. Bisaro.
