Further to the statement that I made a couple weeks ago. It's for the ECE. Can the department increase the senior home heating subsidy rates? That's a question for the Minister.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now the rates are not intended to cover 100 percent of the seniors' heating costs. They aim to help with 80 percent of the heating costs. In early last year, there was a review done on the seniors' home heating subsidy, and it was done to review the amount that was being provided to seniors and to see what we could do from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment in order to either increase that amount or create certainty for seniors. And so what was done at that point was providing costs over the month to seniors in order to ensure that they weren't running out in the coldest months of the year and so providing more certainty. And at that point, when we looked at what we were able to do, we put a little bit more money into the funding. Those funds then were able to be absorbed within the department. And if there's any desire to see additional funding going into the seniors' home heating subsidy on behalf of Members or on behalf of the public, it would need to be additional funds to the program that would need to be approved through the Legislative Assembly because we've stretched our budget as far as possible from within the department. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, are there barriers for the department to permanently increase the subsidies rate?
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently we budget about $2.2 million for this subsidy every year. We added approximately half a million dollars using internal resources in 20222023 and then again in 20232024 in order to acknowledge that heating fuel costs have gone up. While we recognize that heating fuel fluctuates throughout the year and when it is higher than usual, we do try to put more funding into this subsidy. But like I said before, we cannot afford within the department to continue to fund from within. We would need to have increases done to the program as a whole, and those dollars would have to be approved by the Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm how many Tlicho residents are denied because their income exceeds the income threshold? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that while 59 applicants were approved from Tlicho region, there were 13 people who were denied for the seniors' home heating subsidy and that is because their income was over the income threshold. And what I do want to add here, because I want to acknowledge that some residents participate in seasonal employment, if somebody is denied because their previous year's income is too high but their income or their employment has changed in the following year, they can actually seek a reassessment from the department so that their income threshold is reflective of where they are actually at in their employment journey. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Mr. Speaker, are there barriers for the department to increase the income threshold? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I would say the biggest barrier is budget. If we want to be able to provide more than the aim or the goal of 80 percent of heating costs to low and moderate income seniors across the territory, we would need to increase the budget for that. If the goal was to provide 100 percent, say, of subsidy for the cost of heat to seniors that are considered low and moderate income and who are not on income assistance, we would need to make sure that our budgets do reflect that and that the policy of the program reflects that as well.
Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
