Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a very good idea. The department has been wanting to do that all along. Northern companies that provide the service will require some upgrading and more training to deliver this, not only to this department, but it should be made available to people in the north where different companies or agencies may want to get this type of training. Yes, we will reassess all the services from outside the territories. Thank you.
Debates of Feb. 26th, 1998
Topics
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1167
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1167
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Motor vehicles. I have Mr. Henry and Mr. Krutko. Mr. Henry.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
Seamus Henry Yellowknife South
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Minister has answered my question. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. On the list under motor vehicles, I have Mr. Krutko. Mr. Krutko.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
David Krutko Mackenzie Delta
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the whole area of privatization of motor vehicles was a concern to the committee in light of the increases in the cost of obtaining a driver's licence. Members want the government to be aware that the whole idea of privatization of the delivery of services was that there was not going to be an increase to the consumers. Because of that, the committee was concerned about the effort of privatization. We do have some doubts regarding other efforts in the whole area of privatization. I would ask the Minister what is being done to consider looking at the increase of costs to the consumer and have they considered retracking that to make it a more favourable process for the consumer in regard to licences?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, there is no plan by this department to privatize any more of the services that we provide. This particular last privatization of motor vehicles was the department's private issue of introducing a new fee structure. The new fee structure is the concern by the Members. The GNWT did not gain any new revenues from the privatization of issuing this service. However, this slight increase in fees goes to the private sector which has taken over this responsibility. The department has no intention of changing the new fee structure at this time. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Krutko.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
David Krutko Mackenzie Delta
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Regarding the area of privatization, we noted there was not going to be an increased cost to the consumer to obtain the same service. We now see there is. There are these extra service charges that were not there when the government was doing the same thing. Calls that we have received from different constituents are because they are seeing an increase in licensing. The service they are presently getting before those increases is not there. I would like to ask the Minister, is there another way of dealing with these increases instead of having a service charge, if there could just be a flat rate, which there was before?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the privatization was effective April 1, 1997, and what happened was we no longer as a government were providing this service. We were using our staff before that. Now that we privatized it, we are no longer using our staff. We did not have any increase in the amount from the department. No new revenues from this privatization came to the GNWT. However, we gain by not using our staff. We had a reduction in that manner. However, the providers in the private sector had to get some fee for these services. This is where the new fee was introduced. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Motor vehicles. Mr. Henry.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
Seamus Henry Yellowknife South
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think we have all realized the higher costs to live and operate in the north. I am thinking more particularly about seniors who are on a fixed income in many cases. Different municipalities and governments have tried their best to provide opportunities and savings to make it a little easier on our seniors to ensure they are still able to stay in the territories. Has the department ever provided or looked at waiving the fee, as it were, for senior citizens to obtain driver's licences? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am told that the department has not looked at introducing any discounts for seniors in the past. However, we are open to exploring those possibilities. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Henry.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
Seamus Henry Yellowknife South
Thank you, Chairman. I appreciate the Minister's straight forwardness in recognizing additional costs seniors face and I would appreciate if the Minister would have his officials look at using a figure of 60 or 65 and assessing whether the department could subsidize seniors to help defer some of the costs of living in the north. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this department will look at the suggestion the honourable Member made and explore these ideas of looking at how such a proposal could be introduced in the department. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Motor vehicles. I have Mr. Ootes, who has not spoken yet, and Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Ootes.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On the privatization of licensing, I heard the Minister state there are no plans to privatize anything further. When they do, what I hope they would keep in mind is, when they privatized this particular licensing operation it increased the cost for the public, as a number of Members have already stated, but the cost to the government, in fact, decreased. What needs to be remembered is, when we privatize there should not be an increase for the public. In the case of Yellowknife; for example, where it is privatized and people buy their licences, people in a community where there is no privatization pay the same thing. In other words, people in Yellowknife will pay more, presumably, than in an outlying community. I do not have a problem with that particular point at the moment, but the government, because it saved money, should have looked at this and said, look, we can reduce our rate. Let the agent have their $8.00 plus tax, keep the fee at $65.00 or whatever it was. This is how it should have been handled.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1168
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. I do not think there was question, but I will allow the Minister to respond if he wishes to. Mr. Minister.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1169
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The plan of the department is not to privatize any more of the services we provide. I understand the concern of the Member. I just wanted to mention that I regret the increase of the cost to the public on motor vehicle licences and services as much as any of the measures we have taken in trying to address the government's overall fiscal position. This was part of a small attempt by this department in this activity to try to add to the budget restraint that we had undertaken. The privatization of this activity, although the revenue to this department did not increase, the cost of providing that service decreased because we were no longer using our staff to do that. There was a savings to the government in the long-run and if you work it through, it helped in a small way towards the financial position this government was in. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1169
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you, Mr. Ootes. I have Mr. Erasmus. We are considering the Department of Transportation, motor vehicles activity, motor vehicles, Mr. Erasmus
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1169
Roy Erasmus Yellowknife North
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Under public safety, I have been contacted by a few people who are not able to park in front of their own homes because there is a t-intersection and they do not have a driveway, so they are unable to park there. What is the purpose of not allowing vehicles to park in a t-intersection?