Mr. Speaker, I rise today on a point of privilege under Rule 20(1) to clarify a story by reporter Dave Miller that aired on CBC Radio earlier today.
It is my duty to note that the news item on the NWT Child Benefit contained a few misinterpretations and omissions of fact and subsequently left a wrong impression about how this program will work.
I would therefore like to take a moment to repeat the explanation of this program that the Finance Minister made in his Budget Address on January 22nd, and that I elaborated upon in a statement to this House on January 23rd.
First, and most importantly, I would like to point out that the news story focused exclusively on the reallocation of funds from the Income Support Program and omitted any reference to the fact the Government of the Northwest Territories is also contributing an additional $2 million to create this new program. That is $2 million in new money this government is investing as part of our commitment to put more money in the hands of low income families across the Northwest Territories.
Second, I would also like to clarify the reallocation of income support funds, and explain where that money is coming from. The NWT Child Benefit is designed to work hand and hand with the new National Child Benefit Program. Under the National Child Benefit, starting in July of this year, the federal government is committing $850 million across Canada to increase income support benefits for all low income working families with children. Because of this new federal funding, the territorial government is required to reduce its income support payments equal to the amount being invested by the federal government.
As a result there is an overall savings of about $2.2 million in the territorial government's income support budget. Under the terms of the National Child Benefit, we are committed to reinvesting those savings to programs and services for low income northerners. We chose to do this by implementing a NWT Child Benefit, and, as I have just reminded the House, by adding an extra $2 million to put more money into the hands of northern families.
The net result of the two programs is that all families in the Northwest Territories earning less than $42,000 will receive more money than they are receiving now.
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Finally, Mr. Speaker, the news report also stated that the government revealed this information yesterday. That is incorrect in that this is not new news. Detailed information on the National Child Benefit Program, and how it will work was made available to the public, and distributed widely, as early as September, 1997. As I have already stated, information on the NWT Child Benefit was included in the 1998-99 Budget Address, and I have made a statement and responded to questions in this House over the past two weeks.
In closing, I want to stress once again, this program is good news to the people of the Northwest Territories. All families earning a household income of less than $42,000 will receive some benefit from this program. As a result, in our estimate, we will affect 60 percent of the children in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, the inaccurate report on the CBC this morning is, to say the least, disappointing as it does an injustice to this initiative and to the people of the Northwest Territories. I would encourage this reporter to, in future, double check his facts before reporting on issues raised in the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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