This is page numbers 1143 - 1180 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 6th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was policy.

Topics

Return To Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1153

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that commitment has been given, I believe in writing, to the Member and to the people that worked in the office, but I will be happy to state here in the House that there are no plans or intentions of myself, as Minister, or the department to take that particular function out of Yellowknife. Oh sorry, I apologize for that Mr. Speaker, being from Fort Smith I should know much better. There is no plan to take it out of Inuvik and move it back to Yellowknife. Thank you.

Return To Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1153

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister, for clarification. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Supplementary To Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Item 7: Oral Questions

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Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am glad he clarified that. I think being a Minister that long in this Cabinet is starting to affect him.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, a further question to the Minister is now that we have that confirmed, will his office provide the necessary support to ensure that vital stats office function can be done in an appropriate way and in a timely manner to help all citizens across the North? Thank you.

Supplementary To Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Item 7: Oral Questions

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The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1153

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am wounded by the Member's initial comments about how quickly I've forgotten where I've spent much of my time.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to assure the Member that based on my interest and concern on this and many conversations I've had with the Member and with the department, that we are taking the steps to ensure that we look at how the office is functioning, if is it adequately resourced. In fact we have senior staff up there right now working on that and we are also working on the information systems that vital statistics needs to do their job effectively. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Further Return To Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1153

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Supplementary To Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1153

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister inform us as to when this work might be done knowing that the lifeline of the 14th Assembly is quickly running out, I'd like to know in fact this work will be done before the powers of this office are completed. Thank you.

Supplementary To Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1154

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1154

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will commit to the Member to keep you fully informed as to the information that comes across my desk in terms of the analysis and review that is being done and the steps taken to properly and better support the services that are provided by the vital statistics office. Thank you.

Further Return To Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1154

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Supplementary To Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1154

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you. I guess I would like to thank the Minister for his responses and I take that in fact by his responses that there is an admission that that office has been under-resourced and having difficulty meeting the demands placed on it. I would like to know from the Minister if he can provide the workload that office was doing when it was situated here in Yellowknife to what it is now doing in Inuvik? Thank you.

Supplementary To Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1154

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1154

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker once we have concluded the review of the workloads and the volumes and the pressures that are on that particular office, I would be happy to share those with the Member. I will check with the department to see whether we have any information from the days when that office was located in Yellowknife.

Further Return To Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Question 359-14(6): Vital Statistics Office In Inuvik
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1154

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Leon Lafferty North Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, the Honourable Jake Ootes. In my Member's statement I noted that when federal Minister Jane Stewart was in Yellowknife in August, she encouraged the territorial government not to claw back the national child benefit supplement from people on income support. The Minister and his department have chosen to ignore the request from the federal Minister. I'd like to ask the Minister if you would allow people on income support to keep the national child benefit supplement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Return To Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Item 7: Oral Questions

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Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our program here in the Northwest Territories is substantially different than any other jurisdiction across the country and that is we profile some of the money that comes in and we put it into two programs, one is called the Healthy Children's Initiative and the other one is the NWT Child Benefit Program that provides a worker's supplement to help people's transition from income support into the workforce, Mr. Speaker. We would have a detrimental situation on our hands if we changed this particular program because we would have to eliminate the Healthy Children's Initiative, which has programs in most of the communities around the North, plus the transition program for people to go from income support into the workforce would be adversely affected as well, Mr. Speaker.

While I appreciate the concern, and it is complex, that is the problem with a program of this nature and I appreciate the Member's concern with this and that people are no doubt asking about this as to why we do this, but it has a tremendous complexity to it. Over the years we have designed this program in certain ways to help encourage our people to move into educational programs or into work situations and that is what this re-profiling allows, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Return To Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1154

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Item 7: Oral Questions

October 1st, 2003

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Leon Lafferty North Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask the Minister, since your programs are very good, I would like to ask him, why can't he fund them separately without taking money away from the people that need it the most? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary To Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1154

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Further Return To Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Item 7: Oral Questions

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Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Mr. Speaker, I would have to go back to the original intent of the program and that was that this program provides basic needs and they are fairly extensive here in the Northwest Territories, again, comparative to other jurisdictions and that may have been the confusing parts for other people to understand. The other part of the program is the productive choice program. That is a philosophy developed by this legislature, the previous one and we were adhering to it in the Towards a Better Tomorrow document, that we want productive, independent individuals so it gets away from that. Now, I know what the Member is saying, are we meeting the needs of people? Well, we do provide quite a bit of assistance to people, we provide housing needs, we provide the fuel needs, we provide the power needs in addition to food allowance, in addition to clothing allowance on a monthly basis plus on an annual basis for winter clothing and furniture allowance and things like that. It is not a great lifestyle, I am not suggesting that, Mr. Speaker, but it is providing the basic needs for our people in the Territories. I have to emphasize that no other jurisdiction provides that kind of support. It is essential in our territory, I believe in that, but we can't go beyond that or we are going to get to the point of having people being on income support earning a lot more than you could if you were out there in the workforce. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Further Return To Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1155

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1155

Leon Lafferty North Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my statement, some communities don't have employment; they have no choice but to be on income support. I'd like to ask the Minister, this Legislative Assembly has powers to change legislation, to change regulation, why can't the Minister create funds to have these two programs without taking money away from the people that need it the most? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary To Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 1155

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Further Return To Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Question 360-14(6): Clawback Of The National Child Benefit Supplement
Item 7: Oral Questions

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Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I am getting repetitive. It becomes a case of having a discussion with all Members about the philosophy of the program and redirecting the intent of the program. Certainly we can change regulation, certainly we can change thrust, but it would require all of us to sit down, and what do we really believe in, what do we want for our people. I appreciate the comment but I think it would require just more than me to be able to sit there to change this regulation because it would change the intent of the program. Thank you.