Mr. Chairman, as long as the private builders can do that and do it in a way that is affordable, then I'm sure that we wouldn't object to that. Up to now, we've made those offers and the private builders have not taken up the offer. Thank you.
Debates of Oct. 7th, 2003
This is page numbers 1255 - 1298 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 chairman.
Topics
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I must agree with this initiative. Since the government got out of staff housing I don't know how many umpteen millions of dollars it's cost this government in recruiting and retaining staff in our communities. We don't know the untold consequences on our students that have repeatedly, year after year, found themselves short of teachers. There's no continuity of teachers. Nursing professionals are not staying long enough to know the long-term care needed in the communities. I don't know how many lives that might have cost. We don't know what kind of effect not having the same teachers to teach the students over and over again have on the students and how the students turn out and what the net cost in the areas of the social envelope will be.
We've been outside the staff housing for a number of years and no private developers have taken on the challenge of providing houses in these communities. Now that the government's trying to do something to address that major problem, we seem to have some people who are concerned.
I would like to ask the Minister a question, though, regarding the needs assessment. When will this be done so that we can start ensuring that there are houses available for government staff working in our communities? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Joe Handley Weledeh
Mr. Chairman, I'm told that we should have that needs assessment in our hands within the next two weeks.
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, is the needs assessment also looking at the cost associated with what I was discussing earlier, the recruitment and retention of our staff, teachers, especially, and nurses; the social costs of not having staff that are coming back year after year to teach our students, et cetera? Or are we just looking at the market in the community? The market in the community is important in my mind because the rent scale should be based on the market and not what will be created as a market. I'm afraid that if we use third party people to do this thing the cost will go up. If the cost goes up, the cost to the renters will go up. Any time the high cost of living in the communities, as we've demonstrated clearly that's the case, then we have to factor that in as well. Will it be the market of the community and not what it might mean to a private entrepreneur or private enterprise trying to make a buck here? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Joe Handley Weledeh
Mr. Chairman, the objective is to get affordable rent in the communities. So we believe that that can be done. The assessment that is being done is looking at the availability and cost-effective housing that people can afford in the communities. It doesn't look at recruitment costs and other factors including students not doing well in school because of high teacher turnover. Those issues are beyond this study. We are just looking at the availability and cost of housing in the communities.
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Maybe we need to do a study on that to justify these initiatives if there are going to be some reactions to this initiative that are not positive, to date. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Joe Handley Weledeh
Mr. Chairman, maybe someday it would be needed to do that, but I am sure having a lot of turnover does have a negative effect on students. It has a negative effect on communities if they are without positions because there is no housing available whether it's in the private sector or public sector, wherever it may be. Mr. Chairman, some day that may be necessary. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
The Chair David Krutko
Executive, operations expenditures, Financial Management Board Secretariat, directorate, not previously authorized, $1.071 million.
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
The Chair David Krutko
Total, Financial Management Board Secretariat, not previously authorized, $1.071 million.
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Department Of Finance
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1290
The Chair David Krutko
Finance, operations expenditures, treasury, not previously authorized, negative $1.475 million.
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1291
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1291
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1291
Charles Dent Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wonder if we can get an explanation of how the implementation of the self-insurance plan is going to work and how we would wind up saving this money on it.
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1291
Bill 32: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1291
Joe Handley Weledeh
Mr. Chairman, under the system that will be followed, the GNWT will self-insure or assume the risk on the first $10 million of property risk. This is cumulative in that it could be several incidents that would total up to that. After that, we would have insurance. By doing it this way, we realize a savings of $1.641 million. But in the cost of implementing the loss/prevention risk control program, we are estimating about $165,000, resulting in a $1.475 million savings to us.
Under the old program, our premiums would have been over $3.6 million compared to now being approximately $2 million. Thank you.