This is page numbers 297 - 330 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 know.

Further Return To Question 87-14(6): Accessing Development Opportunities Through Employment Readiness
Question 87-14(6): Accessing Development Opportunities Through Employment Readiness
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 309

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Braden

Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Item 6: Oral Questions

February 24th, 2003

Page 309

Bill Braden

Bill Braden Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question this afternoon is for the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Handley. This morning in Ottawa Mr. Handley's counterpart, David Collenette, unveiled a transportation blueprint called "Straight Ahead." It's a 10-year plan largely in the regulatory framework that addresses all of Canada's major transportation infrastructure. I wanted to ask the Minister if he could advise the Assembly of what benefits or consequences there may be from this major new initiative for the North and the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

The question is for the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Handley.

Return To Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Item 6: Oral Questions

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Joe Handley

Joe Handley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my department has been working along with other provinces and territories and the federal government on the preparation of this document. It is largely a policy document at this point, so there are no specific strategies or dollars that are deemed in it. There is one section in the report that deals with transportation in remote areas. There are a number of broad statements in it, but again not a specific strategy. At this point, it would be difficult to outline exactly what it has for the North, except the one positive thing in there is certainly recognition of unique problems in remote areas.

Return To Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 309

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 309

Bill Braden

Bill Braden Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These days we are certainly getting a lot of recognition, but it doesn't really seem to be rolling out into a lot of tangible things. So this is a policy document. Perhaps the Minister could then advise us what kind of issues did the NWT communicate to Ottawa that we would like to see addressed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary To Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 309

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Minister of Transportation, Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Item 6: Oral Questions

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Joe Handley

Joe Handley Weledeh

The main issues that we have continually brought to the federal government's attention is the lack of transportation infrastructure in the North, particularly surface transportation. Second is the cost of building infrastructure in the North, given our climate and our geography and then the third is the remoteness and the limited small population we have, but the valuable resources have in the North. So a lot of our arguments have been presented around those three main points. Thank you.

Further Return To Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 310

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 310

Bill Braden

Bill Braden Great Slave

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask if there's going to be any further consultation or negotiation with northern governments and the northern transportation industry to see if some of these policies can be translated into tangible results. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary To Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 310

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Minister of Transportation, Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Item 6: Oral Questions

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Joe Handley

Joe Handley Weledeh

Mr. Speaker, we have time, and we want to go through the document very carefully to identify any statements in it that the federal government have now made in the document that would indicate support for northern, remote infrastructure. I guess a general concern I have, Mr. Speaker, is a lot of the thrust of the document, a lot of the thrust of the federal government has been towards urban transportation and rapid transportation in densely-populated areas. So having said that, I have to say that I am pleased to have the recognition of transportation infrastructure needs in remote areas. I want to build on that. I think it will be a continuation of a lot of the work we've done on infrastructure up to now with some good success. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Further Return To Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Question 88-14(6): Federal Transportation Blueprint
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 310

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Item 6, oral questions. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This set of questions is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. We have heard a lot about the harmonization initiative put forward by this government and we were told that the majority of our constituents would be seeing decreases in their rent and anybody who would be seeing increases, it would be of minimal amounts that wouldn't create hardship for them. Mr. Speaker, one of the changes I believe that's going to occur in assessing income is that single parents who are receiving maintenance or child support payments are now going to have that amount treated as income for purposes of assessing their rent in public housing units. I would like to ask the Minister if they have attempted to quantify how that is going to affect those particular housing clients. Thank you.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Return To Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Item 6: Oral Questions

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Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the thrusts of the harmonization program was to ensure that the criteria for accessing government programs is consistent, so we harmonized the program with the income support programs. There will be some consideration taken for income that individuals have at the present time that will be counted in their total income. There will be a level of income judged to dictate how much rent they pay. We did ensure that the amount of rent individuals pay will be a maximum of $200 a month, Mr. Speaker. They will be so-called grandfathered. New individuals will be based on their particular income assessments. I don't have the figures available though, Mr. Speaker, in terms of the number of people that would be affected by that. They may be able to check that out with the Housing Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Return To Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 310

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 310

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister think it's fair that a single mother with four children who has been living in public housing and working for the private sector at fairly minimal wages would now be negatively impacted by this harmonization because she would see her rent go up significantly because of the support payments that she would receive from her former spouse that is intended to help pay for things like education, clothing, incidental costs for children. Does the Minister think that that's fair? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary To Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 310

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Further Return To Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 310

Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Mr. Speaker, when we did the harmonization project, we wanted to ensure that there was a balance between the two income support programs and the Housing Corporation, the way the income is tested. It's income tested, so the individuals are at a certain level of income before an increase is applied, Mr. Speaker. That we checked with the standing committees before we introduced the programs and we do feel that we can move forward on this. A lot of people are going to be beneficiaries of this new particular program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Further Return To Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 310

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 310

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in 1997, there was a fairly significant federal court ruling as a result of a woman who challenged Revenue Canada's position on treating maintenance support as taxable income. How does the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment reconcile this government's treatment of this as taxable income or accountable income in terms of this government's programs, when it was proven that the federal government could not charge taxes on that portion of money that was received by the custodial parent? How do you reconcile those differences? Thank you.

Supplementary To Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 311

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Further Return To Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 311

Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have to take a look at the reference the honourable Member is making to that particular ruling. I am not familiar with it, Mr. Speaker, but I could see what that ruling said. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Further Return To Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Question 89-14(6): Harmonization Of Income Support And Social Housing
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 311

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.