Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Braden.
Debates of March 9th, 2005
This is page numbers 1899 - 1944 of the Hansard for the 15th Assembly, 3rd 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
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Bill Braden Great Slave
Further on that page, Madam Chair, were increases for compensation after we re-evaluated nursing and health care profession jobs to the tune of about $1.6 million. I'm wondering if this process has essentially now been concluded, Mr. Chairman, and are there any other residuals we might anticipate as a result of this re-evaluation. Thank you.
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the process hasn't concluded, so as things continue to move on we'll be able to provide further updates. My information is that this process is still ongoing. Thank you.
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Bill Braden Great Slave
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Indeed I think committee is familiar with the process. It's fairly complex and a big piece of work. I guess I'm wondering, should we anticipate further financial consequences or is most of the work remaining of a procedural nature? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, there could be further financial implications as we go forward. It again all depends on the final outcomes of the processes in place. So there is that that we could be coming forward for further requests in the future. Thank you.
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
The Chair Calvin Pokiak
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Braden. Health services programs, not previously authorized, $8.804 million.
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
The Chair Calvin Pokiak
Page 11, supplementary health programs, not previously authorized, $1.883 million.
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Bill Braden Great Slave
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In this area and in a couple of other programs in pages yet to come I see a very welcome expenditure here for homelessness and people encountering potentially emergency situations and we are putting assets at the disposal of communities large and small. By my math, there is somewhere in the neighbourhood of $376,000 spread amongst a couple of different departments. Mr. Chairman, while I see this, as I said, as a very welcome response and recognition to a situation out there on our streets, I'm wondering if this is potentially the beginning of creating another realm in our social programs and safety net agenda, Mr. Chairman. I haven't seen anything framed up quite this way before. Are we expanding or potentially taking on a new prerogative here, a new mandate as regards the response to homelessness? Is there generally a policy basis that supports this? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the government has always had a priority around housing. The specific issue about the homelessness issue is one that we've started to address through this process and maybe we can have the Minister responsible for the homeless, Mr. Miltenberger, give some more detail. Thank you.
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Michael Miltenberger Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Minister has laid out the basic facts very clearly. I've been tasked, as the lead Minister, to deal with the homelessness issue and I'm also the chair of the social envelope Ministers and we collaboratively got together to look at how we're going to deal with this issue, which is quite complex. Our initial focus was to deal with what they call absolute homelessness for the coming winter, which was those folks who don't have accommodations at all, a warm place to sleep at night. At the same time, the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation is working on the longer-term issue of relative homelessness, those that are inadequately housed or don't have appropriate housing. What we've asked for this winter is the funds to tide us over working with local organizations in Yellowknife and in the communities, recognizing that there's a need to transport people, recognizing that there's a need in the small communities, as well as to increase the capacity of the Salvation Army and the YWCA once again to get us through the winter. We've also got some short-term funding to have some of the actual staff resources to work to pull together the broader plan and the intention would be to have further work with homelessness built into the business planning process of the affected departments, which is Health and Social Services, the Housing Corporation, Education, Culture and Employment, and Municipal and Community Affairs has been at the table, as well.
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1937
Bill Braden Great Slave
Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That's what I'm trying to get a handle on. What I'm hearing is through the social programs Minister you've identified a problem and you're taking what appears to be some really proactive action on it. Is this something that through the course of the year you'll be able to come back to, say Social Programs committee, and see where to go on this? I guess, Mr. Chairman, if we've identified a problem and we're starting to address it how are we going to be able to
manage it? Or is this just the start of another social dependency that even though we recognized it for as serious a problem as it is, is it going to be something that could potentially get away on us? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1938
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1938
Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, maybe the Minister responsible, Mr. Miltenberger, could give some detail on that.
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1938
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1938
Michael Miltenberger Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this is the start of a collaborative effort within government, many departments to coordinate a response because there is overlap and this is a complex issue. If you keep in mind the United Nations definition where they distinguish between absolute homelessness and relative homelessness, absolute homelessness is somewhat more concrete and you can deal with the fact that people have no houses to stay in on a short-term basis. The longer term more difficult issue that has a tremendous connection in a host of areas is the issue of relative homelessness. Inadequate housing in communities ties into the housing strategy where we've already identified 3,000 housing units short and those types of things. So, yes, we intend to come forward with a coordinated plan. We're going to try to make sure we can deal on an ongoing basis with absolute homelessness so that people don't freeze to death in the winters. In the longer term it's going to be to come up with a plan or better coordinate the work, much of which is already underway to deal with the issue of relative homelessness. Struggling with such things as CMHC bowing out of the housing market over the next few years and the Assembly has already instructed the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation to come back with a plan. That's going to tie into homelessness as well. So there's a lot of work already underway on this, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1938