This is page numbers 2921 - 2956 of the Hansard for the 16th 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 work.

Topics

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I am speaking in regards to income support cheque payments. The previous government dramatically changed the way income support was given, against the recommendation of most community governments and organizations. Furthermore, the previous government offered no support, notice or plans to help communities and residents deal with the changes.

Today Nunakput is dealing with the legacy of neglect and this government seems to endorse this legacy. Leaders and elders, support staff were all asking the government to re-evaluate the way cheques are given to recipients so bills can be made, people can put food on the table and the

continued cycle of dependency can stop. Due to these challenges, people are getting deeper and deeper into arrears to the point where it becomes overwhelming.

Recently in Tuktoyaktuk, a family of four and a baby were evicted from their home. Now they can get no support because they don’t even have an address, Mr. Speaker. This government must help families with personal difficulties to end this cycle of dependency, but this government needs to go one step further to work with the local suppliers of grocery stores and to help the residents and the communities work out a system where the families can put food on the table, a program similar to food stamps.

Since these changes were made, the longer the government waits, the bigger the ticking bomb will get. We will need a true one-stop shop where people can deal with all their issues where payments and expenses can be resolved before the recipient receives a cheque. Getting the run around and the blame game when dealing with the government departments and financial problems in the communities can be exhausting. Communities in my riding especially need the government to be creative, proactive and realistic when dealing with the government income support payments, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I will have more questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment at the appropriate time. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to speak about some concerns that I have with actions that we, the GNWT, the employer, require of our employees; actions that, to me, feel like an infringement on their rights. As individuals, we all have our own interests and activities that we pursue outside of our work day and our work environment. I firmly believe we are each entitled to our own opinions and beliefs, but I also firmly believe that those beliefs, activities and passions should only be curtailed or interfered with in exceptional circumstances.

As a government, we have policies in place to protect both the employee and the employer. That is a good thing. Some of our employees are in positions requiring impartiality or the perception of impartiality. Our deputy ministers, directors and senior managers should not be actively engaged in political activities, for instance. The vast majority of

our employees, however, should have free reign to take part in any activity of their choice as long as it is outside of their work environment or their work hours and as long as it does not put them in a conflict of interest position.

Imagine my surprise and disbelief when I learned that many GNWT employees are required to report their personal activities to their supervisor; activities such as being a member of a board for an organization such as coaching a sports team, such as attending a workshop honouring International Women’s Day. My problem is with the need to disclose everything and every activity. My examples are activities that are unpaid, volunteer interests unrelated to an employee’s work duties or job. Volunteering is healthy and has value for both the participant and the community. It should be encouraged by an employer. Yet employees must ask permission to take part. The department has to monitor the results of a membership on a board. That is not right, Mr. Speaker. How does my coaching a basketball team have any impact on the GNWT or my job performance? Does the employer even have the right to ask the employee to report his or her activities?

Our policies exist to limit the negative actions or impacts against the GNWT by an employee, but by our actions we are presuming that employees will act badly. Where is the trust in this relationship? I have said before and will say again, we have good employees with good morals and ethics with the sense to know when to report an activity which might be sensitive to a supervisor and seek advice on it.

Do we really value our employees as much as we keep saying? Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, colleagues. Do we really value our employees as much as we keep saying? If so, we need to give them the credit they are due and trust them to be responsible, not start from a position of mistrust. If my information is correct, Mr. Speaker, and we treat our employees as described, it is a small wonder we are not the employer of choice anymore. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Norman Wells has the smallest population of any tax-based municipality in the Northwest Territories.

Located on a very large river, in the spring when the Mackenzie breaks up, ice jams cause flooding and shore lands can be battered.

Since its construction about 70 years ago, the town’s water treatment plant and macerator building have been at risk of ice damage and flooding and possible demolition of these very important buildings. The council requests funding from MACA to cover costs of a breakwater or seawall. The town thought the costs would come from the infrastructure funding available from the Building Canada Plan first announced in 2007 federal budget.

On February 21, 2008, the NWT was promising funding for $185 million for a seven-year period for transportation and community infrastructure. The town applied twice for funding and had been rejected twice. The town council and residents remain puzzled as to why the applications were rejected.

Last fall the town council of Norman Wells had designs drawn up to build a breakwater to protect the facility. It was a community ready project. Completion was required before breakup and so a contract has been tendered and awarded, given the short construction window. The federal government told MACA that the Norman Wells Sea Project is not eligible for funding as the construction has already been completed. The budget for the project was $613,000. If this wasn’t done by the town, Mr. Speaker, the situation would have been disastrous, costly and catastrophic. This is a very unfortunate situation.

Here we have important work going ahead, people being employed in design and construction. How come Norman Wells can’t get any money from the Government of Canada? But the Government of Canada has no shame taking money from the Norman Wells oilfield, Mr. Speaker. Shame, Mr. Speaker.

As of today, Canada has now, through Building Canada Plan, infrastructure projects for 2009-10. When are we going to find out about this funding? Miraculously, if it wasn’t for a strand of birch trees opposite the sewer power building acting as a natural barrier and preventing the building from being destroyed, the town did the only thing that any community would have done for its people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. I would like to welcome everyone in the gallery today. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to recognize Mr. Jean Francois Pitre, owner of PIDO Productions and member of the board of directors for CDETNO and Sylvie Francoeur, director general for CDETNO. Welcome.

---Applause

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How can the GNWT help the town of Norman Wells with the seawall project that was budgeted for $613,000? I would like to ask the Minister of MACA, how can his department help the town?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I applaud the community of Norman Wells for seeing a problem and doing something about it right away. The problem is, Mr. Speaker, that the Building Canada Fund is hoping to have projects that have yet to be started and that is the basis of this. I would advise the Member that we are still working with the Government of Canada on hopefully having some positive outcome for the project in Norman Wells. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Mr. Speaker, the town of Norman Wells only did what any other community would have done to save its sewer plant, water intake plant. Certainly we would support the Minister in terms of going forward with the Building Canada Plan in terms of the projects. What is the status of these BCP projects in terms of 2009-10 with this government?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, as I advised the Member, we are still working with the Government of Canada to try and see if there is some way we can apply some of this funding to the project that has already been completed in Norman Wells. We will continue to work on that. If we get some information on that, I will pass it on to the Member and the community of Norman Wells. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Mr. Speaker, the town of Norman Wells would be very appreciative of the Minister’s response. I want to ask the Minister in terms of another source of funding under the Emergency Measures Fund, or are there other emergency funds his department has that could also help with this situation?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, again, the town of Norman Wells identified a need and they were protecting some infrastructure. I will assure the Member that MACA will explore all of our options in trying to access funding for the project in Norman Wells. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Mr. Speaker, again, the town will be very appreciative of the response here. In terms of this situation here, can I ask the Minister in terms of instructing his officials when they do meet with us, what constitutes emergency measures such as a situation like this with Norman Wells? Does this type of funding that the town is requesting fit in some type of policy that constitutes an emergency for this situation?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, I would imagine that this would fit under an emergency, as this seawall needed to be built to protect their infrastructure. As I advised the Member, I will be bringing all this forward with the department and we will see what kind of options we have and I will advise the Member and the community of Norman Wells. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my statement, I talked about a number of policies. I have some questions in regards to the comments in my statement for the Minister of Human Resources. My first question would be to know what policies exist that apply to employees within the GNWT public service. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Minister of Human Resources

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a code of conduct for employees respecting conflict of interest. We also have an oath of secrecy for employees. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thanks to the Minister and those are the ones that I was aware of as well. By the way, both of those policies are quite valid and they should be there. I think they are important. Relative to some of the comments that I made in my statement that employees are required to report activities to their supervisors, could the Minister advise us whether or not there is an established practice or procedure to request activities outside of an employee’s work environment from the employee? Thank you.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Minister of Human Resources

The code of conduct that I referred to outlines responsibilities of employees as to how to prevent themselves from getting into conflict of interest situations and the reporting requirements I am not aware of any reporting requirements for the examples that the Member used in her Member’s statement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.