This is page numbers 5035 - 5060 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 5th 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 communities.

Topics

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Thank you very much. I think that’s a strategy, I think there’s got to be federal involvement. Can I ask the Minister when is his next opportunity that he would be meeting with his

federal counterpart or federal-provincial meeting of Transportation Ministers, because I think that’s the point that it’s important to raise the condition of Highway No. 7, especially in light that we want Canadians and tourists to visit our new Nahanni National Park Reserve and get them there and make it easier for them, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Thank you. I just returned from a federal/provincial/territorial conference in Halifax and we did discuss a number of issues related to Transportation, including a strategic plan for all of Canada, including the Northwest Territories. We have a number of our officials that are leading the research and development of planning in this area and we certainly have all agreed that the future is going to be a lot different from the environment that we’ve dealt with in the past and our infrastructure is going to have to adapt to that. We had agreement from the new federal infrastructure Minister to have a meeting during this session. However, I’ve had to ask for a deferral on that to when this session is not sitting and he’s agreed. We’ve also got commitment from Leona Aglukkaq to sit in on a meeting with us, and we’re looking forward to doing that sometime in November as soon as session is done here. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Residents of Fort Liard often travel to Fort Nelson, like how Fort Simpson travels to Hay River for their shopping. Is there any way that the Minister can dedicate some resources to fixing the kilometre zero to kilometre 38, which is to Fort Liard, to a reasonable standard for next year? Up to and including chipseal.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

The strategy that we have used to determine which roads need attention has been developed by our engineers. We certainly can ask them if they want to relocate some investment. However, that would be asking us to move away from areas that we think have issues with safety and vision and they may have some difficulty doing that without increased funding in this area. We would have to be relocating dollars that are targeted for specific areas. We can certainly discuss that and see what possibilities there are, but I would say it’s unlikely.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions today for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I guess I’ve got some great

concern over some comments that the Minister made at her constituency meeting where she talked about the proposed changes to supplementary health. In fact, one of the quotes that the Minister made at that meeting was that portions of that plan would be implemented in November. That’s two weeks from now.

The report from the working group has just come forward recently. I’d like to ask the Minister what exactly she is referring to. What exactly is going to be implemented in November as she mentioned at her constituency meeting?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member is aware, the joint working group on the Supp Health Benefits Program completed its work. We have jointly submitted the report to the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning and Cabinet. The supp working group’s work is done and we are looking forward to getting feedback from the committee on the work that the joint working group has completed.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

I was wondering if the Minister could outline for the Regular Members here and the public -- obviously there are going to be questions and concerns stemming from the release of this working group’s report -- what process is going to be followed that is going to allow questions and concerns for Members and the general public to be addressed by the government before anything is implemented.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

The joint working group recommendations and suggestions are in the report. It is in the hands of the committee. The committee is made up of all the Members on the other side, and I look forward to the feedback from the committee as to what their response is to that and if the details of the report will show exactly the questions that he’s asking.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

I’m not sure how officially the report got to us today. We did receive it and I’m not at liberty to discuss that report right now. Obviously it’s not before the House. However, what I want to ask the Minister is: Is that report the gospel according to this Cabinet? Is this Cabinet going to entertain parking the proposed changes to supplemental health until next fall when rightfully it can become an election issue here in the Northwest Territories?

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

As the Member knows, the joint working group was made up of three Ministers and three Regular MLAs. We were tasked to look into certain things about supp health benefits. We looked into those and some other issues that came up. We made recommendations on those. The report was officially transmitted by myself and Mrs.

Groenewegen, who is the co-chair. I don’t think we need to preclude the work of the committee. I am sure that the committee will take a look at the report and give us considered feedback on the recommendations, and I and the Cabinet Ministers, my colleagues, are looking forward to hearing from the committee on their response.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the recommendation of the committee is to look at shelving the proposed changes to the supplementary health benefits in the Northwest Territories until next fall when it can become an election issue, is that something that the Minister could support?

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

We have a consensus government. I don’t know what the committee’s feedback will be. I would like to ask the committee to consider all the recommendations made there. There are some very good recommendations that I think would benefit and that I think the committee would want to adopt. We haven’t had enough time for the Members to give us their feedback. I am open to receiving whatever feedback the Members have on that report.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I talked about the streetlights in smaller communities or the lack thereof on the roadways. Especially now with winter coming, we all know that there is limited sunlight, it’s very dark, and it’s quite terrible, actually, especially when I go there in the wintertime. I can’t walk around much later than 6:00 in some of the areas of Lutselk’e and Fort Res because of darkness. I’d like to ask the Minister, I understand that at one time the NWT Power Corporation used to install lights on the poles and then charge the municipality for the kilowatt usage. I’d like to ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs if he could advise me how the departments fund streetlights and who is responsible for streetlights in the municipalities.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The way it worked before was that the Power Corporation would install the poles and streetlights and then bill MACA, when MACA had the responsibility and all the infrastructure money. Since the implementation of the New Deal, it is now the community’s responsibility to work with the

Power Corporation in having streetlights installed in the community.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Could the Minister advise me if at the time when Municipal and Community Affairs had the responsibility to deal with the Power Corporation on street lighting, if the department has some sort of regulations, policies or formula for how many streetlights are needed to light up a street, how far between and so on? Any sort of regulation?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

My understanding is there weren’t any regulations that were in place. It was something that the community would identify to the Power Corporation and try and have the proper lighting installed. The communities worked with the Power Corporation to come up with the needed lights in the community.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Since as an Assembly we really don’t have access to or any way of dealing with the NWT Power Corporation on this issue, I would like to know if the Minister could commit to having his department work with the municipalities and the NWT Power Corporation to have some of the lights installed in key places in the communities where the streets are not lit up at all.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Each fall and winter we work with the community governments to support their revised capital investment plans and if they identify streetlights as one of their priorities, then we would work with them to include the streetlights in their capital plans. The communities have done quite good at doing their capital plans, and I can inform the Member that one of his communities has actually identified street lighting as part of their capital plan and they’re hoping to do the implementation during this fiscal year.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.