This is page numbers 6547 - 6588 of the Hansard for the 16th 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 territories.

Topics

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

That’s a lot of ifs with four months left and a clear decision by this Assembly that we’re not going to make any major commitments in the last few days of an Assembly. We will do the work. The budget is set for this year and we will lay that out. We’re doing transition planning.

The other thing we ought to keep in mind, Mr. Speaker, the Member keeps talking about a treatment centre. We can’t lose sight of the fact that we still don’t do enough on the prevention side. That if we just accept the fact that people are going to keep drinking and we’re just going to keep building facilities to try to fix them once they’re addicted, or put them in the hospital and give them dialysis and kidney transplants once they’re so sick that there’s no other alternative, then we will truly never have enough money. I can tell you that right now. I said that five years ago when I was Health Minister and I’ll tell you again today, we don’t have enough money to keep fixing things or people when they’re broken or damaged. We have to get onto the prevention, because we do not have the money. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member’s statement I spoke about the need to work with the leadership in the Beaufort-Delta to ensure that the $150 million commitment to building the Tuk-Inuvik highway appears on the upcoming federal budget. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Transportation update the Assembly on the steps that he and his officials are taking to make this a reality for the residents of the Beaufort-Delta? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The news for the $150 million was very exciting indeed. I think it took a lot of work, and of course the work wasn’t only carried out by myself. We had the mayors of Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik very involved with presenting the case and building up the arguments why this road needed to be done. We had the Inuvialuit government onside. Of course, the MLAs raised the profile of this issue many times in this House. We had our Premier meeting with the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers across the floor here, or on this side of the House, that met with the different Cabinet Ministers to raise the issue. The Department of Transportation played a role and this resulted in some dollars being flagged. Unfortunately, this process was never completely ratified.

We certainly don’t want to lose momentum on this initiative. We have already talked with the working group; as recently as this morning there was a meeting. We fully intend to engage with the federal Minister as soon as we know who the appointment will be. That’s going to happen in the next little while, we understand, and the folks in Ottawa will be getting back together in June. We have our documents drafted. We want to indicate that this initiative should carry forward. We want to be able to meet with the new Minister. We will, of course, be extending an invitation to the Minister and we will look how we can fully engage, keep everybody involved, and keep this whole initiative moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

The Minister almost answered all of my questions there. I understand we’re still waiting for the Prime Minister to announce his Cabinet and there is some slippage in the engaging of the federal government. I’d like some assurances from the Minister that he and his officials are ready to hit the ground running to engage the new federal Minister of Transportation at the earliest opportunity. Thank you.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

I think the Members of this House did a very good job over the last while

about raising the profile of our infrastructure needs across the Territories. We have a motion in this House indicating that the Mackenzie Valley Highway is very important to us, and we want to see that flagged as one of our top priorities. Our government has put together a Federal Engagement Strategy that lays out a number of areas where we’d like to see investment. The Mackenzie Valley Highway is very high on this list. We’ve shared that information with the federal government. We’ve had private meetings with the different Ministers. I’ve had the opportunity to talk with Mr. Lawrence Canon at the time when he was Transportation and Infrastructure Minister. We’ve talked with Chuck Strahl, John Baird, and we’ve had very good support from Minister Leona Aglukkaq over the last while and we expect we’ll have good support from her ongoing.

We have drafted our documents, we have our letters ready. We just need to know who is the person that will be working with us on this as the new Minister, and I fully intend to engage as soon as possible. Thank you.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

I also referenced the hard work that the leadership in the Beaufort-Delta has put in to ensuring that Canada’s national highway system reaches coast to coast to coast. Can the Minister assure the Assembly that he will engage with the Beaufort-Delta leadership in advancing this project, which are a pivotal partner on the whole road itself, and bring them down to Ottawa to help talk to the federal government on this issue? Thank you.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

We’re very eager to travel to Ottawa. There are a lot of issues we want to talk about. There is still an application from the Northwest Territories to the Green Fund. The City of Yellowknife had a submission on behalf of the Northland Trailer Court. There was a hydro line applied for that we haven’t received any response. There are many issues that we need to tackle. There are issues about infrastructure, ongoing stable funding for long-term investment, and there’s also the Mackenzie Valley Highway, and more specifically now, the $150 million that was flagged in the last budget. We want to carry that forward and we fully intend to travel to Ottawa.

Of course, if there’s an opportunity to bring any additional delegates or additional people that are involved in this project with us, we’ll do so. Having said that, at the end of the day, the Minister usually dictates who he is willing to meet with. However, we’ll put in the request. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Listening to the Minister with all the projects that he mentioned, not all the projects, they’re not going to be fully funded. The $150 million was put in the federal budget by the federal government, but it

was not ratified. All of the other projects weren’t in the budget. Mr. Speaker, we just want to make sure that the $150 million gets allocated properly to the Tuk-Inuvik highway in making sure that the Minister goes down on that approach.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister also consider taking some EDI members to Ottawa with him for this meeting? Thank you.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

As the Minister I can’t only focus on a certain part of the Northwest Territories. I have other responsibilities. I would not be doing justice if I didn’t speak about long-term stable funding for infrastructure, and Mr. Menicoche would be very disappointed if I didn’t raise Highway No. 7, Highway No. 6, other highways, the Bear River Bridge, the Peel River Bridge and those initiatives that need attention. I think we have to be able to address all the different needs across the Territories, and at the same time focusing on some of the areas that have moved forward.

It’s been very exciting in the life of this government to be able to move discussions on the Mackenzie Valley Highway forward. We’ve managed to get the federal government to come onside and invest jointly with us on the work that needs to be done, the PDRs, and more specifically now, some indication that they’re willing to put dollars up for construction. We need to know what the long-term plan is; we need to be able to work around it if it’s going to be still an investment they’re willing to move forward. So there’s lots of work that has to be done, Mr. Speaker, and we certainly can commit that we’ll continue to push it forward. 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. My statement talked about women in Yellowknife who are working on behalf of NWT women and homelessness, and I’d like to ask some questions of the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services about the government’s homelessness framework. I’ve been trying for some months, actually more than 12, to try and get some information on the updating of the homelessness framework, but I was recently advised that no update is in the works. So I’d like to ask the Minister if he can advise when this homelessness framework will be reviewed, revised and updated so that it is more suitable to our current needs. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From what I understand, there’s a homelessness interdepartmental government homelessness working group. As well, there’s a strategy and framework that’s led by the Homelessness Coalition in Yellowknife. So that work is underway, and I don’t have a specific time that I could give the Member as to when that particular initiative will be concluded. Thank you.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thanks to the Minister for that response. I’m a little surprised to hear that we have a Homelessness Coalition led by the City of Yellowknife, which basically works for facilities within the city of Yellowknife, that that is leading a strategy, which, if I understand the Minister correctly, is going to be GNWT strategy or policy. So I’d like to ask the Minister, if my understanding is correct, could he explain what he meant by the strategy is being developed by the Homelessness Coalition? Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

This particular document will have application, we believe, outside of the city of Yellowknife. It’s an issue in the city. We have our own interdepartmental working group, as well, that looks at concerns of homelessness outside of the city of Yellowknife. Thank you.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you. I’m getting more and more confused all the time. So it now sounds like we have a strategy that’s going to apply to the city of Yellowknife, which may be useful outside the city of Yellowknife for the rest of the Territories, but we have something else which is going to determine stuff outside Yellowknife. I really don’t understand the answer.

The Minister mentioned an interdepartmental homelessness committee, which sounds rather like the committee doesn’t have a home, but I believe they work on the issue of homelessness. I’d like to know from the Minister what their function is and how often they meet. Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

They meet on an ongoing basis. They’ve fed their work into the business planning process. It includes departments like Health, MACA, Housing, to name some that have a role to play, and we look at funding for the City of Yellowknife, the shelters that are out there and homelessness in the smaller communities where there is no other capacity, and we try to deal with things on a one-by-one case basis. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister. I think, again, I’m not exactly sure that I understand what their function and role is. The Minister mentioned one of situations that this group deals with and I believe that’s the Homelessness Assistance Fund, which is supposed to help people. As I read from a document, “the Homelessness

Assistance Fund supports and prevents individuals from becoming homeless in the NWT.” If that’s the case, I need to ask the Minister why in recent months a family of four was basically refused a minor amount of funding, $600 I believe, which would have kept them from being tossed out of their current housing. Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

I’m not in a position to answer such a broad question where there are no specifics. I don’t know what the issue was. I don’t know where it was. I don’t know the background information. I can only assume that everything was done according to policy and procedure, but I’m not in a position to answer that type of question without some considerable more detail.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Human Resources. I want to ask about the hiring of summer students this year. In the Sahtu the last three years we have graduated 50 high school students, not counting the Aurora College students. I want to ask the Minister if the government is on track for hiring summer students this year compared to previous years.