This is page numbers 6651 - 6686 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 report.

Topics

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thanks to the Minister again. If I could just ask him to imagine if he feels chagrined at being treated as a stakeholder, what Members on this side of the House are feeling at not being consulted at all.

INAC’s arbitrary May 12th deadline for the MVRMA

consultations has come and gone. The invitation to provide input was apparently even suspended by the department during the federal election, although no corresponding extension to the deadline was given. Committee and Assembly Members had no opportunity to provide their views during this consultation. The act itself actually has specified conditions that must be met for peer consultation. Will the Minister commit to contacting the DIAND Minister and asking that the deadline be extended while the input of Members is requested and included in this government’s response?

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

My

understanding is that the deadlines that were set by the federal government have slipped because of the election. Cabinet is not going to be sworn in or appointed until possibly tomorrow. We have this on our list to follow up on, along with many other issues. I will, of course, make note of the Member’s concerns.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister taking note of my concerns. I’m just hoping that means actually consulting with us, keeping us informed what he finds out and so on. We’ve had McCrank; we’re waiting for the Pollard Report. The possibly connected MVRMA surface rights and Waters Act consultations are underway in some unexplained way. We have the devolution AIP and we have yet to ask our citizens for their specific views on these important matters. Can the Minister say when we’re going to put aside these regulatory scatter guns, get our Aboriginal partners back at the table, invite the specific views of our citizens, and proceed with one comprehensive made-in-the-NWT approach to charting our regulatory future? I’d prefer to see this before we take the plunge, not after.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

This whole process is a classic example of why Northerners have to have control over their own decision-making in this area; regulatory reform and resource development, land and water.

Here we are in this Assembly trying to find out what the federal government’s up to. They haven’t told us clearly. They’ve made some comments about something dramatic that they want to do. We are concerned that they’re going to do things that are not going to be in our best interest as a territory. There’s been some improvement in relationships since the signing of the AIP where now the federal government has acknowledged that we’re in the

process of transferring that responsibility finally to Northerners.

If the Member is content to sit here as a second-class Canadian waiting for the federal government to decide our future, then we will be here for a long time. I don’t think that is what most people want, not listening to the results of Mr. Abernethy’s poll that he took. We are moving on this. This is a classic reason why we want devolution. Members will be kept involved, but at this point we do not control this process. The federal government still has the authority to do something dramatic and we don’t know what that is.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll have questions to the Minister responsible for homelessness today. In my Member’s statement earlier today I talked about the issue of the Betty House and how particularly it is important to addressing the need for women who need transition housing. It’s a significant step forward in addressing this particular problem and I recognize the important work provided by the YWCA as well as the City of Yellowknife, for moving this initiative forward.

BHP Billiton has generously offered and given a cheque for $700,000 to this association so that they can work forward to accomplishing this project and addressing that need. My question to the Minister responsible for homelessness is: what is the government’s specific contribution to this project ensuring that women have a place to go?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Homelessness, Mr. Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

We have made no specific contribution of that nature. Thank you.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Mr. Speaker, what we have here is particularly very clear, in my mind. We have another community organization stepping forward addressing what really, rightfully, should be a government responsibility.

Mr. Speaker, I would ask the Minister, again, responsible for Homelessness, specifically, will there be a contribution from this government towards this initiative, and if so, when and how much? Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, we have a contribution and a plan and an interdepartmental plan that pools resources to deal

with homelessness across the Northwest Territories. What we have here is another situation where infrastructure is being developed because of the local will to do the construction with no O and M money in place to run it as of yet. We went through the same long process with the dementia centre and we are not in the situation fiscally where we are in a position to offer up millions of dollars of homelessness money as it doesn’t now exist unless we take it from the few dollars that are shared among other communities.

These folks are moving ahead on an initiative and they are hoping to cobble together the resources to do it. We are not in a position, at this point, to contribute further support and investment to infrastructure here at the same time as we’re trying to deal with a lot of the other issues outside of this community. Thank you.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Mr. Speaker, BHP Billiton has generously stepped forward, as I’ve said, on a couple of occasions, and again their generosity needs to be acknowledged, but yet again I say this: that private sector is stepping in what truly is a government responsibility. Mr. Speaker, if these people were anywhere else, government would step down in some type of form or capacity to support an NGO to help protect these particular women at risk, yet when an initiative is presented to help provide some coordinated and safe transition housing, the government is stepping away and saying it’s a community organization, they’re doing their thing, none of our business.

Mr. Speaker, there are merits here and what type of initiatives or interest would it take to draw the government’s responsibility in this particular case, because I think it’s very important that they are stepping in in a government role. Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

We are, as a government, contributing millions of dollars in this community to assist in any number of buildings, with the Salvation Army, with the Bailey House, with the YWCA. All the other facilities that are on the ground here in this community are, for the most part, funded by the Government of the Northwest Territories. What we have here is a community initiative that is they’re bringing together funds and now, as we move forward, the Member is trying to push this government separate from our budgeting process, separate from our capital planning process, to fund operations that we’re not in the position to do that.

If any other constituency were to come forward and try to push in the back door to get into the capital plan or to get O and M money without going through the proper process, there would be great unhappiness in this Assembly by many parties about somebody that was seen to take that kind of route. This is a project that is deemed important by the community. They’re doing a lot of good things to

get it funded, but as a government our capacity is extended to its fullest at present. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Mr. Speaker, it’s a real shame that I’m hearing this opinion from the Minister, and it’s very disheartening for those people who are trying to bring this project to life, again, supporting women who are at risk and who need an opportunity to stand on their own.

Mr. Speaker, this is more than just capital dollars; this also then leads into O and M dollars and programming dollars to make sure that this initiative does blossom and provide the types of focus and support that’s needed.

Mr. Speaker, the last question would be what type of community support, programming support and O and M support is this particular Minister willing to look at to address this initiative? It’s one thing to build it, but it’s also another thing to help support people to get on their own feet and enable them to pursue opportunity. That is one of the visions of this government and I’d like to see that we meet that challenge. Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

The Member is aware of the financial circumstances that this government is under. I made a statement, as the Minister of Finance, laying out very clearly the challenges we face in our almost non-existent fiscal flexibility. We just heard yesterday in the House the concern about what happens if there’s a major fire season, for example. Where do we get the money from? The Member is clearly aware of those restrictions.

So we have, at this point, no capacity. We have a list that is a great, long list, Mr. Speaker, of very many commendable projects that all would require our assistance that Members have stood up in this House and raised on an individual basis, on a constituency basis, that we do not have the capacity to fund. They’re all good projects. Betty House is like that. We do not have the fiscal capacity at this point to be adding O and M money at a time when we all know we are trying to manage our money very carefully to face the challenges before us. 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. In my Member’s statement today I was speaking about the arrears problem we have across the North and the way the government is collecting. Mr. Speaker, the residents of housing units have nowhere else to go, and given the small remote communities, we lack family shelter programs. Given the community

housing situation is already overcrowded, will this government take the action to address the real challenges of the small and remote communities and not evict people, especially in the middle of winter? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a problem we are facing across the Northwest Territories. We are taking steps to deal with the rent collection. I have to point out, though, that our five best performing LHOs, as far as average arrears per unit, three of them are in the small communities. Our best average is in one of the smaller communities, so that showed me that these are communities that are honouring the commitments that they’ve made and these are the communities that we don’t hear concerns from, from the MLAs. This is one of the reasons I believe we are in the situation we are in today where we have so much arrears, is because of political interference, not only at this level but it gets to this level at the end of the day. It all starts with the board not supporting their LHOs when they’re trying to enforce rent collection. That hurts the LHOs. It hurts the tenant most of all because they realize they can go to the political leaders and have this brought to a forefront for a responsibility that was theirs and that they didn’t accept.

We want to work with these people, Mr. Speaker. We’ve made that quite clear. It’s not our intent to evict people in the wintertime, spring, summer or fall. We just don’t want to evict them, but they have to work with us, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, it comes to a point sometimes of where eviction is the last option. Thank you.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Well, political interference, I guess that’s a pretty big one. That’s my job. I represent the people in Nunakput. When people have problems, they come to me and I try to deal with them.

You know, Mr. Speaker, this government gets over $30 million a year from the federal government for the 22 units across the North. The same funding that’s either sitting empty or occupied, the money they collect is for O and M, Mr. Speaker. So why are we kicking people out in the middle of winter? It’s not right.

Mr. Speaker, I’m asking the Minister if he could reconsider the evictions that are going on in the communities. Come to my community of Paulatuk and try to work with the community. I met with the Minister, he promised me that but I want to hear it so the people in the community can hear that the Minister is coming and the department is coming to try to make a difference in the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

I’ve been up to Paulatuk, I’ve heard their concerns. The concerns I heard there weren’t so much tied to arrears as to the operation of the LHO. I can tell the Member and I think he realizes, that one of our senior management from headquarters has committed to going to Paulatuk and working with the folks up in the Member’s riding.

Again, I say, Mr. Speaker, the eviction process, when we get to the eviction process, that’s basically the last straw. They’ve been given every opportunity for time to enter into repayment plans and when we get to this stage that we’re at now it’s because they haven’t honoured the commitments that they’ve made on three or four occasions. It’s unfair to those… We have people that have come forward and made repayment plans, have made bulk payments. They’ve honoured their commitment, therefore, they continue to stay in their house. But, again, it’s a challenge and we’ll continue to work with all the communities to see how we can best address this. Thank you.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Mr. Speaker, the Minister is correct about the mess that ECE left this housing situation in. I am blaming... You guys left a big mess. The department can’t even find out. People are making payments, or I’ve got pieces of paper in my office stating that they made a payment and it’s not reflecting on their bill. Mr. Speaker, the department obviously with the Minister saying that he did go to the community, yes, he did, but we have to try to work with them, not kick them out. You’re not in Yellowknife where if you go outside you’re going to be living in a tent. That’s not right. You’re in a position to make a difference.

Mr. Speaker, maybe we should put a motion forward to delete all arrears across the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, is the Minister willing to work with me in the community to keep the people that are on the eviction list in their houses until we can get this sorted out? Thank you.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, a motion to delete all arrears across the Northwest Territories is not going to benefit the tenants. Then we just may be putting them in a position where they just accumulate arrears again, and most of all, and most importantly, it would not be fair to those folks across the Northwest Territories that paid their rent faithfully since 1972 and are still living in the same house. It’s not fair to them. That’s what we want, is to try to treat everybody fairly and equitably.

One of the goals of the 16th Legislative Assembly is

safe, sustainable, vibrant, and I’d like to add independent communities. We’re trying to foster independence. We’re trying to make people accept their responsibility.

Again, Mr. Speaker, it’s not our intent to try to and put these people out. They’re been given every

opportunity to work out a repayment plan and honour their commitment, and, unfortunately, that hasn’t happened so there has been an order for an eviction. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.