Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. The office of the Auditor General conducted a performance audit of income security just recently, spanning from April 2009 to September 2012. There has been a review, I guess, from outside, highlighting various aspects within the income security framework. The last changes we made were in 2007 after a review of our income security, so we’re just waiting for the outcome of the office of the Auditor General, what the outcome would be, and then we have to follow through with that. We’re just waiting for that, and proceeding once we get that information.

That’s good to hear. The Auditor General, in my experience, always does a grand job of providing excellent recommendations.

As the department underwent this review with the Auditor General’s office, I know that people usually discover things as they have somebody who’s poring over their books and their programs and so on. So does the Minister have anything at this point where he can say that, yes, there were some areas where they already know that there are deficiencies and that they will be looking at trying to correct?

I can’t really speak specifics to the recommendations that will be coming down. I believe it will be tabled this week. So we’re just waiting, and I guess we’ll stay tuned until it’s tabled. Then from there the detailed information will come out. In due time, we’ll have to follow through with their recommendations. It is before the office of the Auditor General, so I really can’t speak to it at this point.

I wasn’t asking for the Auditor General’s recommendations. Normally, when somebody is looking at things and you are looking at what they are looking at, oftentimes things jump out at you. I just wondered whether or not the department had, at this point, recognized that they have some deficiencies on their own without the Auditor General having to tell them that.

I wanted to ask a question with regard to the amount of money at the bottom of page 10-27 that talks to program delivery details. The amount of

money for income assistance programs actually is going down this year, ’13-14, as compared to the current fiscal year. We’re in a situation where we’re in a fairly large economic downturn. The trend that I’m aware of is that the requirement for income assistance and the number of people using income assistance has been going up as opposed to staying steady or going down.

Does this amount of money staying steady, actually going down just a bit, does that indicate that there’s been a change in that trend? Or is it simply are we kind of on a wish and a prayer that things aren’t going to change and that we’ll need more money?

Mr. Chair, I am trying to get more detailed information from my staff here. There has been some fluctuation in, of course, income support throughout the Northwest Territories, and we’re trying to reflect on that where if there’s an increase in funding. We realize that some of the regions are lacking, let’s say, job opportunities, so there’s been an increase in caseload in those areas. But at the same time, there are other regions that their caseload has decreased, so it balances each other. Obviously, we like to see caseloads go down.

In due time, where the economic booming is happening in the Deh Cho, Sahtu, or Beaufort-Delta, I’m hoping to see the income security funding go down a bit. That should be the overall target for this government. Slowly it’s happening. Maybe if my director has some detailed information pertaining to that, if we can allow him.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Mr. Devitt.

Thank you, Mr. Devitt. Ms. Bisaro

Thanks, Mr. Chair. It’s one thing to monitor the expenditures but I would hope that we’re also looking at providing cost of living increases in some of the amounts of dollars that we give out to our income support clients. Certainly, their expenses go up and everybody’s are always going up. Does this figure in the budget include an adjustment for cost of living increases? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. It does capture some of those comments that the Member is referring to, whether it be fuel costs

going up and food costs going up. So we’ve been monitoring that. If there is an increase in those areas, then obviously there is an increase in our budget as well. We will continue to monitor it. If there needs to be changes to the budget, then we will be before standing committee to reflect those high costs of living.

In 2007, again, we have increased our funding based on communities’ needs and high cost of living and so forth. We continue to do that. Based on the outcome of this Auditor General’s report, we may have to make some changes again. We are just waiting for that report to come out. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I wanted to ask a question, as well, in this section under the Student Financial Assistance funding. I note that it goes up almost $2 million between the revised estimates and the main estimates for this year. I think the House approved an increase in funding for Student Financial Assistance because we’re getting more students asking for assistance, which is a good thing. It means more kids are going off to post-secondary. Does this increase in funding allow for students taking upgrades to get student financial assistance from the department? Thank you.

Mr. Chair, this was also addressed in this House. SFA is a basic supplementary grant to students that are entering post-secondary. It is directly for post-secondary. It’s not for upgrading, but there are access programs that individuals can access towards their… Whether it be a diploma or degree program, they would be eligible for funding partially. Those are just some of the areas. We do have other subsidies available as well.

Again, going back to our federal funding, Labour Market, areas where we funded students in the past, there is also funding available through Aboriginal governments, the scholarships and so forth. To answer Ms. Bisaro, the upgrading is not covered through Student Financial Assistance because it is strictly for post-secondary. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Ms. Bisaro, your time is up. If you have any questions, let me know. I can put you back on the list. Moving on with questions on 10-27 I have Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have just a really quick question in regard to Productive Choices. When was this program initiated? When was it implemented? How successful has the Productive Choices Program been since the department initiated and implemented it? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. The Productive Choices I believe has been in the running since just over 10 years. There have been some ups and downs with that, but it was built so that there can be positive choices in the communities working with the organizations so that individuals can be prepared to enter the workforce. Again, some experience, the life skills and employment experiences. In my view, it has been very successful. At the same time, we always look for improvements, enhancement to the programming. There are ways where individual Members have approached me to say why couldn’t we locate in those areas where maybe they can get some wood or fish for the elders and so forth. It’s organizations that we have to work with. We have a list of organizations. We always add to them as well. The Member did approach us earlier, as well, where there is limited capacity in the community when it comes to organizations. How can we effectively make it work in the communities? Those are areas that we are continuously monitoring and making changes. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Can the Minister just maybe confirm or give us input on whether or not Income Support has the Income Support dollars and if applications have gone up over the last 10 years?

Mr. Chair, I’m not sure we have that information here at this point, but we can certainly provide it. Actually, I do have some information that we will provide to the Members as well. Since 2007 it’s roughly 2,800 cases. In 2008 it increased a bit. In 2009 it increased. It has been gradually increasing over time. From 2007-2008 it was 2,800 roughly. In 2011-2012 it was just over 3,000. There has been some incremental increase. We will provide that to the Members.

Mr. Chair, maybe just a question here in terms of the Productive Choices Program itself. Has that program ever been reviewed and taken maybe a harder stance in terms of what type of choices would be guaranteed in terms of receiving your income support, such as job applications or resume upgrades on a timely basis? Say instead of somebody going and shovelling snow and getting their income every year, that they come and they show that their resume and cover letter has been upgraded every three months, or else either they have a letter of support from a business for a job or that they have applied on a few different jobs looking at trying to get back into the workforce.

Right now we do have some… As he mentioned earlier, there are some people that know how to play the system and it actually affects those people who are actually trying to continue on income assistance but they can’t get into any voluntary positions because all of the voluntary positions are being taken up by everybody that is already doing

the productive choices and taking that voluntary sector, taking all of those voluntary positions away. Has the Productive Choices been reviewed? Would the Minister be willing to review it and come up with a more comprehensive plan to add some of those suggestions that I had made such as updating resumes, job applications, those kinds of things? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, the Productive Choices, we obviously review it on an annual basis. We made a lot of changes in that area, adding to what kind of chores that those individuals should be doing, individual meaning without dependents, and with dependents and so forth. We will continue to make those changes. I am always on the look-out to regional representatives and also Aboriginal organizations and even from Members. What kind of improvements should we be making and in what areas? If there’s an area that the Member just referred to, resume writing or updating, definitely we’ll take those into consideration. I’d like to make changes where it benefits the communities, and part of the regulation is we have to provide some accountability and oversight.

As you know, the Auditor General is looking at our books at every opportunity for the last four or five years. So we have to be very careful on how we handle this. Productive Choices, yes, it’s always open for changes. Mahsi.

Just a final comment, but when I was reviewing the Budget Dialogue 2012, Living Within Our Means, there was a lot of suggestions there in terms of personal responsibility, and I think Productive Choices could take that first step in helping our residents of the Northwest Territories learn, give them life skills, give them the information that can start helping them make those productive choices and start taking on some of that personal responsibility to become part of society and help in that way, rather than just having some residents depend on government. As it was stated in the budget dialogue, it was heard quite a few times, actually. Just more a comment and I look forward to possibly being of some assistance in reviewing these productive choices and giving some of my insight and some feedback. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. I know the Minister took notes down for that. Good point. Moving on with questions on 10-27 I have Mr. Blake.