This is page numbers 5073 – 5106 of the Hansard for the 17th 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 school.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s hard to be short when I get an answer that doesn’t reference my question. The Premier says that all the schools are over-funded. Our legislation says our PTR is 16 to 1. I want to say that the only schools which are meeting that 16 to 1 PTR are in Yellowknife. I would like to know whether or not the Premier intends to enforce or reduce dollars so that we are 16 to 1. Is he going to enforce a ratio of 16 to 1 in every school across the territory? We now have some that are funded at less than 5 to 1. Thank you.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

We’re hearing that we have to adhere to our legislation. Obviously, as a government, we take that very seriously. We’ve indicated that we are doing a very comprehensive review and I think we would revisit it at that time. So we expect the review will take a period of time, but I’ve written to committee and indicated that we will seek input from every MLA on how this review should work, so that everybody will have input into it. Everybody, at the end of the day, will be happy with the outcome of the review. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I love asking questions and I certainly enjoy the answers that I sometimes get. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Housing Minister.

We all know mould is a serious issue in the Northwest Territories, certainly in public housing. Quite often we hear a lot about it. I want to know how often public housing units are tested for mould, who does the testing, what skills do they have, how do we ensure authorities are testing them properly and what expertise do we use. Those are the bulk of the questions and, well, let’s find a way to get through them.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Housing, Mr. McLeod.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can answer them all at once or take them all as supps. Units are condition rated every year. We have qualified folks from our local housing authorities who go in and do the inspections, if mould is found and identified or if mould is found and suspected. Most of our regional staff are getting trained in mould identification and remediation, so they have an opportunity to go in and confirm it and take the necessary steps to deal with the situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

I think I got most of them. Just to drill down slightly deeper, how many people are actually qualified at his point? I think the Minister had said they are training some folks, so let’s get that on the record. How many people are specifically qualified to identify mould and send it out for testing? Nobody can just stand there and say it’s this type of mould. It has to be sent out.

That said, what regions do they typically work? The Minister said just a moment ago, every public housing unit is condition rated every year, so I just want to make sure we’re doing this regularly and in which regions. It’s very important. Thank you.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

I appreciate the Member’s interest in the state of housing across the Northwest Territories. I can assure him that our folks on the front lines are fully trained, that they are all qualified. As far as who is qualified or how many there are, that’s more of an operational question. I can get the information for the Member and share it with the Member and committee. The condition ratings, again, those are inspections we do every year with the local housing authorities. I can get the information as to how many individuals are actually

qualified and which region they work in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

I want to give deep and sincere thanks to the Minister for recognizing my concern about public housing. It’s an important issue for me. I will accept every offer he just made about providing that information.

In the spring I was asking some details about certain public housing units and they were in the Nunakput region, interestingly enough, the one that you represent, Mr. Speaker. I had some concerns about the particular condition rating. I drilled down a little further later on, asking about if they were as qualified to do it as such and was the information fully contained.

I’d like to know, maybe, an update on this particular scenario. When has the condition rating been reviewed in those communities and what skills are the people using? In other words, what expertise are going into these units and assessing these units so we make sure we do them properly? Thank you.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker. our maintenance people in the communities are fully qualified to carry out the inspection. This is unit condition rating, so they go into the unit; they inspect all the components of the unit. If they suspect mould might be present, if they’re not qualified to identify and remediate it, they then will pass that information on. We will get people into the community to identify and remediate the mould.

As far as this particular unit goes, I’m not quite sure if it’s a public housing unit. I’m suspecting it might be a private homeowner unit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe for the benefit of the public – I’ve heard this answer before, and I’ll explain it when I say it – maybe the Minister can help us understand what “fully qualified” means.

As we all know, things like housing maintainers are not Red Seal tradespersons, so I want to make sure we have the right people on the ground making the assessment. The only thing I would say, Mr. Speaker, is a housing maintainer – this is my last question, Mr. Speaker – cannot go in and identify an electrical problem. They can suspect there’s an issue there, but they’re not qualified to say it truly is a problem. So a housing maintainer probably doesn’t have the skills, in most circumstances, to identify mould, electrical problems or things like outside of what is obviously a typical problem.

I just want to make sure we have the right people with the right skills assessing these properly because, frankly, they’re territorial assets. We have

every duty to ensure that they’re safe and we certainly have a social responsibility to make sure they’re healthy for the tenants who live there. Thank you.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, we know exactly what our responsibilities are, that’s why we have these people go and take care of these units. On behalf of all housing maintainers across the Northwest Territories, I take offence to the Member’s comments, because it is a full apprenticeship, they do three years of training and a lot of it is basic home repair. But I would challenge the Member to write the test if he thinks they’re not qualified.

I say, Mr. Speaker, I challenge the Member to write the test if he thinks they’re not qualified. For him to stand over there and question the ability and the qualifications of these people who have been working in the fields for 20, 25, 30 years I think is unfair and they take a lot of pride in their work. I say again, they do have the qualifications. They have the experience that’s needed to identify a lot of these issues. If they can’t repair it, then they will get someone in who’s qualified to repair it.

They have electrical inspections every year. They contract it out. They get an electrician to come in and inspect a lot of the units as far as the electrical issues go. So there are a number of inspections they do on the units. I can assure the public out there that our units are condition rated and they’re well maintained and they have regular inspections by qualified people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Time for oral questions has expired. Item 9, written questions. Item 10, returns to written questions. Item 11, replies to opening address. Item 12, petitions. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Mr. Nadli.

Bill 12: Northern Employee Benefits Services Pension Act
Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills

October 29th, 2014

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The committee would like to report on its consideration of Bill 12, Northern Employee Benefits Services Pension Act.

Bill 12, sponsored by the Minister of Finance, sets out the legislative framework for the Northern Employee Benefits Services Pension Plan to continue as a multi-employer, multijurisdictional public sector pension for employees of approved public employers in both the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Bill 12 received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on February 27, 2014, and was referred

to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review. At the same time, our counterparts in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut have been considering Bill 1, which largely mirrors the provisions of Bill 12.

Earlier this week the Nunavut Legislative Assembly adopted a motion to extend the period of time for their standing committee to consider Bill 1 by a further 120 days.

Today I am advising this House of our committee’s wish to join our counterparts in Nunavut and to extend our review of Bill 12 by the same amount of time, 120 days.

Mr. Speaker, we find ourselves in a unique situation whereby two distinct and independent Legislatures are considering amendments to two pieces of mirrored legislation governing a body that conducts businesses in both jurisdictions.

Given the shared nature of the pension plan between the two jurisdictions, it is essential that the two bills that will emerge from the two Legislatures be harmonized to the greatest extent possible.

Given the interest already expressed by constituents, the unique nature of this bill and the challenges proposed by its multijurisdictional nature, it will take time to do this job properly. I believe that lawmakers from the Northwest Territories and Nunavut would agree that this is the best way to ensure that NEBS gets the clear legislative framework that they need and the balanced one they deserve.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Therefore, Mr. Speaker, in accordance with Rule 70(1) of the Rules of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Frame Lake, that the review period of Bill 12, Northern Employee Benefits Services Pension Plan Act, be extended for a further 120 days. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Motion is on the floor. Motion is in order. To the motion.

Some Hon. Members

Question.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Question has been called. The motion is carried.

---Carried

The review period for Bill 12, Northern Employee Benefits Services…

---Interjection

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, guys. Order!

The review period for Bill 12, Northern Employee Benefits Services Pension Plan Act, is extended for 120 days.

Item 14, tabling of documents. Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “Annual Report on the Activities of the Rental Office, April 1, 2013, to March 31, 2014.” Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents, entitled “Northwest Territories Heritage Fund Annual Report for 2012-2013” and “Northwest Territories Heritage Fund Annual Report for 2013-2014.”

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Ms. Bisaro.