This is page numbers 4437 – 4466 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 communities.

Topics

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I agree with the Member completely. We need to think outside the box and I’m certainly happy to have some conversations with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, who is responsible for income support. I don’t know if that will work. I don’t know what mechanisms might exist, but I’m certainly willing to have that conversation and that discussion with him. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister commit to the House before the end of this session that the conversation has been had with the Minister, we’re looking at options, again, what can we do within the session here? I’m looking for some support, some direction, so when we go back to our communities we can say yes, the government will look at this. This is for all my communities in the Sahtu that there will be some compensation when medical escorts are asked, you know. That’s the type of support I’m looking for. I really don’t know. Maybe if I was on the other side I would have some suggestions and sit with the Minister. But can we do something like that?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I will commit to having a conversation with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, but it would be impossible for me to commit to finding a solution within a seven-day session. So we will have the conversation, we will explore any opportunities that exist and I will keep the Member informed. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I would like to start by noting that board budgets are being cut while boards are being asked to deliver even more services to students. A recent study by the NWT Teachers’ Association, entitled “Understanding Teacher Workloads, A Pan-Northern Teacher’s Time Diary Study” underscores how teachers are becoming so overloaded with new duties that their opportunity to educate is reduced.

Can the Minister ensure the House that the findings of this study are being considered and that school boards will have the resources they need to deliver the right level of education that the students of the NWT deserve? Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Rolling out the junior kindergarten across the Northwest Territories, as I committed, starting this fall, Phase I, next year Phase II, the following year will be Phase III, and I met with the board chairs and superintendents just May 13th, I believe, two weeks ago. I did hear them and I wanted to hear their perspective and due to the fact, I’ve made some changes, I’ve made some commitments where delivering is optional starting this fall. So all of those 29 communities will have the option of delivering that in their communities and also providing half-time as opposed to full-time.

So those are a couple of ideas that came forward and I’ve listened and I’ve committed to it. Some of the areas that the Member is alluding to are cutbacks. When you look at the overall funding, there’s been a low enrolment in several schools. Due to that fact, part of the process will be the board will have to decide on where those impacts will be. Our contribution is based on enrolment, but as part of a long-term solution, we are looking at school formula funding as part of the Education Renewal Innovation.

So those are the discussions that we are currently having with the board chairs. Mahsi.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thanks for the response from the Minister. It sounds like there’s some progress being made there and I appreciate that. His choice of the word “commitment,” I might use the word “edict,” and I appreciate the fact that he’s backing off on edicts and starting to listen here and respond.

In the Yellowknife school boards, I hear from a teacher, for example, that with the cuts that are planned – and there has been no backing off from those that I’ve heard about – his class sizes will go from 28 to 33, to 33 to 40. That’s off the chart. People want to know how this government can reduce the funding to Yellowknife school boards, add 120 students and also maintain pupil-teacher ratios. Mahsi.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Yesterday I met with the two board chairs of Yellowknife, YK 1 and the Catholic School Board. Both chairs aired their concerns and issues and brought some ideas to me to work with. Resulting from the meeting, obviously, is that we have two different numbers. We have our departmental, based on enrolment projected numbers, and they have their numbers. What has been produced in, of course, the media is kind of misleading. This is the information that we need to gather. We need to sit down. Both parties committed, and as we speak, the Catholic School Board, I believe, is meeting with my senior staff within my department, and the next day, tomorrow, will be YK 1, so we can compile the actual facts, the numbers that we can share with the general public. Those are some of the areas that we will continue to push forward. I did make a commitment that my staff will be meeting with them, so that’s what’s happening right now.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

That is a significant commitment that the Minister has made here, and I appreciate learning about that today. I think it’s good that the two entities get together and explain their numbers and come up on agreement with what the numbers are. I will expect that will reduce class sizes. If it doesn’t, we’ve still got some work to do.

As a rule of thumb, though, demand for implementing new programs should be backed by new ECE funding. Yet, Yellowknife school boards are laying off teachers and staff because ECE is taking money away right now to provide junior kindergarten in the smaller communities and now at a reduced rate, so maybe there’s some relief in sight. But ECE is requiring JK in all NWT schools within a couple years, including in Yellowknife in 2016, so what assurances can the Minister give to Yellowknife school boards that new funding to implement junior kindergarten in their schools will be forthcoming, not just replacing some of the money that they’re taking away this year and next?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

I am very pleased to announce that as of this past Friday, May 23, I have been informed that 22 smaller community schools have committed to offering junior kindergarten in communities starting this fall, out of 29. The following years will be the remaining regional centres and also Yellowknife. When I met with the board chairs, we talked about that. We talked about the PTR. There is additional funding that is going to the school board. That’s why I said we’re working with them. We’re working with the finance directors so we can gather the facts. With the numbers that have been shared the last couple of weeks, it is not accurate information anymore. We have the actual numbers, the true numbers that we need to share with them. Based on that, it will reflect changes of the numbers that have been addressed in the media.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn’t hear the positive response I’m looking for there. I heard a repetition there. The funding formula at ECE has what the Yellowknife school boards state, that the budgets for their operation will be funded at 80 percent of the GNWT estimates and 20 percent by the local taxpayers. The Minister subscribes to this. He has said this in letters. The teachers of Yellowknife deserve the same pensions as all other teachers in the NWT. If not, please explain that.

Why is the Minister not willing to apply the government’s own funding formula to the pensions of teachers in Yellowknife while not hesitating to pay 100 percent of costs for teachers throughout the rest of the Northwest Territories, and I would note, we’re just talking about the incremental amount, 80 percent of the incremental amount here now to bring the pensions up to a fair level?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

From JK to pension. This is an area that two DEAs, in their choice, very different from the rest of NWT education authorities. They are very independent employers and negotiated directly with their own bargaining units when they negotiated a few years back. They also own their own schools, and they are the only education authorities in the territory that can raise their own revenue through school taxes.

As independent employers, both YK1 and YCS are responsible for planning any financial implications that flow from the decision to agree to a new pension cost to ensure that they are consistent with delivery of educational programming across Yellowknife. The GNWT has no role in or responsibility for the YK1 or YCS collective bargaining process or the implementation of the collective agreements. GNWT respects and supports the desire of the YK school boards to operate at a greater degree of independence and their responsibility.

Those are some of the incidents that are undertaken with the negotiation of their agreement. We were not part of that.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Human Resources. It’s going to reflect on the Member’s statement I made earlier in terms of the northern living allowance. I’d like to ask the Minister, first and foremost, the question that we know that negotiations between the GNWT and the Union of Northern Workers is done on an annual basis, and whether or not the negotiations are positive or negative or they’re even concluded to, so I want to ask the Minister of Human Resources if the northern living allowance rates for the 2014-2015 year were not agreed to, would the rates have stayed the same as 2013-2014?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a negotiated item, as the Member indicated. A negotiated item between the northern union workers and the Government of the Northwest Territories. It’s based on a methodology of comparing costs to Yellowknife. It’s based on transportation and the cost of living components. As we get the consumer price index and the cost of transportation, using the methodology predetermined between the union and the Government of the Northwest Territories, we set the northern living allowance.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

I do know the answer that the Minister has given; it was also something that I had stated in my Member’s statement earlier today. I asked the question if it was not agreed to. When you’re going to negotiations, both parties need to agree on the end product, so the GNWT seeing, when they look at some of these numbers, we have four communities who have lost over $1,000, decreased over $1,000, and in one community in the case decreased by $2,628. That’s almost two paycheques for somebody that might be in a low-level paying job.

I’d like to ask the Minister, again, if these were not agreed to, would the rates have stayed the same as the previous year of 2013-2014, and why was it not red flagged when we see these numbers?

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

I should have been clearer in my response. I apologize for that. What I was indicating was that it is a negotiated item, so it was agreed to. The methodology was agreed to and it’s been left up to the Government of the Northwest Territories to do the annual adjustments. The northern living allowance was not an item that was on the negotiating table. The last time we negotiated an agreement with the Union of Northern Workers, they felt that they were more interested in the salary portion of it, the increase in the salaries, and they were satisfied with how the northern living allowance was being paid out, and they were satisfied with the methodology, which we are continuing to apply. If the union, which we are going to be going back to the table at the next agreement, indicates to us that yes they definitely want to renegotiate the northern living allowance or the methodology that we’re using such as adding other components to the cost of northern living, then that is something that would go into the negotiation mandate from them and we would respond accordingly. Thank you.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

I want to speak to the community of Inuvik and the decrease in $383. Although it’s lower than most of the other communities that decreased, coming from Inuvik, we know the utilities are a lot higher than what they were in previous years and that $383 does help out the middle-income family. That’s two weeks of groceries right there, or even paying utilities. We’ve got residents who are going on payment plans to pay utilities, yet we are decreasing the northern living allowance in those communities. I did ask the Minister why this was not red flagged and not agree until something could be adjusted in these negotiations.

Obviously, when we look at Section 41.(7) of the Public Services Act, I’d like to ask the Minister, will amendments be made to this section of the act to adjust such things as the high cost of fuel, as mentioned earlier by some of my colleagues, in the smaller communities and have that adjusted? Are amendments going to be forthcoming to this act, specifically to section 41.(7) of the Public Services Act? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

There are no planned amendments to that specific section of the Public Services Act, the section that indicates that the Collective Agreement will not deal directly or indirectly with any payments that relate to owner occupied rent space. Anything to do with the cost of housing is not a part of this agreement, so there is no plan to amend that. We are bringing the Public Services Act forward for a couple of minor amendments at this time. If committee wishes to expand upon the review of the Public Services Act, I am sure the department would be willing to have that discussion. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Short, final supplementary, Mr. Moses.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not there is anything this government can do right now to go back to the table and renegotiate the rights that came out of the 2014-2015 northern living allowances in Inuvik. The $383 decrease did bring a lot of people’s concerns forward to my office. I know that’s only $383 and there are smaller communities with higher decreases. I can’t imagine what they’re going through right now.

Is there anything we can do to go back to the table and revisit this, renegotiate the 2014-2015 northern living allowance rates of the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.