This is page numbers 4545 – 4588 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 services.

Topics

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services and Yellowknife Health and Social Services aren’t in this alone. We do have a relationship with the City of Yellowknife who has, to date, contributed $50,000 per fiscal year. On top of that $50,000, the health and social services system here in the Northwest Territories contributes an additional $250,000, $175,000 from the mental health and addictions budget and $75,000 from the anti-poverty budget. So, combined with the city, there’s a $300,000 budget to operate this facility. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all know very well that $300,000 isn’t going to be sufficient to run this shelter, as has been proven in the past.

We have learned from our past that merely providing four walls is not in the best interest for those who use this shelter. Many MLAs have demanded that we offer rehabilitation options and hope for our homeless.

What is the Minister doing specifically to address required enhanced services and proper funding for such services as we await the opening of this new territorial day shelter?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Mr. Speaker, we’ll have a better idea what the costs will be and how far $300,000 will go once we’ve actually completed the review. As I’ve said, the provider who has helped us out for the last two months – the NWT Disabilities Council – has pulled together some really good information that’s going to help us inform the way we move forward and as far as what the design will look like and what types of services, if any, are provided in that facility. At that time I’d be happy to come to committee and the public with that information so everybody knows what we’re talking about. But until that time, we don’t know if we’re going to need additional money. Plus, we’re always looking to partner with other organizations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, decentralization has been a priority for this Assembly. My questions today will be for the Premier of the Northwest Territories.

Is the government expecting to announce any further government decentralization anytime soon?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we’ve pointed out, we’ve taken a three-phased approach to decentralization. We’ve now completed phase one and phase two and started phase three. I’m pleased to say that to date we’ve decentralized 124 positions from Yellowknife to centres outside of the capital, and we are actively discussing other opportunities for further decentralization under phase three. Through the leadership of the Minister of Finance and the Department of Finance, our expectation is that we will be able to identify to the standing committees as we undergo the 2015-16 business planning process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Mr. Speaker, I’m glad to hear that we’ll maybe get some updates in the business planning session.

Has the Premier and his office and the Cabinet come up with this bigger plan of how this thing is going to roll out, considering the housing needs, the office space needs and how exactly these positions will be decentralized?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

We always have a plan, so you can be sure of that.

As we’ve announced in the budget, we will be spending $21 million over three years to build 100 houses in communities throughout the Northwest Territories. We are also spending $783,000 for an additional 69 market rental housing units, and we’ve also approved in the Infrastructure Acquisition Plan for 2014-15 $300,000 for office space acquisition.

Our Department of Human Resources has implemented a Regional Recruitment Strategy to address the high vacancy rates outside of headquarters. With the 2015-16 Business Plan, we’ll be identifying which positions and how many positions will be decentralized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Mr. Speaker, the Premier has indicated that they have a plan in place and they’ve indicated some of the expenditures that are tied to that plan.

Is it possible for the Premier to share that plan with the general public and the Members on this side, because we haven’t seen that plan yet.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

As it is our normal practice to brief the standing committee on all of these plans, we will continue to do so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just wondering if there’s a direct correlation. When I

look at the housing expenditures, is that where all the positions are going?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

It’s not a quid pro quo. We will identify some of the houses to go to remote communities, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we will put a decentralized position in there immediately.

As we go through the business planning process, which we’ll be meeting with committees early this fall, at that time we expect that we’ll be able to outline the positions that will be decentralized.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The past previous winter, I think, was on record as the coldest winter we’ve experienced, and likely as the trends towards global warming continue, likely we’re going to see more cold winters up here in the NWT. Of course, colder winters have an effect on people’s homes in terms of their heating costs. My question is to the Minister of Public Works and Services.

How does this government help NWT consumers control the fuel pricing?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do this in a couple of ways. For communities that are under the petroleum products division where we are providing fuel, we only charge to the individuals the cost of the fuel plus a commission plus the transportation of the fuel. In situations where we have, in the middle of winter, a sharp increase like we had seen last February, we use the Stabilization Fund that we use to run the PPD as a division to make sure that we keep the prices stable until after the winter season, and we use up some of that Stabilization Fund in order to do that.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

I’d like to thank the Minister for highlighting at least one measure that the government is undertaking. It’s stabilizing the fuel prices.

What kinds of current measures are in place to help consumers meet the high price of fuel, and also, in the future, what measures would the government contemplate if indeed we have a higher than average cold winter up here and it, of course, affects the consumers and maintaining their fuel costs to heat their homes?

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Another method that the department is using, the Department of Public Works, we are trying to become anchor tenants in a lot of the communities where it’s not feasible for

individual companies to have a biomass presence. What we’re trying to do as we make our units more energy efficient, we’re introducing biomass in some of our buildings so that there is some volume there for an individual to be able to… A business can be created in the small community where biomass becomes feasible for them as the distributor into a community because they would have a good anchor tenant as in the Government of the Northwest Territories. This would allow to bring in, for example, the wood pellets at a reasonable cost so that they can resell those back to individuals that can convert their units from just fuel to a combination of fuel and biomass or just biomass.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

I think it’s an acknowledged fact and reality that the biggest factor, in terms of determining the vibrancy of the economy, is just the cost of infrastructure, and one of them is in terms of the fuel prices. At some point government has to step in on behalf of, of course, its citizens, and so I wanted to ask the question: What steps is the government taking to standardize fuel pricing? The Minister has outlined some complementing initiatives such as biomass as one example.

At some point will the government look at standardizing fuel prices for the NWT?

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

The Department of Public Works is responsible for providing fuel, heating fuel to communities where there are no other individuals that find it feasible to provide that product to the people. So in communities where our department is providing fuel, we do that and it’s just at a cost basis. There is no actual increase to the charge of fuel other than just to get it into the community and provide it to the individuals. We do have some charge that’s in the Stabilization Fund. That is something that I had indicated earlier that that type of stabilization fund is then used to support the communities or provide funding to the communities where the prices go up sharply, and we try to stabilize the costs with that.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is in terms of fuel and its pricing in terms of the oil and gas industry. Surely the Minister of Public Works and Services, in terms of the department monitoring the fuel prices and its fluctuations, what future trends can northern consumers expect in terms of fuel pricing as we go into the summer, the fall and the winter?