This is page numbers 2625 - 2646 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 2nd 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 work.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

As stated in my previous answer, I do recognize that there are a lot of acts and regulations that we do need to update. The Real Estate Agent's Licensing Act was introduced in 1991. No significant changes have been made since then. Thanks to the Member, it is on our radar to actually put it forward to all of our stakeholders and ask to prioritize where it should be within our review of all the acts and regulations that we are governed by. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my Member's statement about the ministerial travel policy, I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. The $80,000 threshold for medical travel that I spoke about earlier does not take into account how many people in the household that $80,000 is supporting, if there is an ongoing medical condition that requires frequent trips out of town, and the fact that it essentially punishes citizens for living outside Yellowknife where most of these services are offered. I am no socialist, but I do not think that costs should get in the way of people in Hay River receiving the same medical care as people in Yellowknife. I would like to ask the Minister: what is the rationale for this $80,000 threshold? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not know what the rationale for the $80,000 co-payment is or, rather, the level of the $80,000 co-payment. I know that my predecessor once referred to it as an arbitrary number. Clearly, we need to review the use of co-payment and the amount of the co-payment. That work is currently being done as part of the medical travel review, where we are reviewing a number of aspects of the medical travel policy, including the co-payment. We want to take into consideration not just the family income, but the size of the family; the illness that the individual might be suffering from; and the fact that some individuals, when they are ill, may not be able to earn, and looking at last year's tax return might be the complete wrong thing to do.

These are the types of things that we are doing. We are hoping to have this work done late in this calendar year so we can present to committee early in the next calendar year so that we can make important changes to medical travel to benefit all residents in the Northwest Territories and to make sure that they can get to the treatment they need when they need it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

It seems like I am late to the game and the Minister is already on top of this, but I have been hearing about the medical travel review for quite a while now, and it always seems like something bumps it. Can the Minister commit that this review is going to be completed when he says it is going to be and that I can tell my constituents that they do not need to worry about these arbitrary numbers anymore?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

The review of medical travel actually started in the last Assembly. There was a significant amount of public consultation that was done. The department went out and sought information from users of the system from across the Northwest Territories. A lot of data was gathered.

A number of things have happened. We have put in an appeal process, I personally think it still needs a little bit of tweaking, and we have put out a handbook to help people understand and navigate the system, but clearly, more needs to be done. The area the Member is talking about is certainly one of the areas in which we need to make more progress, as is looking at the rates that we provide for individuals who are on medical travel for ground transportation and for per diems for accommodation.

I have made a commitment already that that work will get done. My intention is to have that work done late in this calendar year so that we can make presentation to committee early next calendar year so that we can bring the changes into effect April 1, 2018.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

I had a bunch of pointed questions, but the Minister is actually doing this work already, so he is off the hook. How about this, though? Because this is a ministerial policy, I assume you can change it with a stroke of a pen. How about at least adjusting that $80,000 threshold for inflation? For the next few months until this is in place, people could get the care they need and it would not be an economic hardship. This is not an academic exercise. I have people in my constituency who bring this up to me for whom this is a real issue, and it affects them every single month. Would the Minister be willing to do that?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I appreciate that the Member thinks that this is easy and it can be done with the stroke of a pen, but if we are going to make a change on some financial levels, we need to understand the implications of those. We need to understand why. I will say that in cases of undue hardship, where a family is experiencing some significant difficulty, we are willing to look at these on a one-off, one-on-one basis to make sure that we are not really disadvantaging families where there is undue hardship.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did some additional research and I have some additional questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about his decision to dismiss the Aurora College board of governors in May. According to the board minutes posted on the college web site from the February meeting, "Individual board members brought forward their concerns over the budget cuts, specifically the impact on students, regional centres, and staff." Can the Minister tell us what consultation he did with the board prior to announcing the changes to the teacher education and social work programs? Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in previous sessions, our staff worked with Aurora College to look at some of these proposed cuts and made sure that we made informed decisions based on data and the information that they provided. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

The minutes of that February meeting go on to say, "The board also noted their disappointment in how the decisions were brought forward with little consultation or discussion with the board." Does the Minister recall this statement from his February meeting with them?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

If the Member wants, we can get that information on how the process went down in regards to our staff meeting with the Aurora College senior management, how this information was relayed, and how this discussion happened right from staff to staff. We will get that information for the Member.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

I will take that as a commitment. The minutes of the February board meeting is that the board was fully functional. It was engaged in issues of financing, governance, strategic planning, and so on. I am still not understanding why the Minister decided to fire the board in May.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

When the discussions of the foundational review had taken place in the May/June sitting, we looked at some direction that has come through, and one of those discussions and directions that were brought forth from some Members was that we look at the governance and we look at the structure of the college. There was a recommendation from the 2013 document moving forward. We took that decision, made that decision, and we are going to be looking at governance as we do this foundational review moving forward, and we look forward to the results.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am going to push back on that statement. I do not recall any of the Regular MLAs saying that they wanted the board dismissed and that this was something that they wanted to see in connection with the foundational review. What I want to say is that those minutes which I have just referenced indicate clearly that the Minister and the board were on different pages. The obvious question is: did the Minister decide to dismiss the board so they would not have any further pushback about the changes he wants to make at the college? Mahsi.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

No, not at all. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

The time for oral questions has expired. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to Commissioner's opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports on committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. Minister of Justice.

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following three documents entitled "Annual Report on the Activities of the Rental Officer, April 16, 2016 to March 31, 2017," "28th Annual Report, 2016-2017, Victims Assistance Committee of the NWT," and "Annual Report of the Northwest Territories Legal Aid Commission, 2016-2017." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Tabling of documents. Item 15, notices of motion. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Committee Report 11-18(2); Committee Report 12-18(2); Minister's Statement 186-18(2); Tabled Document 416-18(2), with Member for Hay River North in the chair.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

I call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu?

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Mr. Chair, Committee would like to consider Committee Report 11-18(2). Thank you, Mr. Chair.