Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Member is quite right. The NWT Housing Corporation has utilized the structural insulation panels in the past and, most recently, for communities in the Sahtu region. We are going to continue to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the SIP panels in these units, but I anticipate that there will be gains in energy efficiency and see how we can utilize the structural insulation panels in other communities in the Northwest Territories, especially ones where we do see high costs of the utility costs.

Yesterday, I had questions from another Member, and we talked about the user-pay power system. I mentioned that with that user-pay power system, we have also seen an 8 percent decrease in fuel consumption, which that funding actually goes back into programs we run through NWT Housing Corporation. We are going to continue to monitor and evaluate these solar panels. I am sure we are going to see some really good results, then hopefully continue to use them in other communities as one of our goals is to create energy-efficient homes, adequate, safe, and affordable homes, as well.

Thanks to the Minister for the reply here. I think we're going in the right direction. We know there's a demand for this technology in the smaller communities where you have already high utility costs for the livelihood of the homeowner. Given the demand that's out there, is the Housing Corporation working with the manufacturing companies already in the North to improve on a supply-chain manufacturing system for these SIP panel homes?

To be honest, I think it's too early to say. We've got to do our evaluation, monitor the SIP home, the solar panels, as well as, like I said, we have to do the research and continue to monitor and evaluate before we look at expanding the program, but we are anticipating that we are going to see some energy efficiencies, and hopefully we can move forward with this.

Most recently, as well the Member knows, we did sit down with the Deline Got'ine Government around other housing infrastructure needs, as well as promoting our housing programs and how we can work together. Right now, it's too early to say. We are going to continue to evaluate and research before we make those decisions. Right now, I am pretty sure that we are going to anticipate some savings and we will continue work with the communities and the local governments as well as keep the Member apprised of those evaluations.

Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for that reply here. That leads to my other question that the Minister touched on here. I was going to encourage the Minister to give a strong consideration in viewing the end product that's already in Deline and witness the consumption and reductions through the receipts of the utility bills for those homes and schedule a manufacturing conference or meeting in Deline with some of the potential manufacturing in the North. Would the Minister commit to initiating that workshop, if you want to call it, in Deline between the Deline Got'ine Government, the public, and the manufacturing companies? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I mentioned, it is a little bit too early to say what we are going to do in terms of expansion of this program. We have to evaluate. We already had an initial discussion with the Deline Got'ine Government on a lot of our housing programs and how we can work together as well as work with the federal government.

We do want to support our communities, as well as the communities that have the highest utility costs, and address our cost of living. I am committed to continuing that work, but we are going to need to look at the evaluation and continue to monitor before we decide what our next steps are. As I mentioned, early onset, we are seeing some really good results. We will commit to working with the communities that we have installed these structural insulated panels, the ones that we installed in north Tulita, Fort Good Hope, Deline, and Colville Lake. We will continue to work with the Member moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe in consensus governments, and, after working in the system, I know that the grass is greener on this side of the fence. Of course, there is always room for improvement. In order for our system to function, strong leadership is required. Now is the time for that leadership. The Premier has quite broad powers, greater than most people realize, I believe, and with that comes a great responsibility. Every time I go into his office, I feel like Luca Brasi in the beginning of The Godfather, so I know. I'm sure he's firmly in control of his Cabinet.

I want to ask the Premier: this House has made clear that it will not tolerate an acceptance of the failure outlined in the Auditor General's report on Child and Family Services. What is the Premier going to do about this? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. The Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I want to say that I'm very concerned about the Auditor General's findings that there are serious deficiencies in the delivery of child and family services, but that's not news to me. I have been involved at a national level working with the Council of Federation with the premiers, and every jurisdiction in Canada has serious deficiencies in delivery of child and family services.

I also chair the Aboriginal Affairs Working Group where Minister Abernethy and I led a review of best practices in childcare in all of the provinces and territories and we tabled a report, but that does not denigrate from the findings of the Auditor General. In my situation, I have to find out the seriousness of the matter. It's very serious. I read the Auditor General's report. The methodology that they used, they have reviewed 37 child files and 37 foster care files. They also said that the department provides protective and preventative services to over 1,000 children a year on average over the past 10 years. To me, one child in care that's not dealt with properly or who doesn't receive the proper care or protective care is an emergency.

I have to deal with becoming more involved with the file. As the Member said, I have some powers. The Legislative Assembly appoints the Ministers. I issue the portfolios. I have a couple of options. Before we get to those options, Members can speak to the Minister or we can have what we call "fire side chats," which in the past have proven very beneficial in improving our government's performance. If there are still concerns about the Minister's performance, as I said, I have two options. Either a Cabinet shuffle or one that we take very seriously and is a more serious is the removal of a Minister's portfolio.

I have reviewed the actions. I have looked at the report. It's a very serious situation. I believe that and I'm satisfied that the Minister has taken this issue seriously. It's very important for the public to know that this government is taken seriously. I'm waiting for my friend, the Auditor General of Canada, Michael Ferguson, to come on December 12^th. I would like to discuss it in more detail because I don't know. I understood we dealt with the 2014 auditor in good faith, where we put in a foundation, and now for the report to come back and say, "Well, you know, you're worse off than you were before," I'm wondering what happened to their previous audit. I need more information. I know this is very serious. It's a very serious concern, and we are not going to take it lightly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like the Premier to harken back to his days as a deputy minister and maybe bring that iron fist out again to handle this situation because it is serious. The concerns of the public and Members of this House regarding issues with MTS had been shrugged off by the Minister of Infrastructure, and his responses have been defiant to the authority of this Assembly. It's clear to anyone who pays attention that the Members on this side of the House consider that behaviour unacceptable. I know that the Premier has been watching every day that we are in the House. He sees what we see. What is the Premier doing to handle this situation?

We knew when we got into the situation of operating a barging company that there would be some serious issues. It is a very challenging environment to operate in, and we recognized that there would be situations where we would not be able to make deliveries.

We have put in place a revolving fund, which allows us to try to make the three communities as whole as possible, even the communities that are not in the Northwest Territories, and we are spending approximately $3- to $4-million to try to deliver all of the fuel that the community needs. Of course, that is a top priority. We also will be delivering the food and goods that they had purchased, and some we just can't afford to deliver, such as vehicles and so on.

That is the responsibility we have taken on ourselves. As far as the operations of the barges, and I understand that there was fuel that wasn't up to spec, we will examine all of those in the normal course of operations, like we do in every operational situation, and we will take steps to try to make sure that it doesn't happen again. There have been suggestions that perhaps somebody was asleep at the wheel. If that was the case, we will find that out as well.

Right now, our priority is we have to get fuel into the communities. We don't want the communities to freeze up. We want customers to get their food and so on, and we will continue to operate on that basis.

My questions are more about what the Premier is going to do to get his Cabinet in line. It is clear that the Members of this House are not happy with some of the results that are being produced, the way that Cabinet is answering questions, and the way that they view the Regular Members.

I am not here to do the Premier's job for him, but I think he needs to sit down with the Ministers who everyone knows are causing some issues and make them realize that we are here to serve the people, that the questions coming from this side of the House are coming from the public, that we ask them for the greater good, and that defiant answers and refusals to answer questions and share information and work with the Regular Members is not appropriate.

Will the Premier sit down with his Cabinet colleagues and put them in place for us?

In my view, in my estimation, that is what we should all aspire to and certainly will have discussions with all of the Members of Cabinet as we want to do.

I think that is why I have relied on fireside chats, to try to make sure that we are all working, pulling in the same direction, and I find that when we treat each other with respect and when we work together, we accomplish a lot more.

I certainly thank the Member for bringing this to our attention again, and it is important for us to continue to pay a lot of attention to it and continue to aspire to improve in those areas.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I said, I was hoping he would bring up the old deputy minister iron fist, but I didn't hear that.

The fireside chats are great, and I admit that we haven't had enough of them. I brought this up before at the mid-terms, but the phones work both ways. I can walk down that hallway; the Premier can walk down our hallway. He knows the issues.

Will the Premier commit to reaching out more to the Regular Members so that we can build a better relationship with Cabinet and work better for the people of the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly I will endeavour to do that, and the deputy iron fist, perhaps that was the good old days, but certainly I will continue to work very closely with the Ministers to continue to work to deliver on behalf of all of the Members and also to serve the people of the Northwest Territories. We always aspire to get better. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding is that the withdrawal of the utility payments by the Housing Corporation was done in September 2018, so we haven't really seen a huge impact of it yet. I should clarify in stating that not everyone that is in housing programs is actually an income support clientele. It is combined.

Our goals within the income support program are to make sure that people have enough to meet their basic needs. We are ensuring that no one that is on income support that is in public housing or outside, not only in public housing, but in market housing, that their utilities are paid. The effect to the people that are on income support would be nil, other than basically they would now have to bring in their utility bill to be paid. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I asked a similar question to the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Has the department itself calculated how the Housing Corporation's changes to public housing utility rates has impacted demand on income support programs?

Like I said earlier, we haven't really looked at that too much, but it is a bigger thing than that, what I am actually concerned about, and I had spoke on that before in the House, is that income support will be necessary for some people. People with disabilities or seniors, people that have specific challenges in life, they might need support for their whole lives, but we also need to focus on people actually progressing in their life or productive choices.

That is why I had committed earlier to actually working with the non-profits, setting up a table before the end of this calendar year, so that we can work more on how we can support people that are on income support so that -- I hate to say this -- we don't have people thinking that they can just, you know, "I don't have to work. I can just lay on the couch and collect a paycheque," because that is not okay.

I don't say that in a derogatory term. I don't mean that derogatorily, but we have kind of set up a society that almost says it is okay, and we need to change that. We need to focus on giving people who are on income support the pride and the goals and the opportunities so that they can progress in life, and that is what I am looking to do. That is the goal of the focus when we meet with the non-profits is: how do we support people better than what we are doing?