Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I move that subclause 96(3) of Bill 6 be amended by striking out "may direct" and substituting "may, in writing, direct". Thank you.

Years of work, sorry, which began in the 14th Assembly with the Act Now report and first set of amendments to the act. The committee believes that the bill as amended represents a significant improvement over the existing legislation and will pave the way to addressing many longstanding concerns of employers, workers and Members, including those highlighted in the 2006 Auditor General's report.

During the clause-by-clause review, the committee and Minister agreed to four amendments of a minor and technical nature in addition to the amendments already referenced earlier in this report.

Following the clause-by-clause review, a motion was carried to report Bill 6, Workers' Compensation Act, as amended, as ready for consideration by Committee of the Whole.

This concludes the committee's opening comments on Bill 6. Individual Members may have questions and comments as we proceed.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. During the public hearing in Hay River, Mayor John Pollard voiced concerns with clause 160 of the Bill, which continues the requirement for municipal governments to notify the WCB of building permits for projects in excess of an amount prescribed by regulation, which is currently set at $10,000. In his view, this provision places an excessive burden on municipalities. When the committee raised this issue with the WCB, they replied that they had not received any complaints from municipal governments that the provision is too onerous, but that a potential solution would be an amendment to the regulations to raise the amount that triggers the requirement for the municipalities to notify the commission of a building permit. The committee urges the Governance Council to initiate discussions with the NWT Association of Communities to determine what, if any, changes should be made.

Another concern raised at the public hearing in Hay River was the commission's involvement in safety, both because of the additional cost to employers, and the potential for conflict when the same body that provides safety advice to employers is also investigating compliance and enforcing the act. As safety matters are

addressed in other legislation and fall outside the scope of this bill, the committee did not investigate the possibility of amendments on this issue, but did research practices in other jurisdictions. We found that WCBs across the country have a mandate for safety education and promotion, and also have an investigation and enforcement role in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Quebec and the Yukon. As this issue is of concern to at least some employers, the committee encourages the government to initiate consultations with stakeholders on the appropriateness of continuing to have the safety investigation and enforcement function remain with the commission.

Conclusion

Bill 6 is the culmination of several weeks of work...

Thank you. I just want to make a point that a lot of these seniors that do live in their own houses do require home care visits just for the very fact that they need a bath, Mr. Speaker, nothing more and nothing less. A bathtub like that for a lot of seniors that have mentioned it, say I wouldn't need the home care to come over for three hours a day just to give me a bath because if I had one of these walk through ones, I could do it myself. I just want to make sure that the Housing Corporation really takes a serious look at it. It is not very much more than what the money we would save in home

care visits and the old bathtubs and the health risks associated with the seniors stepping in and out of these small, slippery, cheaper tubs, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am glad that the Housing Corporation is reviewing that. When can we expect this? I don't see any real rocket science in this review, Mr. Speaker. There is a 1-800 number there. It is on the Internet. I have looked at it myself. It is not very expensive. Can the Minister seriously direct his department before they start installing these tub surrounds in those seniors' units? Would they consider those premier bathtubs to be installed in all seniors' units in the NWT? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I just have a request from the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. This is just with regards to the new senior six-plex that is currently being constructed in Fort Resolution. The seniors' society is grateful for the NWT Housing Corporation moving forward expeditiously on this project and getting it done really quickly in the last few months. It has been moving forward really quickly. This is just a request from some seniors that are looking to move into this new seniors' unit. A lot of these seniors currently live in their own housing units right now, but they require home care services just for the fact that some of them just can't get in and out of their bathtubs, Mr. Speaker, no matter how many rails and hand bars they have. These fairly cheap bathtubs that the Housing Corporation does provide in these government housing units are slippery and small. Seniors have a hard time getting in and out. I just want to request if the Minister can make a recommendation to his department to look at maybe replacing the standard bathtub and tub surround with the handle bars and everything in these units to putting in these walk-in bathtubs that you see on television? One of the seniors did bring this up to me. He said, if I had one of those Ed McMahon bathtubs, I wouldn't need home care services and the government wouldn't have to provide me with money.

---Laughter

I just want to see if the NWT Housing Corporation would consider looking at maybe some cost-benefit analysis of eliminating home care and providing some Ed McMahon bathtubs in all of these units. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I use my Member's statement to talk about some of the housing delivery issues and how the delivery of the housing pertains to this government's new approach to program delivery, especially with the new income security model.

Mr. Speaker, the income security model has clearly stated that monitoring, evaluation and reporting are vital operational elements in order for this program to be successful and is based on the best available data, evidence and analysis of program recipients. I can only hope that this accountability process is diligently enforced and acted upon should there be changes required for future delivery and program success. Just as important, Mr. Speaker, the delivery of our social housing by our LHOs should also be diligently monitored, evaluated and reported by the NWT Housing Corporation's regional offices to ensure fairness of delivery and transparency of spending our public dollars on social housing that will ensure that those most in need of social housing can receive assistance as soon as possible.

I can easily point out many situations in many communities, Mr. Speaker, especially here in Yellowknife and all of the other smaller communities, where LHOs continue to provide social housing to clients who are not in need. Many public housing clients have new vehicles, new boats, quads, skidoos and RVs parked around their social housing units and have never provided the LHOs with accurate information on the present circumstances related to their income or options that may be available to them through family support networks. This is the monitoring I am talking about, Mr. Speaker. This government has to regain responsibility of our public dollars we provide to our LHOs to operate the public housing sector of our society so that we do not see more families, like the mother of six camping at Fred Henne Park, who are in dire need of social housing left out in the cold, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

---Applause

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, while some presenters felt penalties should be increased further and minimum fines be introduced, others in Fort Smith and Fort Simpson suggested that by extending off-sale, premise and liquor store hours, bootlegging would become less attractive and lucrative. For example a Tsiigehtchic resident suggested mandatory jail time as a solution while a Fort Smith town councillor commented, “I think when it comes to bootlegging, what you want to do there is try to defer that activity from happening. ... But by restricting hours and restricting the amount of alcohol that's coming out of your licensed premises, what you're really doing is giving a bootlegger that much ammunition now.”

The band manager of the Tthedzeh K'edeli First Nation in Jean Marie River also pointed to what she considered inconsistencies in the proposed fine structures, “With regards to the penalty being $10,000 for supplying a minor, or up to $10,000, where we're trying to preach to our children and stop the cycles of alcohol abuse, drugs and all this. I think the penalty for supplying a minor should be higher than it is for supplying an adult...”

The committee agreed with the suggestion that selling liquor to minors is a more serious offence and should carry higher penalties. During the clause-by-clause review, the committee and Minister agreed to amendments to double the maximum fines for selling to minors by vendors and licensed premise owners.

The committee also passed a motion to amend the bill to double maximum fines for bootlegging that involves selling to a minor, to add minimum fines for bootlegging including higher minimum fines for bootlegging to minors and to provide that where a judge makes a probation order, the probation order must prohibit the possession and consumption of alcohol. The Minister did not concur with this motion.

Preventing minors from accessing liquor and protecting children and youth to provide them with a healthy start into their future were issues brought forward in all communities. For example, Mr. Eddie Chocolate, a Gameti councillor, expressed his fears and hopes, “As it is, this abuse takes away life from our youth. ... We should devote a lot of time and discussion on this. ... There is the sale of alcohol and drugs in the community and that's something that we all need to resolve together.”

While some presenters pleaded for an increase of the legal drinking age to 21, others believed that the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 or remain as is, arguing it would teach young people more responsible behaviour at an earlier age. The committee also discussed the question with the Minister and agrees with the government's decision to keep the legal age at 19 as the most appropriate at this time.

In Yellowknife, Ms. Sylvia Siemens suggested that the mandate of the enforcement officers would need to include compliance monitoring of liquor stores. The Department of Finance currently relies on its contracts with vendors to ensure compliance. This has proved insufficient to avoid liquor sales to minors. As Ms. Siemens pointed out during her presentation, “We cannot expect a business that profits from the sale of alcohol to be self-regulating. The Tobacco Act recognizes that. ... to allow for inspectors to send in a young looking 17-year-old to purchase cigarettes. If they were not asked for identification, they had the teeth in the legislation to issue a fine. ... We cannot purport to say this legislation protects youth until we address the issue that there is no legislation in place for independent monitoring and inspections of liquor store practices.”

Mr. Chair, I will pass this report on to the Member for Sahtu, Mr. Norman Yakeleya.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I also wanted to speak in support of this motion. It's simply due to the fact of all the reasons Members have provided today, but also one big reason is due to the recent developments in the outfitting industry relating to caribou harvesting for outfitters. I think there is money to be put towards assisting outfitters dealing with the shortage of tags they have been allocated for this year and next year and years to come. If they had this $100,000 or $200,000 and used it to promote their own ecotourism initiatives, whether it be in China, Japan or anywhere else in the world, it would be put to better use and we would get better bang for our buck if we directed the money towards the people that are in the front line of tourism, which are the outfitters. That is why I support this motion. I have no information. Thank you.