EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
What I can commit to the member at this time, that as the Minister responsible for the Nunavut Power Corporation, we are looking at it and over the next several weeks after we have had an opportunity to look at it with the Manitoba Minister responsible for Hydro, and then we will be able to come back to this House and give the members and indeed, the people of Nunavut and the Kivalliq Region where we will go from there.
Final supplementary Mr. O'Brien.
Mr. Speaker, in the report, can the minister tell us whether it indicated that there would be true cost savings if this hydro line would be put in place.
It is my understanding that in my region, we are paying up to 70 cents per kilowatt hour, where in Manitoba, they are paying 6 cents.
The approximate cost of this grid would be in the neighbourhood of 180 million dollars over a 20 or 25 year period.
Can the minister indicate whether or not in the report it did show a saving.
Mr. Speaker the report is a weighty volume, it is a very thick document.
There are several assumptions made in the report.
I do have a briefing note here, for example, if the electric power delivery option was chosen, at 138 kilovolts, the assumption would be that all households would switch to electric heat and the cost to deliver that power then would be 18 cents per kilowatt hour.
The cost to the customer would be 30 cents per kilowatt hour.
If the electric power option, Mr. Speaker, given the assumption again, was 230 kV, then all households would switch to electric heat and all potential mines would be hooked up to the power delivery grid.
Now, Mr. Speaker, when we say the potential mines, that I would assume would be the Nettiling project and possibly the project near Mr. McLean’s riding in Baker Lake.
In that case it would be 12 cents per kilowatt hour and the cost to the customer would be 25 cents per kilowatt hour.
After saying that, Mr. Speaker, again from my notes here it tells me that the construction costs for the project is estimated to be in the range of 200 million dollars and it is also estimated that if it was 138 kV then the scenario would be 300 million dollars.
Again, Mr. Speaker, we have to predicate these assumptions by saying that this is a pre-feasibility study.
To get more concrete numbers to see what this government would do in conjunction with the Federal Government, I would assume, and the power department of the Manitoba Hydro, is to see where those dollars would come from, because frankly, Mr. Speaker, at this time I don’t see this government having 230 – 300 million dollars to put into this project.
But there may be some partnerships with the Federal Government and again, with Manitoba Hydro, based on if there are resources being developed in the Keewatin Region, if the Nettiling project goes forward then there may be economies of scale which would help us facilitate a hydro line.
So we haven’t closed the door to it Mr. Speaker, again I reiterate that I would be looking forward to meeting with the Manitoba Minister in charge of hydro and allying and discussing this pre-feasibility study with him at that time and then coming back to this House Mr. Speaker, and updating the members and the people on what the next steps would be.
Question 120 - 1(3): Cost per Patient at Health Boarding Homes
I would like to direct this question to the Minister of Health & Social Services.
Patient’s going down to Ottawa usually stay in boarding homes.
How much do they pay per patient for the boarding home in Ottawa.
I would like to know how much a patient costs per night in these accommodations.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Nutarak, Mr. Picco.
I thank the member for the question. It is a good question.
Unlike the other two regions, the Keewatin Region and the Kitikmeot Region, we don’t have a boarding home specific facility in Ottawa.
What we are using right now is a facility called the Rotel.
The Rotel is operated by the OHSNI group and it is used for patients going to Ottawa, using the Ottawa General Hospital and some of the other hospital facilities in Ottawa.
Patients from Ontario and other jurisdictions that need to go to Ottawa also use the Rotel.
So it is not actually a Nunavut specific facility.
The patient cost per night for the facility right now under NIHB which is the Nunavut Insured Health Benefits, is 124 dollars and those costs are picked up, there are actually no costs to the patients for those people referred by the Baffin Regional Health & Social Services Board, in this case, to the Rotel in Ottawa.
Question 121 - 1(3): Reason for Revenue Shortfall
The Finance Minister was very kind to give us his six month update on the budget.
Under revenue there was a projected 5.6 million dollars less than expected.
Could the minister give me a detailed explanation as to why we are going to be short that kind of revenue this year.
Mr. Speaker, this is primarily as a result of a reduction in the forecast for personal income taxes and for corporate income taxes.
There is a significant amount also in respect to some of the initial projections because of the fact that the government assumed the Nunavut Child Tax Credit, which is a cost shared program with the Federal Government, post April 1st, 1999.
That income, or the deductions from income, weren’t taken into account in the initial preparations of the budget.
Question 122 - 1(3): Further to Revenue Shortfall
I did not quite understand the response from the Minister of Finance.
If he could clarify his response again, and rephrase.
As I indicated we are looking at lower than projected revenues, and it was lower personal income taxes, lower corporate income taxes than was originally projected, but the largest part of the projections was the result of not taking into account the Nunavut Child Tax Credit, which is a program that is cost shared with the Federal Government, providing direct income payments to lower income families in respect of child support payments.
Does that mean that our annual budget estimates have to include the Child Tax Credits.
How we dealt with it Mr. Speaker, instead of setting up a payment we have netted it out of tax revenues.
In other words for the personal and corporate income taxes, if that was a positive we have taken off the child tax credits, the payments for that program are taken off of those revenues.
Since it is now going to be done that way, and the Federal Government was running the system and was responsible for that, does that mean that the Federal Government is not going to give us any additional dollars to pay for the Child Tax Credit.
Hon. Kelvin Ng: Mr. Speaker, no that is not the case, it’s a cost shared program.
The Federal Government contributes and the Government of Nunavut contributes towards it as well.
But it is a unified system in that the Government of Canada does the administration and provides the actual payments to our constituents Mr. Speaker.
Question 123 - 1(3): Reason for Contingency Reserve
Again on the summary of expenditures for the mid-year.
Under one column there is a contingency of 4 million 695 thousand dollars.
Can the minister explain to me what this contingency is for.
Mr. Speaker I was trying to find it on the schedule, but I can’t identify the exact number.
I can speak to what I believe he is referring to.
It’s probably the contingency fund that we had at the start of the year, where we had 10 million dollars set aside out of the total 610 million dollar budget that was approved.
Since that time, as you know, in the supplementary appropriations, that took place here last week, there is only half of that allocation that is expended, or there is roughly 4.5 million dollars left I believe.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Ng. Mr. McLean.
I don’t want to stand here and say that he never answered my question, but if we have 4 million 695 thousand dollars, and we have a tremendous shortage of housing, schools, health care workers, etc, does he have this 4 million 695 thousand dollars designated for some kind of spending.
Mr. Speaker, as you know that is exactly what it is used for.
It is contingency depending on departmental needs, such as the Health Boards.
As you know, we brought forward the issue, or the Minister of Health has brought the issue forward, on a continuing basis of the needs of the specific health boards throughout Nunavut and we are working on trying to resolve some of the problems that they are having in meeting their ongoing obligations in delivering health and social services programs to our constituents.
That’s one of the first orders of business that will have to be resolved post-session, Mr. Speaker.
So it’s for those types of situations where the contingency would come into play and going through the proper channels for a request and going to the Financial Management Board for approval.
Speaker: Thank you Mr. Ng. Third supplementary Mr. McLean.
Mr. McLean: Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to try to corner the Finance Minister, to commit himself as to where he is going to spend this money, but what I just heard from him is that most of it is going to go to the Health Board deficits, is that correct.
No that is not what I said, Mr. Speaker.
That was an example of a situation that might have to be addressed and that’s why you have a contingency fund to deal with these types of issues that are unexpected, Mr. Speaker.
Question 124 - 1(3): Caribou Marketing for Baffin Region
When you read your presentation earlier, about the market for the caribou and taking into account all the Nunavut Regions, the caribou are also in the Baffin region.
What kind of economic activity can arise for these.
In the question you were making reference to my presentation and you seemed to direct your question to something else, how and in what areas can we have economic development arise.
Maybe if you can be more specific please, I will probably be able to respond to your question.
Mr. Iqaqrialu, if you could clarify your question please.
You mentioned about the increase of caribou quotas in other regions which I really want to see.
My question is, are you also looking into that in my region.
Just to clarify here, the question raised earlier, these were requests in the communities. ...(inaudible)…at this time, Sustainable Development cannot just create the communities that pay for the proposals, what commercial enterprise can arise in the regions.
Question 125 - 1(3): Staffing and Budget Update
Mr. Speaker, the Minister, in his budget up-date indicates that approximately 58% or 60% of our staff has been hired, that would leave approximately 40% not hired and he's showing a $10 million dollar saving, primarily due to the decrease in hiring.
The Minister also indicated that the additional savings from not hiring in this particular year was pretty much eaten up in a number of contracts to take on part-time people and contractual help to bring us up to par.
We've heard over the last number of months that capacity is a real problem for the government, I guess my question would be, given the fact that most of the money has been expended on permanent hiring and contractual work, is it fair to say that would in itself bring us up to near capacity as far as people needed to do the job and to run the government.
Mr. Speaker, I would say that it certainly has come a long way in trying to assist the government in delivering their programs and services.
I couldn't quantify exactly right now about what the level of capacity would be when you factor in all the casuals and the consultants and the contracting back of services that has taken place, that's detailed work that would require a bit more time.
Mr. Speaker, also in the minister's update, it shows that under Elder's and Youth, that approximately 1.4 million dollars was not spent.
At the same time there was no program in place to hire summer students.
Can the minister explain why this didn't happen, why we have 1.4 million dollars not spent that was ear-marked for summer employment for youth, why this didn't occur?
Mr. Speaker, the information that I tabled that the honourable member is referring to is a summary of all expenditures that includes projections to get us to the end of the current fiscal year of March 31, 2000.
The programs that have been approved, which members are all aware of through the review of the budgets and the business plans that took place both in standing committee and within Committee of the Whole in the House, with the programs that have been approved for funding.
There wasn't a specific summer student funding program, it's set for what the government undertook in house.
That's the reason why there wouldn't have been anything specific on that outlined here, so the projections or the variances, Mr. Speaker that are before us are based on what departments think they'll be under-expended or over-expended between now and the end of the fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker, I'll try to re-phrase my question.
In this area we are showing 1.49 million dollars that was not expended, but at the same token there was no employment program this summer so the money could have been used for that and I'm curious as to why it wasn't used in that area.
Hon. Kelvin Ng: Mr. Speaker, once again I'll try to explain.
It was based on expenditures up to September 30, plus the projected expenditures to get us to the end of the fiscal year.
Each department, the honourable member used the example of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, so they've spent based on this, their projections are that they'll end up spending 4.7 million and there will be, yes, 1.5 million dollars under-expended from their budget of 6.2 is what they're projecting.
Now, there were no program specifics, no specific program for student employment under C.L.E.Y. or any department of this government.
So, we, the department or the Minister, couldn't arbitrarily be (inaudible) of September 30 before he even knew what his financial standing was, make a commitment for a new program and jeopardize the existing programs that have been approved for expenditure in this House Mr. Speaker.
Speaker: Thank you Mr. Ng. Final supplementary Mr. O'Brien.
Mr. O'Brien: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I recollect that we did ask for a summer student program and the fact that at this point in time, as of September, we have 1.4 million dollars spent I would think that as of two months ago we would have a good indication as to where we were and where we are going.
I guess my question is again, I recall members asking for a program for summer students and I just find it difficult to accept that we have 1.4 million dollars not expended but still we had no summer program for students.
And my question again was why did this not happen when we have this money available and I would assume that these figures were available not this month but probably a month or two ago.
Mr. Speaker, first let's clarify.
There were students employed over the course of the summer but they were not specifically funded by programs to Municipalities or to Housing Associations or to businesses or non-profit organizations.
They happened to be Government of Nunavut casual employees over the course of the summer.
Once again I would say to the member it's because there was no specific program outline and funding approved for summer students.
Now, we recognize that honourable members of this House had brought up that issue in the spring session and it will hopefully be taken into consideration in the development of the 2000/2001 budgets.
Question 126 - 1(3): Cost of Caribou Harvest in Coral Harbour
I got a response from the Minister regarding the purchase of caribou for the fish and meat plant in Rankin Inlet and in his response he said that there's a commercial quota in Coral Harbour of over 6000.
Could the minister tell me what it cost the government a year for this commercial hunt.
The Minister responsible for Sustainable Development, Mr. Kilabuk.
At this point the commercial quota is not the responsibility of Sustainable Development, but I will take your question as notice and I'll accumulate all the information first.
Speaker: Oral questions Mr. Nutarak.
Question 127 - 1(3): Cost Per Patient in Rotel
I'm going to re-elaborate the question I asked previously to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Iqaqrialu asked a question in regards to the Rotel which is used by the patients.
The Minister stated that the contract is for another year.
My question is, with that contract how much does it cost per patient.
I hope I have made myself clearer.
The Minister responsible for Health, Mr. Picco.
The contract that we have with OHSNI, which is the Ottawa Health Services Network which runs the Rotel, is based on per diem nights and there's also an amount for the administration fees for the coverage of the services they are providing to us.
The balance of the amount depends on how many patients actually use the service at the Rotel.
Like I said before it is 124 dollars per night that we pay through NHIP.
Out of that comes other service fees for facilitating the development and the usage of the Rotel.
I don't have with me right now Mr. Speaker the actual dollar value as of March 31 that was spent on health services in the Rotel but that is what we were paying, I can get that information to the member and provide it to him if that's the information he is requesting.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): Question to the Minister of Health and Social Services, once again.
The patient's that have gone down, how are they provided transportation down in Ottawa?
Do they take taxi cabs to go to and from point a to point b, for example from the airport to the hotel or to the hospital?
I would like to get clarification on that please.
Mr. Speaker, at the present time under the arrangements that we have with the OHSNI group in Ottawa with the Rotel facilities, they have a van available that picks up patients as they arrive at the Ottawa terminal and bring them to the Rotel.
There's also a service available to bring them to the hospital facilities that are not close to the Rotel.
There's also translation services, interpreter's are provided, some are stationed at the Rotel on a part-time basis or on an as needed basis and the driver of the van is Inuk, bilingual Inuk, speaking English and Inuktitut so those services are also provided to the patients in Ottawa using the Rotel.
Question 128 - 1(3): Resurfacing of Whale Cove Runway
Mr. Speaker my question is for the Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Ng. Unfortunately I was away last week and I was expecting to see in the supplementary appropriations some funding that was announced or a commitment that was made by the minister for re-surfacing the Whale Cove runway.
It was a commitment that I read in the paper that was made by the Minister of Transportation, that they would be getting funding for their runway and I didn't see it in the appropriations so I was wondering if that's been included somewhere else or where that's going to be coming from.
Mr. Speaker I can't speak to that as I am not aware of any request that is in the works or that has come forward to the Financial Management Board on that particular project at this time.
Mr. Speaker the project I'm talking about, I read it in the newspaper, I would assume that type of information would come forward and through the Financial Management Board prior to it going out to the public so, if he's not aware I would like to know the process involved and how it got to that point without anything being approved.
Mr. Speaker I can't really even comment on that, I haven't even seen the article that the honourable member refers to, it's not tabled, it's not before the house and all I can say is to re-iterate that I'm not aware of any FMB submission that's been worked upon or that is before the board for consideration on that specific matter.
Speaker: Thank you Mr. Ng. Oral questions. Oral questions. Mr. Tootoo.
Question 129 - 1(3): Meetings Between OHSNI Board and LARGA Homes
Mr. Speaker this is not a supplementary it's a different question.
Is this an appropriate time to ask questions to the Minister?
Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services, I had the opportunity in August to visit and meet with the OHSNI board with the Minister and at that time the OHSNI board had indicated that they were going to be meeting with the group representing the LARGA home and I'm just wondering if any progress has been made on that and if they have in fact had any meetings with them as they had indicated they were going to.
Mr. Speaker the member is correct, we did tour the Rotel together, I believe it was in August.
In response to an oral question asked by Mr. Iqaqrialu last week I explained to the house that the situation, the history regarding the use of the Rotel at this time is that the Qikiqtaaluk Corporation in conjunction with Nunasi Corporation have purchased a home in Ottawa and have renovated that facility having spent considerable dollars on that facility.
I was there in June as member for Iqaluit East to attend the opening of that facility.
The LARGA home is set up and on the ground and is in the process now of getting its’ final regulatory information in place, a permit to allow it to take patients.
At the same time Mr. Speaker, we have the Rotel, on the ground in Ottawa, we have a contract in place until the year 2001 with the OHSNI group for the services of the Rotel.
Discussions have taken place between ourselves, the Qikiqtaaluk Corporation and Baffin LARGA, the OHSNI group and the department of Health and Social Services and the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board to see if there is an opportunity to facilitate clients, patients of ours from the Baffin region to the Baffin LARGA home, specifically handicapped patients and unilingual patients to a more Inuit specific home in Ottawa.
In the mean time after saying that we do have a legitimate contract in place and we are not in a position to circumvent the contract but the contract is between the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board and we're in the midst right now, last week the Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services was meeting with the OHSNI people in conjunction with LARGA to see if there was an opportunity for the facilitation between the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board and the LARGA group to see if they could facilitate specific clientele, as I just explained, to the LARGA home.
And that's where it is right now, our hope is to have some type of resolution of this issue over the next couple of weeks and we are aware of some of the concerns that have come forward from our patients in this house and in other conversations with the usage of the Rotel in Ottawa.
Thank you Minister for all the background information.
I guess that I would like to confirm that there was a meeting between the OHSNI group and the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board last week in exploring possible options of OHSNI utilizing the LARGA home as they are the contractor.
I would like some confirmation there.
Mr. Speaker, that is correct, to my understanding there was a meeting last week between the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board actually it's been several meetings that they've had with the LARGA group, I'll make this short, to facilitate patient care in Ottawa.
Mr. Speaker the Minister just indicated that there have been meetings between the board and the LARGA home people, have there been meetings between OHSNI and LARGA?
Mr. Speaker there have been meetings between the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board and LARGA, there have been meetings between Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board and the OHSNI group, there have been meetings between OHSNI and LARGA, there have been several different meetings.
I guess we have to say here and be very clear Mr. Speaker, that the contract, the current contract with Rotel is with Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board and the OHSNI group.