EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
But I can commit to the members that I will, with the direction already given to me as I stated by the cabinet, to follow up on alternative energy sources including hydro and low head hydro.
An example, your colleague across the floor, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Havioyak asked if there a possibility of low head hydro technology using that in Kugluktuk on the Coppermine River.
That’s a possibility, can we offset those costs, at the same time Mr. Speaker, we do know for example in the Keewatin region, when we use the transportation of oil, it subsidizes food prices and subsidizes some other things.
The study by Manitoba Hydro did not collate the potential economic impacts of some of these issues for example when the recommendation was conversion to electric heat, and so on.
So we need to be able to move forward, that’s what I’m trying to do Mr. Speaker, with the direction given to me by this House and by the Cabinet.
Mr. McLean: Mr. Speaker, the minister seems to be dancing around the issue that I have been bringing up here, this is my final supplementary and I’m just going to be blunt with him.
Can he tell me, when, he’s going to be working on trying to bring a transmission line, a power transmission line, into the Kivalliq.
Hon. Ed Picco: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m not trying to dance, walk, run, slide, jog, slip away from the issue.
I’ve committed to the member that I would follow up what he’s asking.
When I set up a separate corporation to look at alternative energy sources including hydro transmission, yes I will do that. When I look at alternative energy sources, yes, I will do that.
Have I been doing it, yes.
Have I had discussions with the mining industry in Keewatin about potential opportunities for the power corporation to provide electrical to some of the mining interests.
Yes, we’ve done that, I’ve had discussions.
Mr. Speaker, on the transmission line, as the report has said, the member wants me to say yes, I will start moving on the transmission study.
Mr. Speaker, as I’ve said in this House and the member knows and he’s read the report, this was a pre-feasibility study asking if it’s technically feasible to put a line in the Keewatin region, yes it is, if I had 250 million dollars.
What I have said Mr. Speaker is that I will commit to the member that on the further review which is what we are trying to do now, in the next step in the report it says to look at the transmission line and other alternative energy opportunities in concert.
And that’s what we are going to do, and I think that’s the commitment the member wants and that’s the commitment that I’m giving.
Question 264 – 1(5): Review of Hunters' & Trappers' Subsidies
I am so homesick I didn't even notice the fact that you called my name.
I would like to direct my question to the Minister responsible for Sustainable Development.
As he said that they are going to do a review of the subsidies for the hunters and trappers.
I would like to ask, the subsidy that you provide for one fox pelt of 25 dollars, the foxes are sold by the trapper and they auction them in Vancouver and the trapper has to reimburse the 25 dollars to the government.
I would like to ask, even though there is going to be a review done prior to the fox trapping season around November or December, in the beginning of the season, this 25 dollar subsidy, can you change it so that the trappers won't have to reimburse the 25 dollars.
It is a very good question and very clear.
At this time we are in the process of reviewing that subsidy so it is very hard to respond to your question especially when this review is still under way.
The review has not yet been completed, so I can't tell you exactly what the answer is until after the review has been completed and after we see the results and hear from the committee that was struck by Sustainable Development.
So therefore, I cannot tell you if it is going to be that way or not, because the review isn't yet complete.
But once we get the results from the review, I will be able to respond to your question.
To the Minister responsible for Sustainable Development.
I would like to give him a little information so that he can understand the issue.
The fox trappers work very hard because it is part of our culture.
That part of our culture is very hard work.
It is in the mid-winter when it is coldest, that's when they go trapping.
The equipment they use are snowmobiles and in the mid-winter they tend to break down easily because of the cold weather.
They are out all day long and sometimes these trappers stay out on the trap line for a whole week in the hinterland and when they go back home they have to clean the pelts.
For those of us who clean fox pelts it is one of the most difficult jobs, especially when you are tired and you have to skin the fox and the pelt is very easy to rip.
I know Minister Thompson has said that the hunters are receiving support for their gas, but the subsidy is quite small.
So I would like to ask if you can provide free gas to the fox trappers providing that they have proof that they are fox trappers.
Mr. Speaker, his questions are very clear and I can understand them.
I can envision what the fox trappers do.
So I thank you for the explanation and in view of that, yes there is a gas subsidy for the hunters.
For the full time hunters.
Providing we can find the funding it would continue for those hunters.
We have provided this subsidy for the hunters and if it can be done we will consider it for next year for the full time hunters who are being provided for by that program.
We would like to see it continue but we don't know what the future holds.
However, we will look into providing fuel to the hunters.
I also would like you to be more sensitive to the fox trappers because we are all proud of what they do.
We congratulate people, we are congratulated and we are recognized all the time, but we continue on as we are proud of our work.
Likewise with the fox trappers, that's the same way they are.
Their income is very low, even lower than those that receive income support because they have to pay so many bills.
The fox traps are expensive, snowmobile parts are very expensive and they need supplies and food while they are out trapping.
They have to pay for all these expenses.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask when this review will be completed and when we expect to see the results and recommendations.
Yes, I can update the member on the review.
The review was completed on May 1, so it has been three weeks since we have been analyzing the results and we are now continuing the analyses.
But I can update the member within this week or next week where they are at now.
Question 265 – 1(5): Supplying T-5007 Slips to Clients on Time
Today I made a member's statement and said I would be asking this question on behalf of my constituency.
Please understand that this is not just about my riding but on behalf of all Nunavut residents.
Mr. Speaker, in regards to T-5007 sent by the Department of Health and Social Services to the income support recipients.
Mr. Speaker, these forms, the T-5007 forms, are sent very late, perhaps two to three weeks before the deadline to fill out your income tax forms.
These T-5007 forms should be sent to the income support recipients earlier, before the income tax deadline arrives.
Also for the disability certificates Mr. Speaker, when they are provided with services by the government such as income support, these individuals have to fill out the income tax forms and claim this.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the minister what kind of plans the minister has for T-5007.
Can they be sent to the communities a lot earlier than currently so that they could receive them farther in advance than they do now.
Mr. Speaker, the member has brought up a very interesting point that is close to my heart as I have worked on the income tax forms for the past few years with Revenue Canada and Excise.
In my recent correspondence with them we were trying to get the forms translated and I haven't received an answer yet.
But Mr. Speaker, I believe the member is talking about the T-5007 which is an income T-4 slip stating the amount of money that they received from in this case, I believe the member is referring to income support.
Under regulations Mr. Speaker, I believe my understanding is that the T-4 or in this case the T-5, has to be sent by February 28 and that if there is a concern that the constituents have not received it by that date then it would be from the office where the form would be directed.
Mr. Speaker, in most cases these forms would be written up and produced by the income support worker which would be under Education.
But Mr. Speaker, I can follow up with the Minister of Education to find out if indeed, the T-5007 form is being sent out on time.
But under regulations Mr. Speaker, it has to be issued by February 28 and that is a federal guideline for income tax forms.
I would like to thank the minister for the response.
Also on personal income tax, I am glad that you are concerned that you have not received any response from the federal government in regards to the translation of those documents.
That way my riding would be very happy if they could have their T-5's earlier on.
Mr. Speaker, as the minister has said we need to receive those by February 28 and especially in Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak, February is way past by the time we receive our T-5. So that is the concern that we have.
Also Mr. Speaker, the disability certificates have to be approved and signed by professional doctors or nurses.
We need those professionals to sign the disability certificates because these disabled people cannot go and get that kind of service.
Speaker: Proceed with your question Mr. Puqiqnak.
Mr. Speaker, for example in my riding we need to better service the disabled individuals.
We don't have optometrists, we need our certificates signed by the appropriate professionals and we need to better service these individuals.
As the minister said earlier on that no matter where your staff are, please encourage them to look into this issue.
I would also encourage the minister to advise his staff to support those individuals who require it.
Speaker: Just before we proceed.
Mr. Puqiqnak you’re my good friend but by the same token, I have to be fair to everybody in the House here, and when members take additional time on their preamble and the second preamble and the third preamble, it takes away from other members, from their opportunity to have a question.
So a reminder to members again, please try to keep your preamble short, on the first question, and on the second and third supplementaries go right to the question.
I’m not sure there even was a question there but Mr. Puqiqnak if you want to go to a comment, continue on.
Question 266 - 1(5): Update on Staff Turnover Rate
Mr. Speaker, during the last session in March, I believe it was March 22nd, I asked the minister if he was aware, or had any idea what the turnover rate was with the government employees.
I just want to ask minister if he has any update for us on that.
Mr. Speaker, no I don’t have anything to report in respect to turnovers but further to the statement that I did on staffing statistics, it seems to be that we are making progress and the vacancy levels are starting to decrease and our staffing levels are starting to go up.
Mr. Speaker, I believe other than just the minister’s statement on staffing capacities and one of the requirements for the minister and the Department of Human Resources, the government, I’m not sure which department, is to file a public service report annually.
And in that report in the past, it’s had turnover rates for other departments.
I’m just wondering when the minister plans on filing their first public service report.
Probably as soon as it’s available and ready for tabling.
There’s nothing like a true openness and not going on here.
I’d really like any idea of a timeframe for this document that is legally supposed to be tabled annually by the government and I would just like to know when he plans on tabling his first one.
Mr. Speaker, I’m not trying to avoid the answer, I just don’t know.
I know there’s been some work and preparation in trying to finalize the document.
If the public accounts are any indication that we have ready to table today, I mean it was a lot of effort, and lot of work required to have them translated because of technicalities of the document but we’ll do it as soon as humanly possible, given the resources and other commitments we have.
Mr. Speaker, let me just ask, the minister alluded to having some problems in having the capacity to be able to put together this report.
I’m just wondering if what type of capacity problems is he talking about, as far as being able to put together this type report.
I know earlier he alluded to in the last session with the human resource system that they were going to have implemented by the end of March.
I'm just wondering if that’s the problem, is it the fact that they don’t have the staff to be able to do the work.
I'm just wondering if you can clarify that.
Mr. Speaker, I didn’t indicate it was a capacity problem, I said it was a priority among other priorities that department has, it hasn’t been the main priority of the department given as all members know, the focus has been on the job action and trying to mitigate any negative effects as the result of the job action of the NEU and that's been taking place, quite frankly for the past couple of months and it has taken the focus away from a lot of other initiatives.
Now we are back into the staffing situation, trying to catch up because of being unable to advertise for some of the NEU positions.
Now there are demands coming forward from some of the departments so it is a matter of putting the priorities of government in an orderly fashion in respect of the Department of Human Resources.
So having said that, because the member feels that it is such an important issue, I will get our staff to check into exactly when it would be available and be prepared to table it as soon as possible Mr. Speaker.
Question 267 – 1(5): Unions
Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Finance.
I would like to know where the concept of having employees’ unions came from.
Speaker: The question I believe is directed to Mr. Ng.
Mr. Speaker, the Nunavut Employees' Union is representative of the unionized employees and they bargain on their behalf.
They are the organization that was representing the employees prior to the establishment of Nunavut.
So they are the same representative body that was in office after April 1, 1999.
Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Ng. Mr. Iqaqrialu.
Thank you, Mr. Minister for your clear response.
This is the first I have heard about the union since Nunavut was created.
Could you explain more about the work of the union.
It isn't a government organization or established by government.
It is the employees' union.
The employees themselves, the unionized employees of the Government of Nunavut, all the members of that union, they elect their own membership.
They set the guidelines or the rules that govern their own organization.
Thank you for the clear response.
So who funds the union.
Speaker: Mr. Picco do you intend to answer that question.
Mr. Speaker, the union sets union dues and they are deducted from each unionized employees' pay cheque.
It is remitted through us as part of the agreement we have with them, it is remitted directly back to the union and that's primarily how they fund their operations.
They may have other sources, I am not familiar with the internal workings of the union as far as their finances, other than what we provide through payroll deductions from the members.
I would also like to understand because they pay their union dues out of their income and the government doesn’t give any money why do they have to respond to the government.
Hon. Kelvin Ng: Thank you, again, so much advice here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, like I indicated earlier, the union sets the dues, we through our collective agreement deduct union dues from the unionized employees and remit that payment to the union officials.
Question 268 - 1(5): Final Decision on Transmission Line
Mr. Speaker, my colleague was raising some questions and I would just like to follow that up, he raised some questions directed to the Power Corporation Minister.
When will we get an update on the pre-feasibility study.
Speaker: Minister responsible for the Power Corporation.
Mr. Speaker, transmission study was actually tabled in this House.
I believe it was early last week and gives all members an opportunity to review and look at the recommendations.
Mr. Speaker, that’s the report that Mr. McLean was quoting from this morning and his earlier question.
Mr. Speaker, this is a Kivalliq transmission line, pre-feasibility study and my question is when will they be able to find out when or if it’s feasible.
Will it be 2002-2003 or later, what year will we be able to get that response.
Mr. Speaker, the member made a very clear question, and Mr. Speaker, I’m prepared to commit to the member, to the House and Mr. McLean if he’s listening, Mr. Speaker.
I have committed to continue discussions with Manitoba Hydro in the coming weeks.
I will suggest to you by Friday, I will be in contact with the Minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro on the next steps with the feasibility study which I have committed to earlier in questions with Mr. McLean.
Is he not responding to my question because he hasn’t met with the Minister or what’s the reason for not answering my question.
Mr. Speaker, I’ll try and be a little bit more clearer, the answer to both the members’ questions is when and if.
Both answers are yes and hopefully by Friday.
Mr. Speaker, I will repeat again, Mr. Speaker, I have been in contact with Manitoba Hydro officials, I met with them in April.
I believe it was in Rankin where I saw the staff members of Manitoba Hydro and expressed our interest in the report.
I met with the Minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro and Mr. Speaker, I have committed to the member just now, that when we get back to Iqaluit, before Friday I will contact the Minister for Manitoba Hydro to plan our next steps.
This report is Manitoba Hydro's report and the Northwest Territories Power Commission’s report and we will need to partner with them to be able to look at the next details. As outlined Mr. Speaker, in the transmission line pre-feasibility study, to look at alternative energy sources and so on as we discussed earlier in questioning.
So Mr. Speaker, I think I answered the member's question. I will be hopefully in communication with the Minister for Manitoba Hydro by Friday to see what the next steps are and indeed, if they want to look at the possibilities of a feasibility study, because this was a pre-feasibility study.
Mr. Speaker, will there be power coming from Manitoba or is this just an idea at this time.
Mr. Speaker, the Transmission Line Pre-feasibility study was put in place to look at whether it was technically feasible to put a transmission line from Churchill, Manitoba into the Keewatin region.
With that Mr. Speaker, the report came back and said yes it is technically feasible but it didn't look at a whole range of other issues.
On our further review from the Nunavut Power Corporation, from the Nunavut Government, we have said that there needs to be next steps and Mr. McLean has brought up some of those issues and we have committed to doing it, looking at alternative energy sources, hopefully setting up a new corporation and being able to explore those areas, looking at low head power technology as well as Mr. Speaker, looking at a transmission line feasibility study as the member has asked.
The power line, if it goes forward Mr. Speaker, will be in concert with at this time we believe Manitoba Hydro and as I committed to the member, hopefully later this week I will have an opportunity to speak with the Minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro to see what our next steps with regards to a possible feasibility on the possible transmission line.
That would be the logical next step.
Speaker: Oral Question.
Question 269 – 1(5): Federal Funding for Housing Programs
Today I want to direct my question to the Minister responsible for Housing.
We are aware in Nunavut that the housing that is required by Nunavummiut won't be available this year or next year as mentioned.
She mentioned that she would be getting together with the minister responsible from the federal government on this issue.
Will she be letting Nunavummiut know about the funding that will become available through that process.
As I mentioned before, we have met with our federal counterparts and CMHC officials have been meeting with my officials.
Our officials have made it clear to them that new funding is required.
We actually have new funding in place, some of it in place at this time.
I mentioned it this morning, and those funds could be used for housing in Nunavut and this coming August we will be meeting with Ministers of Housing in London, Ontario.
While I’m there, the Minister of Housing from the Yukon and myself and the NWT Minister of Housing will be meeting together to see how we can assist each other to relay our concerns to the Federal Government on housing.
Our President of the Housing Corporation Pat Hine will be meeting with the Canadian Housing Renewal Association and she has become a member.
I have given her instructions to speak about our shortage of housing, along with relaying our message.
We’re working on those right now.
Supplementary Question.
Thank you for your answer, for those that have their own businesses, who want to lease units for public housing.
Is money for that under discussion also.
I have mentioned this many times in the House as to how we can access more funding for those types of programs but the O&M dollars are not adequate for leasing houses at this time.
But we have thought about those ideas and we have an open mind about it, as to how we can get, how can make our dollars count and those are the types of things we have thought about.
A little while ago I mentioned that some communities such as Iqaluit and Pond Inlet don’t have adequate houses for staff.
We have made some plans on those to see whether we can get those houses for staff and we are open to any ideas about leasing.
Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you for your clear answer, in Kugluktuk we have a lot of young people, you are aware of that.
When we were in Iqaluit I mentioned to you that there were 75 on the waiting list for housing.
Our youth require their own places as they want to be responsible for their own lives, so the future is more improved for those Nunavummiut.
Is that type of housing need under discussion also.
Yes, I understand the member's concern and his question about young people lacking housing in Kugluktuk.
The population of young people is increasing, especially when they start having their own children.
I have mentioned that recently we met with the ministers from the provinces and the federal government and we were able to relay these concerns of members.
Before the new funding is in place, we can't really do anything and if they were to build houses in the communities they would just be paid for by the government through income support.
There has to be some money from the people to pay for their own houses.
If they are not working then the Housing Corporation pays for their expenses through income support.
If they can't pay their full amount of rent, then my department ends up paying for the rent.
If there was to be some new funding to lease houses, then we could probably get more money for those homeownership programs.
I do understand the concern of the member and his concern about the increasing population of young people and the lack of housing in the communities.
We all realize that and I know that there has to be some new funding put in to build more houses or to lease more houses and I have sent that concern numerous times to the minister in the federal government.
I will ask this final question.
She mentioned that she will be meeting with her counterparts in Ottawa, the territorial and provincial ministers.