EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I would also like to recognize and to welcome Rosie and Joseph and also Robert and Martha Hicks.
They recently had twin granddaughters, and they are related to my daughter.
I have so many relatives now, Mr. Speaker.
I would also like to recognize John Towtongie, who is going to be our new Seargent-at-Arms; welcome John.
He is also from Rankin Inlet.
He’s a real hunter and has a family here in Iqaluit.
Item 6, in the orders of the day.
Question 049 – 2(2): Utility Rate Review Council Extension
I’m not exactly sure who to direct this question to.
I’m sure that the Minister of Energy and the Minister Responsible for the Utility Rate Review Council will argue over who gets to answer the question.
Mr. Speaker, the minister responsible for the power corporation recently, last week, indicated that they granted an extension to the Utility Rate Review Council in order for it to file its report, to February 1.
I’m just wondering, does that mean, automatically, that the extension for intervenors to file their reports with the Utility Rate Review Council will also be extended.
Your request was asked and an extension was granted.
As we’ve said all along, we’re listening to the people of Nunavut and, indeed, the community at large on the request.
So, the short answer to Mr. Tootoo’s question is, yes.
I know we all like it when the minister manages to give us short answers.
I am just wondering if he has any indication... . I think that the last deadline that was advertised was December 5 or 6. Does he have any idea when the new deadline for submissions will be?
I sent the notification to the chair of the new URRC last week, and I got that right, Mr. Speaker.
He hasn’t come back to say exactly when that timeframe is; we know it’s extended until February 3.
That will also give them more time to write the report.
I would expect a rough time frame will be probably be up to the end of December, allowing for the intervener, for example, written submissions, if needed.
Can the minister commit to it as soon as he hears back from Mr. Mercer, the chair of the URRC?
I’d like to congratulate the minister for getting it right this week.
Once he hears back from them, can he inform all members of this House of the plan if they are going to re-advertise or re-publish when those submissions will be received?
I was hoping to be in a position very early this week to be able to confirm the actual dates and times, and I would hope by way of the media and so on, and this House, to be able to announce that.
So, I would hope to be in a position in the next couple of days to give the actual timeframe.
Aside from announcements being made in the House here, I know that the deadline was something that was published in the media and the papers and on the radio, so that people throughout the territory would see when the deadline was.
Is that something that the minister is going to make sure happens as well?
Not just the people that are listening to the news on that particular day that he makes his statement or watching it that night on television, but so that everybody gets an opportunity to find out.
This process has to be seen as accountable and transparent; I believe it is.
I believe the government is listening.
As an example, the URRC did add extra dates, for example here in Iqaluit, because of the issue, when they heard from the public at the first meetings that they had two weeks ago.
I would agree with the member; I think it’s a good suggestion, and I think we will be able to facilitate that.
So the answer, again, is, yes, to the members question.
Speaker (interpretation): Oral questions, Mr. Alagalak.
Question 050 – 2(2): Public Housing Allocations
Earlier today I raised the concern about the goal of the department and naming people to give priority treatment for its fluctuating list for public housing.
My question for the minister is this: what guidelines or policy does the department follow with respect to getting involved in decisions related to public housing allocation and waiting lists.
I have not seen the guidelines, and I don’t have them with me in this House, but I will be able to look into that and reply to the member.
Speaker (interpretation): Is that it?
Oral questions. Mr. Peterson.
Question 051 – 2(2): Utility Rate Review Council Recommendation Report
My question is for the minister responsible for the power corporation... or the Energizer Bunny.
After the URRC’s recommendations have been received by cabinet, to makes its final decision, will members be formally consulted?
Speaker (interpretation): Minister responsible for Energy.
Again, the government wishes to be transparent on the whole process and be able to get a range of views, and so on.
I would suggest to you, Mr. Speaker, once the report has been made available to me, I will be making available to the cabinet at that time.
When the report is made available to me, there is a process in place that is outlined under the regulations.
That process, indeed, allows for interested people, communities, mayors, MLAs and so on.
I would take this opportunity to commit to the House that after I have briefed my cabinet colleagues, I would be very pleased to meet with the members of the House and brief them on the Utility Rates Review Council’s recommendations at that time, and provide, as is outlined in the regulations, copies to the members and to the interested public at large.
I thank the minister for that commitment today.
The Utility Rates Review Council is supposed to scrutinize the Qulliq Energy Corporation’s General Rate Application.
Who will physically write the Utility Rates Review Council’s recommendations an independent Utility Rates Review Council member or our Government of Nunavut public servants?
There has been some confusion on the process to date, and for the record, again, I want to reiterate what I have been saying over the last couple of weeks: the General Rate Application that is before the Utility Rates Review Council has been put forward by the power corporation themselves.
It didn’t go to cabinet, we didn’t look at it; it’s what the power corporation feels they need to be solvent after April 1, 2005.
In that process itself, the Utility Rates Review Council has a utility rate expert with them on that committee, and I would suggest to you that Mr. Mercer and his team, along with the utility rate review experts, are very competent individuals.
They are members of our community, they are from Nunavut, they will have an opportunity to scrutinize what they have heard, scrutinize the application brought forward by the power corporation, and it will be they who will write the report, not just some faceless bureaucrat within the Government of Nunavut.
It is a report that will be written by and for the Utility Rates Review Council on the General Rate Application.
It is good to hear that reassurance and that commitment, that he who holds the pen holds the controls the paper.
My supplementary question: will the minister tell the House how the cabinet itself will evaluate the merits of the Utility Rates Review Council’s recommendations?
I can’t say, I don’t want to prejudge the position or the process that is occurring.
This is an independent process that has been put in place, and that is why we have the Utility Rates Review Council in place to review their proposal; then, at the end of the day, that comes through the cabinet, and then we will review it.
As I had said earlier, after we have received that, I brief my cabinet colleagues.
I am prepared to brief the members and then copies will, of course, go out to the general public, and they will have an opportunity to see it at that time.
Speaker (interpretation): Final supplementary. Mr. Peterson.
I recall that previous Utility Rates Review Council recommendations were rejected by cabinet, and I think the public of Nunavut would like to know on what basis will the cabinet agree or not agree with the Utility Rates Review Council’s recommendations.
That was a different process, in that the power corporation had come for a fuel stabilization rider, not a general rate increase.
At that time, Mr. Speaker, if you remember, we received the only financial statements that we had up to that time in December 2002; three weeks later in January, January 2 or 3, the power corporation asked for the fuel stabilization rider; they asked for 5 cents.
Mr. Speaker, within three weeks they had written me and said, "No, no, we want 10 cents."
I brought those to the Utility Rate Review Council.
The Utility Rate Review Council only had one set of financial statements to go by at that time.
And at that time, they came back and said, "They don’t know if they need 5 cents, and we don’t know if you need 10 cents."
They suggested 7.5 cents.
I held meetings with the business community and with the Nunavut Association of Municipalities.
I believe Mr. Peterson, at that time, was a member and probably the chair, if I remember correctly.
In all regards, Mr. Speaker, the sentiment was, "How can you raise a fuel stabilization rider when you only have one financial statement?"
So, in that case, we froze the rates for one year, from May 2003 to 2004, and now we’re in the GRA process.
We’ve done everything that we said we would do.
So, that process was a little bit different; that evaluation would have been different because it wasn’t a general rate application, it was a fuel subsidy rider.
Question 052– 2(2): Polar Bears in the Species At Risk List
My question is to the Minister of Environment.
Mr. Speaker, on October 23, 2004, the federal government announced a proposed order amending schedule 1-3 of the Species at Risk Act, indicating that 76 species be added to schedule 1-3.
Of the 76 species, the polar bear is being proposed to be added as a special concern.
Mr. Speaker, can the minister tell us what the position is of this government on this issue?
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for posing that question.
In regards to the polar bear, the Government of Nunavut is following the wishes and the knowledge of Inuit.
We have to work closely together with the organizations and Inuit in regards to polar bears.
As the Department of Environment, we would like to put our facts together and make a decision at that point.
If that’s the case, what does it mean?
Is it going to have an effect on the polar bear quota we have for Nunavut?
We will have to make sure that we get a study done.
We do have polar bear biologists.
Usually we have an international commission, and what I will do as the minister is make sure that they have the facts.
There are increasing in number in the polar population, and we’ll make sure that our counterparts know that there is an increase and not a decrease of the polar bear population in Nunavut.
We’ll make sure that our international counterparts know exactly what’s happening up here.
We’re going to have to work very closely together.
Our polar bear big-game hunts are very popular internationally, and we’ll make sure they have the facts.
Have the Department of Environment and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board been working together on this issue?
This letter is requesting that there be a response by November 24, 2004, and today is the date.
Are you going to be submitting that letter?
NTI and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board have had meetings with the Government of Nunavut to decide on what decisions they can make in regards to polar bears.
We will be working with them in the upcoming months and in the upcoming years to make decisions that will be most suitable for Nunavut.
Of course, we try to respond to our letters by the deadline.
We have been working together with the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board in writing that letter.
If it has to be done today, then it will be done before five o’clock.
We do try to make sure that we don’t go over a deadline.
Question 053 – 2(2): Amount of Funding Cut from the District Education Authority
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Education in regards to the cuts that have been repeatedly made to the education authority organizations.
(interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker, for me and for the benefit of my constituents in Coral Harbour, exactly how much funding was cut from the Coral Harbour District Education Authority budget this year?
And where are those dollars going now?
Minister of Education, Minister Picco.
After the member’s questions in the House last week on the same issue, I responded at that time with the amount and so on.
I will again, for the record, with the information that’s been provided to me, state that the operations and maintenance for Chesterfield Inlet is the same as last time.
Mr. Speaker, the budget and the district education authority’s salary has changed, based on the amounts paid to the janitorial staff.
When I met with the DEA chairs in Baker Lake this past summer, we had some discussion on that.
The decrease in the budget directly relates to the janitorial salary that is now being picked up by the Government of Nunavut.
We’ve had to bring those salaries in line to what the collective agreement outlines.
So, those monies have been taken out of the budget, but are being paid by the government.
So, the DEA isn’t paying it anymore.
We’re paying it instead of having the DEA have those salaries in their budget to pay the custodial amounts.
It is my understanding that we have taken that money and we are paying it.
So, in reality, there is no decrease in programming dollars for the district education authority.
The decrease is in actual salary dollars for the janitorial staff, which is now being paid by the Government of Nunavut.
What he seems to be saying is that the funds have been cut from the special needs program and put into the custodial worker’s salary.
Is that a correct understanding?
No, what has occurred in each base budget for each of the district education authorities, is that there are monies set aside for the different employees that a DEA will hire; in this case it is the janitorial staff.
The janitorial staff dollar amount had been withdrawn from the DEA because the Government of Nunavut is actually paying those salary dollars now.
So, that was the decrease.
It doesn’t affect the salary dollars that were available from the DEA, which is unconditional funding to the DEA, to pay for special needs or what have you.
However, Mr. Speaker, in his earlier statement, the member was correct in saying that there are pressures in Coral, and indeed across Nunavut, with our schools with the increased enrollment and so on, and I’m hoping to be in a position to be able to deal with that in the coming weeks.
As this department works towards developing a new Education Act for Nunavut, can the minister describe how he envisions the future role of the district education authority in Nunavut communities.
I think it’s a slightly different question than in the ones on the funding, but I will try to answer the question.
The district education authorities’ central authority position within the Government of Nunavut changed after the amalgamation and integration of the education board.
Mr. Speaker, we would hope that when the consultation hearings are held on the new Education Act, after input from DEAs, hamlets, mayors, MLAs, and so on, that there will be a new direction and new powers, that are within their jurisdiction or within the legislation that is in place, brought forth for the DEAs.
I can’t say what those will be right now, because that’s the whole process of the new Education Act.
Speaker (interpretation): Last supplementary, Mr. Netser.
Thank you, Minister. (interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker, will the minister commit to giving full consideration to the needs expressed and documented by the Coral Harbour District Education Authority since 1999 for a new high school?
As the member has pointed out, I believe we had a very good meeting with Mr. Lorne Levy on October 13.
When our capital planning team went to Coral Harbour, and again, I want to congratulate and thank the member, because the member was the catalyst that helped us bring our team into Coral Harbour because of his concerns, and he’s written letters on the issue... . I can confirm with member that we have, with the capital planning team, heard from the community and indeed there was an acknowledgement that there hadn’t been any kind of written confirmation from any minister before that on the replacement of the school in Coral Harbour.
Indeed, that has occurred now, that we are actually looking at it.
The school is in the supplemental capital plan, and I believe there’s some work that needs to be carried out in the current year in the school.
That was discussed with the DEA during the October 13 meeting, and I can commit at this time that based on those discussions on October 13, we will be providing that operations and maintenance coverage in the new year, looking at some of those fixtures and at the same time reviewing the needs for the school in Coral Harbour.
Again, this is an issue that has been raised by the member and has been taken seriously, and that’s why the capital planning team went in there on October 13.
Question 054 – 2(2): Status of Independent Body
On Friday, I posed the same question to the minister but was not clearly answered, so I’ll try again.
On May 26 of this year the Minister of Energy told the House, and I quote in English:
“Nunavut Power will enhance its efforts in collection, and an independent body will be sought so that the customer can resolve disputes over billing.
Independence will ensure that this process will be fair, confidential, and will provide timely responses to the customer concerned.
The decisions of this body will be final and binding.”
Once again, my question to the minister is this: what is the status of the independent body, and when will it begin its work?
Speaker (interpretation): Minister of Energy, Hon. Ed Picco.
I don’t have a copy of the statement that the member is reading from.
I’m not questioning the veracity of the comments or indeed the statements that have been made.
It is my understanding from the corporation that they are still working on the independent review.
So, I don’t have that information with me, if it’s set up or if it’s in place, and what the current status of it is.
But I can get that information for the member and provide it to him.
Thank you for the willingness to provide me with that copy.
On Friday, I urged the minister about the Seniors’ Fuel Subsidy Program.
He indicated that it was a good program, but not many people are aware of it.
Can the minister tell us today how his department will make seniors across Nunavut better aware of such programs?
I thank the member for his different question on the Senior Fuel Subsidy Program.
The department will be putting in place and redoubling its efforts on the communications plan for the senior fuel subsidy.
I believe I indicated last week in the House there was less than 50 people who had an uptake on the program throughout Nunavut.
There may be more Nunavummiut who are eligible for the program that may not be aware of it, and that is why we indicated the communicative strategy.
Question 055 – 2(2): Status of the Kugluktuk Women's Shelter
I would like to direct my question to the Minister for Health and Social Services. (interpretation ends) Earlier today, I spoke of the current status of the Kugluktuk’s women’s shelter.
Can the minister update this House on what services are currently available for the Kugluktuk residents who find themselves in crisis situations and are in need of shelter?
Thank you for asking the question.
There are different people who look after these things.
Within Nunavut they are operated differently.
At this time, I can’t answer the question.
Speaker (interpretation): The minister has taken your question as notice.
Question 056 – 2(2): Review of Shipping Supply Contracts
On March 10, 2003, the minister of public works indicated in this House that for the supplies that are shipped from down South to the Keewatin and Baffin, the shipping industry in the Keewatin and the people who order from down South had to get different suppliers.
Before that, the Keewatin people used to order from Manitoba, and after March 10, 2003 everything is now ordered from Montreal.
At the time, a lot of people were opposed to this.
Can the minister indicate in this House if there will be a comprehensive review with the contracts, and when do they anticipate that it will be finished.
Speaker (interpretation): Minister responsible for community government, Minister Kilabuk.
The agreement was made with Public Works, and up to now the concerns have been directed to me.
When the concerns come to me, I give them to Transportation; it is clear.
I was informed recently, after the shipping season this summer, that the contract is until 2006.
Due to the complaints we have, we can revisit this contract.
This is usually brought up within the hamlet councils.
I’d like to ask the minister again, before he indicated that we might be able to terminate the contract before 2006.
Maybe can you agree to do more review.
Can there be another review, because the business people cannot always attend meetings.
Would you be available for that kind of consultation?
I applaud my colleague for posing this question.
Even before 2006, I’d like to keep in mind that at the housing authority, the concerns that are brought up to me have been ongoing, from the mayors from Keewatin.
I have met personally with them, and as I indicated earlier, even before March 2006... . There won’t be any delays; I am in full agreement that as we draw near that date we will be making plans for that.
Question 057 – 2(2): Community Centre
To the minister of community government: in the Commissioner’s opening address, in regards to recreation... . As we all know, the community complexes in the communities are too small for the size of their populations.
They are very good for the young people, for the health of the young people.
They are very beneficial, but in my constituency, the complex in our community, there is a growing concern, by the hamlet council and the recreation committee, that it is getting too small for the size of the community
The minister has seen this centre, the community hall, but my question is, what is the requirement of the government to accommodate the community with a community hall?
We also include the population for the needs of the community, but we also look at how in some communities they don’t have such a luxury as a community hall or community centre, because there is a lack of recreation halls in Nunavut.
We appreciated the assistance that we got from the government, that the government provides us to assist the communities to build recreation centres.
I will present that in due time, but at this time we also include the population, whether there is presently a complex already or if they need renovations.
Those are the factors that we take into consideration.
In my community we only call it a meeting place where the people meet.
They don’t usually hold games and such.
The funding was previously approved with the first government.
With the first Assembly, I was more concerned about marine infrastructure, but this time it is the community hall, so even when we are not sitting in the House, I would like to be able to work with the minister.
This is just an information item and not a question.
I would like to thank my colleague.
Keep in mind the five-year capital plan and the priorities in the communities that the communities want to see.
I welcome his suggestion that he is willing to meet with me, and if he wants assistance I can let my officials meet with him also.
I encourage him to ask me for their assistance.
Question 058 – 2(2): Board of Directors' Direction on the Rate Rider
My question is for the minister responsible for energy, and it relates to some of the comments that he mentioned earlier, in responding to my colleague Mr. Peterson’s questions.
It had to deal with the whole process of the General Rate Application as put forward by the Power Corporation’s board of directors, also about how the whole fuel stabilization rider process ended up.
I want to tie my question to his response earlier.