EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Mr. Speaker, I think it’s very simple. If you look at part of the rates in the Northwest Territories, they do have some communities that are on the hydro system and also the transportation costs and fuel costs are lower in the NWT than they are here in Nunavut. And I would venture to guess that that would be a very good rationale as to why it costs more to produce and supply energy in Nunavut then it does in the NWT.
Your first supplementary, Mr. Schell.
In that case, I would also like to ask: when is the Power Corporation, with the price of fuel going down in future years, going to take that 12.5 percent rider and reduce it or to help all the consumers now with the high power rates?
We know that the prices are going to be down in the fall.
Are they going to wait until fall or are they going to do it a little earlier?
It’s my understanding that when we set the Fuel Stabilization Rider, I believe that’s the FSR that the member asked about, it is set in place by the corporation to cover off the cost of the purchase of fuel for that year and that rate is set based on the cost for this past year when we unfortunately got our fuel at around $140 per barrel.
We have to recuperate those costs and that’s what the Fuel Stabilization Rider is there for.
If our costs come in lower next year, then I would say that that may not be the case of having to keep the FSR in place.
My understanding right now is that it is in place until I believe June of this year and then it will be re-looked at again at that time.
Speaker: Thank you, Minister. (interpretation) Are you done?
(interpretation ends) Oral Questions.
Question 016 – 3(1): Inuit Representation in the Public Service of Nunavut (Okalik)
My questions are for the Minister of Human Resources.
As the minister will be aware, between the 2004-05 and 2006-07 fiscal years, the government made a total of 268 direct appointments to the public service.
Over 98 percent of the people who received direct appointments were qualified Inuit beneficiaries of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.
The approach taken by our government during this time was to use the direct appointment process as an important tool to help increase Inuit representation in our public service.
However, I heard that that process has been suspended.
So why has there been a decision to suspend or end the use of direct appointments?
Minister of Human Resources, Hon. Daniel Shewchuk.
We did suspend direct appointments for a period of time but we have initiated that program again and we are doing direct appointments.
We did that so we could review the process of how direct appointments are done and be transparent and open to all people, and we want to have open and fair competitions for all Nunavummiut to apply for positions.
Where there are qualified people in positions to be directly appointed under certain criteria they will continue to do so.
Looking at the process that we used, in January of the year 2000, there were only 888 Inuit beneficiaries employed by the government.
By using the direct appointment process, the government had been able to increase that number to over 1,500 employees.
We achieved an increase of over 70 percent in less than 10 years as a government.
Why are you rescinding this program that provided such benefits to our government and the Inuit?
As the member knows, that is the target and the goal of this government is to increase Inuit employment across the territory.
We are taking steps to deal with casuals that we have hired and the majority of casuals we do have hired are Inuit people working for the GN right now.
Through this direct appointment process, we hope to initiate many direct appointments in the near future for Inuit people. Also in our recruitment campaigns, we are trying to recruit and train more Inuit in the workforce. So we are trying our best to address this problem.
I urge the minister to learn Inuktitut a little bit more and what it means to us because he said Inuit twice in English.
I strongly encourage the minister to apply the direct appointment policy again because there are still way too few beneficiaries working within government.
It was a good policy to directly appoint Inuit.
Inuit were training on the job as casuals.
But casual employees do not qualify for staff housing until they are appointed. I urge the minister to apply this policy again as many Inuit got tired of waiting.
As the member well knows, we are trying to address this problem with human resources and that is our intention. Our goal is to lessen our casual rate and increase our permanent employee rate in Nunavut so that people have permanent positions.
This is difficult at the time. We are trying to streamline our competition process better and really take a look at our whole human resources department to deal with this problem in the future in a better manner.
Question 017 – 3(1): Hiring Policy of Regional and Headquarters Offices (Arvaluk)
I would also like to direct my question to the Minister of Human Resources, Minister Shewchuk.
This is part and parcel of the question that my colleague, Mr. Okalik, posed just now.
If I use my community as an example, it’s a decentralized community and the government has an office there.
There’s a difference between centralized and decentralized communities.
For example, if a person is working for the hamlet, or the Co-op, or a private company, it’s perfectly fine, but the problem is this: when the children are coming in and they start getting in-laws, there are three employees who are now working for the government.
If there were people working at the Co-op, they start asking their relatives to come in and they take the government jobs.
If we look at the Baffin region, it seems like the program directors in the communities for economic development, education, and I believe finance have more authority than human resources in Igloolik.
My question is: how much support does your department give when it comes to public service?
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Arvaluk. (interpretation ends) Minister of Human Resources, Hon. Daniel Shewchuk.
Hon. Daniel Shewchuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the question.
Yes, the headquarters of human resources in Iqaluit gives as much support as they can. I must tell you that the competition process we have in place right now is open and transparent, and that is why individuals are encouraged to apply that have proper qualifications for positions.
If they are unhappy with an outcome of a competition, they do have a process where they can grieve that process.
He didn’t respond to my question with respect to the Human Resources’ regional office is in Igloolik.
Again in the past, even during the NWT days to date, an Inuk could be trained for an employment opportunity, and I believe management is included, and get paid 75 percent and then their pay gets increased to 100 percent once their training is completed.
Have these types of programs been removed?
That was your first supplementary and not your second.
I’m not aware of that program being in the government where the employee is paid 75 percent to be in a training position. However, casual employees are used a lot as training positions and that’s why we still do want to keep casual employees on.
But I am unaware and I can check into it for the member about the 75 percent of a training position, I’m not aware of that. Thank you.
I’m not concerned if it was removed, but we now realize and we realized when Mr. Okalik was asking questions that we now find that there are casual positions that are overly used within the government.
If a young casual is flown in from the south and placed in a casual position, then it becomes obvious that they will be put in a permanent position.
Why is it that the government is not putting a priority on, for example, Pond Inlet residents?
There are a lot of qualified people there, so why aren’t they placed as priorities when hiring for casual positions? There are people who are hired from the south, I know where they’re from and I won’t say where, but why aren’t the residents of communities placed as priorities when they’re hiring employees?
I’m unaware of the situation in Pond Inlet where people are being flown in from the south to take casual positions. But I can tell you the case that casual people are usually hired in the local community for short-term help and then they are more qualified to apply for the position when a competition becomes open, and that’s our standard process that we use.
Of course, he’s not aware; it’s not going to be told by his own staff, “Here’s what we’re doing.”
Can he at least undertake to investigate in Pond Inlet - I’m using this as an example, it might be some other community, a decentralized community where they might have similar practices - at least to investigate as to what kind of job placement has been practiced in that community as far as hiring from the south is concerned before hiring a casual person from within the town?
Yes, I can commit to that, to checking into the situation in Pond Inlet about hiring from the south.
I just want to add to that, though, that usually, we do not hire casuals from the south, but sometimes we do hire positions from the south that are qualified for skilled and technical positions.
I think it is different, but I commit to check into that for the member.
Question 018 – 3(1): Cause of Fire of New House in Kugaaruk (Ningark)
My question is in regard to the government that was in power during the Second Assembly. The government that was in power during the summer of 2008 was handling the issue of housing.
As we all know, we have an acute shortage of housing in Nunavut and the waiting lists for available housing are very lengthy.
In Kugaaruk, a young person has been waiting for housing. He was on the housing list while the unit was being constructed. It was almost completed and all it required was the final inspection.
It was slotted to be next on the final inspection list, but the building went up in flames. This was a new housing unit which burned down in the summer of 2008 and it provided expectations to a number of people.
I would like to raise this question to the Minister responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corporation since we were never apprised of the causes: why did it burn up?
Was it due to faulty wiring or improper construction that this house burned up?
We have never been notified as to what the cause of the fire was.
Was the fire caused by vandalism?
We don’t know what the exact cause was.
In Kugaaruk, that unit was inside the municipality and I would like the minister or his staff to inform the residents of Kugaaruk as to what the exact cause of the fire was.
Can the minister look into this matter and provide a response to the people of Kugaaruk?
We would like to find out what the cause was.
Minister responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corporation, Hon. Hunter Tootoo.
I just want to inform the member that the particular unit that he is referring to in his question was a unit that was constructed under the Material Assistance Program by the Housing Corporation.
The corporation would provide the materials to the client and then the client would hire someone to build the house for them.
The extent of the corporation’s involvement is strictly on providing the materials to the client.
It’s my understanding that the individual had a contractor build the unit and it was just a few weeks, as the member indicated, prior to the final completion of the house that it went up in flames, and I don’t have a copy of the fire report on it.
I would suggest that I confer with my colleague at CG&S and the fire marshal’s office, if the actual report has been completed and turned in to them, to see if that’s there and provide that information to the member.
Speaker: Thank you, Minister. (interpretation) Your first supplementary, Mr. Ningark.
I didn’t get the last sentence of the minister.
Was the minister indicating that he will provide the report to me directly?
I apologize to the member if he didn’t hear me.
I was saying that I would check with my colleague with CG&S and with the fire marshal, and if there is a report that has been done on that particular fire by the fire marshal’s office and if it can be shared with the member, I would be more than happy to do that, yes.
Question 019 – 3(1): Medical Travel for Inuit and Non-Inuit (Schell)
My question is for the Hon. Member Tagak Curley of Health and Social Services and it’s in regard to medical travel.
I have concerns from my community that if a service is not offered to the community, why do non-Inuit have to pay for the travel and Inuit don’t? Is it subsidized by the Government of Nunavut or some other organizations? Can you explain to me why there are two different systems there?
Minister of Health and Social Services, Hon. Tagak Curley.
Hon. Tagak Curley: Thank you. (interpretation) Firstly, I would like to thank you and welcome the member who just arrived in this House, Mr. John Ningark, as well as extend my welcome to my constituents who are watching the proceedings on television.
The member’s question is an important one and first of all, this is especially so in Nunavut and in Canada. The federal government is empowered, under the Canadian Constitution, to deal with specific responsibilities of certain medical services.
And further, medical expenses that are incurred to address health issues of Nunavut Inuit are paid 100 percent by the federal government.
As well, the Nunavut health department provides medical insurance through public health. There are certain medical services provided free of charge and most Canadians are in the category.
However, with respect to medical travel, where you posed your question, I will have to conduct a bit more research and I would like to ascertain what actually transpired in the circumstance that you alluded to.
I would like to find out more about the matter that was raised in the member’s question.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Minister. (interpretation ends) Your first supplementary, Mr. Schell.
Mr. Schell: This has to do with the medical travel.
There have been times where Inuit and non-Inuit, but mainly Inuit, that have left Cape Dorset for Iqaluit to go to the hospital and there has been no room in the boarding home and apparently they have been told that they have to find their own accommodations.
In one case, of course, they didn’t know anybody in Iqaluit.
So my question is: why would they send somebody here if there is no room and if there is no room, why wouldn’t they make arrangements to find a spot for them to stay at?
Hon. Tagak Curley (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I wish to thank the member for providing more contexts to this minister and he has made it clear.
If that did transpire, then we have to conduct a more thorough review and I really am interested in all of the reasons or causes that made this happen.
Due to these reasons, I would like to inform the member that I will take this question as notice and provide a response after I get all of the pertinent information.
Your question has been taken as notice.
Member of Iqaluit West, Mr. Okalik.
Question 020 – 3(1): Medical Boarding Rates for Nunavummiut (Okalik)
Darn it, I missed my opportunity again as I wanted to pose the question first to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
I would like to take this opportunity to emulate what he used to do to me. He used to do this to me, so I am playfully emulating his previous posture.
I wish to pose a question with regard to the Tammaativvik Boarding Home in Iqaluit. It’s continually overbooked and the overflow of patients end up having to be billeted in private homes.
I believe that the minister remembers that the federal government cut funding for medical travel and associated expenses, and of the fact that our MP is currently the Minister of Health and Social Services. While we have that opportunity available to us, I would like to ask the minister to try and negotiate the billeting rates to better reflect the costs of billeting medical patients in private homes.
I would like to first ask the minister if he has contacted the federal Minister of Health and Social Services to ask for a meeting in regard to this issue.
Minister of Health and Social Services, (interpretation ends) Hon. Tagak Curley.
Hon. Tagak Curley (interpretation): Thank you.
I wish to thank the member for raising this issue and I completely understand the situation that the member has raised.
We are still using the agreement that was reached in 2004 and it’s still being applied as the previous government agreed to those rates.
Particularly in regard to non-insured health benefits that were negotiated in 2004, there are three separate categories for billet rates that are applied for billeting patients.
First of all, there’s the young child rate, from birth up to three years of age, whereby they pay $10 per night and from four to nine years old, the rate is increased to $25 per night, and for all other patients from nine onwards, it’s $50 per night.
I can tell the member from Iqaluit West that this government doesn’t approve of these current rates. We have informed the managers of this program, which goes through a technical committee of the federal government that NTI is included in, that we have to change the rates to reflect the higher cost of living in Nunavut.
Yet, we have not heard any responses and they are still working on it.
We are expecting a raise in the rates as our cost of living in Nunavut is the highest in the country.
As an example, if we were to go out for supper, just one supper can cost upwards of $50.
For those reasons, I have informed the staff that it’s inadequate to say the least.
Yes, I would like to add on to this issue to the minister.
Your federal counterpart is from Nunavut and her portfolio is Health and Social Services.
Can you encourage her to look into these rates and to reopen the matter of rates to better reflect the cost of living here in Nunavut so that our residents can meet their needs when they are billeting medical patients?
Yes, I commit to doing that.
I can inform the member that we will get in contact with the federal minister.
Further, the technical committee is quite an integral part of this process, which NTI is part of, as they represent the northern aboriginal peoples.
The matter that we are dealing with is the non-insured health benefits across the board and each community is dealt with differently. We have heard of cases where certain communities have to get rides to the airport where it’s further away and the taxi vouchers are required both for the outgoing and incoming portion of their travel.
Certain communities are not eligible.
Some of the items have to be better negotiated and there are quite a number of them we can discuss.
We will inform the minister about our concerns, but the technical committee negotiates these rates. As an example, our government is represented, along with NTI, and all of the parties have to agree on the rates and/or support the changes.
However, I can tell the member that we will be working hard to change some of these rates and I commit to dealing with this issue at a faster pace.
I also wish to thank the minister for his speedy response.
As I stated earlier, the current boarding home is just too small as it is overbooked, especially with the increased capacity of the new hospital that can take in more patients from outlying communities.
Due to these issues you are facing, I know that the department has plans for a new boarding home here.
What is the current status of this initiative to construct a new boarding home?
I ask this in the interest of lowering the costs of billeting so many patients and to raise the rate to better reflect the cost of living in Nunavut.
I thank the member for raising that question.
Just a short while ago, as a matter of fact, it was this fall that there was a public tender for the construction of the new boarding home with a capacity of 90 beds.
However, when the lowest bidder was awarded the contract, there was an issue that certain parties did not agree with and the matter was taken to court by the losing bidders.
I believe it was as recent as last month when the case went to court and that process has been completed.
The appeal process is now over and issues were dealt with. Now that these hurdles have been overcome, we expect that the process can now commence and that they can start construction on the boarding home this coming summer.
Member for Pangnirtung, Mr. Komoartok.
Question 021 – 3(1): Will Cost of Fuel Decrease in June (Komoartok)
I wish to pose my question to the Premier of our government.
Last year, all communities in Nunavut, including all the local hunters and private homeowners, felt the additional price increase in fuel costs in June when heating fuel and gasoline prices were increased.
It seems that based on current prices, when our government is looking at the bulk fuel purchase for the territory this upcoming summer, it should be substantially lower than last year.
I believe it is less than half of the amounts paid last year.
When we hit June, which is the first anniversary of that price increase, we were forced to pay for last summer. Will the prices be lowered to reflect the actual costs of fuel? I would like to get an answer on this matter.
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): I thank the member for asking the question.
If I understood his line of questioning, I believe he is asking about the fuel costs.
The division that handles the issue is under the department of CGS, I apologize; it’s under the Department of Finance’s portfolio.
I would like to pass this question to the Minister of Finance if I may, Mr. Speaker.
I will have the Minister of Finance respond to the question. (interpretation ends) Hon. Keith Peterson.
I thank the member for asking that question.
Just last year, we recognized the difficulties for the harvesters in Nunavut and the previous government developed a Fuel Tax Rebate Program which is being implemented across Nunavut.
Last year, there were 44 applications to the program and this year, there have been 67, so the harvesters are accessing this program.
It’s a fairly straightforward and simplified program that if they go visit their community economic development officers, they can receive assistance.
Your first supplementary, Mr. Komoartok.
I asked this question for which I didn’t get a response.
Last June, we were inundated with a large fuel price increase on both heating fuel and gasoline. So when June rolls around again, will this government be reviewing this issue of costs? I believe the costs of fuel will be substantially lower than last year.
Nunavummiut are now expecting a price decrease or a subsidy as we were caught off guard last summer.
Will the costs of fuel be revisited and revised this summer?
I again thank the member for asking the question.
Harvesters are a very important part of our economy.
I have talked to my colleague, the Minister of Community and Government Services, and once all of the fuel prices were known, they were going to review the pricing possibly by mid-year. So we will explore the possibilities of offering a subsidy to the harvesters.
Question 022 – 3(1): Lower Prices for Fuel (Arvaluk)
With respect to this issue, I, too, wish to direct my question to (interpretation ends) the Minister of Gas.
(interpretation) I wish to raise this question, which was partially raised by my colleague, Mr. Komoartok.
You stated last January that the government doesn’t believe that the price of fuel will increase substantially and that this government will not have to implement its hedging policy. It was stated that the funds currently set in reserve should suffice for our next bulk fuel purchase after April this spring.
I would like to ask; you implemented that fuel price increase in June, as per Mr. Komoartok’s question, which is the prime hunting period for Inuit.
Can this government reapply that practice by lowering the costs of gasoline in June prior to Inuit going out boating?
I would like to see an initiative that doesn’t affect the hardest-hit section of Nunavummiut society and that is Inuit harvesters.
Minister of Energy, Hon. Lorne Kusugak.
The fuel prices last year approached $140 per barrel at its highest and the lowest price that year was close to $37 per barrel.