EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
That is because of the delay in the processing that we have out of our office in Baker Lake.
We have changed it around.
At one point we were almost ninety days in some regards.
It is less than forty-five working days, or business days now.
That has been an improvement because of that.
We are still not completely there yet.
I do not believe that the Nunavut Power Corporation staff or the Payment Agencies are calling delinquent customers about their bills.
I think today it is more possible to make payments through automatic accounting through the banks or through the computer.
Is it possible to make it easier for the customers so that they do not get the late payment notices?
Mr. Speaker, there are two issues here on the payment.
Even if I receive my bill today and went to the Power Corporation Office here in Iqaluit and paid it, there may be a delay in the pick up of the data entry of that payment at the office in Baker Lake.
That was the concern that we have had.
It is not necessarily the payment frequency or the schedule, it is not necessarily the bill coming out late, or coming out before.
That is the reason why.
What I tried to indicate to the Member was that once you pay your bill, if there is a lag of thirty or sixty days, the Power Corporation itself does not go and say we are going to take your power off.
If you have paid your bill, you have got a returned cheque; you have got a computer readout if you want to do it through the Internet.
If you go to an Agency location, for example, Northern and you pay it, they will stamp it and give it back to you.
If you present those to the office then that notification is sent in.
It does not mean that it comes right off your bill immediately when you do that, because that is part of the data entry. I hope that that makes it a little bit clearer.
It is very easy for you and I because we can send a copy of the payment off to the office, but a lot of people do not have access to a computer, or are not able to use a computer.
There are a lot of people out there who do not have fax machines.
There are some people who do not know who to turn to.
The reason why I am asking those questions is because we should be able to improve the payment system for the people out there.
This is the third time that I am asking the same question.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Member asking the question and again I have indicated that we have cut that timeframe down, at one point it was almost ninety days. There are Members of this House who have brought me their bills and showed them to me where they have not been receiving credit.
So for quality of an answer, an explanation, I can say this.
When a person pays their bill, whether it is by cheque, by computer, by cash, or going to the local Store, if you go into Northern and you pay the money, your invoice is stamped right there.
If the copy of a receipt that you receive after you pay and you get that back, you can provide that information to the Power Corporation, whether they be in the smallest community in Nunavut or indeed in the capital or one of the regional centres.
That information can be relayed to the Baker Lake office through your Northern Store or going to the Nunavut Power Corporation office and letting them know.
For example, Mr. Speaker, if you are in the Member’s community of Hall Beach, before someone would cut off their power, the regional office would phone the operator in Hall Beach and say, can you cut off Ed Picco’s power because he has not paid for 90 days.
If they came to my house, Ed Picco would say, excuse me, here are the copies where I have paid, even though they might not show up on the bill.
That is the delay in the computer processing that we talked about Mr. Speaker.
I hope that clarifies the question and I hope that in this case, they would not be cutting off my power.
Mr. Speaker, with that answer, I can assume then that there is no way of making it easier to register your payments.
I guess I will rephrase my question this way.
There is absolutely no chance of improving the existing process?
Mr. Speaker, Minister Thompson said there are people waiting and looking forward to my answer.
I know they are and I am prepared to give them that answer.
Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member, we will try to improve the system.
We have cut the payment lag time down and there are people out there as the Member has indicated.
I get emails and letters on a regular basis as some of the Members know.
They bring them to me about concerns with the power billing.
Right now, Mr. Speaker, the Power Corporation is meeting right here in Iqaluit, the board of directors.
That is something that I will bring to them to see if we can make it better and faster.
Question 395 – 1(6): Funding Agreement with the Federal Government Regarding Housing Rules
With his other hat on earlier today, Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance talked about the $60 million dollars that we get from CMHC annually to help defray the costs of operating and maintaining our public housing stocks.
He also indicated that unfortunately over time, these contributions are going to be declining.
I believe the first big cut in that funding is this year or next year.
So 04/05 or 03/04, the first year of drop in funding was there.
That is something that I have indicated in the past that was not a good agreement to sign into.
Also he had indicated that they are looking at a new partnering agreement with the Federal Government saying that it is needed.
I would like to ask the Minister if he could give us any indication as to what kind of agreement that he is looking to take to our federal counterparts in Ottawa.
Mr. Speaker, it would be trying to access any type of federal funding through CMHC or the federal Minister responsible that would maximize any opportunities for the Government of Nunavut.
There is a Minister responsible for housing meeting planned for the latter or middle part of April and obviously it will be the first opportunity as a Minister responsible for Housing that I participate on behalf of Nunavut.
We are hoping that we will have some positive dialogue.
Again, following up on what the Premier has been successful on, in respect of moving away from a per/capita funding allocation for federal programs, we would be following suit and making those same valid arguments that it is based on needs and costs of operating in Nunavut.
Speaker: Thank you. Oral Questions. Supplementary.
Mr. Speaker, one of the things that causes a lot of the costs to the Housing Corporation through the Housing Associations and Authority is the way that the utilities and everything are paid by the Corporation and billed to the Associations and the Authority all based on a Government Rate.
We all know that recipients of Income Support pay $32 for their rent and we know that it costs roughly $1,700 a month on average to maintain those units.
So the Housing basically is subsidizing all of those other areas.
Can the Minister indicate if they are looking at those hidden subsidies so that maybe Housing should just focus on housing because that is all that we can afford?
Mr. Speaker, as the Member knows in implementing a new rent scale, there was direct involvement with Income Support given that the minimum amount of rent was a part of that overall new Rental Policy.
And there are obviously a lot of utility subsidies that are put forward by the Government and the Housing Corporation in trying to provide those services.
So, it is an area that is being actively worked on.
I think, quite frankly, the program review exercise, an initiative that we are undergoing will point out those things and those are some of the things that we will all have an opportunity to review hopefully in the immediate future and to make some recommendations on.
Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate and look forward to seeing and having some input on some of the things that the Minister mentioned in his response.
Another area that is a problem for Housing is the fact that in the previous years, it was the Department of Municipal Affairs and MACA that used to do all of the land developments.
Since then, the Department of Community Government and Transportation and the Government of the Northwest Territories has devolved and dumped that responsibility unto the municipalities who had no choice but to pass on those costs back onto Housing Associations and Housing Corporations indirectly, same with the utilities, the cap and the water /sewer program.
Can the Minister indicate if they will look at making sure any changes like that where things get passed down or devolved to different organizations from other departments that end up taking out of one pocket and putting it into another where that will not adversely affect our housing dollars that we desperately need for housing.
Mr. Speaker, that is probably why there has not been the focussed effort probably in beginning with this issue because no matter what you do, if you can reduce costs to the Housing Corporation and free up money for housing, there are additional costs where the municipalities or the Department of Community Government and Transportation to offset those costs one way or another because it is all coming out of the same pocket, the revenues that we generate, the budget allocations that we provide here to this Legislative Assembly.
I think that that is important to recognize that and obviously, we are going to try to maximize efficiencies and I think as I had indicated the program review initiative, well, it does have a detailed inventory.
It will give us an opportunity, all of us in this Legislature an opportunity to see what is there and see if there is any rational and efficient way of moving things around to ensure maximum efficiency of our resources.
Mr. Speaker, in his approach to his federal counterparts at CMHC, I was wondering if the Minister is aware that in the past this agreement that we have with CMHC is something that we inherited pretty much from the Northwest Territories.
Our former housing Minister in the Nunavut government signed it off and the fact is, that the way we are funded now is based on a block funding agreement.
When the initial plan was put together, it was not a block funding agreement.
The whole thing was for every dollar that the government put in for housing, we got seventy-five cents back from the Federal Government.
That is why some of the income support payments are in there.
It used to be that for every dollar we put in for income support, we got fifty cents back on the dollar from the Federal Government.
I think that is why all those hidden subsidies are in the housing department because we were able to maximize on the input that we got back from the Federal Government.
Will the Minister look at that argument and present that to his federal counterparts, saying that this is the problem that we inherited and that we face?
Mr. Speaker, I will articulate our issues and our needs as far as I am able to.
In respect of an agreement that we inherited, there are all sorts of agreements that we inherited and we have a responsibility to abide by the terms of those agreements.
Question 396 – 1(6): Increase of Education Budget for School Operations
I can probably get this answer in Committee of the Whole on the Department of Education Budget, but in his budget address he said that there was over four million new dollars put into the education budget allocated for school operations.
Can the Minister let us know if this was put in there generally to increase the teachers in the schools?
Mr. Speaker, I am sure that the Minister of Education would be glad to respond to that question once we get into the detailed budget.
I quite frankly do not know the specific details of the allocation.
I know it is directly for school operations.
The way we develop the budget is we allow all departments the opportunity to have input to their particular sections and that did come from the Department of Education.
It will be a few days before we get into Committee of the Whole so I would like to get the heads up on this money.
It is nice to see four million dollars there for operations and I noticed in his budget address he never said anything about new money for new teachers.
Did the Department of Education ask the Minister of Finance when they were doing their budgets, for money for more teachers?
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I did not ask the Minister of Finance and I have said in the past, that it goes to the Financial Management Board and I can not say that all departments and all Ministers in the normal course of business put forth their proposals which are very broad and very costly in respect of their initiatives.
Then the Financial Management Board has the opportunity to review that and in the end recommend an amount or approve an amount for each department.
Ministers do have the ability, obviously, to refine those allocations and to formalize the fact through the Financial Management Board and that is the budget process that we see, that regular Members through Standing Committees receive prior to coming to this legislature.
Question 397 – 1(6): Patient Escorts Abusing Alcohol
There were some elderly patients who travelled to Ottawa for medical reasons.
They are unilingual and have escorts that go along with them when they go to the Hospital.
Not all of the patients, but some patients prefer to have an escort.
Sometimes their escorts abuse alcohol.
I was wondering if the Minister of Health and Social Services is aware of this.
Mr. Speaker, from time to time, incidents do arise or have arisen where escorts who have been sent with medical patients have been found to have been abusing substances that they should not have, or have ignored the patient.
Mr. Speaker, it is not for me as the Minister of Health and the Government to say when and where people should and should not drink.
However, if a person is sent as an escort with a medical patient, we are interested of course, if that person has been drinking or abusing any type of substance; that means that they were not able to take care, or be with the hospital patients.
In those cases, Mr. Speaker, we have, in some cases, documented it and have sent the escort home, and other repercussions have followed when that has occurred.
So the answer to the Member’s question is yes, I am aware of different instances where escorts have abused substances and/or alcohol, when escorting patients.
The Minister and I know that, and the people of Nunavut know that patients have to go to the hospital down south.
Is there anything that the Minister is doing to get rid of this problem?
Mr. Speaker, when an escort is put in place, we have implemented a new escort policy over a year a half ago to make sure that any person who is unilingual, an elderly person, a younger person, for example, under that age of sixteen, these people would have an escort.
That is standard practice across the Territory.
In instances where an escort, whether it be, it does not have to be to the south, for example, Mr. Speaker, the escort could be going to Yellowknife with a patient or indeed the person is going here to Iqaluit with a patient.
If we are made aware of a situation where an escort has not carried out their duties as escort, then, Mr. Speaker, that is being made known, not only to the escort but to the patient, then those privileges in many regards in many instances have been taken away.
And Mr. Speaker, before a person is appointed an escort, their duties and roles and responsibilities are explained to them in these cases.
The question that I am asking is more to do with southern medical travel and not to Iqaluit.
If I was an elder and I went down to the southern centre for medical treatment and I had an escort and the person who escorted me, if there is booze in the room or whatever, then I get kicked out right away and I get sent home right away.
For that reason he stated that there is a policy being implemented in your department in that regard.
What are you going to do with the person who escorts the person who is going on medical travel?
Are you going to talk with the nurses about not being able to let the escort be with the patient, and no longer let them escort anyone?
Each instance is a little bit different.
Mr. Speaker, the whole idea of an escort is to help the patient, that is number 1.
If we are sending someone to Ottawa or to Winnipeg, to Churchill, to Edmonton, to Yellowknife, to Iqaluit and they are not able to assist the patient because they have been abusing alcohol or other drugs, Mr. Speaker, then they should not be helping the patient, and they should not even be on the trip.
The trip is not a vacation; it is not to provide a shopping experience.
Mr. Speaker, the opportunity to take a patient to one of the hospitals is to take care of the patient and assist them.
When someone has abused that privilege, Mr. Speaker, they are informed of that immediately and they have in the past been barred from escorting patients.
That is what is occurring.
It is occurring right now.
In some cases, Mr. Speaker, someone might have made a mistake.
And given the period of time, they may have been barred from escorting a patient.
If a patient requests using that escort again, that request may be turned down because of the problems that we have had with the patient escort.
So that is what occurs, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker for allowing me to ask my final supplementary.
I am not talking about all the patients who go down south, who have an escort and if the escort doesn’t do well, then you could just send them home.
Perhaps the Minister could do more so that the money is used effectively.
Say, for instance if the individual who escorted me is no longer there because of what they did, and I would be by myself as an elder, I wonder if the Minister could make it a little stricter so that the individuals are not allowed to escort anybody if they had caused any problems.
Mr. Speaker, I would agree with the Member that if a person is asked to do an escort, and that is usually the way that it occurs, Mr. Speaker, if the person is in Pond Inlet, in the Member’s community and has to take a patient and escort him to Ottawa, then usually the patient would request, if I could use my niece, my daughter or my son-in-law, whoever that person is.
Once that name comes forward and they say, I want to use Ed as my escort, the nursing station would say, we have had a problem with Ed in the past and therefore Ed cannot be the escort.
They would be barred from being the escort.
So, we can look at, Mr. Speaker, as the Member has suggested as a way of strengthening, tightening, regulating and barring as it were, people who have abused the role of escorts so that they would not be able to escort a patient again if that is the case.
That is something that we could look at and take it under advisement to the Member and to the House.
Question 398 – 1(6): Power Bill Payments
I just have a short question to the Minister of the Nunavut Power Corporation.
There have been some problems in my community with the payment agencies.
Because the Nunavut Power Corporation is located in Baker Lake, my community has encountered some problems in paying their bills at payment agencies; they have had problems with the payment agencies.
There used to be one location where you could go and pay your bill, but there is more than one now.
Can you look into that to see whether there is only one payment agency or more?
What we have actually tried to do to speed up, make it easier for the people to make their payments, in some locations they are actually set up by Customer Service Agencies to make it available to customers to pay their bills.
For example, in some communities with the Northern, or the Co-op, you can go in there and pay your power bill and you can go in there and they record the payments and send it in to their regional office which then processes it for Baker Lake.
Or as the Member has said, you can mail it yourself.
So, that is some of the ways we are trying to expedite it and speed it up.
I know in the Member’s community we have had some people contact us on the way the bills have been presented and most recently, there has been acknowledgement of some of the positive results of the bill payments from the community the Member represents.
It is mostly the elders who are given a hard time because they do not understand the procedure.
There is one individual who was billed for $2,000 because they could not find the receipt that he paid.
Perhaps there could be a better system or procedure where those payment agencies are taught the proper procedure and there has been a lot of fraud of the ordinary people from those payment agencies who use cash.
There has to be a better system whereby they are given a receipt or an assurance that they have already paid their bill and that they are not asked to pay the same bill again.
Mr. Speaker, in actuality with the bill that you receive when you take the bill, and I will just use Northern for sake of the explanation.
When you take your bills to Northern and you pay your $60, the clerk at the Northern will stamp the bill with a NPC stamp.
They will keep a copy of the bill for their receipt and they will give you back a receipt.
In actuality, Mr. Speaker, there are always two copies of the bill.
Now, at some time, Mr. Speaker, we do little invoices when that occurs Mr. Speaker, the payment itself will still be registered by the agency because they would be recording this and receive the money for the payments.
It may take a little longer, but they will be able to find that payment.
I think in the case that the Member is talking about, eventually, that is what occurred.
We need to be able to expedite that or speed up the acknowledgement process of the payment, especially for the elderly people who may not have the same ability when it comes to the payments of the bill as well as the expedience that we are talking about.
I thought I was going to ask a short question.
The Northern Stores have their headquarters in Winnipeg.
That is probably one of the reasons why the payment to those Power Corporations are delayed because of the rules that they have with their headquarters in Winnipeg.
Have you looked into something like that that such payment agencies could make sure that the payments that they receive from the public are done in a more expeditious manner?
Mr. Speaker that is the confusion with the payment system that is in place.
In one case, Mr. Speaker, I had an opportunity to be in one of the communities and it was during a public meeting they were having.
In that public meeting, one of the constituents was there and pointed out their bill very angrily.
They said, look at how much money I owe and so on and so forth.
What happened is they thought for example, that Northern in this case, Northern does a very good job in actually facilitating the payments.
The payments don’t go to Winnipeg or anything like that.
What occurs, Mr. Speaker and if I can, for point of illustration for this very important topic, is that when you go in and pay your bill, Northern records that David Iqaqrialu, has paid $60 dollars.
At the end of the week, usually on a weekly basis, let’s say on Tuesday, David paid.
On Friday, Northern would look through their payment schedule and they say, here is who has paid their bills in Clyde River for Nunavut Power Corporation. They would take the invoice and fax it down to the regional office and then that would be sent over to Baker Lake and the payments would be recorded as such.
Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; there may be a way to expedite that situation.
Is there an opportunity for example, Mr. Speaker, to expedite the payment directly from Clyde to the office in Baker Lake from the agency, and that is something that we are looking at.
I will bring some of these concerns up to the CEO of the Power Corporation and the board that are right now meeting in Iqaluit over the next couple of days.
Item 17. Notices of Motions for First Reading of Bills.
Bill 30 – Appropriation (Operations and Maintenance) Act 2003/2004 – Notice
I give notice that on Thursday, March 13, I will move that Bill 30, Appropriations (Operations and Maintenance) Act 2003/2004 be read for the first time.
And Mr. Speaker, later on today, I will be asking for consent to deal with this first reading today.