Alfred Moses

I know that we have had a lot of successful applications with the seniors aging in place programs and whatever programs that they are able to apply for. I know that there are some cases that don't meet that criteria. For this Northern Housing Summit that we are going to have, we have invited the NWT Seniors' Society, NWT Disabilities Society, and we want to hear any other concerns that they might have had in that case. I can't speak to any case in particular, but I know that it has been a concern, and I think that those discussions we will have at the Northern Housing Summit and come out with...

As I mentioned earlier, we do have a governance council that oversees the conduct of business and management of the WSCC. I am not sure if the Member heard me say that in a response to a question earlier. I can inform this governance council, and I am sure they are listening, about having these discussions. I also mentioned that I am at an arm's length in terms of my role as Minister responsible for the WSCC, and we will let the governance council know about these concerns that the Member has and that some of the partners in industry have, that we have had a couple of Members bring up today.

We...

In response to the previous questions from another Member, we do pay about 88 cents per $100. As I mentioned, as an employer for the GNWT, one employer for all the departments, we are classified under a single industry code, that code being class 81. In the previous question that the Member asked, we will take a look into it, but as I mentioned, it would fluctuate if we decided to look at doing different departments. As the questions that were asked earlier, such departments as Infrastructure, Health and Social Services, Justice, when you compare it to our administrators and people who work in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the past 15 years the Government of the Northwest Territories has worked in partnership with the federal government to help meet the infrastructure needs of community governments. These efforts have helped community governments access federal funding, in accordance with our current mandate commitment in this area.

Mr. Speaker, federal investments in community government infrastructure have been significant. Since 2005, the federal government has provided over $170 million in gas tax funding, supporting a total of 293 projects in our communities. As well...

Yes, we have looked at that. We know that there is a concern in some of our smaller communities that don't have contractors or anyone who can do a housing maintainer program or do repairs for some of our homeowners, and even our elders. We do provide support through our care prevention maintenance programs, as well as seniors' aging in place programs, as well as other resources that we can bring to the table. As we discussed yesterday and as I have said in the House, we are going to be looking at a northern housing summit, and in the public meeting yesterday I did say, once that is all settled...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank and welcome the Member's comments about the public presentation that we had with committee yesterday. As Members know, seniors are one of the fastest-growing populations not only in the Northwest Territories, but right across Canada. In terms of the question that was asked, in terms of Yellowknife and Hay River, they are the two largest seniors' populations in the Northwest Territories, and we do know that there is existing seniors' infrastructure that will require replacement. I have said that in the House before. I just want to remind all Members that we...

Once the dates are finalized; we're just going through a draft agenda right now. All of our staff and our stakeholders are pretty excited about the summit. It's going to be the first one that has ever been held in the Northwest Territories. We have been providing that information to Indigenous governments. We also have met with the Seniors' Society and the NWT Disabilities Council to have them come and do a presentation. Right now, we are looking at having the summit up in Inuvik, mainly because, as I have said in this House, we have had a very strong partnership with the Inuvialuit Regional...

During yesterday's public presentation, we did get some discussions back and forth about the respect for our elders. I think all 19 of us, and anybody in this House, do respect our elders and want to promote and work with them to live as long as they can in their units. Yes, obviously, we would be looking at fourplexes in the communities, should the communities want to pursue that. It would be energy efficient over the existing designs that we have had in the past, and also it would reduce the cost of construction. So as we work with communities and leaders developing these community plans, I...

I will have to get the details for the Member. I can inform the Member, though, that the previous workers' advisor did do some crossover work with the current workers' advisor, just for the continuity, as well as working to make sure that the there was a good transition moving into the position. I can get that information for the Member and share it with him.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this point, I don't have numbers in front of me. As I mentioned in the last set of questions, under section 107 of the Workers' Compensation Act, the Minister responsible does have the authority to appoint a workers' advisor. A decision was made, finalized, and like I mentioned earlier, I am proud to have a long-time Northerner in that position working on behalf of our employees. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.