Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to continue these questions to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment in regards to the Seniors' Fuel Subsidy Program. Mr. Speaker, in the communities there are some elders who receive this subsidy and some of the elders that don’t receive this subsidy. In some of the communities, it causes conflict between the elders. Some of the elders who say they should also be receiving because of the hard work they have done and the pensions that now they’re receiving from the jobs that they worked at. They don’t have any subsidies, and yet they’re...

You know, they are saving their money for it. So I'll ask the Minister again if he would consider looking at this cost of fuel in the communities for the elders. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. However, fall is setting in and winter is just around the corner, and I'm somewhat surprised and shocked that even though the program is being delivered that it has no changes yet for an increase in fuel for the small communities. Elders are getting their fuel I think by November until the end of April, so it's not enough for all the elders and the elders are struggling right now with the high cost of living in these small communities. Mr. Speaker, we do have a surplus. I wonder why the Minister's not going to the Finance Minister to knock on his door, like other...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again I would like to recognize a former Tulita resident, Mr. Paul Andrew, now residing in Yellowknife and working for CBC.

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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to ask the Minister in terms of their being diligent about their debt collection and the prevention, or are they just lending less money out to the public in the Northwest Territories as there were no write-offs for this year or last year. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I certainly support the departments going through their own debt counselling process in terms of retrieving some of the debts that they would like to have paid back. Maybe I could be a little more specific, Mr. Chair. Is the core need under one department to have all these debts? I know this is the last stage of the debt efforts and it's going through this bill here. I'm leading up to a framework that all the departments go there and say this is how we'll handle it. Is there one shop, I'm asking, that people in the communities and people in the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it’s not giving myself here false hope. It’s giving false hope to the elders. We have to take care of them. We have to do something out of the extraordinary to take care of them. Give them the fuel. They are complaining to me in Colville Lake. So will the Minister do the honourable thing and respect the elders, give them the fuel that they need this year, talk to your Cabinet Ministers and give them a break? Don’t break the elders. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know it’s going to be a costly initiative. I know the existing dollars are not right now in this government. But there’s got to be some creative solution from this side and from the House here. We can’t go back to the elders in Colville Lake, Deline, Fort Good Hope and say to them listen, we have to wait another year. Sorry, but we don’t have enough money. That’s unacceptable. Mr. Speaker, we have to go back to the communities and tell the elders this is what we can do, this is emergency funding, this is what we’re doing with it. Oil companies are doing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to again ask the Minister, the Fuel Subsidy Program, it's not enough. I'm telling you right now I'm speaking on behalf of the elders who have spoken to me. The fuel there, the need, and we're not taking this as a real important issue to take care of elders. We're going against a lot of our values in terms of how we're to look after the elders. So, Mr. Speaker, to my question here. Can the Minister look at the program this year? Look at the program this year and treat the elders all the same in terms of the fuel subsidy and give them what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do acknowledge the support that this government is giving to our seniors, but when I go back into the Sahtu communities and other communities, I hear the elders are not getting enough of a fuel subsidy. There is a discretion there. Some of the elders are getting it and some are not getting it. I'm asking to look at the recent increase of fuel in our communities and the increase in the cost of living. The fuel subsidies are still the same; there's no increase. So it's not going very far. We do have the program; let's give our elders a break this...