Wendy Bisaro

Mr. Chair, I appreciate that explanation. My understanding is that the budget for the current Day Shelter is quite a bit more than the previous. I would like to know if that’s accurate, and I would also like to know where in the budget this money shows up. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. That was going to be my next question, I guess. You know, we’ve talked for many years, since I’ve been here, about the need to have the authorities, basically get them the money that they need in order to run their programs and to determine how much money they need. So that fix was supposed to have been coming probably four years ago now or five years ago now. So, to the Minister, when he says that the fix is coming, does this mean that we’ve changed the way that we fund the authorities? He also said that these budgets come from the authorities. So I’m guessing maybe we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are also addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services today. I want to follow up on my statement and ask the Minister some questions about the Housing First program.

I would like to, first of all, say that the City of Yellowknife has taken the lead on this project, but they certainly need to have other people involved in the project. The money is federal money. It’s not GNWT money. I’d like to know from the Minister how our territorial health and social services authorities and department, particularly, the Yellowknife Health and Social Services...

Thanks to the Minister. My last comment on this area would be: Once the legislation is done and passed and has come into force, if the department determines that the changes in order to provide better services that the changes are going to mean an extra expenditure, is the Minister willing to come back to the House with a supplementary appropriation in order to provide effective and valid child and family services? Thank you.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I have one more question here and it has to do with the Medical Travel Policy. It seems we have been amending this policy for quite some time. I know the department has been working very hard on it and has been doing a lot of consultation and investigation and so on. I would like an update on where that’s at. The other half of this question is once we do put a new policy into place, is it going to create some efficiencies and save us some money or, because it’s a new policy, is it going to expand our costs and are we expecting an increase in medical travel due to the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a couple of questions here. The first one has to do with the Child and Family Services Act. There are amendments coming forward for this legislation, from what I understand. I’d like to know from the Minister if the amendments to this piece of legislation are going to require extra expenditures, and if so, where are they in this budget?

I figured it depended on the act. Probably the one that’s going to be the most expensive is the Health Information Act. I would like to know where that’s reflected in this budget. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We will continue with TD 188-17(5), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2015-2016, with the Department of Health and Social Services.

It’s no secret that many people who are renting, struggle to meet the cost of their housing and also meet their daily expenses and maintain any kind of a decent lifestyle. Some people cannot afford to rent their own apartment, their own home. They need to rent a room in a house.

I’d like to know from the Minister, as they do the evaluation of this program that’s gone over the last two years, will they consider expanding the terms of reference to the program to include people who are renting not an apartment but renting a room in a house or renting a room in somebody else’s apartment? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. I’d like to ask the Minister some questions about the Rent Supplement Program. It’s been about two years now, I think, since the program was put into place. At the time that the Minister advised committee of the program, I do believe that he said there was going to be an evaluation at some point.

So, first of all I’d like to ask the Minister, what kind of success does the Housing Corporation attribute to this program? What kind of uptake has there been from people that are...