Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 27/01) - Though the cost-of-living tax credit increase became law on Tuesday, it did not pass without regular members tempering it with a motion to provide more help to those who need help most.

Noting that the bill provides cost of living relief proportional to income (the more you make, the more of a break you get in dollar terms), members called on Finance Minister Joe Handley to come up with options for helping seniors, those on fixed incomes and low-income residents cope with the high cost of living.

Inuvik MLA Floyd Roland noted one-third of the NWT residents who filed tax returns earn less than $20,000 annually.

The options are to be developed in time to be implemented for the 2002 tax year.

Tent cities

MLAs from both Hay River and Yellowknife said the government should regard as a wake-up signal the use of tents as homes for the homeless.

"People cannot camp in Fred Henne Park in December," said Great Slave MLA Bill Braden, adding the NWT Housing Corp. needs to look at ways of improving its public housing programs.

The same day, Monday, Hay River MLA Paul Delorey spoke of the plight of two of his constituents evicted from public housing in early December. The two people are currently living in tents at the Louise Falls Campgrounds, Delorey said, scraping to get by on $32 per month each of social assistance.

Delorey called on the government to implement measures to help people evicted from public housing. He said part of the problem is housing and social assistance are administered by two different departments.

One first, one fiftieth

Speaker Tony Whitford noted a first that occurred during the break between the spring sitting and the two-day sitting this week.

Brendan Bell, said Whitford, became the first NWT MLA to get married while serving a term as MLA. The speaker offered his congratulations to Bell and his new wife, Jill Taylor.

Whitford also wished Frame Lake MLA Charles Dent a happy birthday, celebrated last Friday -- "I will not say his age, but he's halfway there," said Whitford.

Hunting sooner

A move to reduce the amount of time it takes to hunt on your own in the North split the legislature between big- and small-town ridings.

Frame Lake MLA Charles Dent's private members bill proposes the residency requirement for a hunting licence be reduced from two years to six months.

The bill edged through with the support of six of the seven Yellowknife MLAs. Speaker and Kam Lake MLA Tony Whitford voted in favour to break an 8-8 tie.

Weledeh MLA and Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development Minister Joe Handley was the exception. Handley said any proposed changes to the Wildlife Act should be part of a review currently under way.

Also voting in favour were Inuvik MLA Floyd Roland and Michael Miltenberger, representative for Thebacha, and Hay River North MLA Paul Delorey.

Dent and others who supported the bill said shortening the time people must wait before they can hunt without a guide would make the North a more attractive place for people considering moving here from the south.

RCMP and military staff, because they are often transferred after serving one or more years in a place, are particularly hampered by the two-year restriction, said the Yellowknife MLAs.

MLAs opposing the bill said the two-year restriction exists for good reasons, namely ensuring there is a plentiful supply of game for subsistence hunters and ongoing land claim negotiations.