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Sandy Lee's losing battle Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, May 21, 2010
According to the minister, extending the program would provide benefits to 1,700 to 2,300 non-aboriginal residents, many of them children, who are currently not covered by third-party insurance to pay for items such as prescriptions, eyeglasses, and dental care. Currently, only seniors over 60, persons with certain chronic illnesses or their caregivers, and those residents on income support are eligible for supplementary health benefits. Lee argues many residents currently without coverage are the "working poor" who pay for prescriptions out-of-pocket - if and when they can. Her department would like those who can afford it, including seniors who currently get extended health benefits for free, to pay a portion. That way, she argues, everyone gets coverage and the government, which pays about $6.1 million a year for the benefits, can afford to deliver them. For her troubles, Lee has been accused of wanting to put a "tax on the sick and elderly," and deepening divisions between non-aboriginals and aboriginal residents whose extended health coverage is paid for by the federal government. Questioning the government's morals on this issue, as Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay did last week, is questionable in itself. The intent is to aid those who cannot afford some health basics. That's an honourable objective. But as we've said before, Lee is her own worst enemy, and for the second time in two years, she has allowed the opposition to her proposed changes to frame the debate. Where are her rebuttals to the multiple letters and guests columns in our paper condemning the changes? Why does she insist on allowing her departmental bureaucrats to make the arguments for her? A politician should know she's in trouble when there's a picture of Jan Stirling - the NWT's Governor General's Award-winning nurse - in the newspaper picketing against her proposed health care changes. Then again, that would explain why Lee keeps stalling, as she did Wednesday when she extended the implementation date to Nov. 1. We still believe this issue would be best settled during the territorial election next year, but if given a choice between co-payments and some other form of taxation to cover expanded supplementary health benefits we, and many others, would choose the latter. How about a small payroll tax increase? The list of revenue options unveiled by the territorial government in 2008 proposes $20 million can be made if the payroll tax was increased by just one per cent to three per cent total. One thing is for sure, Lee and her department are losing the public image war, and it's unlikely they will ever be able to convince anybody that co-payments are the way to go. Certainly, some seniors can afford to pay 20 per cent, but even if they're well-heeled it's not in the territory's interest to risk driving them out by shaking them down to pay for their heart medication.
Power users can't refuse this gift Editorial Comment Roxanna Thompson Deh Cho Drum - Thursday, May 20, 2010
It's hard not to be excited about the money savings that will start in October. To begin with in the winter months of September to March the Territorial Power Subsidy Program will subsidize all residential customers for the first 1,000 kilowatt hours to the Yellowknife rate of approximately 26 cents per kW-h. This is an increase from the previous 700 kW-h. The current subsidy is enough to cover 55 per cent of residents in the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) Thermal Zone during the winter. An additional 25 per cent of residents, however, use between 700 to 1,000 kW-h. Those additional hours will now be subsidized. A final 15 per cent use more than 1,000. Residents in the Deh Cho communities of Fort Simpson, Wrigley, Jean Marie River, Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte will now only pay 49 cents per kW-h when they go over the subsidy limit in the winter. For the other five months the new subsidy limit will be 600 kW-h. Forty-nine cents is a pittance compared to the 166.40 cents per kW-h that's currently paid in Nahanni Butte, the 148.70 in Jean Marie River, and even the 73.45 in Fort Simpson. Residents in the zone should rejoice. Businesses have also hit a break. In the communities of the NTCP Thermal Zone, they will only pay 42 cents per kW-h. In Nahanni Butte the commercial rate is currently 214.65. That's a decrease of 80.4 per cent - the largest in the territory. It seems with the changes to the electricity rates, the territorial government has finally done something concrete that reduces the cost of living and cost of business in the territory. The rates might not be as low as some people had hoped, but they are certainly a step in the right direction. All these reductions, however, seem almost too good to be true. A lot of people won't be convinced that there isn't some hidden clause or catch until the first electricity bills are delivered at the end of October. The doubters are right in some ways. Businesses will be paying less for electricity, but it remains to be seen if those savings will be passed on to customers. There's also the question of what the rates will be for Northland Utilities' thermal customers. The territorial government is still in discussions with the company - which are expected to last until the fall, at least. Finally, many will be watching to see if the low electricity rate dream ends in two years when NTPC will be able to submit a new general rate application. Yes, with the announced changes the territorial government has seemingly done a lot to help residents and businesses, but the real proof will only come with time.
Hope in the face of suffering Editorial Comment Andrew Rankin Inuvik Drum - Thursday, May 20, 2010 We know Eskimo Inn won't be opening up any time soon. It's expected Dowland Contracting will now be using the space to house and feed its employees who are involved in construction projects in town. That's a positive or a negative depending on how you want to look at it. It was probably a wise business move by hotel management given the sky-high overhead costs they're likely dealing with. Yes, there a few lucrative construction projects happening in town but how long will they last and what are we left with afterwards -- several government-owned buildings, none of which will provide the kind of revenue the town needs, especially considering how many here have overextended themselves financially in the hopes that the pipeline will arrive sooner rather than later. It's anybody's guess when and if approval might come. The federal government doesn't appear to be too interested in pouring significant money into the project, which is needed if it's to go ahead. It's also sad to see that a member of the local business community, Caribou Cafe, will be without a home at the end of the month. The restaurant with the best food in town will have to set up shop somewhere else now that the Eskimo is closing. Who knows when that will happen. And who knows what will happen to the Eskimo Inn once the contract between Dowland and the Mackenzie Group expires. But then there's some good news. Two businesswomen, Debbie Karl and Moe Grant, have decided to resurrect the town's coffee shop that was closed last November. It's refreshing to see how much energy and passion they're putting into the project, which they hope to have completed and open for business during the first week of June. They've given the old Cafe Gallery a complete facelift and have purchased all-new equipment to go inside. They're determined to make it work. No doubt they'll get plenty of support from residents. I like that they want it to be a kind of entertainment venue where residents can showcase their talent. There's a lot to showcase. Personally I've missed having a coffee shop in town and I know when it was here I took it for granted. Like Karl and Grant, I think a coffeehouse is essential to any community. Luckily we have a few entrepreneurial types who are willing to do what it takes to make it happen.
City shortsighted on housing Yellowknifer - Wednesday, May 19, 2010
The Giant Mine town site, shut down ten years ago, includes 22 houses - most of which were still considered salvageable three years ago.
The area includes a dock and boat launch that could make it ideal for a harbour front community. For now, the townsite is the refuge of vandals even while waterfront property in Yellowknife is nearly unobtainable.
The city continues to sit on this land since acquiring it in 2000 in lieu of taxes owed by former mine owner Royal Oak, and is refusing to reopen the area for settlement.
Of course, there are arsenic concerns but that didn't stop residents of Con Place and Rycon trailer park on the other side of town from fighting for their properties when they were facing the boot following the closure of Con Mine in 2003.
This part of the city, like the Giant town site, was not up to "residential standards" either but a will and way was found to prevent these otherwise pleasant neighbourhoods from being permanently mothballed because of some bureaucratic notions of safety and health.
A recent study commissioned by the federal government found that if the Giant town site were occupied today, the daily intake of arsenic would be 0.0009 mg per kg - just slightly higher than the national average. How much effort would it really take to close this gap and re-open it to development?
At the same time, city hall has established a Harbour Planning Committee, one of whose goals is to regulate houseboats in Yellowknife Bay.
In a town short on homes and apartments, houseboat sprawl hardly seems to be an issue.
A harbourfront committee might be needed as the city's population grows - but the city is not growing. Contrary to encouraging housing development, city hall is tripping it up with too many restrictions. Pulling Tin Can Hill, another potentially excellent source of waterfront property, from development is another case in point.
New avenues must be opened up for housing, and existing ones such as the Giant Mine town site must not sit idle.
There should have been outrage expressed by many in the territory over the Government of Nunavut's (GN) dismissal of former Nunavut fire marshal Tony Noakes this past week.
The GN decided Noakes was unsuitable for his position due to his worry over unsafe conditions at the Baffin Correctional Centre (BCC), which included filing a complaint with the RCMP mere days before his dismissal.
It was even reported an unnamed guard at the BCC viewed the facility as a death trap caused by chronic neglect.
Of course, the guard wouldn't allow his name to be released for fear of meeting the same fate as Noakes. And that's exactly why more people – government employees or not – are scared to speak up.
The GN is the biggest decision maker in the territory, the biggest employer and the biggest bully.
In fact, bullying people into submission is the one thing this government has become incredibly proficient at during the past decade.
It's used these same deplorable tactics to silence those who would point out problems in Housing, Finance, Health, Education and Renewable Resources.
In fact, it's even put the clamper on government employees who were elected to hamlet councils and then had the audacity to suggest changes to the way the GN delivered certain programs or products.
Let's be honest about this. A nice paycheque, great benefits and a generous pension are very powerful selling points when an entity wants a person to dummy up.
We all understand the stress involved when one's job could be threatened, but make no mistake about it.
When you choose to remain silent over issues that affect the quality of life for people, dummying up is exactly what you're doing.
What's even more alarming about Noakes's dismissal is how blatant the government is becoming with its bullying tactics.
It seems some of those in charge have reached the point of feeling untouchable in this territory. They, apparently, no longer even feel the need to disguise the distasteful way they conduct some of their business, even when human lives could be at risk, which appears to be the case at the correctional centre.
It seems non-party politics has become a nice way of saying governance with absolute power, no accountability, and precious little care or time for the concerns of the people.
It's time for this government to wake up and start addressing legitimate concerns raised by its workers, and stop using such fear-mongering tactics to demand subserviency.
There are places in this world – where few reading this want to live – where an editorial such as this would be met with grave repercussions delivered by men dressed in menacing military-styled attire. And, right now, I have no doubt there may be some in our capital licking their lips over that concept.
The GN refused to answer questions on the Noakes affair because it didn't want to, and no one could make it answer.
Thousands of bullied kids hear the same words on their playgrounds every day.
Last month, Ulukhaktok hunter David Kuptana killed a bear later identified as a third- or fourth-generation grolar bear. Last week, another hunter from Ulukhaktok bagged a second bear suspected of being a hybrid - confirmation is pending but officials with the Environment and Natural Resources suspect the animal is a grizzly.
Kuptana received $17,000 for the animal's skin which will be displayed in Ulukhaktok.
The discovery of a multi-generation hybrid grolar bear is evidence a new species might be emerging in the High Arctic. Marsha Branigan, ENR's manager of wildlife management for the Inuvik region, said grizzly bear sightings that far north have been recorded for a few years now. She said because the hybrids are so few in number the department is not considering any type of management strategy.
"The other question - and it's not one for me to answer - is do we want a hybrid species? Do we want to promote that?" Branigan told News/North.
Hybridization of two different species to create a new species, Branigan suggested, has benefits and drawbacks. Benefits include the ability to better deal with changing climate conditions while drawbacks may include health problems.
Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any plans to study what the emergence of the grolar bear means for the region.
With the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment dishing out tens of thousands of dollars for each hide, that opportunity may never come. Every hunter in the region is bound to be combing the land for a chance at such a lucrative prize. The bounty on each hide might also put pure-breed grizzlies and polar bears - both limited in numbers - at risk, as hunters shoot first and test later.
A Fort Liard women's struggle to see a doctor in Yellowknife for a serious illness calls into question the Health Department's referral process.
For more than a week Elizabeth Bertrand's pleas to be sent to Yellowknife for treatment of what was later diagnosed as pneumonia were ignored. After three trips to the Fort Liard Health centre where she was refused a referral to a doctor in Yellowknife, her family took matters into their own hands and drove Bertrand to Fort Nelson, B.C. The result was a two-week stay in hospital and Bertrand said two weeks ago she was still recovering at home.
Kathy Tsetso, the chief executive officer of Dehcho Health and Social Services, said the nurses in Fort Liard followed protocol based on the symptoms Bertrand was presenting.
More should have been done to ensure that Bertrand received quality care. Her illness was serious enough - or became serious enough due to poor quality of care - to require hospitalization for two weeks.
Tsetso said the nurses followed protocol, perhaps that means protocols need to be changed since they apparently missed a diagnosis of pneumonia. Had nurses opted to listen to the patient, Bertrand might have been spared any undue suffering.
Another day, another discovery of bungled financial books in Nunavut.
The Nunavut Housing Corporation is blaming improper budgeting and increasing labour costs for the fact that 726 houses being built are costing $60 million more than the $200 million allotted for the project by the federal government in 2006.
The cost of an average home was $75,000 more than expected, yet that overrun was overlooked every year for four years.
Housing Minister Hunter Tootoo points to a "lack of oversight."
Auditor general Sheila Fraser thinks a shortage of staff led to the lack of tracking and reporting spending, and points to her 2008 audit on the corporation which shows that bids for tenders were coming in higher than budgeted.
We don't know which explanation would be worse - that the overrun was simply not noticed by the people in charge, or that there was nobody in charge.
Kudos to new Chief Financial Officer Lori Kimball, who saw the problem soon after starting the job and notified the new president. He notified the minister and the minister, bless his soul, notified the public - a noteworthy act by the Government of Nunavut.
That $60 million overrun will be picked up by Nunavut - $20 million will be carved from NHC's budget and $40 million scraped up by the GN at the expense of other projects.
It's unfortunate that this discovery comes at the same time that NHC is conducting a survey to assess Nunavut's housing needs, partly to provide ammunition with which to lobby the feds for more money for more units and renovations.
Financial mismanagement like this undermines the territory's credibility when it asks the federal government for more money. Why should the feds give the territory more money for housing, when Nunavut can't budget properly with the money they've already got?
Despite the money trouble, the housing corporation says the remaining 407 houses of the 726 scheduled to be built with the Nunavut Housing Trust money will be finished this year. And construction of the 285 houses under the $100 million Affordable Housing Program is also scheduled to begin this summer, though it's not certain what kind of cost overruns will be associated with that project.
Fraser has issued report after report warning that a shortage of qualified staff is jeopardizing the integrity of various Government of Nunavut departments and agencies. It's about time the government deals with the root of the problem instead of mopping up the messes.
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