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Two-year reprieve Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, May 28, 2010
In Yellowknife, power rates will be frozen until 2012. As well, the government is creating seven rate zones, which will offer much needed relief to residents in 22 NWT communities that had been paying exorbitantly high rates after the power subsidy cap of 700 kWh.
The changes are great news for some customers, specifically those in homes with four or more people who struggle with the high cost of living in the NWT. This will put money back in their pockets.
However, as Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro said last week in the legislature, the changes are little more than a quick and temporary fix to the problem of high power costs.
After the two-year period is up and the $13-million contribution from the territorial government is gone, then what?
Bisaro said power corp. costs never seem to go down, only up. Meanwhile the utility needs to maintain steady revenues.
To its credit, the power corp. has realized savings by reorganizing its head office, but that can only go so far.
The bottom line is that, barring a huge shift to cheap hydro power across much of the territory, we will find out the true definition of rate shock.
Understandably, Thornton's restaurant owner Luke Wood was not pleased when a bylaw officer showed up at the end of a busy brunch service two weeks ago and demanded he remove his remaining pile of scrap siding from an adjacent parking lot.
He was in his chef's clothes, and he had assumed he had until the next day to get rid of it. When Wood refused to move the last few pieces of siding - the rest had been moved after bylaw's initial visit the previous Thursday - the officer handed him a $200 ticket.
In light of other junk-related issues in Yellowknife, it doesn't appear bylaw was being consistent in this case. We can recall a situation last year where a Northland resident was given nearly a year's notice to move his junk and abandoned vehicles from his yard before the city finally came and hauled them away.
What was the hurry at Thornton's? Was it because the complainant was city councillor Paul Falvo, as Wood suggests?
On the other hand, the siding had been posing a hazard in that spot for a year, even if the bylaw warning didn't come until recently. Yellowknife has a problem with junk-filled yards and residents must realize leaving it lying around for months or years could very well lead to a visit by bylaw. And so it should, hopefully with more consistency next time.
The importance of the road system can easily be gauged by the quantity of conversations that are dedicated to it. Drive between any two communities in the Deh Cho and before you're ready to return home you will have probably fielded at least three queries related to the state of the road you drove on.
The Department of Transportation's plans for the road system this summer will probably interest quite a few people. The plan certainly includes some highlights but also some areas need further consideration.
On the plus side is the amount of chipsealing being undertaken or planned. This season approximately 70 km of chipseal will be extended from its current limit at the junction of Highway 1 and 3 back towards Fort Simpson. By 2012 or possibly earlier the chipseal that now ends at Checkpoint will be pushed as far as the Jean Marie River access road.
Between these two projects there will still be a very long section of gravel highway but the chipsealing is a start towards the often cited goal of having a fully paved Deh Cho connection. The route would allow tourists to drive up from Alberta, through the Deh Cho on Highway 1 and into B.C. on Highway 3 without having to leave a chipsealed surface. Local residents, of course, would be able to take advantage of the benefits too. As long as chipseal is well maintained it's a dust free pleasure to drive on.
Highway 7 is in bad shape again.
It's not as bad as it was two years ago when portions of the highway were compared to a "bog" with the consistency of "clam chowder" but it's still less than desirable. The highway is probably only a few heavy rains away from its 2008 state.
The department does have plans for the road including laying more gravel over the troubled areas and conducting structural capacity testing to judge where future work is needed. Close attention will have to be paid to the future plans.
While more gravel will help in the short term, the Deh Cho deserves and needs a highway that won't deteriorate every spring. Residents must pressure the GNWT to spend as much as possible to repair Highway 7.
With the right application of pressure travellers won't have to search for adjectives to describe road conditions in the Deh Cho. All they'll say is "the road was good."
The group, made up primarily of people with public health backgrounds, has worked here as well as Ulukhaktok and Tuktoyaktuk and communities in Nunavut, trying to get residents to eat better and raise awareness about the benefits of living a healthy, active lifestyle.
In the process they've hired residents to help them. Some of the activities have included pedometer challenge programs to get people walking more. Cooking classes centring on traditional foods have been held regularly. The program also included a 12-month research component, monitoring eating habits of a selection of residents in each community.
The lead researcher Dr. Sangita Sharma was in town last week to talk about the results. The good news is that people in those communities are beginning to make wiser nutritional choices. Where the programming was offered, people are more than twice as likely to eat yogurt, and four times more likely to consume whole wheat bread as well as eight times more likely to reach for unsweetened juice.
The bad news is that for many the transition to a healthy lifestyle has been very slow. According to her research, peopled consumed less fresh fruit and vegetables.
The average four-person family spends a staggering $27,000 on junk food a year.
A lot of Healthy Foods North's funding came from both the territorial and the federal government. If they decide not to renew funding for the program what do they plan to do to keep the momentum rolling? What alternative public health programs would they like to support? How do they intend to tackle the problem over the long haul?
Obviously the trend of unhealthy living won't change overnight. It will take time. If Healthy Foods North does manage to get more funding or a similar program is launched, hopefully it will have a major focus on youth, particularly on elementary schools.
Governments like to play around with the idea of food subsidies, which is great in theory, but alone they don't make a lot more people want to buy more bags of oranges and apples. But that might change if government could set aside some money on something as simple as healthy eating programs at both the elementary and high school. The breakfast program could offer a different healthy meal each day, from whole wheat pancakes or French toast to eggs and bacon. Same goes for a lunch program, which could offer healthy vegetarian burritos, for example. Perhaps some parents could get involved in preparing meals. The simple reasoning behind this if you get kids eating healthy at an early age, the habit just might stick. Healthier kids also make for healthier, more focused students. The problem is very complicated but ideas are needed to move in the direction of building a healthier population.
What could possibly be wrong with that? It is robbing daycares of pint-sized clients, that's the problem.
Some parents may argue that it's a free market and they should be able to enrol their toddler wherever they want. The difference, of course, is that the Yk 1 school board is using $150,000 in public money to pay for its latest educational venture.
Surely the public school board means well. It has set out to attract youngsters eligible to soon begin kindergarten who could benefit from a structured learning environment, like getting a grasp of their colours and letters. Even more enticing for parents, there will be no charge to send their child to the summer school from June through August.
Linda Benedict, executive director of the Yellowknife Day Care Association, argues that existing daycares and day homes already offer basic lessons. She also says some may perceive the Yk 1 summer school as self-serving because it may land more students in public schools by fall. Whether that was part of the motive or not, there should have been some discussion with existing daycares and day homes. The public school board should have given first priority to low-income families and then charged fees to those who can afford it. That revenue should then have been turned over to daycares as compensation for kids who were pulled from their businesses.
Parents seeking childcare in our city have gone through some lean times while trying to find openings for their youngsters.
Benedict predicted the public school board's summer program - pitched as a one-time initiative - won't force her daycare to close.
We hope this holds true for the other operations. Northern Tikes and Kid's First Child Development Centre are already history. We can't afford to lose more.
The GNWT has finally exercised better judgement and withdrawn its request to have the courts decide whether the territorial government has the right to impose a caribou hunting ban on aboriginal hunters.
Last week, Premier Floyd Roland said the Feb. 12 legal motion isn't necessary because the GNWT has chosen instead to work with aboriginal governments on a political solution. It's about time. Who came up with the idea of a court challenge anyway?
Roland hails from Inuvik while deputy premier and Environment Minister Michael Miltenberger comes from Fort Smith. They've both been MLAs since 1995 and have had plenty of interaction with aboriginal governments.
Justice Minister Jackson Lafferty, who filed the question in the courts, comes from Behchoko and is in his second term in the legislative assembly.
These politicians obviously forgot the way to build government-to-government relations is not through the courts.
This issue is about not only preserving the dwindling Bathurst caribou herd, but fostering co-operation and understanding between the GNWT and the First Nations and Metis.
That's done through respectful words exchanged and hands outreached, not clutching court documents in an attempted power play.
Much of the outrage over premature reports on how the new food mail program would look should quell after it was officially unveiled this past Friday in Iqaluit.
In an interview with Kivalliq News a few months back, Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq said Nunavummiut had spoken, and were quite adamant they did not want to see individual food mail orders eliminated.
She also said she was lobbying hard to have some form of country food included in the new program.
And, if the new Nutrition North Canada program rolls out the way it's been indicated, Aglukkaq was true to her word and delivered on both counts.
A refreshing change of pace for a Conservative government which, all too often, adopts the attitude of knowing what's best for Northerners, no matter what they actually say on matters.
Contrary to the popular belief running rampant before this past Friday's announcement, individual retailers have not been excluded from the new Nutrition North Canada program.
This is a solid move on behalf of consumer interests, and will allow smaller retailers at least the chance to compete with the buying power of large operations such as the Northern store and local Co-ops.
There are still some very bright red flags in the new program, however.
The biggest of which is the government's contention a system will be devised to ensure our largest retailers do, in fact, pass on savings to the consumer.
In fact, the majority of Nunavummiut do not trust the larger stores to pass the savings along, and worry the new program will simply allow them to earn even bigger profits.
And, in the case of the Northern store, we're talking about an entity (North West Co.) that made $81.8 million in profits from $1.4 billion in sales this past year.
A large percentage of profit in anyone's books.
That being said, let's not forget the fact the Northern store and the Co-ops are here, supplying goods and employing a respectable number of people in our territory.
They are also near the top of the business community's list of frequent donors to a wide variety of events throughout the year.
However, it would be wise for the feds to remember they are businesses, and the program has to be completely transparent if it is not to be abused.
Taking for granted the feds will actually listen to it once it's established, we also applaud the choice of Elizabeth Copland to head an advisory board to give Northerners a direct voice in the program and provide advice to its management and effectiveness.
The decision to offer a higher rate of subsidy to nutritious perishable foods such as fruits, vegetables, bread, fresh meats, milk and eggs is also a solid one.
If the feds stick to their word and implement the new program the way it's been laid out, it's a solid plan that should benefit the vast majority of people in Nunavut, and put a smile on the face of a lot more folks than just shareholders in the Northern store and Co-op operations.
Despite many questions about the need for a bridge, the project held significant potential for the territory.
If it had been done properly, the bridge's construction could have demonstrated our ability to manage and complete a major infrastructure project in a public/private partnership.
Building a bridge requires tremendous expertise in engineering, trades work, fiscal management and logistics.
Showcasing those skills in our communities could have been a boon if and when the GNWT argues our need for the Mackenzie Valley Highway, a project that will dwarf the Deh Cho Bridge.
Instead of promoting NWT business and industry, the GNWT put us on the national stage cast as Jacques Clouseau of bridge building.
Work began before a final design was even in place, costs have climbed more than $20 million; the GNWT has been forced to take over the bridge's entire debt or lose investors; delays were caused by the loss of the main supplier; construction errors, etc.
Unfortunately no one outside the NWT will know that the fault isn't with the investors, or the engineers, not even the project managers.
No, the fault lies squarely on the shoulders of GNWT and the legacy of zero oversight created by Handley when he and his cabinet unilaterally pushed the project through.
There might, however, be a light at the end of this collapsing tunnel. An audit is being planned to uncover what went wrong from the inception to semi-erection of the bridge. Hopefully, the audit will uncover the mistakes.
One thing is certain: the GNWT misled the public on the risk to taxpayers inherent in its rushed and poorly conceived management plan.
From start to middle, due diligence was not done to ensure the bridge project ran smoothly. Now all we can do is watch as the GNWT tries to salvage the operation and pray it doesn't cost any more than it already has.
We predict a $200 million price tag by the time the first vehicle drives over the Mackenzie River.
Back in 1989 the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef near the Alaskan coastline, spilling 42 million litres of oil. The spill killed an estimate 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbour seals, 247 bald eagles and 22 orca whales.
Years after the spill, chronic exposure to oil was still resulting in salmon eggs not hatching at rates higher than normal, and marine mammals and ducks still had high death rates due to eating oil-contaminated prey.
Drilling for oil in the Beaufort Sea may begin in the next few years. Drilling for oil off the coast of Greenland in the Davis Strait is set to begin this summer. Ship traffic through the Northwest Passage is increasing, and so is the unpredictability of ice conditions.
The steadily increasing risk of a spill in Arctic waters is far outpacing the preparations to deal with them.
Oil spill clean-up kits have been shipped to communities but only Resolute is scheduled to receive training this summer on how to use them, and that's only because the military and coast guard happen to be conducting exercises in the area. The coast guard says new training materials are in development, but there's no estimate yet when they will be ready. In the meantime, these kits are essentially useless without instruction on their deployment.
Inuit still rely heavily on the land and the sea for food. Nunavummiut need assurance from the federal and territorial governments that we will have the expertise along with the tools to combat an oil spill, if and when a slick soils our seas, and that the crisis response will be a lot quicker than these snail-pace preparations.
Recently the federal government announced an additional $7 million in funding to the University of Manitoba Northern and Remote Family Medicine Residency Program to create 15 new residency positions. One of those positions will be in Nunavut, presumably in the Kivalliq region.
Sandy Macdonald, the Department of Health and Social Services' director of medical affairs, said the department's goal is to eventually have a full-time family doctor stationed in every community.
Residency programs are good fishing spots from which to recruit new doctors. What new doctors lack in experience they often make up for by being versed in the newest guidelines and practices.
Many new doctors, as well as older doctors seeking new challenges, look for opportunities where their skills cannot only help individuals but aid the well-being of a community - and often they look overseas.
Communities in Nunavut are just as desperate for medical care, and even more isolated.
Nunavut's current recruitment strategy is to encourage doctors to take a short-term position in the territory to see whether working here suits them.
Family practice residents typically spend up to a year in their chosen posting - giving those posted to the North a more comprehensive idea of what's involved.
The day where there is a doctor in every community is a long way off, since until we have an Akitsiraq-type program to train Nunavummiut as doctors, we'll have to keep relying on southern recruitment efforts.
One extra residency post is just a drop in the bucket, but at least it's still another drop.
Corrections An error appeared in the editorial "Pre-kindergarten clash," in the May 26 edition of Yellowknifer. The Yk 1 pre-kindergarten summer school is open to four and five year olds who are eligible for kindergarten. Additionally, in the May 17 News/North front page story "Kitty hit-and-run" it should've been reported Chevy had escaped and was not let out. Yellowknifer apologizes for any embarrassment or confusion caused by these errors.
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