Notes from the legislative assembly
Nutrition North on menu
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Monday, June 5, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Premier Bob McLeod says the federal government is being "non-committal" to the GNWT's request to run Nutrition North.
"We offered to take over the program if the accompanying money would be transferred with it," McLeod said May 31 in the legislative assembly. "They appear to prefer to deliver it themselves."
Nahendeh MLA Shane Thompson asked for an update on the program last week after raising concerns it is hurting Northern communities.
"Nutrition North was implemented to ease the consequences of these overpriced, low-quality foods to consumers and was proven ineffective," Thompson said. "Most residents noticed that some of their most essential food products, such as flour and baby formula, were not subsidized and, alternatively, many affluent food items were."
McLeod said the GNWT is willing to work with the federal government and raise Thompson's concerns that some communities don't have stores and face transportation issues.
NWT 'short-changed' by federal housing dollars, says minister
Caroline Cochrane, minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, flew to Ottawa over the weekend to meet face-to-face with her federal counterpart after, she says, the NWT was "short-changed" in the federal budget.
The 2017 federal budget promised $300 for Northern housing over the next 11 years, with $36 million going to the NWT.
The lion's share of that money - $240 million - went to Nunavut. The Yukon received the smallest slice of the cake, with $24 million.
"Nunavut has double ... the amount of needs for housing and got eight times the funding," Cochrane said, when asked by Yellowknife Centre MLA Julie Green why the NWT was given the "short end of the stick."
Cochrane was scheduled to meet with Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jean-Yves Duclos June 5.
Homecare services get boost
More homecare workers are being hired across the NWT.
"We'll be strengthening homecare services in our three largest communities and introducing homecare services in six communities where there are currently none offered," Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy announced May 29.
An additional nurse and two home support workers will be hired in Inuvik, while the GNWT plans to put half-time support workers in Wrigley, Jean Marie River,
Sambaa K'e, Nahanni Butte and Kakisa.
One-and-a-half home support workers are expected to be added in Hay River, Abernethy said.
The additions come as a result of an extra $2.5-million added to the budget in March for homecare.
Class-time cuts set in stone
A bill to reduce instruction time at NWT schools by up to 100 hours a year and reduce the age of eligibility for kindergarten from four to five years old will now become law.
The NWT's deputy commissioner gave assent to Bill 16 on June 2, after members of the assembly passed it through its third and final reading on the evening of June 1.
Julie Green, MLA for Yellowknife Centre, was the only member who abstained from the final vote.
"I made an effort to improve Bill 16 to benefit both students and teachers by aligning the mandatory minimum instructional hours with Alberta while reducing the current instructional hours at the high school level by 45 hours," Green said. "I was unsuccessful in that effort and I can't support Bill 16."
The bill has been a point of contention in the assembly this year, with regular members, parents and the public expressing concern about the intentions of the class time reductions.
The education department has maintained it will improve teacher well-being and student outcomes.
Clean-up time for messy roadside toilets
The minister responsible for the two departments that clean up toilets and garbage at roadside turn-offs says they are taking "a harder look" at how the pit stops are maintained.
Minister Wally Schumann said he has instructed the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment to clean roadside stops with bathrooms on a more regular basis, while the Department of Infrastructure will do the same with garbage.
"In the wintertime, we will have a weekly look at doing these things, especially around the toilets," Schumann said.
Schumann's comments came in response to questions from Nahendeh MLA Shane Thompson, who said he witnessed litter scattered around various roadside stops during a recent trip from Fort Simpson to Grande Prairie, Alta.
Long-time Yellowknife resident and ice-road trucker Alex Debogorski also raised the issue in an April Yellowknifer column, where he pointed out the "very poopy situation" at a roadside toilet beyond the NWT-Alberta border.
The toilet was an "environmental disaster" scattered in human feces, he said, with a sign declaring the facility is "not maintained during the winter."
But Schumann was hesitant to put the cleaning responsibilities under the roof of a single department, rather than two.
"I do not think the Department of Infrastructure wants to look after the toilets," Schumann said.
