Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I talked about the infrastructure projects in the Sahtu and the projects that are underway. There is some commitment to some of them happening in the Sahtu and also to other communities in the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Minister, in light of his ministerial statement on the fiscal and economic updates in the Northwest Territories and the challenges that are going to be facing the 17th Assembly, I want to ask the Minister in retrospect of the projects that are already committed in the Northwest Territories for this year and next year and the year after, that these dollars will be there to complete those projects. I want to ask the Minister, does this government have a good leg to stand on in terms of completing these projects?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my statement, the capital plan for this current year is well underway. Next year, as we have all agreed to, for the consideration of the 17th Assembly we have set a target of $75 million. With that very modest sum coming down from $1.1 billion over the last three years, the capital plan will be pretty well consumed by many of the existing multi-year projects. It will be up to the new Legislature to look at what opportunities are there to try to meet additional infrastructure needs.
So we’ve put in the books the projects that we’ve agreed as the Assembly of this government, and now what I’m hearing the Minister saying to the people is that the projects that have already been agreed to, the multi-year funding projects may be in jeopardy. In light of what the Minister is saying to the House by stating the forecast that the government now will have to deal with the capital infrastructure expenditures, is that correct?
In my statement I indicated that we have needs of over about $2.7 billion over the next few years, or about $530 million a year of identified needs. We have, starting next year, $75 million a year in the capital plan. So we have some very hard choices to make. There’s going to be a need to make those choices and it’s going to take more time at $75 million a year. In fact, as I indicated, we will probably never catch up at that rate, which is why one of the challenges for the 17th Assembly is going to be how we can possibly supplement that capital plan money.
Is the Minister meeting with his federal counterpart or other Finance Ministers in Canada to look at this situation here in the North, in light of what we may be faced with? Can the Minister provide us with a brief update as to what type of actions or strategies this government is doing to see that some of these capital projects start and finish on time and on budget?
We’re doing a number of things, as I’ve indicated publicly and to the Members. We have current discussions going on right now with the federal Finance in terms of borrowing limits. We are also looking actively at other pots of government money that may be there, federal government money such as a P3 funding, to look at some other projects that may apply under that particular fund. Of course, the other area that would possibly bring more money into the government coffers is the revenue side. We haven’t looked at that specifically, but there is going to be a need to look not only at the expenditure but, as well, the revenue side. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister lay out a little more of a clear path, I guess, in the transition document as to the funding that could be looked at in the 17th or closing this Assembly here as to what are some of the close certainties of the financial revenues that we may seek either from the feds or from our own sources in the Territories?
Yes, we will be leaving the detailed fiscal update. We’ll be leaving details in all the program areas. We have to keep in mind, as well, as we look around the world, that we’re now once again into very shaky, uncertain economic times with growth projections in some cases on the negative side. There’s still trouble in the United States. There’s trouble in Europe. We are not immune to those, so as we look at our own business, we have things we can look at. Some of the things we have to keep a very close eye on, of course, is the revenue side, where we have lots of multi-nationals that do business here, and hopefully their revenue side will stay up at the same time as we look to manage our expenditures. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Transportation in regard to the issues I raised in regard to road conditions, and more importantly, the Dempster Highway. It seems like they’ve been either very poorly maintained or the budget’s been cut. I’d like to ask the Minister exactly what is the reason that we’re seeing such a high number or the impact on maintaining highways. Has there been a decision in the department either to cut back on maintenance, or has there been a change by way of contracting practices, or is it because the number of roads that we are maintaining and not putting as much money as we need to maintain the roads and also realizing the condition we’re under? I’d like to ask the Minister what has changed that is causing the maintenance of the highways in the Northwest Territories to decline to the point where people are concerned with regard to the conditions of those roads and the public safety aspect of driving those roads and the conditions that they’re in.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Dempster Highway has been a priority for some time, and has been raised in the House by the Member on a number of occasions. We continue to focus on reconstruction of this highway, the Dempster Highway. We’ve done a lot of work on improving the roadway alignments, the roadbed and driving surfaces.
As I responded to this question by this Member on a number of occasions, the road needs to be reconstructed. We are attempting to do that with the resources we have on hand and we’ll continue to focus on that. However, the reconstruction process for this length of highway with the investment we have is probably going to take in excess of another 10 to 12 years. It’s going to be a long process.
If there is concern with maintenance, we certainly can review what our contractors are doing, and if he has any issues with contracts, we’d like to hear from him. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I like what I hear from the Minister, because I think it is time that we did review either the maintenance contracts or the maintenance practices that are being used and what type of equipment is being used or what type of equipment is not being used, and what type of materials are being used to apply to resurface the highway or try to maintain the surface on that highway.
I’d like to ask the Minister how soon can you investigate the condition of the roads and also the contracts that are in place and also the method that’s being used to maintain those highways.
We have people that provide oversight on all our roads on a regular basis. In the case of the Dempster, I think we’ve invested well over $28 million in the life of this government and the previous government. There are a lot of discussions between ourselves, transportation officials of the NWT, and with the Yukon. If there are any concerns, certainly, we’d like to hear further of the specifics. If there is something that needs to be reviewed, we certainly can have our headquarters staff or somebody from the regional office and provide some investigation to look at the situation. But it is monitored on an ongoing basis.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I’d like to ask the Minister, would you consider looking at the type of contracts that are in place either as an hourly-based contract, a monthly contract, and why is it that you’d have these different types of contracts. Is there a possibility of streamlining the contracts so they are being funded to do the job they have to do, and they’re not being simply on an as-and-when basis, and that you’d consider a universal contracting system to maintain the highways of the Northwest Territories using a specific means of paying for the services for those contracts?
Yes, we could do that. That’s something that the Member has some desire to get some results from any potential differences. We’ll review it, and sit down with him and provide that information.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke in my statement about a report on homelessness in Yellowknife, which was written by Mr. Nick Falvo. There were a number of recommendations in that report. I have some questions for the Minister responsible for homelessness with regard to some of the recommendations in that report. I appreciate that the Minister may not have had a chance to read the report, but I think he can respond to my questions relative to the recommendations as I outlined them in my statement.
The very first recommendation of the report is to establish a homelessness secretariat. I’d like to ask the Minister what plans this government has to coordinate our homeless programs, which are not now coordinated in one place. For instance, coordinate with the Anti-Poverty Strategy, coordinate within government, and coordinate with our service providers. It will provide more effective programs to both more communities and be more efficient. I’d like to ask the Minister what plans there are to coordinate our homelessness programs. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for homelessness, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A two-part answer, I would suggest. There’s homelessness within Yellowknife, where you have a lot of agencies and a lot of resources, and then there’s the homelessness services outside of Yellowknife, which are coordinated and managed by the government and the various departments within government. There is a Homelessness Coalition in Yellowknife that we’re part of and has a primary responsibility. We also look internally, monitoring and organizing those services. One of the things that existed in the 15th Assembly that may be worth considering again was that there was a social Ministers, envelope Ministers committee that met on an ongoing basis to deal with such issues that transcended a number of departments, be it homelessness or housing or other such broad issues. Thank you.
I’d like to thank the Minister for giving me a bit of a précis of information I already know and telling me what we already do. I know that, and I would like to know what we are going to do to try to coordinate homelessness, because it’s not currently coordinated.
The oversight and the management of homelessness programs for this government are spread across many departments; at least three. They are handled by different people in each department and everybody is doing little bits and pieces here and there. So I would like to ask the Minister if this government will consider the establishment of a homelessness secretariat, as recommended in the report. Thank you.
I was under the assumption you never asked a question you didn’t know the answer to. I’m trying to fill the Member in on issues that I know she’s asked questions about, she’s very conversant on.
In regard to the idea of a secretariat and the issue of homelessness, that will be, I believe, contained in the broader transition document within the seven days left that we have as sitting days and to the 4th when we are dissolved. There are no plans to move on any kind of setting up of any kind of secretariat. Thank you.
One of the other recommendations in the report was to establish a task force to look into the use of drugs and alcohol and the use of it by our citizens, particularly our homeless. I see that task force as looking into far more than just homeless people, but I would imagine both the housed and the homeless would be looked at in terms of alcohol abuse.
I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not he is willing to discuss this recommendation with his staff. I appreciate no decisions will be made between now and the election, but I’d like to know whether or not he can do some preliminary analysis of the value of such a task force. Thank you.
I meet regularly with the Health and Social Services staff, the deputy and senior officials, so I will commit to have that item placed on the agenda so we can, in fact, have that discussion. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for that commitment. I appreciate that it will be at least considered.
One of the other recommendations was that shelter standards should be established. The family violence shelters have them, and I’d like to know from the Minister why should emergency shelters not have standards and what plans are there within the government to look at developing standards for our emergency shelters similar to our family violence shelters. Thank you.
As we continue to evolve as a government on the program delivery side and mature as a jurisdiction, clearly, standards become more and more pressing in a number of program areas, including the ones mentioned by the Member. That will be pursued as you move forward. There’s a new strategic plan coming out of Health and Social Services, and as the 17th Assembly is set up, elected, and picks their government, those items I’m sure will be on their list of to do things. Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services and are a follow-up to my Member’s statement from earlier today.
In July, I believe, the Minister made an announcement that August 12th was the date that Stanton was targeting to resume elective surgeries once they were able to confirm that the sterilization equipment was in fact working to standard. I was very optimistic that would happen and I actually hope that that did happen, but I heard a rumour that, in fact, the elective surgeries have not been recommenced as a result or due to the fact that sterilization equipment is still experiencing problems. I’d like some information from the Minister as to the status of the sterilization equipment and the status of the elective surgeries at Stanton Territorial Hospital. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My information is that we targeted the 12th. As of August 15th, elective surgeries are being performed at Stanton. Thank you.
I didn’t quite hear the answer. I know the surgeries have been ongoing at Stanton during this entire process. I know that surgeries were never ceased. Emergency surgeries continued to go, it was elective surgeries. I didn’t hear whether the Minister said elective surgeries. So just for clarification, did the Minister say that elective surgeries are once again occurring to full capacity at Stanton? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
That’s fantastic news. I’m very happy to hear that.
The second part of this issue is the fact that there were well over 200 elective surgeries cancelled over the last couple of months, basically since January when all of these issues started to come up. I’m curious what type of communication plan or what kind of implementation plan Stanton is putting in place to get this backlog of elective surgeries through the system as quickly as possible.
The reason this is important, Mr. Speaker, is there are costs to people, their health, their livelihood, all of these things are affected by these potential surgeries that these individuals need to have. I think we owe it to our constituents and our residents to get them through these surgeries as quickly as possible, to help them get back to activities of daily living and normal living. So what is the process that they are going to follow to get these people through these elective surgeries in a timely manner?
Earlier in the winter there was over 360 surgeries of backlog, and since July we’ve whittled that number down to 102. I agree with the Member, we want to do this as quickly and expeditiously as possible, to let people get their lives back as quickly as possible. So now that we are back up to doing full surgeries, elective surgeries, I’m confident that list will be whittled down with even more alacrity and expediency. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m very happy that the Minister agrees; that’s good. My question was more along the lines of what is the communications plan. What is the action plan to make this happen? There are 102 surgeries on top of all the surgeries that are already booked. How are we going to fit those 102 in? What are we going to do? What’s the plan?
We have professionals, capable individuals that manage the scheduling of the operating rooms, that look at the schedules, the wait lists, what is elective and what’s emergency, and they are doing all the things necessary. They’ve done a very good job, I would suggest, given the fact that we were struggling with some of the sterilization issues up until recently, and that that rate will increase as we pick away at that backlog now that the operating rooms are functional. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Justice. During my Member’s statement I talked about the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Obviously, it’s in place across this country. The question that I have for the Minister of Justice is whether the application of that legislation is the same here in the Northwest Territories as it would be in Alberta, Saskatchewan, or even Ontario, and whether or not there is any evidence that sentences for young offenders here in the Northwest Territories are any lighter than they are in those other jurisdictions. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The YCJA, the Youth Criminal Justice Act, is federal legislation. So it is across the board and throughout Canada. We follow the same legislation through the venue of the RCMP in our jurisdiction and other jurisdictions, as well, with law enforcement. So we follow the same procedures. Mahsi.
Specific to the previous question was whether or not the YCJA was being applied the same here in the Northwest Territories as in other Canadian provinces or territories. Does the Minister have any evidence or anything related to statistics on length of sentences, what young offenders are getting for comparable crimes in Alberta, Saskatchewan that they are getting in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
