Thank you. We will listen carefully to the Member’s suggestion and request. The issue of a top-up is one I will check. Our responsibility is mainly to do with the surface remediation and, of course, we’ve already contributed $27 million that we’ve booked for our share. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for his remarks there. My last question: did the Minister ensure that his legitimate expense under the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act should be accounted for in the AIP negotiations, was it accounted for in the AIP negotiations to date and will he be ensuring that they are part of the final agreement? Mahsi.
Thank you. The AIP negotiations have yet to start. We’ve signed an agreement to start the negotiations and there is a section on remediation of sites and I will check whether Giant Mine is within that particular process or not, but the main point being that we’ve just initialled the document and the actual negotiation process has yet to start. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As always, I’m trying to keep the issue of drivers using cell phones, and the fact that they shouldn’t be, front and centre in people’s minds. It’s definitely not something we should be doing. I’m looking for a bit more information from the Minister of Transportation in regard to the pledge campaign that is now part of the Drive Alive program. So I’d like to ask the Minister if he could elaborate a little bit on the Leave the Phone Alone pledge campaign, what the department is doing to put the campaign in place. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad the Member has raised the issue of safety for our travelling public, whether it’s on our roads or our trails or our waterways. It’s an issue that you have to be constantly promoting.
This past couple years we’ve initiated a Drive Alive activity list program that focuses on different areas. Last year we had a number of things that we worked on. This year we want to continue that. We’ll be providing advertisements and also asking some of our colleagues from the MLAs to participate. We have developed a helmet safety program through posters and other means. We’re also doing a lot of work in other areas of creating awareness with the bison and issues around bison on our highways. We’ve committed to hiring summer students and we’ve also incorporated a website and developed that over the last while and we’re doing some displays at our airports.
As part of the Drive Alive activities we’ve also started the program Take the Pledge – Distracted Driving and we have a number of activities. I can’t specify what the response has been. We’ve invested some dollars so far and plan to do another 13 or 14 thousand dollars worth of investment to promote the program. As soon as we get some summaries, I can provide it to the Member. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. The more we can do to publicize the negative aspect of driving and using cell phones and texting, the better. I’d like to know from the Minister if he knows at this point -- I understand it’s a little bit preliminary for this campaign -- whether or not the department is working in conjunction with any other groups that also work to get people to not drive distractedly. Thank you.
We had planned to contact the MLAs, if we haven’t done it already, to ask them to participate and do some promotional ads on this area. We have worked with the Students Against Drunk Drivers, I believe, and some of the municipalities, and of course we are always in contact with the RCMP, the municipal workers and the different sports organizations across the Territories. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. I guess if the Minister is going to contact MLAs, I hope that he would publish how many MLAs or how many do not take the pledge. I’d like to know from the Minister -- I mentioned in my statement that there are some amendments coming forward -- whether or not the Minister at this point can provide more information about what those amendments will be. Thank you.
I’m not sure whether we’re going to threaten the MLAs to take part. We would expect most MLAs would want to be involved with the program to providing advertisements on the different radio stations and television stations. Also, I’m sure that many would want to sign up for a Take the Pledge Program.
The legislation for distracted driving has gone through the process. We have done the due diligence on it and provided our findings to standing committee. The legislation is now in the process of being drafted. We’re working with Justice on this. We’re hoping that we’ll have the draft legislation prepared for final review. It still has to go through a number of checks and balances here before we’ll provide it, but we would expect that we would have that ready, if all goes well, at the tail end of this session or more than likely it would be the May-June session. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister. I definitely don’t want to threaten anybody, but we’re called leaders and I would hope we would be leading in this particular aspect of not driving with our cell phones in use. Thanks for the information on the amendments.
To the Minister, I guess I’m just wondering, knowing that the legislation is coming forward sometime and will be passed sometime in the next four or six months, any idea when the legislation will take effect? Thank you.
There’s still a number of internal review processes, as I mentioned earlier, to go through. Of course, I can’t give a 100 percent guarantee that it’s going to pass. We’ve already had one motion on the floor that didn’t get the full support. The details are all in the bill, including the timing. I don’t have that information in front of me. Certainly it will come forward as we move this document forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I again spoke about employment rates in small communities. To get a feel for whether or not this topic is on the government radar, I’d like to ask the Minister of ECE if there is any dialogue between departments specifically on the low employment rates in the small communities.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular area has been discussed amongst the departments and through the Rural and Remote Communities committee that has been dealing with this particular initiative. Through that we have identified funding for small employment into the communities. That’s an area that we have targeted and we continue to push forward with that.
Over and above the money allocated for employment programs in rural and remote communities, what is the plan to address the issue of low employment rates in small communities as it pertains to this department and other departments?
The other departments probably have their own plans to deal with employment in small communities. We deal with apprentices, local employment and various GNWT NGOs in the different areas. Within ECE I can speak specifically to that information we have, that we do have regional training centres in the communities. Committees are being established to deal with those matters at hand. We’re identifying the priorities on the hiring and training where it’s needed based on community needs. These are the coordinators at the community level and regional level that deal with those matters. We do have a plan in place within our department to deal with the employment and training and so forth. We always promote career opportunities into the communities as well.
I’d like to ask the Minister if the government has done what’s referred to as a 360 evaluation to determine all the benefits that could be accrued by raising employment rates in the small communities.
This may have been addressed by the Rural and Remote Communities committee along with other departments. I can follow through within Education, Culture and Employment on what kind of dialogue has been transferred in that area and transpired in that area. I’ll have to get back to the Members on that. Specifically if there has been discussion on what the Member is referring to.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Department of Education, Culture and Employment have any documented objectives to address this issue of low employment rates in small communities?
I think we have goals and objectives to deal with employment in small communities. That’s the very reason why we have these initiatives on the way since last year and moved into this year’s budget. We’ll continue to address that matter. It is important to us to deal with the high unemployment in the communities. We’ll have to work closely with the communities, the regional training centres and the regional committees as well. It has to be hand in hand. They’re linked in all capacities, whether it be the band council, the corporations, the municipality, NGOs and so forth. There are a lot of partnerships that need to come into play.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Human Resources. It’s in regard to my Member’s statement where I showed a wage disparity between P1s and P2s somewhere in excess of almost $20,000. These are employees of the government.
We just went through a major court case on pay equity across the country between the federal employees and Government of the Northwest Territories employees. It seems there’s a discretion between P1s and P2s. I’d like to ask the Minister of Human Resources why there is such a discretion between the P1 employees and P2 employees of an excess of $20,000.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.
We don’t pay employees based on race. The way we calculate the remuneration for jobs is we have a job evaluation system that’s consistent throughout the Government of the Northwest Territories.
Again, the whole argument under pay equity was because there was such a discretion between gender from the wages that men were getting compared to women and they tried to bring that in line with the reality of the time. From what the information being provided is, there is a $20,000 difference between two classes of people that are employed in the government under the different classification of P1 and P2. I’d like to ask why there is such a discretion. Is it because of education levels? Is it because of where they’re located? The majority of these individuals under P1 are located in the smaller communities. Why is there such a discretion on the base? You can call it race, you can call it whatever, but there’s a difference of almost 30 percent wages between one group and another.
The Member is trying to make an issue that is complex into a very simplistic one. I think you have to understand what pay equity is all about. When you compare pay equity that was undertaken by this government with regard to female employees, it was for work of equal value. People with degrees, doctors, what have you, it was based on comparing job skills of equal value. When you take P1, P2 and you compare salaries, well, it’s based on the merits and requirements of the job. For example, anybody will tell you that the level of education you have determines the type of job that you have, your ability to get a job and the remuneration that you get. That’s how the evaluation of jobs works. It’s based on the job requirements, the educational requirements, and we’ve done all kinds of things to eliminate systemic barriers in hiring. We’ve put in equivalent experience, we’ve evaluated all of the different jobs.
I’d like to ask the Minister what this government is doing to enhance Aboriginal employees in the government so that they can see their wages increase by offering them education and skill development so they are able to move up the ladder, be on the same wages as the people they’re working with in the same room, yet we don’t have this discretion between one level and another. How much money are we spending to enhance the Aboriginal employees in this government to make sure they are getting the fair treatment as everyone else in the government services?
I think the Member is asking a very timely question following up on the questions asked by his colleague MLA Beaulieu. The way I see it is a good economy provides for the land and for the people. I think what we need is an economy that will create jobs. As a government we are spending a lot of money on education so that people in the Northwest Territories, young people will be able to get good jobs, good paying jobs. In order to do that, you have to have an economy that creates jobs.
As a government we have an Affirmative Action Policy. We’ve identified an Affirmative Action Advisory Group that will help us to improve on it. We are taking a number of different steps to increase the percentages so that we have a representative public service. We have more Aboriginal people working for our government. As you said, we’ve been flat-lined at 31 percent for over 10 years. Obviously we have to take a different approach. We’re also spending money to put Aboriginal people into senior management positions. I’m hoping as we go forward that we can put more money into that area so that we can move from 14 percent to 50 percent. Those are the kinds of things that we’re doing as a government.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask, the majority of government employees reside here in Yellowknife but only make up 16 percent the workforce as Aboriginal. I’d like to ask the Minister why so few Aboriginal people are working here in Yellowknife, headquarters, where the majority of government employees are, but they only make up 16 percent of the workforce here in Yellowknife. What are we doing to get more people working in headquarters and increase that 16 percent number here in Yellowknife so that it actually reflects the people that we serve?
We’ve been working on a territorial-wide system when we calculate our statistics. We haven’t looked at having a representative public service in every community. I think if you look at Yellowknife, probably the percentage of Aboriginal people in Yellowknife are probably, I don’t know if it’s 16 percent but it’s probably not that high. That’s a different approach to calculating our employment statistics.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment questions on the seniors home heating subsidy that I raised earlier in my Member’s statement. One of the issues I had was when an elder had applied and the issue was that her daughter was staying with her and couldn’t get her income tax assessment and the alternative is to find another means for her to declare that she didn’t work the previous year. What avenues can we look at that situation?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This has been brought to our attention within my department and we did raise this issue in the House yesterday. I’ve committed in the House that I’d like my department to look at this area and how we get around it so that the elders are not penalized. We talked about the residence issues where individuals may be there for short periods of time. We also talked about other areas where elders are probably 90 years old and more, and how we can get around the system. I will follow through with this within my department.
Another issue is who determines who lives in the household. Another instance of where the nephew comes in two or three times a month and not every month and they’re saying that he’s actually a resident of that house. I need the definition of a resident, because I don’t believe that’s residency at all. I’d like to ask the Minister if the department will look at that or at least provide me with a definition of residency.
That would include us looking at the whole issue about the seniors home heating subsidy. When we talk about the residents, these individuals where they sleep and eat. These individuals have been considered that they’re staying at their grandparents’ place. Those are areas that have been brought to our attention that they don’t actually live there. We need to look at the policy itself.
Those two issues, I’d certainly like to follow up with the Minister. He spoke about reviewing the Income Support Policy. Is it specific to the seniors home heating subsidy or else is it the whole income support programming that they have? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, with any request that comes forward to our attention, we do look at our policies and we make changes to the effect where it benefits the communities. This is an area respecting the seniors fuel subsidy. I made a commitment to look at that piece of work. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
