Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of ENR. Mr. Speaker, as I said in the House yesterday, I just returned from Deline where they had a traditional hand game tournament. In the tournament, they had two teams on both sides. They also had a shooter that shoots for the team in terms of guessing where the stick is in the player’s hand. I want to ask the Minister regarding naming a shooter or an official of ENR. The chief of the Yellowknives Dene says he is the man who is going to talk, not the Dene Nation president. It’s the chief himself. So I want to ask the Minister who is the Minister who will sit down with the chief to hammer out this deal?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we sort out who, in fact, we’re going to be dealing directly with the authorities, be it the chief or the Dene Nation. We will deal with this and we will continue to deal with it through the two most senior officials in the department, both the deputy minister as well as the assistant deputy minister. Thank you.
Once this has been confirmed, as I said I just had a discussion with the chief of the Yellowknives and he is the man. He is the head of his people here and, like I said, they have different players on both sides. Sometimes they cross boundaries and that’s part of the whole issue here with the meetings. The Minister said the deputy minister and the assistant deputy minister on the GNWT’s side. If that can be confirmed today, can they have negotiations or have the meetings hopefully between now and Friday. Would that happen?
Those realities are currently in place. The contact has been made. We’re waiting for the clarification. The deputy minister, of course, has been on top of this along with his very able assistant deputy minister to stand ready to try to resolve this. We’ll see what happens by the end of the week, but we hope we’ll be able to move this process forward quickly. Thank you.
I look forward to some good announcements hopefully in the next couple of days. I want to ask the Minister in terms of the meat that was seized from the hunters by the ENR officers in terms of how that was distributed to the Yellowknives Dene or to the public.
Thank you. You are kind of going in to a different line of questioning here, but I’ll allow the Minister to answer. Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The meat was distributed according to the very clear detailed order by the justice of the peace. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance. I want to start with a couple of questions. The Financial Administration Manual accounting control section notes that failure to comply with policies and directives of the Financial Administration Manual may result in actions under part 10 of the Financial Administration Act. I’d like to ask the Minister what is the process for determining whether policies and directives have been complied with or not. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The act lays out processes for various departments. Ministers, deputies and all their staff have that information available. There are checks and balances through the system, approval processes required. As well, there are audits done on a regular basis. We table all the reports in the House. When there are concerns raised, they are backtracked to wherever they originated and we make efforts to remedy those situations. Thank you.
My second question is what are the steps needed to start such a process in action? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This is a daily practice that managers deal with throughout their various mandates and authorities. If circumstances come to light, if they are considered to be illegal or criminal, there’s a process. If there are steps that haven’t been followed or steps that have been missed, there is a different process that comes into play. We table all the contract documents on a regular basis. If there is a concern in this House that they want to assert that there’s flagrant wrongdoing, that’s a whole different matter than the normal practice than we have here of making sure that we are accountable in a transparent way to the public through all the documents that we table and the processes that we have through the FAA. Thank you.
The Minister makes some kind of subtle distinction there and I guess I need to ask more what is meant by that. I asked what the process is for determining whether something has been complied with or not, whether a process has been complied with and what the steps are needed to initiate that process. Apparently there are two different processes that the Minister is talking about and I require more information on distinguishing between those two. Thank you.
When a contract is let, there is a process that is initiated from the time depending on what kind of a contract it is, if it’s an FRP, if it’s a tender, if it’s a different kind of contract, there’s a process. There are checks and balance all along the way within the various departments to make sure this is being done by the numbers. The Members stand up in the House and raise issues about specific contracts with veiled and not thinly veiled allegations that there is some type of wrongdoing. We’ve got all the documents here. We’ve laid it all out. Issues in the Legislature are different from the normal course of action that happens on a daily basis in government is the distinction that I was making. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last point of confusion here is what documents have been laid out. I haven’t seen any documents on this other than what I’ve researched myself. I am very interested in the documents that the Minister is talking about. Thank you.
We bring to the House public accounts, we bring to the House contract documents over $5,000. This is one of the documents that’s tabled. It’s on the Internet. If the Member wishes specific information that he doesn’t have access to, I’d be happy to assist to make sure that he’s given all the information that he thinks or would like to have access to. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources questions in the area of environmental protection. In Fort Resolution the community feels there are enough sites to warrant some sort of contaminated soil from within the community. Does the Minister have data on all the sites that are contaminated within the municipal boundaries in the Northwest Territories communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a list which I’d be happy to share with the Member. I believe there are six sites in Fort Resolution all assessed as low risk and there’s another seven in Lutselk’e all assessed, as well, as low risk.
Does the Minister have a schedule to clean up all of the sites that were identified as contaminated sites in the community even if they are low risk? I think the community wants them cleaned up. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We have an extensive list, both between ourselves and the federal government, which is responsible for Crown land mainly outside of municipal and community boundaries. There are many hundreds of sites. The ones in communities we’re looking at. We work and we are intending to work and are going to continue to work our way down the list from the high priority areas to those that have been assessed as lower priority. Thank you.
Do the amount of sites currently identified as contaminated still warrant the contaminated soils farm in Fort Resolution and Lutselk'e? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, what I would suggest to the Member is that I will share the list with him and he can give us his advice. He is far more familiar with the sites than I would be. Then we could, if it’s the wish of the Member, we could set up a meeting with the department officials to get an update for both of his communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister tell me if there’s a good possibility that work could be done this summer, the summer of 2010? Thank you.
The one that I can tell the Member about with some certainty based on questions in the House is the Stark Lake site. The ones within the community, once again, I would have to commit to the Member to sit down with him, share the list and get an update for the Member from the department about the status of all the sites. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
How have pupil-teacher ratios been impacted at a territorial, regional and community level since the legislative changes were initiated in 2000?
What impact has the decline in enrolment had on funding/services/teacher numbers?
What evidence is there of a link between pupil-teacher ratio and student achievement in the Sahtu region and NWT?
What accountability mechanisms are in place to guide, monitor and report on the implementation of pupil-teacher ratio funding?
What accountability mechanisms are in place to guide, monitor and report on the implementation of inclusive schooling funding?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Executive.
With regards to food catering for National Aboriginal Women’s Summit II, specifically SC 411268 and SC 411279 for the amount of $53,668.54 and $16,647.50:
Did conference participants have to pay a conference fee that would cover some of the costs of the conference?
Did any participants receive from their employers a per diem for the time they were in Yellowknife?
Mr. Speaker, I have a return to a written question asked by Mr. Ramsay on February 4, 2010, regarding details on sole-source contracts.
Mr. Ramsay asked that I provide the “purpose of” contracts PM 007910, PM 07671, and PM 06818; the reasons for sole sourcing these contracts; and the value received as a result of the contracts.
Contract PM 007910 was with the Tait Communications and it provided research, development and placement of advertising, as well as hosting focus group sessions held in three NWT communities to get a baseline understanding of how residents perceived the GNWT and the GNWT’s communication efforts and how those efforts could be improved. The final element of the contract was the drafting, design and printing of the Northerners Working Together document, which was distributed to all NWT households in October 2009. The contract required an unusual degree on integrated communication services beyond graphic design services and Tait Communications is the only NWT communications firm that focuses exclusively on integrated communications planning services and advice as its primary business. The contract was for $213,000 which included $115,275 in print advertising costs.
Contract PM 07671 was a $259,600 contract issued to Terriplan Consultants Ltd. for research, facilitation and project management services in support of the development of a Land Use Framework for the Northwest Territories. The issues involved are complex and require extensive background and departmental consultation and the work had to be complementary to the work on the Water Strategy being coordinated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The need to align the work on the Land Use Framework with the work on the Water Strategy led to a sole-source contract awarded to the same contractor that had been awarded a Water Strategy contract through a competitive bidding process.
Contract PM 06818 was a $15,000 contract awarded to BDK Services for the provision of strategic communications advice and preparation of written materials to the Minister of Finance. The contract covered a 12-month period in which the contractor provided the Minister with communication advice, feedback on various issues, recommendations on policy options and observations on trends and events. The contract was awarded in accordance with the Government Contract Regulations which provide that a contract authority may enter into a contract without issuing a tender or RFP if the contract is for consulting service that will not exceed $25,000. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled NWT Biomass Energy Strategy and Beverage Container Program, Annual Report, 2008-2009.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Supplementary Appropriation (Infrastructure Expenditures) No. 1, 2010-2011. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Tabling of documents. Item 15, notices of motion. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bill 2, Forgiveness of Debts Act, 2009-2010; Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Child and Family Services Act; Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Summary Conviction Procedures Act; Tabled Document 62-16(4), NWT Main Estimates, 2010-2011; Tabled Document 78-16(4), Supplementary Appropriation (Operations Expenditures) No. 3, 2009-2010; Tabled Document 80-16(4), Supplementary Appropriation (Infrastructure Expenditures) No. 4, 2009-2010; Minister’s Statement 47-16(4), Transfer of the Public Housing Rental Subsidy; Committee Report 5-16(4), Report on the Review of the 2008-2009 Human Rights Commission Annual Report, with Mr. Bromley in the chair. By the authority given me as Speaker by Motion 12-16(4), I hereby authorize the House to sit beyond the daily hour of adjournment to consider the business before the House, and in accordance with our rules, I hereby appoint the Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Dave Ramsay, to act as Committee of the Whole chair.
