Thank you, Mr. McLeod. I’ll allow the mover of the motion closing comments. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank my colleagues for their support. As well, I’d like to appreciate the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation for being proactive on this issue, but certainly there’s a gap in our programming. There’s a need here or else a motion like this would never have been discussed in our committee system and with other colleagues.
For instance, I’ve got a senior that exhausted all the programs the Minister spoke about, so how do we address his concerns? We’re going to have to come up with some kind of new program or a targeted program and try to work our way around it. There are many other issues that the seniors face, Mr. Speaker. They’ve got arrears issues that must be addressed. Like I said, they’re often many, many years old, and what are they doing there? You know, they’ve got to be exhausted.
In the end, Mr. Speaker, it is our job as a government to make life a little bit easier and to improve life in the communities. That’s what this motion does. It’s urging government to look; we’ve got to refine this. There’s apparently a gap, let’s work towards closing it. Let’s help those that are in need directly and not just make it a bureaucratic nightmare and say, sorry, you’ve exhausted all the programming, you’re not eligible, we cannot replace your furnace or your hot water tank at all.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Member is asking for a recorded vote. All those in favour of the motion, please stand.
Mr. Menicoche, Mr. Ramsay, Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Jacobson, Ms. Bisaro, Mr. Yakeleya, Mr. Bromley, Mr. Abernethy.
All those opposed to the motion, please stand. All those abstaining from the motion, please stand.
Mr. Lafferty; Ms. Lee; Mr. Miltenberger; Mr. Roland; Mr. McLeod, Deh Cho; Mr. McLeod, Inuvik Twin Lakes; Mr. McLeod, Yellowknife South.
The results of the recorded vote: in favour, nine; opposed, zero; abstained, seven. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills.
Colleagues, I want to take a moment to thank all of the Pages that have worked for us over this past week. They are doing a great job. In particular, I would like to recognize two Pages from Hay River South from my colleague’s riding, Taylor Price and Morgan Giroux. I would also like to thank chaperone Linda Theriault for being here all week chaperoning for the Pages.
---Applause
Thank you. I would like to call Committee of the Whole to order. In front of us today are tabled documents 4, 30, 38, 62, 75, 103, 133, 135; Bills 4, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20; and Ministers’ statements 65 and 88. What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 133-16(5), NWT Main Estimates, 2011-2012, and do the departments of Public Works, Executive and, time permitting, hear some remarks from Finance.
Thank you. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed. With that, we will take a short break and return with Tabled Document 133-16(5), NWT Main Estimates, 2011-2012.
---SHORT RECESS
I call the Committee of the Whole back to order. Prior to going on break, we had agreed to Tabled Document 133-16(5), NWT Main Estimates, 2011-2012. We were going to go with Public Works, and then we were going to go with the Executive and, time permitting, Finance. We will go to Public Works. Minister of Public Works, do you have some general or opening comments you would like to make?
Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman.
I am pleased to present the Department of Public Works and Services’ main estimates for the fiscal year 2011-12.
The main estimates propose a departmental operations and maintenance budget for 2011-12 of $93 million which represents an increase of $224,000, or 2 percent, in O and M funding over 2010-11. In addition, the department has an approved infrastructure investment plan of $14.3 million for 2011-12.
Public Works and Services is an essential partner in the achievement of government-wide goals, while achieving the best value for government, communities, businesses and residents. The department achieves this through support and leadership in the areas of:
asset management,
information and communication technology,
procurement,
records management,
community fuel provision, and
electrical and mechanical safety.
The department also manages an additional $196 million for projects and services on behalf of its clients through revolving funds, chargebacks and capital transfers. These funds are used to provide:
computer and data communications for government offices;
fuel services for residents, businesses and the NWT Power Corporation in 20 communities; and
deliver capital infrastructure for our clients.
In response to priorities set by the 16th Legislative Assembly, and specifically the stated priority of achieving effective and efficient government, Public Works and Services has led a change in the way the GNWT approaches how we plan for and acquire public infrastructure. The department has implemented changes to the capital planning process with all major projects subject to a more rigorous and detailed review before being considered for approval in the GNWT’s infrastructure acquisition plan. As a result of these changes, we are seeing new projects moving more consistently through design and construction on time and on budget.
In support of the Refocusing Government Strategic Initiative and the government’s direction to establish financial shared services centres, Public Works and Services’ main estimates include $300,000 in funding in 2011-12 to assist the Department of Finance in the implementation of this initiative. The funding will be used to provide accommodations for financial shared services. Additionally, to support and complement the overall shared services initiative, Public Works and Services is taking a lead role in developing a model for shared procurement services.
Public Works and Services completed the consolidation of maintenance for GNWT building assets in 2010-11. The department now has direct responsibility for the operation and maintenance of 795 buildings in 33 communities on behalf of client departments, boards and agencies.
Looking forward, the consolidation of maintenance provides Public Works and Services with the opportunity to focus on developing and further improving the delivery of our maintenance services, in particular in the small remote communities.
In 2010-11, PWS established indeterminate settlement maintainer positions in the communities of Ulukhaktok, Sachs Harbour, Wrigley, Fort Resolution, Behchoko and Tulita as well as one new electrician position in the community of Inuvik. I am pleased to report five of the six settlement maintainer positions are now full and recruitment for the remaining position remains a priority. These positions, together with the 11 apprentice positions established by the department over the past four years, will enable the department to better manage the maintenance activities and availability of resources at the community level, while having more control over the cost and quality of the services provided. It will also allow PWS to be more proactive in completing its mandate of building maintenance and better support the department in complying with code mandated checks and repairs and completing deferred maintenance requirements.
In 2011-12, facility risk management safety and the Deferred Maintenance Program will remain a key area of focus in the department. Through this initiative, PWS is addressing the maintenance requirements to improve the useful life of our existing government buildings.
In the GNWT’s main estimates, Public Works and Services has identified $3 million for deferred maintenance for 2011-12. Including the $5 million in capital approved for this program, this brings our total investment in addressing deferred maintenance to $34 million over the past four years.
As a result of this investment in our infrastructure, the GNWT will have reduced its $470 million deficit in deferred maintenance to $325 million by the end of this fiscal year. This represents a reduction of $145 million since this program was initiated in 2008-09. PWS has accomplished this through coordination of deferred maintenance projects with major and minor capital projects, regular operations and maintenance funding and projects managed under the Capital Asset Retrofit Fund.
In 2010-11, responsibility and funding for utility payment and tracking for GNWT owned buildings transferred from program departments and was consolidated in Public Works and Services. This will allow for active tracking of utility expenses government-wide and feed into current energy conservation projects.
The department has invested in several energy conservation initiatives to reduce the GNWT’s energy consumption and dependence on fossil fuels. Through the Capital Asset Retrofit Fund, Public Works will invest $3.4 million in energy conservation and efficiency projects on GNWT infrastructure throughout the NWT in 2011-12. Examples of the projects completed to date under this initiative include the electric boiler conversions in Fort Smith, installation of central biomass heating plants for schools in Hay River and numerous energy-efficient lighting and building retrofits throughout the NWT. These projects are in full operation and generating ongoing savings for the GNWT as well as reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. For 2011-2012, PWS plans to invest in energy initiatives through projects such as the addition of a biomass heating capacity to the central steam plant in Fort Simpson.
I am pleased to report that the department has already seen the benefits of energy conservation initiatives. PWS is projecting a savings of $775,000 in energy costs in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. With the proven savings resulting from sound energy investments with solid payback potential, Public Works and Services anticipates that in 2011-12 the GNWT will be in a position to establish a capital asset retrofit program as partially self-funded through realized savings on an annual basis. The department will continue to monitor the performance of completed energy conservation and biomass projects and explore opportunities for further investment under the program.
In keeping with our ongoing efforts to improve the information technology support and services provided by the Technology Service Centre, the department is in the final stages of completing the DCN contract renewal process. With a resulting network implementation, the GNWT will be in a position to benefit from improved services and cost savings. Some of the key benefits anticipated with the new contract include:
lower costs per unit for bandwidth access;
service delivery improvements in satellite served communities;
new technology will provide increased bandwidth to meet client demands to support delivery of programs and services;
improved performance in terms of network speed and capacity for all communities served by the network.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I would like to mention the provision of essential fuel services through the Petroleum Products Revolving Fund. Public Works and Services funds a provision of heating fuel and gasoline in communities where self-sufficient commercial operations do not exist. In doing so, the department is helping to develop independent small businesses to distribute fuel within our communities. In the response to the challenge of rising fuel prices, the petroleum products division is pursuing operational efficiencies along with supply and transportation alternatives to stabilize the cost of fuel products in the communities served by the program.
To that end, the petroleum products division has contracted the summer 2011 supply and transportation of petroleum products to a northern marine carrier and has established three-year contracts with local northern companies for the resupply of petroleum products by road. Public Works and Services continues to be responsive to its many clients and strives to provide high-quality services to departments and the people of the Northwest Territories. The budget that we will be reviewing today will contribute to achieving this objective.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my opening remarks and I would be happy to answer any questions the Members may have. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Yes I would, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Does committee agree that we allow the Minister to bring his witnesses into the Chamber?
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, if I could please get you to escort the witnesses into the Chamber.
Thank you. Mr. McLeod, if I could please get you to introduce your witnesses for the record.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left I have Paul Guy, deputy minister of Public Works and Services, and on my right I have Ms. Laurie Gault, director of the Technical Services Centre.
Thank you. As with other departments, we’ll go through the Members and have them do opening comments and then we’ll go to the Minister at the end for his responses. Are there any general comments? Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d like to start off with thanking the Minister in regard to getting the maintainers positions in Sachs Harbour and Ulukhaktok and I hope that it’s five out of the six, I hope it’s not the sixth person in one of my communities I represent that has been hired and they’re still looking for who will provide the support to the settlement maintainers.
Getting back to the PWS with the digital communications network contract, it expires in September 2011. The highlight of the importance and how we need the high speed Internet in the communities for the schools, for the nursing stations, for the community itself and all communities, I just hope they can reach that prior to it expiring and having the old blackout days in regard to Internet. The health centres really do need that and we utilize the program with telehealth.
The remote water quality monitoring treatment plants for Sachs Harbour and Paulatuk, I thank the Minister and we look forward to completing the infrastructure. The review for Sachs Harbour water supply system I hope we can get that sorted out if it’s not been sorted out already. Reviewing aviation fuel facilities and policies for the airports for Sachs and Ulukhaktok and Paulatuk is a good start and then replacement of the maintenance shop up in my hometown of Tuktoyaktuk, that’s probably been since the 1960s and it’s good to see that we have our money in the capital plan to replace that building, because the worker there... That building is so old it’s almost in the ocean.
Getting back into establishing of the gasoline that you’re selling to the Northern Stores, is that going to be directly from the government, PWS to the Northern Stores and is it going to affect the people directly as per litre, per gallon of fuel or heating fuel or gasoline in all communities? Because gasoline in the community of Tuk is $1.56 a litre and that’s unacceptable for the pricing. I’m hoping the Minister can help us that way if it’s directly to the Northern Stores or Co-ops or whoever’s selling the gas that we could, it impacts the people directly.
Thank you for letting me speak to the opening comments. I look forward to the page by page.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. Next on my list is Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple of comments. I’ll start with the Minister’s statement that we’ve changed how we plan and acquire public infrastructure and made changes to the capital planning process. I think I said last year, and possibly the year before, that I’m really pleased that we’ve made these changes. I look forward to hearing from the Minister in this second year of the new capital planning process whether or not he thinks that it was a beneficial move. I know that was his opinion last year, but we had a hugely busy construction season in 2010-2011 so I’d be interested to know whether or not he’s as positive about these new changes as he was last year.
I was really pleased to hear about the settlement maintainer positions. I think this is absolutely the way we need to go and I would hope that this would be a path that we’re going to continue on and that we’re going to try to get settlement maintainer positions in more than just the six that we’ve already targeted. In looking after buildings, whether they be government buildings or otherwise, it certainly is a huge advantage to have a maintainer in the community and not have to bring somebody in.
I was really pleased to see the numbers about the reduction in our deferred maintenance costs. We’ve gone down a great deal and I’ve told the Minister before, and I will say it again, but I think attacking our deferred maintenance deficit is absolutely the way that we need to go. I think from this I see that it’s paying off.
We were advised last year, and I guess that it has been accomplished in the 2010-2011 budget year, that we’re going to consolidate payment and tracking for utilities. I guess I would like to know from the Minister whether or not it seems to be working. I know it’s really on, but I imagine there’s a bit of a sense of whether or not it’s going to be a beneficial change.
I’m pleased to see that we are continuing to invest in energy conservation and efficiency projects. Again, I think that’s the way we should be going. I was particularly pleased to see that it looks as though, because of the energy efficiencies that we’re putting in place, the Capital Asset Retrofit Program is going to be partially self-funded, if not this next budget year then the one afterwards. That to me is just another indication that we’re on the right path.
I am concerned about the bandwidth and the IT requirements that we have within the government. Two departments particularly are increasing their requirements probably daily. Education and Health and Social Services are two huge users of IT and are adding more all the time. I’m interested in hearing, when we get to the page, how the department is handling the increased demand on our IT services and particularly on our bandwidth.
As usual, I think PWS does a good job and I’m pleased with what I heard from the Minister and look forward to the detail.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Next on my list is Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to make a few comments with regard to Public Works and Services, especially the settlement maintainer position. When I did my last tour of Wrigley in January, that position had still not been staffed. I see that almost 90 percent have been staffed, so if the Minister could let me know if the one in Wrigley was successful in being staffed. It’s something important to the community of Wrigley -- it always has been -- and I’m glad the department has returned that position to Wrigley. The importance of it, as the Members have already explained, is we had a freeze-up of I think it was the water truck two or three weeks ago and that’s something that could have been prevented had the settlement maintainer been there. A role like that is not just for the settlement; it’s fire trucks and anything else that requires at least some level of expertise to look at. The hope is that this person will find in getting something running or maintaining it is just for the betterment of the community. I think one of the words that the Minister used in his opening remarks was being proactive. I certainly look for that position to be staffed and it will certainly be a positive move for the community of Wrigley.
I only want to bring up one other thing. I wrote the Minister on a couple of occasions about the Public Works and Services office in Fort Simpson. They do get their vehicles maintained by the Department of Transportation. I’m thoroughly against that. I oppose that. I do believe we have a policy in utilizing local businesses. There is an automotive business in Fort Simpson that can maintain light vehicles. I would urge the Minister to review that and look at it and say, yeah, okay, Public Works and Services is going to have to use and support local businesses. It’s a proud policy that we have and I’m not too sure why they’re not implementing that in Fort Simpson. If the Minister has some legitimate reasoning for it he can also explain to me how it works in other regions, because I’m certain that’s not the case in other regions. We have to be consistent in delivering our policy. I believe that this department’s got to do the same as well.
Public Works and Services has been instrumental in maintaining a lot of infrastructure in the communities. I just want to say kudos to the staff, as well, because when I do my travelling to the communities, I see the staff travelling to the communities, providing the maintenance work to the schools and health centres and keeping our small communities up and running. That’s just my brief opening remarks.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Next on my list is Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to start off by saying that I appreciate this department’s achievement in keeping their budget on track. Having said that, I disagree with the Minister’s Department of Transportation going up 6 percent when the government’s only going up 3 percent, especially given the proven track record of Public Works and Services achieving reductions in costs and actually saving this government money. That is where we want to be investing, and aggressively. We know full well what’s happening to the cost of fuel and it looks like we’re on an accelerated rise again here. The window of opportunity we know is almost certainly brief and we can’t afford to miss it. This department had an opportunity here to act more aggressively, given the considerable expertise and accomplishments they’ve developed in this area.
I want to say that I appreciate the consolidation of maintenance for GNWT buildings and the developing and further improvement of the delivery of maintenance services. I am curious about how in particular will the benefits of this consolidation be realized.
I am very supportive of the settlement manager positions. An electrician seems like a great score for Inuvik. I’m very curious about the 11 apprenticeship positions established by the department over the last four years. I’m wondering how long an apprenticeship is. If we’ve had these for four years, does this mean that some of them have completed their apprenticeship? Where have they settled? I’m interested in what their areas of skill are. I’m interested in what this translates to in numbers of apprentices we’re able to train. I think that’s a great program. I’ve said the same thing about the Housing Corporation. I’d like to know what skills are represented in our apprenticeships and what the turnover is on them and whether they’re actually staying in our communities.
The investment and infrastructure that’s reduced our deferred maintenance I think is an accomplishment that needs to be recognized and applauded. The consolidation of utility payments within this department is probably a good piece of work, but again this will allow for accurate tracking and feed into current energy conservation projects. I’m curious how, again, you expect to achieve this. What are the possibilities there?
It’s no surprise that I think it’s great that we got the electric boiler conversion done in Fort Smith, in the schools in Hay River and so on. These, of course, are old technology that we’re finally getting onto, but this department has shown the initiative to actually get out and do it. All kudos for that.
The numerous other projects are small, but not only are they gaining us but they’re developing the trades and skills to do these sorts of things and spreading that knowledge to our communities. I think the same thing in our Housing Corporation when they take this on, biomass heating capacity in Fort Simpson and so on. I’m wondering if it’s possible for this department to share their expertise and approach that they’ve developed with, for example, the NWT Power Corporation, recognizing that we’re talking heating and not electricity, but it’s the can-do, let’s-get-it-done attitude that pays dividends here. That’s what we need from our Power Corporation. Again, old technology that’s being used in many areas in Europe.
I think it’s great that we start capturing those. The Minister of Finance has promised that we would start a revolving fund capturing the savings and perhaps it’s actually going to happen here finally, in the last gasping breaths of our Assembly. I’m happy to see that.
Finally the Minister mentions that he’s going to explore opportunities for further investment under this program. That certainly should not be a difficult task.
We certainly have a big need for enhanced and improved bandwidth services, so I hope the department really does get after that. I’m not at all knowledgeable in this area but I recognize the need. I ask the department to indeed do what needs to be done.
The petroleum products division operational efficiencies, we’ve been hearing about that now for a while and I’m glad to see that’s become operations. If the Minister’s really looking to help our residents and service our communities, and I thought he had actually committed to doing this, I don’t see it in his remarks, perhaps it’s happening. I ask again: what about the expansion of the petroleum products division to the PPPD, the petroleum and pellet products division, and start supplying pellets to our communities?
The Green Procurement Policy remains a hollow document and I know this department knows what needs to be done there. I’m hoping that they’re getting after it. I’m hoping the Minister will tell me that good work has been done there and they’re about to come out with a real Green Procurement Policy and explain how it will be spread throughout the Government of the Northwest Territories.
I’ll leave it at that. There’s lots of potential in this department. I’ll be exploring some of these things in detail, but I’ll be looking forward to the Minister’s remarks.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Next on my list is Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I too am very pleased with some of the reintroduction of some of the settlement maintainers into the communities. One of those positions happens to be in Fort Resolution. I’d like the department to look at the whole issue of apprenticeships. There are 11 apprentices that the Minister indicated in his opening remarks. I think there’s room for more. I think every tradesperson should have an apprentice and that the department could work with the Housing Corporation and MACA to maintain houses, buildings, other infrastructure in the community and use tradesmen to do that and apprentices to work with them. I think it’s got a lot of long-term benefits, as far as employment goes for educating people, especially at the community levels. I’m thinking of sort like creating a critical mass by putting the Public Works buildings, the Housing Corporation units, and I know that the Housing Corporation do have their own maintainers and so on, but they can’t really afford apprentices, and I’m not sure that this government can really afford apprentices, but I think that we have to bite the bullet at some point and get the apprentices in any event because of the long-term benefits of such actions.
That’s one area that I think maybe it’s not going to be laid out in this budget, but I think that this department could start working towards trying to achieve that. I think there would be enough kids coming out of school and getting ready for trades that, if we’re able to, as some of these apprentices finish their program, putting them into the workforce and, really, this government working as a little bit of a larger unit, I guess, to create a critical mass of work that’s needed in the communities so that these apprentices could complete their programs at the community and regional levels or whatever, ultimately to find employment out there, whether it’s with departments or with private industry.
I’m happy with the way the deferred maintenance, the whole section of deferred maintenance has gone. I’m assuming at this rate we’ll be completed the deferred maintenance that’s currently in the books in about 10 years, which obviously would mean there would be more deferred maintenance issues coming up somewhere between now and then, but I would be curious to know if the government has a plan to address deferred maintenance issues as they come. Like some sort of plan so that there’s no accumulation of deferred maintenance in the future. I think deferred maintenance is an item that cannot be avoided. At some point you do have to replace a furnace and so on and so forth. It’s something that can’t be avoided but it’s something that this department has done a good job of dealing with, a good job of approaching the whole issue of deferred maintenance with their buildings and addressing the issue. It looks like we see a light at the end of the tunnel here and I’m seeing lots of activity in the communities in this area, so that’s very positive.
I think we’re moving in the right direction in the cost of fuel as well. I have a community that has the fuel barged in and two years ago the cost was very, very high. Last year some of the cost came down and the department was able to respond by reducing the cost of the fuel to the communities, and I know the communities appreciated the reduction in fuel costs and trying to level out the costs was very positive. I’m pleased with that.
That’s all I have, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Next on my list, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Chair, I want to add my few comments to the department. I do want to say the maintainer’s position was advertised and filled by a local person in Tulita. I’m very pleased with this program and the other communities that do have it. It’s something that we should continue to look at to expand in other communities. It’s a valuable program. I do want to thank the department for going ahead with this and filling these positions as quickly as possible.
As my colleague Mr. Beaulieu indicated, that the Apprenticeship Program is something that’s very valuable in our small communities and that there is certainly room for more. So I look forward to the department’s plans to see where we’re going to continue to expand and support our young people to get into the trades. As we know, there is a lack of qualified skilled tradespeople in the North and it’s needed so much in our communities, so I continue to support the Apprenticeship Program under the leadership of this department here and certainly look forward to expanding it more.
I do want to talk about the Deferred Maintenance Program. One of the goals is that our department building remain safe and reliable and that the amount of dollars that are going into the Deferred Maintenance Program and also through the energy management initiatives under the Capital Assets Retrofit Fund here. I do want to say that our infrastructure is aging and some of our buildings in and around the Sahtu fall into that category. I make note, for example, in Tulita we have a building that is being used right now by DPW. It’s called the trades shop. It’s quite old and needs to be demolished and a new one needs to be put up. I noted that the Minister has made some notes on this one here and I look forward to seeing where that trade shop would be replaced as quickly as possible, Mr. Chair.
I do want to say the community of Deline is quite pleased with the new aviation fuel tank at the airport. I think there’s quite a bit of interest and that employed a few people at the site similar to the tanks that we received in Fort Good Hope.
Mr. Chair, I wanted to ask if the Minister would make a few comments somewhere in the detailed budget on the Tulita petroleum division office there. The old building there in Tulita needs to be replaced as quickly as possible and I hope that the Minister would show where in the books that this is going to happen. Under the same department of petroleum products, the community resupply, the Bear Lake ice crossing basically increased its weight capacity to 55,000 kilograms. This was a concern for people in Deline, that their fuel might be getting over there late because of the warm weather and the weight of the ice crossing. Hopefully, there are longer discussions, I guess, long-term views as to how we could rectify this type of concern.
I wanted to add my support to the bandwidth services in our small communities. Education is asking for them. Health is asking for them. Especially with the high cost of health electronic operations now make it more efficient, I could say, in terms of getting the information to the doctors in the larger centres of Yellowknife or Inuvik and we can use the video monitoring and the electronic health records and all that good stuff that goes on with today’s technology. Because, you know, the cost of flying people out for medevacs, certainly that’s still needed, but sometimes it’s good to have someone just go to the health centres and be hooked up to that type of operation so they can get checked out through that avenue. I’ll continue to advocate for the health centres, especially in our smaller communities where doctors and nurses are not visiting them as much as we want them to visit those centres.
I want to ask the Minister some detail later on in terms of the health centre in Norman Wells and the long-term care facility, the plan that we have given our support to have a long-term care facility in the Sahtu and the planning that would go to make that a reality. I appreciate the support from this House and from Cabinet to bring this to fruition. At the same time, I understand that the community health centre is also in the plans. It is desperately needed. It has been one of the priorities of the health board as one health centre that is sort of busting at the seams. I have been in that health centre. It is really cramming and replaces that we have some eye care services or the dental health. It is not adequate. However, I guess today it will do to have our services. We have to put up with some of the overcrowding in that facility. I understand that is in the planning stages. Mr. Chairman, I have wanted to say that to continue to work with the department to see how some of these essential services are being looked after in our small communities. I think the department is being pretty good in working with our small communities. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Committee, we are on general comments for Public Works and Services. Seeing no further, I will give the Minister an opportunity to respond. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the committee members for the comments that were raised and concerns and issues that they have brought to our attention.
First of all, I will just say briefly that the program that we initiated for settlement maintainers is something that seems to be working quite well. We have been able to fill most of the positions. There is still one position in the community of Wrigley where there is an outstanding vacancy. We are going back to re-advertise and see if we can find somebody that will fill that void and help us with the maintenance.
The issue that has been brought forward by all Members is around the DCN. There has been, over the years, some concern over the growth. We are seeing growth really move forward progressively. I think it is around 30 percent every year. Our staff is working quite hard. Most of the growth is driven by the schools’ curriculum traffic and some of the health diagnostics data. While it has really placed demand on the bandwidth, there is also a benefit on it, as Mr. Yakeleya has pointed out, that in that work is now transporting critical information which is really in line with health and social services’ priorities. We have looked at options of how to improve the service. We have a new contract that is being looked at. We are looking at ways and we have some options of addressing the demand placed on the system and we are looking at offloading some of the schools, but not all the schools, onto a different, less expensive, local Internet facility. That seems to be working well. For health right now, we have to, because of security reasons, maintain their services on our program. We certainly would like to provide a more detailed briefing to committee at any given time that there is opportunity to do so. This whole area is quite complex and there are a lot of things happening, a lot of positive initiatives that we would like to share with Members.
Mr. Jacobson had raised the issue of the shop in Ulukhaktok. That is something we are looking to address. We are not sure right now on the comment made regarding gas and Northern Stores. That is not something we do at this point. Our program for PPD only operates in communities where there is no local fuel provider and no independent business doing so. We have not had any discussions with Northern Store to provide them with fuel.
The question was raised by MLA Bisaro on infrastructure process change. Our results, after a couple of years now working the system, indicate that is working well. We have seen improvements on cost. We have had more consultation and also we are experiencing a lot better contracts that are made in the schedule that are set out for the contractors. We are not planning to expand our maintenance program to all of the communities as was requested by MLA Bisaro. Right now we are looking at the communities where the volume of work warrants a maintainer and where the challenges are of getting private contractors. In most cases we are using a mix of both maintainers and contractors. It seems to be working well. We are also attracting now, through our consolidation of our utilities, the expenditures. We have better baseline information. We are able to compile that information. At the current time we are using that information to identify facilities that are using large volumes of fuel or other utilities and allow us to decide where we would invest in either a replacement or an upgrade or an energy-efficient alternate energy heating or things of that nature.
The MLA for Nahendeh had asked about the Wrigley position. Again, I will just state that we had an individual that was interested. It didn’t work out, so we are going to be advertising that position again. He had also asked about the maintenance of our vehicles along with DOT being done with the Department of Transportation. We are using this system in the community of Fort Simpson because we have a mechanic there and it is cost efficient for us to utilize this individual. If we don’t maximize his time, it would be hard to justify his position. We do go outside of the government to private sources once we have overloaded our capacity with our mechanic. We did go out to a standing offer agreement and had no response. At this point, we would like to keep the system in place. We feel we are meeting all of our obligations.
We are also working in our attempt to consolidate maintenance and maximize our efficiencies. We wanted to set up expertise and identify expertise within our own ranks too, work in the area of energy efficiency and that is something that we are working towards. I think we are doing quite well. We have also been asked by MLA Bromley to consider sharing information on some of the findings that we have on some of our best practices. Although we are more than willing to do so, we also have to keep in mind that we have limited resources and it may be something that we can work close... I mean, we do work close with other departments and agencies, but for us to make that as a... For us to act as a resource to everyone is going to be very difficult. We were also asked about expanding the PPD to include pellets. We had initiated a study, we are just about there. We are about 90 percent complete. We should have the results sometime in April for Members for review.
Mr. Chairman, MLA Beaulieu asked about setting a target to have apprentices with all the tradespeople throughout the departments. I guess that is something, I guess, the government should look at seriously. In our department we have a number of positions now, things are working quite well and to expand the program would, of course, be very dependent on available funding and we’ll continue to seek that appropriate investment.
We were also asked about a couple of capital projects in Mr. Yakeleya’s riding regarding a shop and we have done a study that looked at all of our maintenance shops and right now are considering what we can reasonably bring forward in terms of replacements or building new for consideration for the next capital plan, so that is something that we will be doing over the summer months. He also asked about the Tulita tank farm. Mr. Chairman, that was approved in our capital budget this past fall. It is also the same with the Norman Wells Health Centre. That still falls under the responsibility of the Department of Health, so maybe we can ask the Member to direct his questions to the Department of Health on that front. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you Mr. McLeod. Does committee agree that we have concluded general comments?
Agreed.
Alright. Does committee agree that we will move along to detail?
Agreed.
Okay. The department’s consideration begins on page 7-7 but we will defer this page until after consideration of detail, so we will get everybody to turn to page 7-8. Page 7-8, Public Works and Services, information item, infrastructure investment summary.
Agreed.
Agreed. Page 7-9, Public Works and Services, information item, revenue summary.
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you, committee. We will move along to 7-10, Public Works and Services, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just before we go to 7-10, on 7-9 I am just wondering are the savings that are gathered through the energy-efficient technologies we are using, do they turn into revenues at all? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister McLeod. Thank you Minister McLeod. Mr. Guy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through the investments and the Capital Assets Retrofit Program, the energy-efficiency investments, we track and monitor the savings and then report them back on an ongoing basis to the Department of Finance, FMB. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. Guy. So is the intent to eventually... Those disappear into the general revenues then. I assume and I wonder if the intent is to eventually see them reflected here as revenue. Thank you.
The current plan for those savings is to set up a process where they are reinvested into the...(inaudible)...fund, so they would show up in the budget under that line item, under the Capital Asset Retrofit Fund. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
