Mr. Speaker, I can assure the Member that all Housing homes that are built are inspected by the Housing Corporation and are signed before we take responsibility for these units. When we get the unit from the builder, there is usually a warranty that comes with these units. I can assure the Member that we just don’t take the keys and walk in without the proper inspections. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Before I go on with orders of the day, the Chair is going to call a short break.
---SHORT RECESS
Back to orders of the day. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, I’m seeking unanimous consent to return to item 7, oral questions, on the orders of the day.
---Unanimous consent granted
The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, honourable colleagues. I’d like to ask questions to the Minister of NTPC, Mr. Roland, about the incident that happened in Norman Wells in late December with the outage of power. I want to ask the Minister if he has had a briefing from his officials on an update as to some of the concerns that were stated in the January 7th letter to the Premier about the situation that happened in Norman Wells with the power outage.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for that question. It gives me an opportunity to highlight a number of changes that we’ve made recently within the Power Corporation to better address the customers that we serve across the Northwest Territories. We’ve recently added -- as we’ve provided information across the Territories -- a new CEO, Mr. David Axford, to the Power Corporation, who is situated in Hay River. Also, we’ve brought on a new chair of the board of the Power Corporation and we’ve added a new member for the Sahtu to the board as well.
It was unfortunate that the incident occurred in Norman Wells. As the Member has pointed out, the generation of power happens through the Imperial Oil facility. We have backup and when the initial problems occurred we did have, I believe, the backup unit fired up, but we had problems in the transmission side. After reviewing, we had to send a team up to do that.
We are working with the community. I was informed that the CEO and the chief operating officer of the Power Corporation met with the town council on February 1st to deal with some of the issues that came out of the outage.
The Minister indicated there were several new personalities within NTPC. Hopefully this will satisfy residents in the Sahtu, especially the community of Norman Wells.
I want to ask the Minister if his office is going to respond in terms of having a meeting between himself and the town council of Norman Wells to look at some of the issues that were raised in the January 7th letter addressed to him about the response and role of NTPC.
As I have committed to Members of this House, when invited to a community we take all the opportunity we can to do that, so I’d be prepared to travel into the community with the Member to deal with this and other issues that may arise. I’m hoping that the initial meeting and the discussion that occurred with the CEO and the chief operating officer with the council has started a process in place of continuous updates and contact as we look towards the future. I am committed to travelling with the Member. At some point we can find our calendars aligned and travel into the Sahtu.
Certainly the Town of Norman Wells and myself are very pleased that the Premier/Minister is making commitments to come to Norman Wells to talk to the Town of Norman Wells on these issues.
I want to ask the Minister about the backup system and the adequacy of the power plant. Is that something that’s going to be looked into right away? I know there were discussions to see how fit this power plant could be of use to the community if the power does go out in the next week or so.
On the power generation side, I know the Power Corporation itself is involved with the parties on the conversion of natural gas to diesel for the community of Hay River, so we’re much more involved. With the new attitude of the CEO and the board, I think we will be much more proactive in working and engaging with our communities to find satisfactory solutions to power issues with our communities.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister provide to the House if there is any type of analysis as to why NTPC does not have representation in the Sahtu, specifically a request to have one in Norman Wells? I know there are personnel in Inuvik, Fort Simpson and Fort Smith that have to fly into the region for situations like this. Can he bring that also to the attention of the regions, how we could have representation in Norman Wells to expand our support services to the communities?
The board and new CEO are looking at the operations of the Power Corporation. They’re taking into consideration a recent report that was done on the structure of the Power Corporation and looking at it from an operational side, again with more focus on customer relations. I look forward to the work that they’re coming up with. I know the board is engaged in that.
As for operations, I know that at times even the community of Inuvik, for example, with a number of serious outages, had to have staff flown in from other parts of our Territory to help deal with the outages and issues that arose from them. As the board looks at the operation’s structure, we’ll have to see what type of recommendations they may come out with and changes they may come out with in their operational structure. Of course, I will include Members in that and we’re trying to find some time that works for all parties to actually have the new chair and CEO meet with Members.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Finance. One of the concerns that have been raised in regard to the AIP and devolution agreement is the formula being used for other net fiscal benefit and the government having a limit on the cap of 5 percent of gross expenditures under the agreement. I’d like to ask the Minister of Finance if we have taken into consideration mega projects such as the pipeline down the Mackenzie Highway. I think we’re looking somewhere in excess of $900 million. I’d like to know if the government has done an assessment on how this formula is going to work at the end of the day for these major projects that will benefit the federal government or ourselves.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Those facts have been considered. If the day comes when we generate as much wealth as Alberta, for example, then we won’t require territorial formula financing. We will be able to make do on what we generate in wealth out of the Northwest Territories. Until that point, the net fiscal benefit policy and agreement that is being proposed is there with the cap and the 50 percent. Yes, we have looked at those factors.
Again, I’d like to ask the Premier with regard to justifying the net fiscal benefit, and using the cap of 5 percent of government gross expenditure base I think this will seriously affect the GNWT and Aboriginal governments with regard to our share of resources revenues, in which I see a major increase in share revenues going directly to the federal government from all these large projects because we have the cap net fiscal benefit. I’d just like to know from the Minister if we have an idea of how much money is going to flow to the federal government on these major projects compared to what’s going to flow to the GNWT.
We will get 100 percent of the royalties but there’s a 50 percent offset against our territorial formula financing. We can keep up to the cap of 5 percent of the gross expenditure base.
I would point out, as well, I just saw a news story on CBC where the folks over in the Yukon were already making arrangements to see if they could start renegotiating their agreement because what they’ve seen on the table for the Northwest Territories is considerably better than what they were able to negotiate.
The other thing to keep in mind as the AIP goes forward and the final agreement is signed, there will be review periods built in periodically going forward.
I’d like to ask the Minister if there were any other proposals put forward than the 5 percent cap. Did we consider a 15 percent cap or was the 5 percent cap something that the federal government wanted? I’d like to know from the Minister if we considered other options than the 5 percent cap of gross expenditures under the agreement-in-principle.
That 5 percent cap came about in the Assembly and the last go-round with negotiations on equalization and the territorial formula financing. It is not tied directly to or a result of the AIP that’s been signed and that we’re now moving on. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, another major concern was the whole area of the resources that excluded the Norman Wells revenues from the total NWT resource revenues under the agreement-in-principle. I’d like to ask, have we considered exactly how much revenues are there in the Norman Wells oilfield, and more importantly, the revenues that are generated out of Norman Wells, the amount of money that’s flowing to the federal government, and more importantly, is there any opportunity to reopen this. More importantly, can the Minister give us a breakdown on all these assessments and costs associated with this so we can see it for ourselves? Can the Minister of Finance let me know how much we are leaving on the table, excluding the Norman Wells revenues from the AIP?
The debate over the Norman Wells royalties and access to them have been going on for years throughout this process. There was a settlement made out of court with the Sahtu and the Gwich’in in terms of a one-time cash settlement over the issue of access to royalties. As we go forward with the AIP and negotiate a final devolution deal, there’s nothing to preclude us from continuing to raise that issue, hopefully to our satisfaction. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have more questions for the Premier on the agreement-in-principle.
Mr. Speaker, in the area of resource exploration and resource development, what is the Premier’s plan to address any unforeseen costs that exceed what is agreed to by the federal government in the agreement-in-principle? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process that has led up to this has been a very comprehensive one and areas where we were not able to identify, we have had language built into the agreement-in-principle that would ensure that the GNWT would not inherit these unseen liabilities. There’s been a fair bit of work done and we’ll have to do more work as we enter into actual negotiations on some of these areas where there would be full responsibility and accountability by the federal government where it would be shared, one, between the federal government and the GNWT and Aboriginal governments, as well, in some cases, to where it may just be a GNWT area.
We’ve done a fair bit of work of mapping out and we’ll still have to do that as we go forward to ensure that we do not find ourselves in a position where the development of the past catches up with the future in the sense of remediation and dealing with the liabilities. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, will the Premier secure some sort of decentralized model for the resource development personnel that will positively impact Aboriginal communities with the federal government? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as Members have raised this issue in a number of our meetings, as well as Aboriginal leaders have, my response has been consistent, that as we draw down these jurisdictions and we negotiate the human resource transfer, there are a number of jobs that are already existing in the North, but there are approximately 175 new positions coming to the North. As we begin that work in setting our mandates, we’ll begin to be able to set that model of how we’d like to see it structured.
I would say that we have that opportunity to set that mandate and look at a decentralized model and, in fact, try to move that along as best we could. I would say we do have that opportunity to address that. We’ve heard it. It’s been raised even at the Cabinet table as we look forward. As we begin to design our mandates, we will take that and look to seeing how we could set it up where we could impact positively communities across the Northwest Territories, not just the regional centres and the capital. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, how does the Premier plan to address what appears to be a very complex regulatory process right across the Territory and specifically in the unsettled areas? Thank you.
I think this is one of the areas that is of particular interest from the Aboriginal government and organizations across the North, is how would that occur, what type of design, how it would work with existing land claims. As we’ve stated through this agreement, there are land claims in place and we recognize those. Whether it’s co-managed bodies, it will be that type of a design that we’d be looking first to ensure that we don’t cause unnecessary overlaps in areas. Clearly, as we’ve highlighted, initially we’ll draw down a mirror approach to the federal government and once we have that authority, we then can design our ability as Northerners of how we would best influence that, respecting the rights that are established already through claims and self-government. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In that design, is the Premier in active discussions with the Aboriginal governments in designing a regulatory process that sits well with the Aboriginal governments of those regions? Thank you.
The work that has to occur, as the Member has just raised, will need to happen as we begin our negotiations and establish those mandates. We haven’t even started that work as the GNWT. We’ve started to look at the team we need to put forward and preparing a work plan and a schedule to that work plan, and that’s where we’re wanting to get the Aboriginal groups back to the table at the earliest opportunity so they can help in some of that work and put their concerns on the table as well. That work would happen as we begin to set those mandates and we go forward. I see that as work to be done as we go forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
What amount is identified in the 2010-11 budget for the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative?
What amount is identified in the 2011-12 budget for the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative?
Provide a breakdown of these funds showing
the activities this funding has been / is being / will be used for;
the amount for each activity;
the community(ies) where it will be spent.
How are the activities in question 3 being evaluated?
Provide a copy of the evaluation framework for this initiative.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to reply to the budget address. Again, we are at the end of a government which, basically, we had high hopes coming in here, especially with the priorities we set in the 16th Assembly, to look at things such as reducing the cost of living. I’d like to thank the government and Members of the House for putting the initiative in regard to the power rates across the Territory and reducing the cost of living in that area.
I think, again, that’s one thing that we’ve done as a government, but I think that we still have to realize that we have a Territory that has some real challenges in regard to our aging population. I think that we have to be realistic that our aging population will take up a large percentage of our dollars going forward and regardless if it is elders in my riding, in which I have some 170 elders over the age of 70 in my riding alone in the three communities I represent, they will need different care programs regardless if it is home care, respite care, palliative care, and more importantly, ensure that they can adequately live out their days on a limited income that they will derive from their pensions, because I believe that they will be greatly affected by the downturn of our economy. We see what is going on around the world with rising food prices. We are not immune to that. I think we have to be realistic when we start looking at the social side of what is happening elsewhere.
Mr. Speaker, one of the things we are working on was the area of anti-poverty in the Northwest Territories and trying to find ways to deal with poverty. Mr. Speaker, when we have communities with 45 percent unemployment and seasonal economies and the high cost of living, poverty is alive and well in the Northwest Territories and in a lot of our Aboriginal communities throughout the Northwest Territories and even here in Yellowknife.
Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that we as government take a close look at what is in the budget when we get down to detail. Having been here in the 13th Assembly and seeing what we were handed off, it makes me worried about this budget. We talk about looking at reducing our expenditures and that, for me, means we are reducing programs and services.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, we do have to look within ourselves and see exactly where those expenditures are made. For 43,000 people, realistically, are we delivering all the programs and services we would like to with 5,000 employees and expending over $350 million of our budget annually? Personally, I think we do have to take a close look at our delivery systems we have in the Northwest Territories and look at exactly how we can improve that. I know there has been a lot of talk about board reform, looking at reducing cost of living, but, again, I would like to state publicly that I think it is time we did seriously look at reducing administration overall costs of boards and agencies in the Northwest Territories and also look at the delivery systems we have on one department competing against another. That means deregulation, programs and services and focusing on exactly that we are not seeing conflicts between intentions in one department and being hindered by a policy decision in another. Again, I think we as government have to take a close look at exactly how those programs and services are delivered. Again, I think we cannot afford Cadillac programs for the sake of having programs. You can’t have one program in one place and not allow it to be delivered elsewhere. I use an example of the midwifery program out of Fort Smith. For me, I can’t get a nurse in Tsiigehtchic. There is no place in Tsiigehtchic but yet we are spending $185,000 for one position in Fort Smith. To me, that is not fair. I, for one, will raise that issue when it comes before the House.
We talk about safe communities. Mr. Speaker, our communities aren’t safe. Our communities are seeing the affects of the alcohol and drug problems that are working their ways into those communities that they know they don’t have policing. Tsiigehtchic is bombarded by people who basically know that they have liquor restrictions in Fort McPherson or elsewhere and know that there are no RCMP there, that they basically have their hands tied when it comes to resolving public safety and dealing with the matters that basically those activities bring. I think we as government have to do a better job on delivering on what we say we are going to deliver.
Mr. Speaker, I was totally appalled at the decision by the Department of Justice to reprofile the dollars that were supposed to go into community policing programs for small communities, and reprofiling those dollars to Behchoko and Inuvik. We are letting the communities down by simply saying, well, we did Sachs Harbour so that is good enough. For me, we made a commitment and we should follow up that commitment with those 10 communities in the Northwest Territories that do not have policing.
Mr. Speaker, I feel that we as government have to be realistic when we look at numbers. As I stated earlier, Mr. Speaker, we have in our communities 45 percent unemployment in McPherson, 38 percent unemployment in Aklavik and 38 percent unemployment in Tsiigehtchic. Those are the three communities I represent. The unemployment statistics just went up in Aklavik, with a layoff of 14 people from the Government of the Northwest Territories. People in our communities that are living in social housing on income support are living on less than $7,000 a year. That is pathetic.
I have had an opportunity with the Minister of Health to meet an individual who was medevaced to Edmonton, had surgery, came back to Aklavik and with the strict instructions from his doctor on specific diet that he is supposed to follow, and trying to purchase those items in the Northern Store did not even get him through the first two weeks. Then he applied for a program under disability, because he was basically having to use a walker, and being told, sorry, you have to wait four months. Well, excuse me. Four months is a little too long when you are disabled.
Mr. Speaker, I think we have to be realistic of the incomes that we are seeing in our communities. In a lot of our small communities, statistics have shown that Aboriginal incomes in the Northwest Territories averaged in the area of $18,000 a year, yet the non-Aboriginal incomes ranged to $50,000. We also see that in the public service in the Government of the Northwest Territories which, again, I think that we definitely do have to talk about reforming how people are being paid.
Mr. Speaker, in our public service annual report, it clearly states that P1 Aboriginal average income is $66,000 a year. Yet, Mr. Speaker, P3s from southern Canada have come north and take up these jobs and are making $81,000 a year. In regard to long-term Northerners in regards to P2, their average a year is $85,000. Mr. Speaker, no wonder we can’t attract Aboriginal people to our affirmative action programs in the Northwest Territories when other people are making $20,000 more than they are and yet you call this fair. I, for one, feel that this government has to seriously look at not only reforms but pay equity for all government employees in the Northwest Territories. Just because they live in the Northwest Territories, it doesn’t mean that you have to be told, sorry, you are worth less than people coming in from the South.
Mr. Speaker, an area that I had grave concerns about was in regards to the issue of the promotion program that we are spending $1.4 million on in regards to promoting the Northwest Territories through a national marketing campaign and raising awareness in southern Canada through those people to find jobs in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, we have people in the Northwest Territories having no choice but to leave the Northwest Territories to find jobs elsewhere. So what are we doing to ensure that those people stay in the Northwest Territories? Every time one of those individuals leave we are losing $22,000. If all the people left in Aklavik, in regards to the 14 positions, and move to Whitehorse to find a job in the Yukon, they will take $300,000 of transfer payments to the Yukon with them. I think, when we make these types of investments, we should first look within and do everything that we can to ensure that we are basically providing those jobs for Northerners first. We hounded the diamond companies, the oil companies in socio-economic agreements, but we are not even practising what we preach in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, in the area of reducing the cost of living, again, I think the electrical rates decision is a good one, but I think we have to take it a step further. We should set a goal for the Government of the Northwest Territories, regardless if it is 2020, and basically make our communities energy neutral in regards to green energy, regardless if it is biomass, geothermal, hydroelectricity, and that should be the goal of the government going forward.
Mr. Speaker, in my riding there is a major review that’s taking place of biomass for the community of Fort McPherson. The community of Tsiigehtchic is also interested and I feel that is an objective that should be reached in working with communities, and more importantly, reducing greenhouse gases throughout all of our communities in the Northwest Territories and allowing for these initiatives.
Mr. Speaker, in the report that the Minister made, he made reference to the whole area of adequate, suitable and affordable housing. I think we should also add another word to that: accessibility. We have a lot of empty units out there that people aren’t acquiring or occupying and yet we’re spending a lot of money on O and M for empty houses.
Mr. Speaker, I think as a government we have to do a better job of ensuring that we have sustainable communities and vibrant communities and look at those economic potentials that we have in the Northwest Territories, especially in the area of a renewable resource economy. We seem to put a lot of focus on the non-renewable resource economy, such as the diamond mines, the oil and gas sector, the mining industry, but we have a resource that’s plentiful in the Northwest Territories, regardless if it’s forestry, regardless if it’s trapping, fishing that takes place in our communities, and making use of the forest sector, making use of our renewable resource sector such as trapping that takes place, and refocus those programs so they really go to where they’re needed.
Right now we have a conflict between the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, the Take a Kid Trapping Program, Department of ITI in regard to the SEED program, then we’ve got the Department of Environment. Realistically, all they do is manage forests and basically look at training programs for trappers and whatnot. But again, I think that we have to re-profile those dollars and put it in the area where they should be expended in, such as the renewable resource area and the non-renewable sectors.
Mr. Speaker, I think it’s critical that we as government do a better job. In going through the report yesterday, all over the place we’re seeing the word support, ensure our consultation process is meaningful and effective and current. Especially in the area of consultation with Aboriginal governments in the areas of moving forward. Mr. Speaker, shouldn’t we have been doing that all along?
Mr. Speaker, again, I think it’s important that we do look at the programs we put in place, especially in the area of a Program Review Office. I had high hopes for this office, high hopes for the Ministers that sit on it, deputies, to find ways of re-evaluating our programs and services, get rid of the red tape, make them more accessible, and more importantly, improve the programs and services for the residents of the Northwest Territories. Again, Mr. Speaker, from the report that was given, it seemed like all that work and energy was put into an office building in Yellowknife. I think, Mr. Speaker, if that’s all they’re going to come up with, they should have maybe had a public process and allowed for public input so we can seriously hear from the people in the Northwest Territories on exactly how that program is going to be administered and delivered to meet the needs of the people in the Northwest Territories.
I noted in the presentation in regard to the Community Harvesters Program, again, I think that we have to do a better job of dealing with our local products that we produce in the North, regardless if it’s different food such as caribou, moose, fish, and also marketing the Northwest Territories in regard to traditional foods. Also ensuring that we have a market for them in the Northwest Territories.
We committed to reducing the cost of living in communities and in offering power rates to commercial users, such as the stores and whatnot. But, Mr. Speaker, I think that we have to ensure that we do follow-ups to ensure when they say that they are going to find ways of reducing the costs of goods and services in those stores so that it reflects our commitment to reduced power rates to those corporations and companies and also making sure that they’ve followed up on their commitment to really reduce the cost of living and the cost of goods in those stores, especially in the diesel communities.
I think it’s important to realize that we have to do a better job of inclusion and not exclusion of the residents of the Northwest Territories on whatever we’re doing as government. I think it’s important that we do set up a process. As I noted in the agreement, the government is now looking at developing consultative policy. You would think that should have been done a long time ago.
Mr. Speaker, we’ve heard a lot over the last number of years in this House, knowing that as all Members and individuals on this side of the House had theme days, we passed motions, we presented suggestions to the government of change to improve the housing needs of our residents, education, programs and services. Again, Mr. Speaker, I don’t really see a lot of those recommendations in this budget. I think it’s critical that whatever motions are passed in this House, that the government seriously take them into consideration when they’re developing a budget for the following year.
Mr. Speaker, I have to say that I am concerned with having a simple $7 million surplus next year knowing what we see going on around the world, regardless if it’s global warming, floods, the effects we’re seeing with the permafrost, and more importantly, forest fires is something that we have to be cognizant of. Mr. Speaker, we have some major, major projects that are still out there, such as the Deh Cho Bridge, the super school in Inuvik, and also all of the public infrastructure that the government has put in place. Mr. Speaker, with one bad fire at a school or a public facility, that will do away with the $7 million surplus. I feel that we as Members of this Legislature have to ensure that we do find ways of cutting the fat in the government and, more importantly, the bureaucracy that serves 43,000 people, but do it in a way that the public can see that they are getting a return on their investment. They see that the system is working and it’s not simply building an empire for the sake of spending public funds because they know they can do it within their departments, within their responsibility for their infrastructure.
So with that, Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank the Members and Ministers for listening. Hopefully they’ll take that into consideration and I look forward to moving forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a petition containing 101 signatures, signatures identifying themselves as residents of the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, the petitioners request that the Government of the Northwest Territories revise the current rent policies to encourage tenant employment and to have base rent calculations on income after expenses and deductions, and that the Housing Corporation rent scale be graded at the first opportunity in the Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
