Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister again. The legal limit is 60 percent, and yet sometimes the loan companies have taken their customers to court to repay loans and the courts have actually found that the companies are charging way above the legal limit. MACA says people with complaints should go to the RCMP, but that’s relief from victimization, not prevention. Ontario revokes their licence while we turn a blind eye. My question is: When will this government recognize its responsibilities and set up a program of vigilance and enforcement?
Again, we would have to ensure that the firms are following the new piece of legislation that was passed by the 16th Assembly, and if there is a need to… Well, obviously there is a need in some cases to be a bit more vigilant. I will commit to Members on the other side that I will follow up with the department to see what we’re doing on our part to ensure firms are following the legislation that was passed, and that consumers are aware of the potential interest rates they may be charged.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up with my statement and ask some questions of the Minister of Transportation. I realize the situation I mentioned in my statement may have been an anomaly. It may have been just that one day. I do have some major concerns with the fact that a callback will not be made for two days.
I’d like to first ask the Minister whether or not there is a policy with regard to voicemail and callbacks and whether or not there are guidelines for employees in terms of when they should return calls for service.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for bringing this concern to my attention. The issue with the 48-hour waiting period for getting a callback, that’s news to me. It is certainly something that I take seriously, and I’ll certainly follow up with the department on whether or not that is the case each and every day. Forty-eight hours is a long period of time for somebody to wait for a callback, so we’ll certainly take a look at that practice.
I want to thank the Minister for his commitment. I’m glad that he agrees with me that 48 hours is too long for a call.
In looking into it, I guess I’d like to know from the Minister – certainly this was a situation here in Yellowknife but it could apply to other offices throughout the territory – will he ensure that in looking at the situation, he doesn’t just look at one office but that he looks at all offices under his jurisdiction as the Transportation Minister.
In the last sitting of the House, other Members had concerns about wait times at the department of motor vehicles, and we are looking to migrate a lot of those services on-line. We are continuing that work and I think we are going to end up having the majority of services available on-line for residents in the Northwest Territories, which will certainly enhance the service and get people the information they want in more of a timely fashion, and transactions can take place on-line. That’s what we’re trying to work toward.
Certainly, we’ve made some major improvements already and we continue to work toward those improvements. Again, the issue the Member brings up is a good one and we will look into that.
Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate that this is going to be a fairly broad investigation into offices, but the other point that I mentioned in my statement was how difficult it is to talk to an actual real, live body, and that’s something which we struggle with, I think, as a society.
I’d like to know from the Minister, one thing is to look at the policy of a callback within two days, but the other thing is, can the Minister do something about the Yellowknife office in particular, to ensure that a phone call really does get answered as opposed to it automatically going to voicemail.
I agree with the Member on this. Again, it’s the first I’ve heard of it. I will ask the department about it. It’s a practice that, if it is taking 48 hours, that’s not acceptable. We need to be getting back to people much sooner than 48 hours. She has my commitment that I will follow this up immediately with the department.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In reference to my Member’s statement earlier today on organ donation in the NWT, I will be asking the Minister of Health and Social Services a couple questions.
First, I think it’s important that we get a snapshot of the lay of the land, so to speak, in terms of our physical layout or our capacity in the organ donation department. My first question is: Are NWT hospitals currently able to receive organ or tissue donations?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. The hospitals in the NWT are currently unable to receive harvested organs and tissue donation; however, they are working with the Hope Foundation, which is a human organ procurement exchange out of Edmonton. They work with them to try to harvest or do organ donation, if the possibility exists and the opportunity exists.
I appreciate the Minister for answering that question. I think, again, in order to set the stage here in terms of statistics and how relevant tissue and organ donation is as an issue, not only in Canada but the Northwest Territories. Does the department have any statistics on the number of NWT residents who have been involved with transplants as of late?
No statistics, like, very recently, within the last two or three years. However, up until 2010 and going back about 15 years, there has been 22 different patients that had received kidney transplants in a five-year period up until about 2000. We need more information. We are going to update the information that I have with me. It was approximately 25 people that received other organ donations and other tissue donations.
I do appreciate the Minister getting back to us maybe with some more current statistics involving transplants. The Minister mentioned in his first response to one of my questions about the Hope Foundation which is located in Edmonton. Would the Minister have any current statistics on how many NWT donors that the Hope Foundation has been referred to or used in the Edmonton hospital area?
I don’t have the statistics on the Hope Foundation, but I will ask the department, through the deputy minister, to try to get that information to determine how many donations were made from people that live in the NWT to the Hope Foundation.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I do appreciate the Minister getting back to us at least with specifics.
As I mentioned in my Member’s statement earlier today, in August of 2002 the then Minister of Health, Mr. Michael Miltenberger, was to report back to the House here regarding a task force on this subject. Upon my asking the Department of Health and Social Services, they were unable to provide a copy, so I’m going to ask the Minister today here if he would help commit in helping retrieve this copy or finding this copy, because I believe there is probably some great work that was done a few years ago that would probably be a value add as we move forward in this process.
I don’t have the action plan, but I do know that there has been a scan of the legislation. They have reviewed the requirements in order to develop legislation and the requirements, such as having two physicians to declare a death on harvesting organs, developing criteria around brain death, prohibiting the declaring doctors to be involved in the transplant, prohibit buying, selling or dealing with human tissue, and the whole issue of confidentiality also. Those are the things that I think the department has reviewed in order to move forward on the development of some sort of an act, and I guess that would form part of any action plan that the department may produce.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions are for the Minister of ITI and are in regard to my Member’s statement that I made earlier.
I’ve written three letters of support for three different contracts that were given out in the Inuvik region, and all three of them were awarded to southern contractors or even a contractor that has a northern address but lives in the south.
I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI if he would commit to doing a comprehensive review of the Business Incentive Policy that we currently have and base it on the fact of contracts that were awarded to southern companies in the past and how we can fix that. Would the Minister commit to doing a comprehensive review of the BIP policy so that our northern contractors are able to win these contracts that we’re looking at rewarding?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the questions. Certainly, MLA Moses is not the first Member to stand up here and ask Ministers of this government whether or not we should be reviewing the Business Incentive Policy. That’s happened a number of times over the 10 years I’ve been here.
Certainly, if the Regular Members feel strongly enough about the Business Incentive Policy and want us to review it again, that is something that we can work through the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure to see something like that happen. Certainly, from our standpoint at ITI, the policy is in our bailiwick. It’s our responsibility, but how it gets implemented is up to the various departments when dealing with that policy and how it’s implemented and decisions made, they’re made by the various departments across government.
I’m glad that the Minister had mentioned that it is up to the various departments, because I have written letters to three different departments, and it feels that my letters of support do fall on deaf ears. The appropriate Ministers need to be held accountable and also work with the members in the small communities that need this work, especially in Inuvik where our local businesses are losing contracts, and my letters of support, I feel, aren’t being looked at legitimately.
I’d like to ask the Minister if he would create, possibly reviewing this BIP policy, a policy for affirmative action, like we do within our Human Resources Department for northern businesses, an affirmative action policy that looks at northern businesses first before they look and review any other southern contractors that want to do business up here.
I believe the policy does protect northern businesses. That’s what it’s intended for. Unfortunately, again, there are anomalies; there are situations where things happen. Again, if we want to get into a review to strengthen the Business Incentive Policy, that’s something that I want to work with the Members on the other side to see that, so they have some comfort that the policy is there to do what it is intended to do, and that is protect northern business.
We have what is called a Senior Management Preference Committee which oversees the policy and does review matters that come up that are significant. The matters that the Member raises here in the House today, I certainly will follow up with that committee, through my deputy minister, to see how the issues the Member has brought to this House have been dealt with through that senior management committee. We will get some answers for the Member. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I do believe that Members on this side of the House would welcome that review of the Business Incentive Policy, not only Members of this House but the northern business sector. Sit down with them and listen to what their concerns are, because they’re the ones losing out on the contracts.
I would also like to ask the Minister if he would take the review of all the Business Incentive Policy, the list of all northern businesses that are listed under that policy, and do a review of how many of those businesses actually have property and actually live in the Northwest Territories, and not just have a mailing address or a property that’s not even being used, giving these contracts to these businesses that live elsewhere but take money out of the Northwest Territories and don’t contribute anything back into the economy. I’d like to see if the Minister would commit to doing a review of those companies and updating it so that our northern contractors actually do win these contracts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, this has been an issue that has been brought up before. It’s a serious issue and one that we take seriously. Certainly, I mentioned earlier that we want to work with Members through the Standing Committee on Economic Infrastructure if there is a need to go back and look at all the businesses that are in this Business Incentive Policy and look at areas where we can strengthen this policy.
I tend to agree with the Member; we need to ensure that economic benefits stay here in the Northwest Territories. I know he mentioned a couple of projects, the Inuvik-Tuk highway being one. We need to ensure, wherever possible, that the economic benefits of a project like that and other economic opportunities here in the NWT stay with businesses and residents here in the Northwest Territories. That’s something that, as Minister, I want to see happen. However we can arrive at that is what we should be trying to achieve. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that the Minister recognizes that we have two big projects coming up in Inuvik, the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Link and the Inuvik-Tuk highway. I really don’t want to see our local and northern businesses losing out on these contracts. That’s why I need this review sooner than later, because we want to make sure that they get those contracts.
Would the Minister also look – in my previous question about southern contractors – would he create a policy of possibly making these southern contractors do business in the North and have a property here for maybe six months plus a day – at least half the year – so we get some kind of economic benefit from these southern contractors? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we would have to take a look at the policy in its entirety. There are businesses on paper that would look like they are northern but they’re not really northern. I’ve had examples brought to my attention on that. If we’re going to take a look at the policy, we should do that. It should be wholesale. A lot of companies have been grandfathered into the Business Incentive Policy. If it’s the will of this House to look at the Business Incentive Policy to make it stronger, to strengthen it, to ensure that you have to have property here in the Northwest Territories, you have to employ people in the Northwest Territories, you have to pay your taxes here in the Northwest Territories, those are steps that this House can take. I certainly look forward to working with Members to arrive at a policy that we can accept. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Transportation some questions on Highway No. 7. I’d like to know for this coming fiscal year the investment plan and strategy for reconstructing Highway No. 7. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve started a program where we’re going to see capital dollars flow into Highway No. 7. It’s going to begin this year. I believe it’s just over $1 million and it’s going to continue for a period of years. I believe it’s 10 years.
Given the pressures on our capital budget – and I don’t have to mention to Members about the pressures on our capital budget around the Northwest Territories – I’ve made commitments to the Member to get a long-term program for Highway No. 7 and that’s what we’re doing. We are getting some money into that highway on an annual basis. I certainly understand and appreciate the concerns the Member has brought to the House and look forward to continuing that investment in Highway No. 7. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I’m very pleased to see that some investment is going into Highway No. 7 this coming fiscal year in the capital budget. Is there some of our O and M dollars, will that also be invested into Highway No. 7? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, to my knowledge, the contracts for O and M on Highway No. 7 would be maintained, and those dollars would be there to continue to maintain and operate Highway No. 7. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, this year’s plan which didn’t happen, there was a plan to chipseal from the BC border 20 kilometres towards Fort Liard. Is that still being planned in the ‘13-14 capital season? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I’d have to follow up with the department on exactly what the plan is for the capital dollars for Highway No. 7 for ‘13-14 and get that information for the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. There’s an opportunity because the community of Fort Liard does want to do some chipsealing in their community to save some money should the department go out and put out a bid for chipsealing, to work with the community of Fort Liard thereby reducing costs. It would be a win-win situation. Can the Minister do that? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, at the Department of Transportation we’re looking for ways to work with communities, to work with industries. We have a track record of doing that. Certainly, if there are some economies of scale and an opportunity to work with the community of Fort Liard to get some work done, that’s something that we’ll certainly take under consideration. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
