Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement. I mentioned in my Member’s statement that a possible option to assist with the teachers’ housing is to change the regulations to allow education authorities to own property. So I’d like to know from the Minister why the department has not considered that as an option to date and why it’s not allowed for district education councils and authorities. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This is an area with a broad perspective beyond the ECE department and beyond the school boards. It is the GNWT as a whole, because we do have all the professions within the GNWT. So if we need to change that regulation, then it would have to be the GNWT changing the regulation. If we do it for one, then there will be others lining up.
So I think we need to strategically look at the overall regulations we have, how they impact on different departments. So that’s what we need to discuss, and we have discussed that with the Housing Corporation and Human Resources in the past. Maybe we can review those areas.
There’s also the education renewal engagement that we’re going through, and part of that is small schools and professional staff. So I’m sure that will be captured as well. So those are discussions that we are currently having. Mahsi.
I’m not quite sure why these regulations would be so far-reaching and so widespread, but I’ll take him at his word and wait to see what comes of any discussions that go forward.
Another possibility that I didn’t mention but that could conceivably be out there – and it’s something that was previously done and then was dropped, but it has happened in the past – is that the NWT Housing Corporation has bequeathed property to education authorities and has maybe even set up mortgages with those authorities.
I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not he would consider discussing with the Minister for Housing to allow education authorities and education councils to receive NWT Housing Corp property and enter into a mortgage at a zero or a preferred mortgage rate, if possible.
There is a partnership approach and I’m working closely with the Housing Minister. They do have a strategy in place to deal with the shortage, whether it be housing for staff in the communities, especially the most isolated, non-market housing. They are in the process of developing multi-family rental properties in non-market housing in the communities, so focusing on where there’s a high demand. So there is already work in play. I’m really working closely with the Housing Corporation and also the Minister responsible for Human Resources because we need to capture all the proficiencies in the Northwest Territories.
My interest will be, of course, the teachers. We need to house those teachers every fall time. To date we’ve been lucky, but we know there’s high demand. So we’re going to be focusing on those areas.
I appreciate that the Minister is working with different partners. He’s mentioned that a number of times and that certainly was something that came through in the NWT Teachers’ Association report, was that this is not an issue that can be dealt with by just one entity. It is a difficult problem and I don’t think it’s going to be something that’s going to be solved easily.
I’d like to know from the Minister if he can advise, considering all the number of different pieces and all the number of balls that are in the air, how he is going to be able to coordinate the work that needs to be done. How is he going to involve the partners that are out there and set up what is necessary? Thank you.
The Member already alluded to some areas where management of property arrangements have been made with DECs and DEAs, and either with the local bands, local development corporation, private companies or even the other unique partnerships. With this, there is also – I’ve just been informed by the Housing Minister – some home units in the communities, homeownership program, that could be potentially converted to be made available to these professions in the communities. Those are some of the key areas that we are currently discussing, and we want to make as many units available, especially in the most isolated communities. Those are our targeted approach.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just would like to say to the Minister, he mentioned we’ve been lucky so far. We’ve been lucky to put teachers into housing, but it hasn’t been acceptable housing. It certainly hasn’t been housing that has been to the standard that we would expect if we were living in it.
The other possibility with the Housing Corporation is that, yes, they may provide an actual building, but it does not necessarily mean that the rents are going to be acceptable.
I’d like to ask the Minister, he’s talking about working with different partners and working closely with the Housing Corporation, working with the NWT Teachers’ Association. I realize that there needs work to be done, but I’d Iike to ask the Minister when are we going to see a report with the recommendations that the various partners are suggesting to get us out of this housing issue for teachers.
As we indicated, there are various partners involved, the Housing Corporation, again, Human Resources, and our department, ECE, working hand in hand with the DEA and DECs. We need to get their feedback. That’s what we’re engaged on. Even through various venues such as educational renewal, ASA, we’ve heard over and over about the housing shortage, providing us with the solutions. This is an area that we want to deliver in house. Once it’s available, we’re going to deliver it to standing committee, potentially from the three or two of us as the Ministers responsible for those areas. When that opportunity arises, we will definitely be before standing committee if we need to make any changes.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are of the Minister of Public Works in regard to a project and some questions I had raised in regard to this government awarding contracts to southern contractors and coming back with change orders that increase the cost of the initial project.
The project in question is the demolition of the Samuel Hearne Secondary School. I’d like to ask the Minister: What was the original cost of the contract, and to date, what is the total cost of the contract on top of what was originally awarded in the tender bid and the amount of change orders applied to the project?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Public Works, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The original cost, or the value of that contract, was $1.25 million. Since that contract was awarded, there have been three change orders, one for $741,000, one for $373,000, and one for $86,000, which brings the current contract value up to $2.451 million. The costs are related to the removal of asbestos and asbestos-contaminated material discovered during the demolition, which was not included in the original Hazmat assessment completed by a northern consulting firm prior to tender. In this case, anybody who bid on that contract would have been bidding based on that original study, and all firms, regardless whether they are southern or northern, would have had to have change orders.
There are a couple concerns here. Obviously, one from our local contractors not getting the awarded bid under some discrepancies with the Business Incentive Policy, but then also coming back, in their eyes or their perception, the southern contractors getting a change order without…(inaudible)…details. I’m glad that the Minister made reference to the Hazmat assessment, because right now we’re going to be going through some more demolitions with the Sir Alexander Mackenzie School, not to mention the Aurora College family housing units.
Will the Minister agree to fixing up the Hazmat assessment protocol so that when we get those bids coming through, the bids reflect what the Hazmat assessments do and we don’t have to keep on creating these change orders?
Mr. Speaker, the answer is yes. We have already taken those steps, lessons learned from the demolition of the Samuel Hearne. We have the original contractor who did the Hazmat assessment of SAMS was the same one who did Samuel Hearne. Since we got back the information on Samuel Hearne, we have actually gone and got a secondary Hazmat assessment done. But in the contracting of this next school and any future projects, we will provide a complete up-to-date Hazmat. We are also going to require contractors who wish to submit to go through the school or go through the area that we are going to do a demolition on and do their own assessment so they can put in a fair and accurate price. We will be looking more on a fixed price, based on an accurate Hazmat assessment. This should eliminate the need for significant change orders like we have seen in this particular contract.
Just as a note, although there have been some change orders, this project is still within the established budget. We haven’t gone over. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in regard to this project, the timeline, I wanted to ask the Minister in the initial contract that was awarded, is this company on time to get the demolition work done or are they progressing beyond the timeline that was allocated that they had mentioned when they put in the tender bid? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, originally this project was slated for completion for March 31, 2013, but as the Member knows, because he lives in Inuvik and he has seen the school which is still standing, we didn’t finish on March 31, 2013. The new date is June 20, 2013. That is when we expect the school to be done, the site to be open.
The reason it was delayed is because ceiling tiles and fume hoods not identified in the original Hazmat were identified during Hazmat deconstruction. There is asbestos in the drywall that wasn’t identified in the original Hazmat assessment and mudded pipe joints which contain asbestos were also not in the pipes. We had to get those things out of the school before we could move forward with the actual teardown. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am obviously trying to stay on top of this project here, as well as getting concerns from some of the local contractors as well as local residents in terms of how the asbestos is being discarded, those kinds of things.
Just by seeing what is happening in the community, what is the percentage of local workforce on this project in terms of the employees on the job site? What is the percentage of our local workforce? Does the Minister have those details? If not, can he provide them so I can make another statement in the House before the session is done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As for the contract awarded to the successful proponent, 55.1 percent of the work is going to be done by local people in Inuvik and 3.2 percent is going to be done by NWT outside of Inuvik. I will confirm to get some additional numbers to the Member, but I can confirm to the Member that there are 50 local Gwich’in residents who started the training required for the Hazmat removal. Of those, 30 local individuals in Inuvik were hired to actually do the Hazmat removal. Most of those remained employed until recently, as the Hazmat removal has actually come to a conclusion to get ready to drop the building. So 30 of the 50 people that were trained did actually obtain employment.
As far as the other numbers, we will get those numbers from the successful proponent and I will share those with you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are a follow-up to my Member’s statement earlier to the Minister of ENR regarding fracking activities in the Sahtu and the permitting process. This Assembly has approached this new and controversial form of development on both sides of the House, to achieve better understanding of what fracking means for the NWT. EDI’s recommendations report clearly indicated the need for development of policy and regulatory framework, assembly of data, having thorough information and control before potentially damaging decisions are made.
Is the Minister committed to heeding this advice, living up to his own statements that fracking must be environmentally sustainable in ensuring vital monitoring and management plans are in place before fracking goes ahead? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, the government is hard at work, along with working with community members, on the whole issue to do with fracking. We have been doing work now for the last six months or so. We have come up with a draft. It is a best practices policy paper which is being shared within governments and is being shared with the regulators. It is going to come back and be shared with committee. It identifies a lot of the critical best practices across industry. We believe that if they are complied with and they are clear, unequivocal and understandable, we will be able to manage and protect the interests and the balance of economic development of this particular practice. Thank you.
Thank you to the Minister for that response. I am happy to hear that things are progressing on that front, and hopefully they will be coming to committee soon. I guess it won’t be until the fall, but it will be after these decisions are being made.
Last fall the Sahtu Land and Water Board referred an MGM Energy proposal for a fracking test well program to environmental review, citing significant outstanding concerns meriting detailed resolution before work went ahead. Today the board is receiving final submissions on whether that same still valid logic should be applied to the proposal by ConocoPhillips. The Minister has said repeatedly that fracking must be sustainable and based on sound environmental information and regulatory controls.
Does the Minister support the ConocoPhillips application to environmental review and has he communicated his position to the board?
Mr. Speaker, I think we should make the distinction between the two applications, the MGM Energy one and the ConocoPhillips one. The ConocoPhillips application is very comprehensive. It covers a whole host of areas, which is one of the reasons there was a different decision made by the Sahtu Land and Water Board when they looked at the MGM Energy proposal. It didn’t have the same depth and level of comprehensiveness as the ConocoPhillips one does.
The Department of Energy, Mines and Resources has coordinated a response to the Government of the Northwest Territories and there has been review by all of the appropriate departments, Education, Social Services, Health, and Environment and Natural Resources.
Mr. Speaker, when we look at the best practices that we are using as our guide, when we look at what ConocoPhillips has put in their application, there is a great linkage there. We are of the opinion that if in fact ConocoPhillips complies with everything that they promised plus the extensive list of mitigating measures put forward by the Government of the Northwest Territories, that this project could proceed, in our mind, without any further requirements, other than meeting those commitments by ConocoPhillips and addressing the concerns raised that we have supplied to the Sahtu Land and Water Board. Thank you.
I will take that as a no, despite our Minister reporting being environmentally responsible, and that we do not have policies in place and that we have no decisions made on monitoring and follow-up.
There is nothing in their application on greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation management. We are going to support that going ahead without review. I am very disappointed to hear that.
As I pointed out, we have yet to set goals and limits on cumulative environmental impacts and thresholds. Regulatory mechanisms don’t exist. Unfortunately, adaptive management processes on which to base permits and management have not been developed, and there are no plans for detailed monitoring or mitigation of the greenhouse gas aspect of the proposal.
In keeping with his stated commitment, will the Minister recommit to these requirements and the recommendations of the fracking report as minimum first steps before any exploratory or test permit application is approved? Please reconsider.
Mr. Speaker, as a government, we have to balance many things, and we need to balance the environment and economic development and resource development. We have taken the appropriate steps to ensure we have the policy base that work is underway. We are, at the same time, recognizing that the world is not going to stand still and we need to maintain that balance as we catch up with our policy work. We are going to do that. We have looked very carefully, very thoroughly at the ConocoPhillips application and we are, once again, confident of what ConocoPhillips have put in their application in terms of commitments and if they address the concerns, extensive concerns we’ve put forward to the land and water board that this project is safe to proceed, recognizing that there is still work to be done, that this is a whole area that is new and we are doing a lot of the further detailed work to catch up that is going to allow them to more effectively address some of the concerns the Member has raised.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
I guess I’ll just leave it at this. This government is obviously open for business at any cost. We are always in favour of development and we always fail to protect our people and our land. I think that’s a pretty consistent record. So maybe I could just get the Minister to define for me what he sees as balance. Mahsi.
The Member has made a harsh condemnation of the House and, by extension, the Legislature. He’s made some sweeping, universal condemnation of this government and the position we take on the balance, the priorities of the 17th Legislative Assembly, the balance between protecting the environment and at the same time balancing that with the need to be able to look at having an economy that is resource-based in this case.
We are doing that. When you look at the work we’re doing across the board as a government on water, on the tools devolution will give us, when you look at the work we’re doing on wildlife, on dealing with caribou, when you look at the work we’re doing on developing comprehensive policies for fracking that I believe we have demonstrated and will continue to demonstrate our commitment. Alternate energy, the Greenhouse Gas Strategy, we are thoroughly committed and this has been imbedded in our approach as a government. So there is that quest for balance. It’s a constant quest, but the Member’s sweeping condemnation is harsh. A sweeping condemnation of the government I think is clearly unwarranted. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services. What is the status of the Harriet Gladu Health Centre in Tulita?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Health, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. The planning study for the new health centre in Tulita will be completed this fiscal year, the ’13-14 fiscal year. The hope is that after the planning study is completed that it will be included into the ’15-16 capital acquisition plan. Thank you.
Will the Minister reconsider bumping up the construction of the Harriet Gladu Health Centre earlier than ’15-16 into the capital? That means that this health centre, the way he explained it, will not probably be built until ‘17, ‘18 or ‘19. Can the Minister consider bumping up the inclusion of the health centre into earlier dates than ’15-16?
The decision on where the capital… Like, this lands on the overall infrastructure capital plan; it’s not mine. That decision is made by the House as a whole. What I can do is tell the Members that I will ensure that the planning study is completed this fiscal year and that the department will put the planning study into the capital acquisition plan for inclusion as quickly as possible. Thank you.
I certainly look forward to the Minister’s effort and support to finish off the planning study for the Harriet Gladu Health Centre. I’ve also asked him, too, because he is a Cabinet Minister and that has a little more weight in terms of what type of infrastructure gets put into the overall capital infrastructure on behalf of his department. I’m asking that. I know we’re up against some other significant health care facilities; however, the need for the Harriet Gladu Health Centre could possibly rank as one that needs to be put into an earlier date for construction.
I would ask the Minister if he will work with his colleagues and give this commitment to the people in Tulita and the Sahtu that he would do his darndest effort to put that into an earlier date than ’15-16.
As I indicated, we would do the planning study this fiscal year, and recognizing that the health centre in Tulita is about half the size it should be to accommodate the needs of the community will be a factor when we move this capital plan into the capital allocation process. That’s something that we’re going to indicate loud and clear, that this centre is inadequate for providing all of the services necessary to that community at this time.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke about the Trout Lake School and the need to also advance that project.
I was doing my recent spring visit to Trout Lake, and the community, of course, raised it once again. The principal also showed me the facilities. As I said, the renovations I don’t think were properly completed. But there is still a need to upgrade that school and even build us a new school in Trout Lake, so I would like to know if the Education, Culture and Employment Minister has updated the forecast for the number of students in Trout Lake as people have returned to the community and the population continues to grow.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We’ve been closely monitoring Trout Lake, the population and the number of students in the school, as well, along with other schools that are in a similar calibre. Currently, we have approximately 19 students. That’s 58 percent being utilized in the school.
Those are just some of the numbers that we have in play. But we are in the process of visiting the community, and I want my staff to be in the community to look for themselves, because they are a part of the capital planning process, then I think that will make a difference. We are planning to visit the community within the next couple of weeks.
Certainly, the Minister has taken my offer to come and visit the community of Trout Lake, I believe it was June 24th, and they’re looking forward to his visit.
The Minister, I don’t know where he gets his facts when he’s saying it’s 58 percent underutilized, but at 20 students the school is already full. But anyway, the Minister can see for himself when we attend the school there.
Since February, when I last raised this issue in the House, what has the Minister and his staff done to advance the Trout Lake School project?
This particular school, Trout Lake, along with the Colville Lake school, has been brought to our attention on numerous occasions, even through a Rural and Remote Committee that I sit on, and also the Members. We are pushing that forward.
Part of the process of, again, education renewal will focus on the small community schools. We’re fully aware that some of the small, isolated communities are feeling left out when it comes to infrastructure. Those are some of the areas that we are currently discussing and engaging the community, the DECs, DEAs, and also meeting with Aboriginal leadership on the 27th of June to discuss further, even for them to provide solutions to our department as well. Those are the types of discussions we are currently having and we want to deliver that message as well. Mahsi.
