Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Also, I would like to get something in writing from the Minister about the work planned on Highway No. 7 and when it will begin this spring. Thank you very much.
Mr. Speaker, I can commit to give it to him again. Mr. Speaker, this is information he has already received. We already approved our capital plan in October. As to what’s coming up in the next plan, that’s still being drafted and I’m not in a position to commit to something that I can’t guarantee.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Premier. I’ve had a chance to read through the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, the parliamentary committee that our MP, Mr. Bevington, appeared before on Tuesday of this week. It seems that the Member of Parliament is trying to convince people that he’s actually consulted with this government when it comes to his proposed Bill C-530. Again, he’s convinced himself that he’s consulted, but I’d like to ask the Premier what consultation has actually taken place between our Member of Parliament that would lend this government’s support to that bill.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process underway, as highlighted a couple of times by the Minister of Finance for the Government of the Northwest Territories, Mr. Miltenberger, is we’ve been working with Finance Canada for some time and, as I’ve stated in a response to the letter I sent to Mr. Bevington, the fact that that is the process, we’re still engaged in working with federal Finance. I must say that I did have a meeting with Mr. Bevington on a number of issues. He did highlight this work and I raised the fact that we are doing our work and that’s the process we will be sticking with on that.
I must say, over the years there hasn’t been a lot of formal meetings on particular issues. It’s more in general an update of the work that’s going on.
I’d like to ask the Premier if he’s sure that our Member of Parliament was awake when the Premier told him whether there was a process underway addressing the borrowing limit of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Was he actually awake?
It’s hard to respond to that particular lead in to the question. As I said, we’ve had a couple of meetings over the life of this Assembly and Mr. Bevington’s representation in Ottawa on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories. They’ve been sort of general in areas.
In particular in this area, when this one came up to inform him that we were doing our work and that’s the process, and concern that the work that he does may interfere with some of our work and hopefully that wasn’t the case. As well, I might say that I know as a Government of the Northwest Territories when the review of the borrowing situation was looked at, the Government of the Northwest Territories looks at its Fiscal Responsibility Policy and uses that as a basis for going forward.
I thank the Premier for that. I wanted to ask the Premier, there may be a federal election on the horizon here shortly. I’d like to ask the Premier if the work of this review on the borrowing limits to the three territories, is that work going to be concluded relatively soon or when might we expect some movement in that regard on that process?
Our Finance department, Minister Miltenberger has been in contact with Minister Flaherty around this work. We were informed that we should see a report as early as this spring, hopefully April, to move forward on this initiative.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member’s statement I talked about some concerns and observations about the development of the Wildlife Act and I specifically noted Section 87. Just to boil straight down to it, close observation does create some contradictions as to what’s happening out there and, as I highlighted as well in my Member’s statement, ENR has said that they would try to make some accommodations but I think it really develops an industry of red tape.
For clarity, to start off with, could the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources define for the House and perhaps those people in the tourism industry what his definition is of “close observation”?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can only assume that the Member in his reading of the 70-page bill would note as well that there’s a tremendous amount of good work in there. That’s going to be coming up for second reading. I know there’s been some e-mail traffic that I’ve seen, that I’m sure the Member has seen as well, with the specific issues that he’s raised. We believe that they’ve been addressed and if they haven’t been addressed, there’s going to be a time, should this bill be successful at second reading, to have those discussions so that when we come back after second reading and the consultation period, that whatever changes are agreed to are made that when we go for third reading we’ll have a bill that everyone can support.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. I’ll remind Members that the question, the bill is up for second reading and there’s time to debate it at second reading. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not trying to debate the bill in this particular instance because it is question period, but I’m just trying to get some sense of what’s actually happening and some definition of the particular bill that’s before the House as people have questions. I certainly have questions. That’s why I’m trying to get for the record what is the definition of the present bill of “close observation.” Because I’m trying to get a sense as to the contradiction it may have with the work ITI is doing when they’re trying to promote things like the outfitting industry to move towards the eco-industry.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. I’m going to rule that question out of order. The proper time to ask that question is under the review of the bill.
---Ruled Out of Order
The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Can the Minister confirm that the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline has received final approval today? Can the Minister elaborate on that?
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think this is another great day for the Northwest Territories. I can confirm that Cabinet approved the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline and the National Energy Board issued a press release announcing that they have issued a Certificate of Public Convenience for the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline Project.
It’s a good day today for Nunakput. This is a good news story. Will the pipeline go ahead now and when can we look forward to the go-ahead start-up date?
This is another important step in the process to getting the pipeline constructed. The next big step is to get the two parties, the federal government and the pipeline proponents, together to negotiate and finalize a fiscal framework.
I want to emphasize that the proponents are not looking for subsidies. What they are looking for is loan guarantees so that the constructors of the pipeline will get some assistance with financing and that the pipeline will go ahead. We also have to finalize an access and benefit agreement with one of the Aboriginal governments. That will put us well on our way to having gas flowing in 2018.
When will the social impact funds of the $500 million be available to go ahead?
The arrangements that we understood were in place with the federal government was that the money would flow once a decision to construct the pipeline was made. So we have to go and confirm with the federal government that, indeed, this decision should allow those social impact funds to start flowing.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s time to tell the federal government “show me the money.” What are we doing to get ready? What is the Minister’s department doing to get ready for this future project?
We’ve been working very closely with the federal government to get ready for the pipeline. We are working to identify the permits that will be issued and how we can make sure that we process the 7,000 permits that are required for the pipeline to go ahead on a timely basis and that we can work together so that all the requirements are met so that the pipeline can go ahead.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I mentioned in my statement that the Auditor General had some concerns with some of the operations of the department, and particularly I highlighted the concerns that the Auditor General had with the lack of performance indicators and performance agreements between the department and the various health authorities.
I’d like to ask the Minister, in response to the Auditor General’s report, what is the department doing to address the Auditor General’s concerns about the lack of performance indicators and performance agreements.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the understated language of the Auditor General, the report that we received from Sheila Fraser is a Gold Medal Performance Report. I am so proud of the way she recognized the great work that we are doing. She’s told us that the Foundation for Change Action Plan lays out clear direction and goals and action plans to the authorities. She’s also indicated that we consult regularly and well with the authorities and it is due to the management and the staff of the department and the front-line authorities that we were able to achieve such a glowing report from the Auditor General.
I’d like to thank the Minister for telling me again what I already know. My question had to do with what actions the department is going to take going forward. There were some concerns on the part of the Auditor General. There were a number of things that were pointed out. I didn’t hear any answer to my question.
In any organization when the devolvement of a program or a service is given to a subsidiary organization, there needs to be some kind of monitoring. There needs to be some kind of an agreement to monitor performance. To the Minister: what is the department doing to deal with the Auditor General’s concern that we have no performance agreements with our health authorities and that, therefore, there are no performance indicators so that we can measure them?
It’s good to know that the Member agrees that we’re doing a good job, I just never heard her saying that. On page 11 of the Auditor General’s report, paragraph 29, the Auditor General said, “We found that contribution agreements between the department and the authorities included basic financial terms and conditions and corresponding reporting requirements. Current agreements specify that authorities shall use their contribution funds for categories of expenditures, including hospital services, physician services, medical equipment…” Basically the Auditor General is saying that our financial contribution agreements do talk about performance indicators, it lays out what they’re supposed to do, that we keep close contact, that we follow up with them. In fact, she also said in reviewing the strategic plans of the three authorities in comparison with the Foundation for Change Action Plan, that we are very, very closely allied in terms of getting the clear direction, looking at the programs they’re providing, and that overall we’re doing a really, really great job.
As an extra point, the Auditor General indicated that we could strengthen that, but she also recognized the fact that we have contribution agreements is a great start and that we are on our way.
I struggle to get my point across. “Performance” is spelled P-E-R-F-O-R-M-A-N-C-E. “Contribution” is spelled C-O-N-T-R-I- et cetera. If the Minister wants to quote from the Auditor General’s report, I can do that as well.
The Auditor General said, “…yet to implement certain other actions that could improve the health care system. These include establishing performance indicators, working with health and social service authorities to develop performance agreements that set out results to be achieved with funds…” and then she goes on to another item. I ask the Minister -- again, I’m not talking about contribution agreements, I’m not talking about the funding, I’m talking about the evaluation of the authorities -- are they delivering the programs and services in the manner that the Department of Health expects them to. When will we see action on that? Thank you.
We have responded to all of the recommendations from the Auditor General. We accept those recommendations and we take that as on top as a pat on the back, these are the things that you could do to do even better. I just need to make that point clear, because our department and our staff and the management all across the Territories are working so hard to get the evaluation that we received from the Auditor General.
Mr. Speaker, on paragraph 24 of the Auditor General’s report she says, “Finally...” in the contribution agreement “they identify some performance indicators to assess the success of their activities. The plans are consistent with discussions of the Joint Senior Management Committee and reflect the intention on the part of all parties for greater system thinking.”
Mr. Speaker, I just say that, again, the Member can choose to read what is not there and what we are not doing and always looking at the glass as half empty, but I just want to say that the Auditor General told us that the financial contribution agreements do include performance indicators, that we are working very closely with the authorities, that we do a good job following up with them, and that the next step to get even better is to follow up on her recommendations, and we have accepted them. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to direct the Minister’s attention to a recommendation which comes in paragraph 31, the second part of which says, “develop performance agreements that include expected results for key programs and services, and corresponding reporting requirements.” Those are the words from the Auditor General in her report.
I’d like to ask the Minister, on another note, the Auditor General also mentions in her report that there’s no formal mechanism to monitor compliance with the GNWT’s Medical Travel Policy or to assess the program performance of the Medical Travel Program. I’d like to ask the Minister how that is being addressed.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to answer by reading her the department’s response to the AG’s recommendation on developing performance agreements. We stated that we agree improving governance and accountability to ensure that delivery of quality programs and services and consistent financial management is a priority in the Foundation for Change, which the Auditor General likes. “The Department of Health and Social Services system action plan for 2009-12 key actions identified under this priority include the implementation of a new funding methodology and development of performance and service agreements with the health and social services authorities.” The Member knows, as she is a member of the Standing Committee on Social Programs, that we are working very hard to do the right size and right budget for all of the authorities.
Mr. Speaker, we’re on our way. We accept the Auditor General’s recommendation and we also accept the pat on the back we received. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Transportation. Mr. Menicoche talked about the barriers and the bumps to working on Highway No. 7. I’d like to talk about the bumps and barriers to even try to construct a highway up in the Mackenzie Valley.
I want to ask the Minister, has his department put together an economic analysis of benefits as to what dollars we could be looking at if a Mackenzie Valley Highway was put through from maybe to Tuktoyaktuk.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We certainly listened to the Member’s statement with great interest as he did some comparables there regarding the CANOL Trail and how fast that was built.
Mr. Speaker, I have to point out we are all anxious to see this road move ahead. We have had some good discussions with the federal government and certainly don’t want to wait until there’s another war before we see investment, Mr. Speaker.
We have done a lot of work in the life of this government on the Mackenzie Valley Highway, probably more work than has been done for quite a few years. We were able to partner with the federal government on a number of fronts doing some of the research as required. We recognized some time ago that we need to build and develop a business case for this stretch of highway. As part of going forward with that whole concept, we contracted some people to come and do an economic analysis of the road and it has come back very favourable. I would be pleased to share that information with Members if they haven’t seen it already. It would, of course, create a lot of jobs, it would open up the sense of isolation to the communities, and in a lot of the communities it would lower their cost of living. There are a number of things that are looked at in the economic analysis and if the Member hasn’t seen it yet, I’d certainly be pleased to present it to him. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, in my research, it took the threat of invasion and the war to ask… Not to ask; I think the United States government said we’re going to come up and we’re going to build a highway west of Norman Wells and move some oil and this is what we’re going to do. When that threat was no longer there, they left everything just as is.
Mr. Speaker, I’m not too sure if this is something that is even possible in the Northwest Territories, in terms of putting some priorities to building a highway up the Mackenzie Valley. I want to ask the Minister, in terms of his economic analysis of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, what type of dollars is in the report. I look forward to him sharing it, but what type of dollars does the analysis come out with, should we build a Mackenzie Valley Highway, some dollars that could be realized? I want to ask the Minister if he could give me sort of an estimate.
Mr. Speaker, I have to apologize to the Member. I don’t have that information in front of me. I do recall that the report that was conducted and the research that was done in the communities came back indicating there would be huge benefit to the communities along the right-of-way. There would be huge benefit in terms of jobs in the area of road construction. There would be a lot of savings to the communities in the cost of living as they’d be able to travel on a year-round road. It would certainly increase tourism. That part of the country is very beautiful, as the Member knows. There are huge benefits, as this document has indicated. I can’t remember specific numbers at this point but I’d certainly be glad to share it, Mr. Speaker.
