Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like for the Minister to keep the chief of Tsiigehtchic involved and, more importantly, the Gwich’in Tribal Council. This issue has come up in the Gwich’in Assembly. The area that is being flooded is on Gwich’in land. So this issue is an issue that came out and there could be legal issues around it. I’d like to ask the Minister if he can also keep the political organizations involved in where we’re going with this.
We’ll respond to all the different organizations that have contacted us over the last while regarding this issue and keep them informed as we move forward.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to direct my Member’s statement to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’d like to know how much of the flow-through money that is specifically earmarked for social workers and counsellors for the smaller remote communities stops in the regional centres, especially here in Yellowknife. I’m asking if the Minister would be able to provide our riding with such information.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d be happy to make a commitment to get back to the Member on that. We spent about $8 million on mental health and addictions area. But I’ll have to talk to him more about exactly what programs and services he means for what communities. I understand we have a breakdown between the authorities, but I understand that he would like information on how much money flows through to small communities. I could work with the Member to get him the information he needs. Thank you.
Just off my Member’s statement for Sachs, Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok in my riding, Mr. Speaker, given the many communities that share social workers or counsellors within our small communities or regional centre, will the government re-evaluate their staff, their role in the delivery of the structure in the regional centres so they have more time and resources to assist small and remote communities as intended? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely. In fact, I am in the process of doing that right now. The Member and I were able to visit Paulatuk and Sachs Harbour. It was a huge issue in Paulatuk where the residents came out and told us about their needs specifically. Since then, the CEO of Beaufort-Delta Health Authority has travelled there. We are putting a proposal together to see how we could address the immediate needs and specific needs of Paulatuk. I am also aware that, in general, there is a huge vacancy rate among the social worker staffing for Beaufort-Delta. I have asked our director in the department to travel there to get me more information about what is going on. This is very much part of our work right now. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Minister. Mr. Speaker, will the government consider increasing the resources for social workers, counsellors in small remote communities in the next round of budget discussions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, we will have to ask for that in the budget process, but very much the Minister’s action plan or department’s action plan for next year coming forward, I had the opportunity to make a presentation to the Standing Committee on Social Programs on Friday. We are looking at each community to see what the needs are and how we are meeting the needs and some innovative ideas to do that. I am sure it will be a very much detailed discussion as we move forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to remind the Minister in regards to our constituency tour we had together and how important it is for this position to get filled in all the communities. No more lip service. Let’s get it done. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. I don’t know if I heard a question there. Ms. Lee, I will allow you to respond.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thought I was quite specific on my action plan. I don’t know what “lip service” means. Mr. Speaker, I am aware that Beaufort-Delta especially and their social services system has more vacancies and more turnover rates and the community would like to have more services in their communities. I am working on that right now. I hope to give him a specific proposal. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognizing that fuel emissions are a primary source of greenhouse gases and climate change is a problem for us, and recognizing that there is little significant effort right now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, will the Minister of Transportation commit to adopting California fuel emission standards for the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is not an area that we have really developed in the last while. It isn’t really an area that the Government of Canada has done any work on. It is something that we certainly can take a look at, but, Mr. Speaker, we would need the assistance of the federal government to set a national standard. We certainly can engage in some discussion. Other than that, I would say it would be very challenging for us. Thank you.
Thanks, Minister, for those comments. This is a challenging request. It does not require federal participation. Federal participation would be great but, of course, three jurisdictions already have adopted it in Canada including B.C., one of our neighbours. We could certainly draw on them for experience here. I recognize that this Minister is well aware of climate change and working on it in other ways. I look forward to that meeting and the challenge that he has granted.
Moving further, we seem to be going clearly in the way of electric vehicles. We have passed a mutual unanimous motion on the development of the Mackenzie Highway and so on. The Minister stated the other day we are 7 percent annually increasing in transportation. We need to reduce our emissions. I wonder if the Minister could commit to figuring out how we could power electric vehicles or electric plug-ins up and down the Mackenzie Highway. The Minister is well aware this takes some time. Will he commit to begin assessing how we can do that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, that will be certainly a huge undertaking for us to accommodate the supply of power for electric vehicles. It is not an area for which we have done any type of research. I am not sure the department has that kind of capability at this point. I would be glad to undertake to work with the Energy Coordinating Committee to discuss this possibility. I would be pleased to provide a response to the Member. Thank you.
Again, these are challenging issues, but I think we are finding already the world is moving on very quickly. I think this government has also stated fairly plainly that it is going to be progressive on this issue. I don’t think it is actually as big a challenge once we start looking into it. We need some small hydro sources along the Mackenzie Highway that would probably reduce the cost of power as well. If so, once again, will the Minister look into what that is? I would be pleased to offer him my comments on that. Will he have his department and perhaps others look into that possibility? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Member is aware that this government has taken the approach to coordinate our efforts in energy conservation and projects of that nature through one committee. We in the Department of Transportation do not have additional resources to do the exploration or the research and review the options. I certainly can forward the request to the Energy Coordinating Committee to consider this and have them reply to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am well aware of those committees and opportunities out there. Of course, I am working on those as well. I welcome the Minister’s comments on this. Given that transportation is a big source of our emissions, we obviously need to reduce them. What other things is the Minister doing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicular traffic in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we have in the last while worked with a number of initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the North. We have looked at our ferries and the engines and the types of engines that we use to power our ferries and work towards putting more energy-efficient motors in these boats. We are also looking at having a better energy management coordination throughout our department for our vehicles. We have looked at installing, and have installed, heaters in our vehicles so we could reduce the idling time with our larger trucks and heavy equipment. So there are a number of things. We can certainly compile the list for the Member if he is very interested in it. Thank you.
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 Finance. I spoke in my Member’s statement about the need for this government to look at an equity position in large infrastructure projects. Like my colleague, Mr. Ramsay, I feel that this is an area where the government has been missing the boat, so to speak. I would like to ask the Minister of Finance whether or not he or the Cabinet has had discussions regarding taking an investment or an equity position in large infrastructure projects in the NWT. If yes, what is the nature of those discussions please? If not, why not? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We haven’t had any discussions about taking an equity position in any major projects mainly because of fiscal constraints we experience as a government trying to look at the needs to run programs, looking at our revenues, looking at our expenditures and try to keep things affordable with our relatively modest borrowing limit that is already almost half subscribed to. Thank you.
I don’t know if the Minister intended to segue right into my next question, but he did. There may be financial constraints but we certainly make an awful lot of contributions to any number of groups in the NWT, one of which is the Aboriginal Pipeline Group. I would like to know from the Minister whether or not there is a policy that exists that guides the GNWT when they make contributions to organizations such as the APG, to organizations who are involved in a resource development. Thank you.
We have contribution agreements. We have the accounting criteria that are followed when we make contributions to other organizations that should be met. Accountability issues then are expected to be complied with so that we can account for the money that we do spend as a government. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for those comments. I think I have to take his answer as a no, that there is no policy. Agreements, yes, and the need for accountability and criteria that guides those agreements, absolutely I agree. But that doesn’t tell me that it guides the government when they make these kinds of contributions. In my Member’s statement, at the end of the statement, I requested that the Minister discuss the idea of an equity policy with Cabinet and/or his department and I would hope that he would bring a recommendation forward to Regular Members for debate. I would like to ask the Minister if he is willing to do that. Thank you.
Am I willing to do that and will I do it are two different questions.
---Laughter
I will say yes to both of them. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you to the Minister for both being willing and hopefully he is able. There are a lot of pros and cons to developing a policy of this sort. I fully acknowledge that up front, but I think that we should have that discussion. It should be an in-depth discussion. When does he think he might bring something back, a draft policy, even just a draft discussion document to Regular Members for consideration? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we should be able to put pen to paper on this within a month. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on some questions from some of my colleagues on the different power reviews that are going on. I believe that there are some members of the public and members of the South who believe that a decision has already been made with respect to the sale of the Power Corporation to ATCO. I would like to ask the Premier, has Cabinet made a decision to sell the Power Corporation to ATCO? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The ATCO proposal we have not made a final decision on that. That is why we are undertaking the review. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Health and Social Services in regards to medical travel. Mr. Speaker, I have a constituent who has travelled to Edmonton regularly for medical travel reasons. They have been referred to see specialists, of course. The question of them going on medical travel isn’t the issue, but this time around they chose to rent a car because it was cheaper than spending the money on taxi fare. As I understand it, it worked to half the rate of the typical taxi fares. In this age of trying to find ways to do business just a little better and wiser, they have been told no by Inuvik, that, wow, you didn’t get pre-approval. So even though it is cheaper and you save the government money, sorry, you can’t do it and you have to absorb the cost. Would the Minister of Health and Social Services look into this example -- I will give her the name privately on the side -- to see if there is a way we can encourage this type of behaviour that, if we have proven costs and if constituents find it cheaper, they will do so? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not aware of this specific situation, but if the Member could give me the details, I will make the commitment to look into that. If the transportation costs are cheaper and we can prove this, I think we should look at a way to incorporate that into the policy. Thank you.
