Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We could have looked at an option that would have left us with the National Energy Board regulating onshore oil and gas activity in the NWT. It was felt that we could look at an integrated resource management approach here in the NWT which would allow us to build the capacity here in the Northwest Territories to regulate the industry ourselves. We wouldn’t be regulated from Ottawa or Calgary. We could build that capacity here at home. We believe we can do that and do it correctly. We’ve got the Land Use and Sustainability Framework. We’ve got the Water Stewardship Strategy. All of these things are going to be put into the work of our integrated approach to resource management here in the NWT. I think it is way too early to be so critical of something that is so positive.
Being critical is my job. The NEB is playing a big role in enforcing workplace safety standards in the Sahtu, but the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission also has a role to play in regulating the workplace.
Can the Minister explain who will be in charge of workplace safety as of April 1st? Who will be inspecting oil and gas work sites to ensure that safety rules are being followed?
That would be the chief safety officer.
It would be interesting to know who that person reports to, the chief safety officer. As our current regulator of oil and gas, the NEB includes consideration of the environment in their assessments. In addition to the land and water permits each project requires, the NEB also considers the potential cleanup liability created by a particular project.
As of April 1st, who will be responsible for assessing cleanup liabilities? Will it be just the land and water boards or will ITI have a role?
The Member knows full well that we are going to be mirroring federal legislation, the Oil and Gas Operations Act as well as the Petroleum Resources Act. Those pieces of legislation will guide us. For the Member to make assertions that there will be no public hearings, that we are going to throw those to the wayside, things are going to continue to happen here in the Northwest Territories. We will be able to regulate this industry here in the Northwest Territories. We will be able to build a capacity here at home to enable us to do that. The plain fact is that this change will provide for a regulator that is a territorial regulator, not from Calgary, not from Ottawa, but here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure what the Minister was talking about there. He certainly didn’t answer the question. I made no assertions. I was asking, as of April 1st, who will be responsible for assessing potential cleanup liabilities. Will it just be the land and water boards or ITI? I’m not sure why the defensive answer there. All of these questions lack the clarity we need, considering these things take effect April 1st. I have to ask why we did not create an NWT version of the NEB as originally intended. A made-in-the-NWT energy board could certainly have taken over from the NEB without generating such controversy and uncertainty so we may mirror legislation, but somehow we’ve lost a public board for a Cabinet regulator. I would appreciate a response to that. Why did we not create an NWT version of the NEB as originally intended, a made-in-the-North board? Mahsi.
Oil and gas projects here in the Northwest Territories will, again, continue to be subject to environmental regulation under the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, which will continue to require public hearings in some circumstances. It’s simply wrong to make an assertion that because of devolution, requirements for public hearings are going to change. That’s not the case. This is going to be our best effort put forward to regulate this industry in the Northwest Territories, build a capacity here at home, and with an integrated approach to resource management in the NWT we believe we can get this right. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use question period today to return to my Member’s statement, which talked about public disclosure of public salaries.
I highlighted that the Mackenzie Valley Review Board has recently, as of Friday, February 28, 2014, taken the courageous step forward of publicizing their honoraria between the board chair and the board. It’s time that this government starts following the example followed by six out of 10 provinces.
My question to the Minister of Human Resources is: What steps can this government take forward in publicizing all our board appointment chairs and members’ honoraria in a similar manner to the Mackenzie Valley Review Board? Can we do this? Will he do this? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Legislative authority would have to be changed. The step would be to amend the ATIPP Act and the Public Service Act. Thank you.
I want to thank the team effort on that answer. I could hear various folks giving the answer. How do we amend this act? Would the Minister of Human Resources be willing to bring forward amendments to the Access to Information and Privacy Act to accommodate this type of step that has, as I have highlighted, been done by six out of 10 provinces and, of course, that also now includes the Mackenzie Valley Review Board, who have all taken the courageous step to publicize their salaries and honoraria. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would be prepared to discuss the ATIPP Act with the Minister of Justice. I will talk to the department about the Public Service Act and any considerations with disclosing salaries. At this time, in the ATIPP, in most incidents with a jurisdiction this size, it is considered an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy to disclose salaries. Thank you.
I look forward to any movement we can make on this particular file. When we often hear that board chairs make between $130,000 and even over $200,000 per year to sit on those boards and we hear that the honoraria for those boards could range anywhere from $150,000 or more, the public wants answers. When we are paying our board folks more than we are paying our teachers, our nurses and even plumbers and policemen, something is wrong.
The next obvious question to the Minister is: What can we do to bring some transparency to some of these board appointment honoraria that need a level of scrutiny, some sunshine on that list to get to the bottom of that? Quite frankly, the public wants to know what they’re paid and they want to see where their money is going.
Again, as I indicated, we would be pleased to look at both the ATIPP Act and the Public Service Act to see if it would be a legislative proposal which would be shared with all committee members. If this House felt that it would be in the best interest of the public to disclose salaries of individuals, then we will move in that direction. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m seeing a small crack at the door here where there seems to be…(inaudible)…to do this. I could go on with great example, but I think the Minister is hearing the issue.
Would the Minister be willing to put this paper together, provide a proposal to committee members on this side of the House before we begin our May session this year? I want to make sure that we start doing this in a timely way. The last thing we want to hear is some day we will get to it, but that means nothing to the public.
Would the Minister be willing to meet the challenge of this particular proposal before May of this year, so we can take a look at this and push up our sleeves and put a little sunshine, which is the best disinfectant, on this problem? Thank you.
Recognizing that the disclosure of salary wages and the number of individuals that are within that salary range across the GNWT or the boards also give the public a very good indication of where their money is going; recognizing that, if committee still wishes to, in a small jurisdiction such as ours where you will see that Yukon, Nunavut and Prince Edward Island also don’t disclose because they consider those jurisdictions to be too small; recognizing all that, if the Priorities and Planning committee across the floor want a legislative proposal to look at disclosing salaries, then we’ll look at it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. In the Sahtu we have about 489 youth between the age of 15 and 24 years of age, according to 2012 stats. I recently questioned the Minister of ITI on the Sahtu oil and gas needs assessment. We have close to 500 youth who are in this category. We have an industry up there. We have a strong need to start training our young people so they can stop flying in workers from the South. These are from all the Sahtu communities.
I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, is the Sahtu oil and gas needs assessment complete so we can start doing further work on it?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. There are activities that are happening in the Sahtu region and my department will conduct a study regarding the feasibility of the Sahtu training centre that we’ve been talking about for quite some time now. That would consist of education and training, the needs of the communities. Obviously, we need to do that anyway, because we need those feasibility studies within the guidelines that we approach the next step.
We have established a committee and there’s been a labour pool that’s been developed for training needs, so it is before us. Through the committee, industry sectors are part of that, my department and other sectors as well. Those are the tools that we need to work with so it can be available to the community once it’s all compiled from the committee. Mahsi.
Thank you. The 500 youth that we have in the Sahtu, they’re ready to work, they want to go to work, but they need the support to develop the capacity and the skills for themselves. I’m very happy that the government is looking at a Sahtu training institution for the Sahtu, the feasibility study is happening, I’m glad for that. The Education, Culture and Employment office is looking at the labour pool needs. The Minister said it’s available. When is it going to be complete so we can start to look at working with ITI to bring this type of training forward to the next Sahtu readiness exploration floor? Is that report done now?
Mahsi. I need to find out the latest status on the actual report that’s been worked on by the committee. It does consist of a variety of parties that are involved on the committee. I’ll find out the status and if it’s ready for public review or for the committee, because it’s a tool that it’s giving us to work with while we’re developing the study on the feasibility of the Sahtu regional institute of technology that will give us some areas of discussion as we move forward.
So, definitely this is an area that I’ll find out the status. Mahsi.
Being on the tours and being in the communities and looking at the number of young people we have in the communities and the availability for them to take the opportunity to work in government or oil and gas or traditional economy, I would think that this Minister would be right on top of what’s going on in the Sahtu. They’re spending well over $100 million, Conoco alone; Husky is spending over $10 million. The Minister needs to be on top in saying we have close to 500 youth that need to be supported and we need to support them in whatever industry and skill they need to build.
So, I want to ask the Minister in regards to this, for example, does he know that Class 5 training is needed in the Sahtu? A lot of young people want to work but don’t have a Class 5. Can he, for example, in one of those areas, work with the Minister of Transportation and say we will bring Class 5 into the Sahtu, get those young people trained so that they can have a Class 5 driver’s licence?
Mahsi. That type of training has been conducted in various communities, along with partnerships with the various different departments and the communities, so by all means we can pursue those. If it’s a real need in the community, for sure we’ll be working closely with the Department of Transportation and the community. Of course, the college will be involved, as well, when it comes to training in various areas, whether it be trades or different sectors. Those are the needs that need to be identified then I will be getting back to the Member on the information that’s going to be provided. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of ITI has committed to having a Sahtu exploration readiness forum. We certainly need the information from the Sahtu oil and gas needs assessment to be part of the forum so we can discuss and start putting plans down to start training our people. Things are happening in the Sahtu, it’s going on now, things are going to be happening more so in the next couple of years. We really need to help these 500 youth with skill development and capacity building in our communities, in all the five Sahtu communities, so will the Minister have that report ready should the Minister call a forum before September?
Mahsi. In order to move forward on a forum for the Sahtu region, obviously we need the tools, we need that data, we need the stats, so I’ll be working very closely with ITI as we move forward on developing the forum for the region and providing that information that’s required, the community needs assessment and information from the community perspective and also the region. We will be compiling all of that information and working with ITI to deliver that to the community. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was called by a senior here over the weekend and they were telling me that medical travel now tells them if they want to go out, doctor approved obviously, medical travel tells them to book their own flight and pay for it in advance and submit claims.
When has the policy on medical travel now changed as such that we’re now telling the patients who have been approved through medical travel through their doctor, been signed off by the main head doctor and certainly by Inuvik, and now we’re telling them that’s the process, that they have to front the cost of medical travel and then seek reimbursement? When did this policy change and is this realistic? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d certainly like to get some more details from the Member on a particular case. Medical travel hasn’t changed. It is under review, as I’ve mentioned many times in this House, and we will be discussing any potential changes. None have been made yet with Members as we move forward. But I would certainly be interested to get more detail on this particular case. If the Member would like to share those with me, I’d certainly be willing to hear them. Thank you.
Thank you. So, the advice being given to my constituent, who happens to be a senior, who happens to only be able to pay for this airplane ticket to go on their medically approved trip through the medical travel process, they’re to use their own credit card to front the government on a cost on this, is that the policy as it stands? Let’s get that clear first on the record, and if that’s not the correct advice, maybe the Minister can highlight the right process for those folks listening. Thank you.
Residents who are required to go south for treatment and/or assessment at the direction of a physician or another health care provider in the Northwest Territories are eligible for medical travel. They would go through the medical travel office, who would arrange the travel, once it’s been approved accordingly. We aren’t requiring individuals to pay for their approved treatments up front, so I’m confused by this one. It shouldn’t be happening, and as I said, I would certainly be happy to hear the details and make sure that we correct it. Thank you.
Thank you. Clearly, the Minister understands what I’m talking about, approved medical travel, and I’m just trying to understand how this could be the case.
Is there any circumstance that the Minister can think of where someone in the medical travel office tells the particular person, constituent of mine, or anyone for that matter, that they need to front the costs first and then seek reimbursement? I’ll tell you, they were quite concerned because they don’t have the means to front the costs. They can scratch them together, but it does put them in a troubling position. So, is there any circumstance that this would be the right approach? I’m just trying to get to the bottom of the problem.
Thank you. It wouldn’t be part of the normal process. The normal process would be for a physician or health care provider to request a treatment and/or an assessment that can be done in a southern facility; it would be forwarded to medical travel. If it’s approved as official services, it would be organized and booked by our staff who do the work.
Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Written Question 7-17(5), asked by Mr. Dolynny on February 7, 2014, regarding the December 2013 North Slave power outage.
An H-frame power pole on the Snare system structurally failed, causing the loss of the Snare Rapids hydro plant by an automatic action to protect customers from a voltage spike, resulting in a system-wide outage in Yellowknife, Behchoko and Detah on December 29, 2013, at 1543 hours.
At 1600 hours initial attempts to restore power to the first town feeder, with three hydro plants and one diesel unit, failed because of larger than expected power loads (6MB) on this feeder, causing another trip of all generators. This feeder later had to be split up by Northland Utilities Limited (NUL) to allow restoration.
The second system recovery effort resulted in the 125 VDC backup control power battery system failing, preventing the remote start-up of the Jackfish diesel plant.
Jackfish crews were called out to manually start Jackfish.
Generation was restored, with three hydro plants and four diesels, at 1709 hours. A process to energize the Yellowknife feeders one by one was started at this time.
Behchoko was energized at 1728 hours and Detah was energized at 1751 hours.
Customer energization in Yellowknife was completed at 1757 hours to all but the largest feeder with all of Jackfish on-line.
NUL split the last feeder of about 2,000 Yellowknife customers and Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) energized one at a time and completed final energization at 1824 hours.
Two NUL employees were on site at the NTPC control centre shortly after 1600 hours for that duration of outage to communicate with NUL customers.
Media – CBC – was contacted at 1720 hours by the president and provided an estimated time of full restoration of 1830 hours.
Over 300 phone calls were answered at NTPC,
Communications were established with Behchoko via the plant superintendent.
NTPC is reviewing its outage communication protocol to improve internal and external communication with stakeholders – customers, board, shareholder, local governments and media – and exchanging emergency response plans to facilitate coordination with local and territorial authorities.
Meetings have occurred between NTPC, the City of Yellowknife and NUL to discuss communications and system coordination during an outage and reduction of large loads on single feeders.
A new communications manager began at NTPC on February 6, 2014.
To ensure similar outages do not reoccur, the corporation has instituted the following changes:
The initial line with the failure has been isolated.
DC battery banks were replaced.
Upgrades are planned to reduce the black start time of the three diesel plants at Jackfish
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents, entitled “Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 4, 2012-2013,” and “Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 4, 2013-2014.” Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Bromley.
