Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have a group of strong, wise and hardworking women in the gallery today, and I’d like to introduce them: Lyda Fuller is the most recent recipient of the Wise Woman Award, and also the executive director of the YWCA; Lorraine Phaneuf, who is the executive director of the Status of Women Council of the NWT; Annemieke Mulders, program manager for the Status of Women Council; Irene Savoy, office manager of the Status of Women Council; and Marilyn Hardisty, project officer for Northern Women in Mining, Oil and Gas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to recognize the hardworking women from the Status of Women Council, and I’d particularly like to recognize Frame Lake resident Lyda Fuller, who is the 2010 recipient of the Strong and Wise Woman Award for the North Slave. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for the Deh Cho, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, today I’d like to recognize two Pages from the Deh Cho constituency who have as of today successfully completed their duties through the NWT Legislative Page Program. I’d like to recognize Leona Fabian from the Hay River Reserve, Chief Sunrise School. She’s 15 years old, enjoys travelling, spending time with her family and working with computers. She tells me her goal is to complete high school. Also, we have Judith Fabian of the Hay River Reserve, Chief Sunrise School also. She’s 17 years old and she enjoys volunteering, spending time with family and friends, and she’s also got a goal of completing high school. I’d like to say thank you to them and ask all the Members in saying that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a resident of the Great Slave riding, Ms. Margaret Peterson. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize two hardworking Pages from Yellowknife South: Braden Redshaw and Alyx McLean. I’d also like to thank all of the Pages who have served here in the Legislative Assembly. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize and thank one of our Pages, Paige Elkin. She’s been a stalwart Page of this Assembly on many occasions. For the information of all Members of this Assembly, she’s also on our NWT curling team, and she’s also my son’s favourite babysitter. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Marilyn Hardisty, who has her roots in Jean Marie River in my constituency. Thank you very much. Welcome.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as well, I’d like to recognize the two Pages down from Inuvik: Ms. Caroline Kaufman and, I hope I get this name right, Evodia Mutua, as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a well-known and respected, Mary Kendi, turns 95 years old today. Born at the Pokiak Channel, across from Aklavik, at a time when there was only a trading post in the area, married in 1932 in an arranged marriage, she lived in the bush, hunted, trapped and fished. Mary raised nine children and took care of many of her grandchildren. In 1992, Mary Kendi was the first woman in the Northwest Territories to receive the Wise Woman Award. Mary’s celebration will take place in Aklavik on Saturday. I wish Mary a very happy birthday and wish her well. Mahsi.
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. It’s in regard to the words “essential services,” and I think, more importantly, what are we doing to fill the gap between the have and have-not communities when it comes to programs and services such as health care, education and, more importantly, those positions that we depend on such as the nurses, the social workers and also looking at the clientele such as mental health workers to assist the communities with alcohol and drug programs, because those services make a difference to our communities. So I’d like to ask the Minister exactly what is the government doing to ensure that we do have these programs and services in all the communities in the Northwest Territories to make sure that these essential services are being delivered.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am aware of the Member’s concerns about some of the gaps in services. We have worked to bring back some of the mental health worker positions in Fort McPherson. We’re doing a pilot project in Fort McPherson, but we are also engaged in looking at the overall system to make sure that we have strengthened services available in the communities. In the coming weeks I will be working with the Member to close some of the gaps, especially in the Beaufort-Delta region where we are seeing some harder challenges. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we have a very vast Territory, but we also have 33 communities. I think, as a government, we have to find unique ways to deal with the rural and remote communities. This has been an issue since as long as I’ve been here for 15 years. I believe that we have to find mechanisms that may not be able to fit all communities, especially with the challenges we face. So I’d like to ask the Minister if she’s more than willing to consider looking at ensuring that we have dedicated nurses or dedicated social workers to ensure that they do spend the time in our communities, and it’s not simply a rotation system, so that the residents can take the time to basically familiarize themselves with the service providers but also having them dedicated to those communities. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Foundation for Change Action Plan is designed to look at our system to see how we can make structural changes in order that we can enhance our level of care and services in small communities. That work is not complete. We have just introduced that. We are working to bring back to the Members across to see what kind of changes we need to make so that we can strengthen the services in areas that the Member is talking about.
The Member is right; we face a number of challenges demographically, in terms of location, in terms of shortage of health professionals, but I agree with the Member that our people expect to have a certain level of services, and we need to work together to make sure that that can happen. I will be coming forward with a plan to review with the Members on the other side. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that we can study this thing but I don’t think the communities want to wait that long. I think, in the meantime, there are workable solutions here and one of them I mentioned earlier is that we have dedicated staff either from the regional centres, the adjacent communities, and dedicate them to those communities that don’t have a full slate of service providers such as nurses, social workers or even people in regard to mental health and alcohol and drug workers. So I’d just like to ask the Minister, can she direct the health authorities that they have dedicated nursing professionals or people in that profession, dedicated to those communities so that they can have people that will be obligated to work with those communities to provide those essential services and, more importantly, do it immediately. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am willing to work on a plan to bring to the Members to consider that. Mr. Speaker, in order for us to have dedicated essential services in the communities, I believe we need to look at changing the way our health delivery system is set up and look at whether we need to change the administrative system we have, which is by boards and they get block funding and, as it is set up right now, the boards decide how those resources are going to be allocated. In order for us to do it differently, we need to look at changing that and that’s part of consideration that we are engaged in in the department. I will move on that as quickly as possible and I will work with the Members to see how we move that forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that we do have a situation with the health boards. I think we’ve given them too much authority and yet as a Minister you don’t have much authority. So I think in order to get by that, can you give a ministerial directive to those health authorities that they find the essential and professional staff, dedicate them to those communities that require them or should be in those communities so that we can resolve this situation by ministerial directive?
Right now the authorities are set up as a board of management and they do have independent power and authority to use the money from within. So the Member knows that in terms of the mental health worker, I did issue a directive and we were able to correct that. With the health and social services staffing, under the current system it’s not as easily done. That’s why I’m committing with the Member that we will look at how we could change the way we are delivering the service so that we could work at looking at what each community has in terms of essential services. If we’re willing to come up with a formula for essential services, we need to discuss that as a part of the next business plan. I will commit to the Members that I will bring forward a plan that we can discuss so that we could have a debate on this in a detailed fashion with something solid in front of us. We are working on that, but we are not done yet, but we will do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my statement and questions to the Premier through you yesterday on the Taltson Hydro routing and east side versus west side. Yesterday the Premier noted that we needed a client to sell power to and that’s why we went the east side. This sounds odd to me, because does the Premier not think that Avalon secondary processing at Avalon Mine, Tyhee Mine, Nico Mine, Yellowknife, Behchoko and expanded growth from a connected Taltson and Snare Hydro grids are not much better long-term and permanent clients for that power? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the process that the Taltson expansion has been built on is built on a customer that has approvals, that is on the ground, that is benefiting the North through GDP development as we speak. The other projects that are there, yes, have promise for the future and we’ll need to try to incorporate that as we look forward, but they’re still years away from actually establishing if there’s a secondary industry, which, as we talked with Minister McLeod and questions were answered in this House, that that is one of the avenues we will have to engage in.
Right now the existing plan has been to deliver power to an existing client base. If that doesn’t go through, we’re going to have to look for a new client base and the expanse it would have to grow if we were to increase potential new projects that could come on-line. Right now the way the process is, it’s expanding the grid up into the North Slave Geological Province. Thank you.
Thank you. Last week we read that the Power Corporation chair dismissed this government’s aspirations to attract Avalon Minerals secondary processing with a competitive NWT electricity source, such as the Taltson. The Premier promised that the corporation would eat those words, but it’s clear to see this corporation thinks it’s a law unto itself. Will this Minister direct that the Energy Corporation’s chair appear before standing committee to report on his strategic plan? Thank you.
Thank you. It’s an interesting and timely question as we discuss the Power Corporation and this process going forward. In fact, at one time in the history of the Legislative Assembly the Power Corp, I’m not sure if it was just the chair or the board chair and representatives of the board and potentially a senior manager or so would appear before the Assembly or through a standing committee. I will look, in fact, at initiating that process be re-engaged as we go forward. Thank you.
Thank you. Another bit of misconfusion or misinformation that the Premier said yesterday I’d like to get cleared up, and according to unedited Hansard he said the thinking on this is “the thinking about building capacity with our aboriginal partners across the Northwest Territories. Unfortunately, the Member doesn’t put more weight and bearing on that piece of it.” I want to assure the Premier that’s not the case. In fact, Deze Energy could just as easily partner in a west-side grid project. The fact is that Deze Energy and this government will develop nothing if this project degenerates in another Deh Cho Bridge calamity. So how does this Premier propose to ensure that this is the best project for Deze’s dollars and the public interests through strategic development of a project set up to actually succeed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It’s exactly the business case we’re working on, is to be able to sell the power to companies in the Northwest Territories that can’t do it for more, or can do it for less, to put it that way. Running the line, other than the scenario that’s been proposed, adds substantial dollars to the project, which would have to go towards the cost of a kilowatt hour, which would make it unaffordable, which means that we don’t have a customer base and that’s what’s driven this at this point. We would have to, as a government, decide if we wanted to do that and look at a different alternative routing that we would have to look at establishing that grid on our own, separate from the actual sale of power and we’d have to discuss if we were prepared to do that as a Government of the Northwest Territories. Right now, as I stated earlier, the business case is what’s driving this to the route and the client base that’s existing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the comments of the Premier. Premier, and I crystallize what I hope I made clear yesterday, it’s the frontend thinking that hasn’t been done. We’ve jumped right into this project instead of thinking about what we really need to do in the long term. The GNWT is a majority shareholder of the NWT hydro and Energy corporations and yet based on the response to earlier questions from last fall, the GNWT has never issued specific direction to guide NWT hydro corporation operations and hasn’t given specific direction to the NTPC since 2002. Can the Premier explain how it has directed the hydro corporation and the Energy Corporation to carry out the Taltson project and provide copies of any written detailed direction provided to the corporation boards? Mahsi.
First and foremost the relationship is through the responsible Minister; in this case at this point in time, myself to the chair of the board, meeting with the board to go over the plan that the board has put in place. Other factors that direct the board and its operation are through the legislation that exists and that is the NTPC Act itself, our Hydro Corporation Act, as well as the PUB and its decisions that have been made over the years that dictates the structure of how it would deal with the customer base. Outside of that, we set the direction in the Assembly. In fact, this government has set the direction when it comes to alternative energies, the $60 million that’s been committed through the Government of the Northwest Territories to look at alternative forms of energy versus the Power Corporation itself doing it. In fact, the report that we tabled in this Assembly highlights some of those areas of what should the focus be of the Power Corporation.
As for direction, it is Cabinet; the Minister, on Cabinet direction, can issue direction to the board in how it does its business. I would have to review what is able to be released in that sense, but the other areas, for example, on the Taltson have been many briefings on the Taltson process through the Energy Coordinating Committee and through standing committees on that side of it.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for ENR and are a follow-up to my Member’s statement.
On December 18, 2008, senior representatives of ENR met with some barren-ground caribou outfitters. At that time they told the barren-ground outfitters that for the 2009 hunting season and the 2010 hunting season their tags would not be affected and that 750 tags would be available. As a result, the outfitters went ahead and started booking hunts and collected deposits and whatnot. Then, obviously, the numbers were cut back and there were no tags.
These individuals are in a real financial position having to return the money they have already spent as part of their normal business. I’m curious if the Minister would consider working with these individuals and possibly showing some common sense and respect in this area and work with these individuals to recoup or return some of the money that they’re losing so that they don’t go bankrupt.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a complex issue. ITI looks after the business side of the caribou issue. There are funds available in ITI. I’d be happy to sit down with the Minister of ITI to make sure that we’re putting the funds to the best use possible and to see if there are any avenues that haven’t yet been explored.
I know ITI is doing an awful lot. They’re trying. I have some questions that I’ll ask the Minister on that later. What I’m talking about is the fact that ENR gave bad information, bad advice to residents who relied on that information to their detriment and are now in a negative financial position which might drive them into bankruptcy. They relied on what the government said and they are hurting as a result, because the government changed their mind. I want ENR, who is the department who gave the advice, to work with these individuals and find some common ground, possibly reimbursing them some of the money they’ve lost because of what ENR said, not what ITI said.
We are departments of the same government. We sit at the same Cabinet table. I will follow up on the commitment that I have made to make sure that... I’ll talk to the Minister of ITI, we’ll bring in our staff to make sure that we are doing all the appropriate things possible and if there are any avenues left to explore.
Once again, going to ITI, I’m talking to ENR. I’d like to see ENR live up to the same high standard that the Minister of MACA set when he responded to poor information given out by his department. They turned around and they made it right. I need ENR to make it right in this situation. There is not even an attempt here. I would like the ENR Minister to meet with the outfitters and work with them to come up with a resolution so that these individuals can get some money back as a result of the bad information that the Minister’s staff gave. They are his employees and they were speaking on his behalf.
