Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When an individual is brought to a health centre emergency room by a peace officer or someone in the community under a mental health disorder, a written report has to go to the Minister’s office to ask for the individual to be detained. How is this addressed in the small communities when we have, possibly, communication challenges as well as somebody in the community possibly not being able to fill out the proper forms and allowing these people to get back out into the public when they really do need the help? How is this addressed with these written reports and does he feel a 24-hour period is sufficient enough to get the assessment and the report done?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. I want to remind the Members, short supplementary. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In those situations, although I can’t specifically recall receiving any reports from RCMP officers that have apprehended somebody under the Mental Health Act, I do know that we have a director within the system who would maintain a registry of any of these type of encounters or issues that result from an individual that may be apprehended and then the report is provided through the office. The reports don’t come directly to me but should eventually make their way. I don’t believe that 24 hours is a sufficient time in the small communities to allow that report to go through the director, registrar, and then over to the Minister’s office.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are directed to the Minister for the social envelope committee, Mr. Abernethy. Late last year a draft Anti-Poverty Strategy was released. There has been review and comment on that document from organizations, and I understand public feedback was formally collected through a survey, some focus groups and even street interviews. Could the Minister update us on the current status of the Anti-Poverty Strategy, and when we can expect to see a new draft and when the completed strategy will be coming to this House?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; a draft came out in December. It was a rough draft and we’ve taken it out for public consultation and discussion, and we’re seeking feedback and input on that. Much of that has now come in.
On behalf of the steering committee, we’ve got a team of dedicated staff who are actually finalizing a draft. We will have the final product out on March 31st. We will have a draft done before that which, hopefully, we’ll have an opportunity to share and discuss with committee and other stakeholders.
I guess the draft should be coming out very soon, obviously, if the final is expected by the end of the month. This time frame stretches us, I would say, based on that, into the spring, and yes, we want to get it right to have a strategy that public groups can support and be ready to resource the strategy adequately.
The budget address noted that funding for a strategy would be brought forward as a supp before the next main budget, which is good news. Since we’re gathering comment on the final draft strategy now, will the Minister commit to contracting peer review from outside experts so that we can get the benefit of experienced input from those familiar with other jurisdictions’ efforts and ensure our strategy is the best it can be?
The first step is to get the foundation document done, which will be March 31st. That will be available for public distribution at that point. The second step is with the steering committee that’s been established that includes members from the Anti-Poverty Coalition as well as Aboriginal governments and other organizations. We’re going to continue to work with them and our working group to actually pull together a response to the framework which will be our action plan which will identify what things the government and other groups need to do to fight and combat poverty here in the Northwest Territories.
As the Minister of Finance indicated, we expect there to be some financial implications of that but we don’t know what those are yet and it’s too early to assume what the working group and steering committee are going to come up with. Once that’s done, we’ll be coming back to the House for some further discussion on what we need to fund in that area.
As far as a peer review, we are but a partner in this project. We are working with NGOs and different organizations, and we are relying on the steering committee for a significant amount of direction on moving forward. If they are interested in peer review, it is something that we would certainly be interested in talking about, but we do have a desire to get this out as quickly as we can. We have done a significant amount of research with our partners and they will be involved throughout the whole process. They are the stakeholders out there who are dealing with people on a day-to-day basis. I’m not 100 percent sure that a peer review is going to be 100 percent necessary, but we look to the steering committee for some advice.
Thanks to the Minister’s comments. I’d say that’s being a responsible partner, being willing to discuss that idea. There are a number of strategies out there, as the Minister knows, that are very successful and others that are not. We’d prefer to be in the former category. We know this strategy needs to be not only an action plan for integrated cross-government action to reduce the alarming poverty and growing inequity in NWT society. It also needs to fully involve Aboriginal government partners and the business community. I know the Minister has a particular interest there. The need to raise the awareness of society at large, the benefits of reducing poverty is clear.
How will the Minister enhance the energetic participation of Aboriginal governments and business partners, and how does he intend to sell the benefits of poverty reduction as the strategy moves to being released?
The Member is right; that is pretty much exactly what we’re going for, which is why we’ve engaged a steering committee that does have Aboriginal government representation as well as NGO engagement. We have been, and I have personally been, sending letters to the different Aboriginal governments and organizations of the Northwest Territories seeking additional input. We had Aboriginal governments involved in the working groups as well. I will continue to do that. We know that is critical. We know we have to engage all of our partners.
With respect to industry, our steering committee does have a member of the NWT Chamber on it and I have had a discussion with him personally, indicating how important this is to us and how important it is that we have business engaged. We maybe haven’t had as much engagement from business and industry as we have hoped, but we will continue to push and I will continue to talk to industry representatives and Aboriginal government representatives at every opportunity. We are developing a comprehensive communications plan which we will use to get more of that information out and seek input, and the next step is still coming, the development of an action plan which we plan to engage all of our partners on.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a comment. I found in these sorts of things that local businesses are the ones that are the real workhorses in this area of social responsibility. Keeping all departments coordinated in the development of the strategy has been a major challenge.
Will the Minister build in the creation of a funded secretariat to introduce the strategy, guide its integration into our programming, and do the evaluations we’ll need for continued improvement, working with our partners, of course?
The government will have a continued involvement in the implementation of any action items that come out of the foundation. I won’t commit to a secretariat, but I will commit that the government will maintain being actively engaged. We will work with our partners as we move forward and we’ll continue to monitor the results. Without seeing the final plan, it’s a little hard to say exactly how that’s done. We expect some recommendations on how to monitor it and move forward with it to actually come from the steering committee as part of the action plan.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the circumstances of the time for the NWT kind of moving toward devolution, at the same time, economically speaking, we’re trying to develop a strategy. Part of that is to develop a mining strategy. My question is to the Minister of ITI.
Given the concerns raised about free entry mining system in the Yukon and elsewhere, has this government started any research into what we will need to do to make sure the NWT mining legislation reflects the duty to consult with First Nations?
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories is monitoring the situation in the Yukon. We have to continue to analyze the implications of this decision over the next little while, and we certainly have to be cognizant of the implications that it could have here in the Northwest Territories. We are following this and we are paying close attention to what’s happening in the Yukon.
Has this government started any research on what alternative approaches to the mining regulations are out there other than the free entry system?
As I mentioned to MLA Nadli earlier, we continue to analyze this decision. We have to make sure that we know what the full implications are of that decision, and of course, the Government of the Yukon has appealed. We are following this along as it happens, and we need to pay very close attention to decisions that are made in the Yukon and how they may impact us here in the NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I’d like to go back to something that I’ve been talking about for quite some time. Since the 16th Assembly, I’ve been after the Minister and the government to increase minimum wage and to bring us on a par, or at least close to par, with the rest of Canada. We did have an increase in our minimum wage on the 1st of April of 2010, and then again on the 1st of April of 2011. They were, thankfully, not an April fool’s joke.
Since 2011, I’ve been anticipating the development and the publication of a department policy to guarantee regular increases to minimum wage so we don’t have to lobby for it every three years. In 2010, the Minister specifically said in a Minister’s statement, the department is considering ways to implement future increases that will see regular and reasonable increases linked to other economic factors such as inflation and cost of living. I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not the department has acted on that promise.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When we first introduced the minimum wage increase, there has been a very positive vibe in the Northwest Territories. Although it’s just a small increment, at the same time, we’re trying to be compatible to other jurisdictions. We have been working on this incremental comparable to other jurisdictions, as well, what kind of mechanism do they have in place, so we’ve done our research in that area. The standing committee also provided some suggestions to the department on the recommended method. We are working on that and also working with employers and employees, just various representatives on this particular topic. It is anticipated that a committee will be established to begin work in the spring of this year. That’s the target date.
Thanks to the Minister for the update. The Minister said that a committee will be established and start work in the spring. I need to ask the Minister what this committee is intending to do and what work they will be undertaking.
When we first discussed this particular area where we should have a format where on an annual basis the increment to the minimum wages, how it’s going to be reflected and when is that going to be happening. The committee will be established to look at those areas and how we can make those changes, and working with various provincial counterparts as well as territorial. Those are some of the anticipated discussions that will be taking place. It will be established in the spring of 2013.
I’m struggling to understand the Minister’s response. I think I heard him say this committee will be established and it will be looking into how to set up something to have regular increases to minimum wage. Could I get him to clarify for me? Is that the intent of this committee?
This Assembly wanted us to set up a mechanism to reflect on the wage incremental on an annual basis, a wage increase. We’re trying to establish that through our networks, through our research, through various discussions with employers and employees, and also the representatives of the Northwest Territories. That’s what we’re embarking on, and we’re going to be establishing a committee to deal with that.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I’m hearing that this committee will be established and I gather that it’s a permanent committee. It will look at increasing minimum wages on a regular basis, I gather.
I’d like to know from the Minister how many people are part of this committee. I would think it would be rather cumbersome, and I’d like to know what kind of an expense this committee is going to cost us.
When we talk about committee, we want to be cost efficient and effective, as well, so just a small group that we can move forward and we can make decisions right away, part of the recommendations that will be brought to my attention. I want this to be, of course, a small cost to our department. We have to use it internally. Those are just some of the factors that will come into play. We want a small group that will provide recommendations to us that represents the Northwest Territories as well.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today as this is formally the second time we have heard from the Department of Transportation on a shared cost estimate proposal with the federal government on the northern portion of the Mackenzie Valley Highway system. It appears, once again, that we have been given a glass-half-empty program that appears now to have been formally fast-tracked to the feds for review.
I have said on more than one occasion in this House that I support this project only if the math was sound and a full risk matrix was on the table. It is clear that the project glass is, again, half empty. Questions still remain unanswered, yet it appears that the department is hastily, once again, taking an untested number to the federal government for a decision on cost-sharing and playing guesswork with the public purse.
Can the Minister of Transportation indicate how certain the department can be with only 85 percent of the design work for the highway being completed? What contingencies does the department have to address the unknown variables for the remaining 15 percent of the design/build and the cost estimate that was given recently to the federal government?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member knows that we haven’t gotten the approvals back from the federal government, and the Member also is well aware of the fact that the Department of Transportation appeared before the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning two weeks ago, and provided a thorough update on what the risks were and where the project numbers were at.
I do appreciate the Minister’s reply, but this is why we’re still asking the same questions. The public has yet to have seen these.
It appears that the Department of Transportation almost forgot about the $12 million that has been advanced to this project in preparation for such a cost estimate for the federal government. Can the Minister of Transportation indicate if this $12 million is included in the $299 million cost estimate? If not, why?
The briefing to the standing committee was a confidential briefing because we haven’t got the formal approvals from the federal government. There is a reason the briefing was confidential. We’re hoping to get the approvals in quick order so that we can make some decisions so that Members can ask some questions. Right now, the questions the Member is asking are hypothetical.
I think the question is not hypothetical. The question is whether or not the $299 million is including this $12 million. Again, this was opened up in your statement yesterday in the Minister’s own words.
I just didn’t want to, and I don’t want to, divulge confirmation information that was provided to the committee two weeks ago. In answering the Member’s question, those discussions are still currently underway. We are trying to sort those out. We’re working with the Inuvialuit on getting answers to those questions, and when we do have those questions fully answered and we have a package from the federal government, we’ll be back in front of committee and ready, willing and able to answer all the questions the Members have. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re hearing again, from the Minister’s own words, we have a lot of unanswered questions. How do we come up with the $299 million? It’s beyond me.
We all know that this government has had its hurdles in dealing with cost overruns on many of our large-scale projects of the past. The Auditor General of Canada has confirmed this. Can the Minister of Transportation indicate to this House what will happen to our cost-sharing agreement with our federal counterparts should the price of this road project exceed $299 million? Are taxpayers left holding the bag? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
First off, we haven’t made any decisions on the project. We’re still a ways off on making those decisions. Secondly, that is a very hypothetical question. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today with this very exciting news about a community channel for Hay River going on to Bell Expressvu, as I mentioned, currently the community channel is managed by volunteers from the Hay River Elks Club. Now, there is a TV Channel Society, but it is all based on volunteers. I would imagine that now that we have gone live nationally that there will be a lot of people interested in having some input into the local content of that new TV station.
We have many photographers, videographers, media, people with interest in our community that do amazing work that would really promote the North. I would also say that we have events in Hay River that I think the rest of Canada would like to see. Just this past weekend we had dogsled races, snow machine races, we had the Kamba Carnival with every kind of traditional and northern activity you can think of. This could have all been videotaped, and this could be broadcast now right across the country and it’s local Hay River content.
I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI if he can see the value of this in terms of promoting Hay River and having a very positive effect on our economy. But the downside being that, right now, is it’s all being undertaken by volunteers. Is there any money allocated or earmarked within the government, within ITI, that an organization like the Community Channel Society could access to get some help to now orchestrate this amazing project? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
