Debates of March 8, 2005 (day 51)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just with respect to the magnetic pass cards; is there an estimated cost, that makes it so prohibitive? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We would have to look back at the estimates that were put forward a few years ago or get a totally new estimate on it, but I wouldn’t want to even guess right now. I can’t quite remember the figures, so I wouldn’t want to guess. It would be something that we could get a cost on fairly easily, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Menicoche beat me to the chase in regard to the parking, but he also brought up another issue that I know I have concern with, although I wasn’t on planning on discussing it today, which is the doors. I will speak specifically to the parking and I do have concerns with the issue that this building represents itself as an open opportunity for people to come forward and have celebrations of life: weddings, special ceremonies, et cetera. It truly is one of the buildings for the people, and yet we have people park here, even park illegally, while events happen.

The Speaker I am sure is more than well aware of the circumstances that we have out there, and I just find it very difficult that we are not planning for this now in the short-term. I am looking for some proactive short-term solutions, so that we can address it through a major capital initiative, but we right now have people policing the parking lot. So if we had it during, for example, a concert situation; we have people out there policing it, making sure that folks all park on one side, but again we still are allowing our folks to park illegally. Does the Speaker have any suggestions on how to deal with this on the short term, until we can come forward with a capital initiative to address the roadway? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again on the parking issue, it is an issue that I know is important to Members and to the public that do come here and use the building. Whenever there is an event here, we do put on extra security to try and prevent people from parking illegally out there, but we do know that when the Members are here and most of the parking stalls are taken, for extra people coming to use the Great Hall, it is an issue.

There may be some very simple things that we could do for the present time to put more awareness out there, to let people know that there is not a lot of extra parking here and that if they do park illegally, they are going to have their vehicles removed. But that is not the answer for the long-run.

People choose to come here to use the building for different events as well, and maybe it is incumbent upon us to maybe let them know the parking situation that we have around here and the importance that we know that it is going to have to be addressed in the near future. Is it possible to look at doing something very quickly? I am sure if people were to come to the Board of Management with that specific request, certainly we would have to put a request into FMBS or whoever to see if we can get some extra funding to get that done in the near future. It is certainly not a matter that we don’t want to do it, it is just finding the resources to do it right now. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess at this time then, I would like to put a request into your position right now, as Chairman of the Board of Management as well as Speaker of the building, to get some assurances that we will look into it in this fiscal year about addressing it again.

It is a building that welcomes people. Just at the opening up of this session when Mr. Roland read in his budget, there were cars parked every which way and I have to say that I am embarrassed; truly I am embarrassed that we invite people to come here to see and follow along and be part of our opening budget, but yet we have nowhere for them to park. I would like to hear that the Speaker will look into it, at least in this fiscal cycle and see if we can come up with some at least short-term solution, other than telling people to park and cab it here. If I could get that assurance from the Speaker at this time, that will be more than sufficient. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will do that, I will bring that to the Board of Management and we will see what ways we can address that and see how much commitment there is for extra resources to deal with that situation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A couple of areas, and I appreciate the Speaker's presentation here. This is his first presentation before committee.

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Welcome to the witness chair, Mr. Delorey, Mr. Speaker. In his comments he mentioned one of the innovations we are undertaking here is the creation of the Cultural Enhancement Advisory Committee to this Assembly. Mr. Speaker, this committee had its origins in the last Assembly, in the 14th, when one of Mr. Delorey’s predecessors commissioned the report on what could be done in and around the building to more dramatically reflect the cultures and the peoples of the NWT. The Board of Management undertook to take this report up, and one of its prime recommendations was the creation of this committee.

The board will recall that in a meeting, I think it was late last year, I took a concern to the board about the policy base by which this Assembly had enacted this committee and by which it was going to guide its affairs. The question that I would like to put to the Speaker, given that I fully support a much broader cultural program for this building and certainly don’t want to interfere at all with what the committee will undertake, but I have not seen evidence of a development of a policy or the basis of how we want this program to continue. Would the Speaker please advise where and how we might expect that aspect of our governance to develop? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The new Cultural Enhancement Commission that has been formed came out of a recommendation from the report that came to the Board of Management from the previous Assembly, and one of the recommendations in there was the creation of this Cultural Enhancement Commission.

We did receive Mr. Braden’s comments and his concerns with this commission. We discussed them at the board level and the board felt that there had been enough input into the preparing of that proposal, that document, that report to the Assembly, that we could proceed with establishing that commission.

The commission has not gotten together yet, but there were some guiding principles in there about what they were meant to do and they will be strictly an advisory board, advising the Board of Management on different areas of cultural enhancement around the building. I know that it is a very important area for the building and for all the Members here. I think if there was one area that we lost on when there was a division between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, a lot of the cultural works in the building went with the Nunavut government. I know that there is a lot of interest in increasing the cultural enhancement of the building, so I look forward to the work of this commission.

The policy that Mr. Braden is talking about; we haven’t established a policy per se, but they do have a mandate or guiding principles of what they will be looking at. Once they come together, they will be establishing what kind of working relationship they are going to have with the board and on what areas they are going to be looking at. It is pretty broad in what areas they can make recommendations back to the Board of Management. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Some of the things that the Speaker has outlined are indeed still of concern to me. We are creating this advisory committee, and to paraphrase the Speaker -- to work out the basis of its relationship with the Board of Management -- I would respectfully suggest that that is backwards. It should be the Board of Management that is laying out the terms of reference and how we would like the commission to serve the Assembly.

I look at this, Mr. Chairman, in the overall context of good governance, that we have a responsibility here to be clear and direct in our expectations of these boards and agencies and commissions. In fact there is major review underway right now, more than 100, that have been created over 30 years. Here we are creating a new one and yet we don’t have a policy base or the kinds of things that I think should be in place.

Mr. Chairman, I don’t want to get into an argument here tonight, but I would like to place on public record my concerns that this is a very welcome and a very valuable part of how this building and how this institution reflects the people of the North, and I would hope that in the coming months as this commission does come together that a constructive working relationship can indeed be created and hopefully through that a policy base that we can all rely on.

I can stop there, Mr. Chairman. I did have one other item I wanted to bring to the committee's attention, but if the Speaker would have any further comment to what I have just said.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the comments that the Member is making and I know that this an area that is near and dear to the heart. The Outcrop report that was accepted or turned into the Legislative Assembly, did lay out a number of areas that this committee would be responsible for and some of the art work and some of the types of art work that should be displayed here. There were recommendations that they be strictly northern and different areas.

I know that we also, before we put this committee together, not a policy per se but there was definitely a terms of reference drawn up for this committee and those terms of reference had input from everybody in Caucus. There are areas that outline what their job will be, but we will for sure look at…Maybe once the board gets together, there will be further talks on that, and I am sure that Mr. Braden will be making his views known to that commission as well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In a somewhat related vein, I have noticed sitting here and working for the past month in this session, Mr. Speaker, the number of visitors, especially Japanese visitors, that were seen here in the Legislative Assembly has grown considerably over what I have seen here in past winter months.

From being here on a steady basis throughout the year, I know that the Legislative Assembly and our grounds are very much a part of the tourism product of Yellowknife as the capital, and justly so; it is a magnificent building and we are all very proud of it. One of the things I am wondering if we could do a more extensive or a broader job of, Mr. Chairman, is actually demonstrating and embracing the role that we have, the place that we have in the tourism menu, that the capital city offers. We are an attraction, we certainly have a story to tell, and we are proud of it.

But, Mr. Chairman, to the audiences, especially like the Japanese, we have no literature, no interpretation in their language, either in signs or audio tapes or brochures. I wanted to ask the Speaker if he might consider a plan, perhaps even a bit of a pilot project, in this coming fiscal year to see what we could do to become a part of the tourism world here and make some effort. I suggest that it would not have to be an extensive nor an expensive effort to be effective, but to demonstrate that we really do appreciate the role that we have and that we could send that message out to some of those visitors. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, I appreciate the Member’s comments and suggestions. I know that the point that he brings up is one that we’re very aware of. The number of visitors that we have coming in here and the Japanese tourists coming to the city are coming in fairly large numbers and we see them in here all the time. Those tours are put on through the Visitors’ Centre and we do work in cooperation with the Visitors’ Centre in working with those groups coming here. I think the suggestion that Mr. Braden is referring to what we could do here to maybe make them feel more welcome and maybe having a presentation, whether it's an audio tape about our building and some of the symbols that we have that are representative of the Northwest Territories would be something that would be very good to do. I think at the same time when we talk about something like this, we have to keep in mind the fact that we have 11 official languages in the Northwest Territories and it may be a good time to look at doing a presentation not only in Japanese, but in all our official languages as well…

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…and put something together that would make it a place for everybody to come and visit and make them feel a little bit more welcome. So I certainly appreciate the comments and, yes, I think that it’s something that we should definitely look at and see where we can make some improvements in those areas that are not too big an expense. I think we certainly can find some areas to do that. So I will commit to look into some of those issues. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was going to talk about the smoking area, but since I don’t smoke it’s not an issue for me anymore.

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I don’t have my vehicle here all year, so I don’t have parking issue. So that’s not an issue with me.

---Laughter

Mr. Chairman, the comment that the Speaker made was in regard to page 2 of his presentation. The proposed reduction would have a noticeable impact on services provided to Members and the public-at-large. So I just want to know are we seeing the noticeable impacts right now. If we are, I haven’t seen any. Is it something coming down the tubes that I should keep my eye out for or keep my glasses on in terms of some of the noticeable impacts that will be coming down the tubes that the Members would take notice on? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Although I don’t think the Member has to sit on the edge of his chair to wait for something to hit him pretty hard and surprise him, there are some reductions that we did make that are going to affect all Members in how we operate in the Assembly. For example, the capital allowance for Members; we’ve made some decisions where we looked at the cost of a two-bedroom apartment and it was up to about $30,000. With the amount of available rental space in Yellowknife now, we think that the price has pretty well levelled out. So we decided to put the rent scale back to 2003-04 levels, I think it was, and that still allows for $27,000, which I think is still ample for a Member to get an apartment here in Yellowknife. There are even issues like the reduction in security out here after midnight, when Members can’t get in from midnight until 6:00 in the morning; transcripts from committee meetings, if we don’t think that they’re an official meeting or that it’s overly important that we have those meetings recorded, we’ve cut back on those services a little bit. But, all in all, I think that the cutbacks are fairly minor. So I don’t have all the areas, but we do have them in here and I can certainly make those available to the Member. I don’t think the Member has to worry about major cutbacks that are going to affect the Member in a big way; but if he wants the detail on all the areas where we have made some minor adjustments, we have the detail to give him that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, in terms of being able to relax and not sit at the edge of the seat, the places that we are staying now in Yellowknife are really nice. I think we’re okay. I’m speaking for myself, Mr. Chairman.

I wanted to talk about the Cultural Enhancement Commission and I think it was a really good move. In one of your documents, one of your goals is to include the promotion of the Legislature as a place of the people and the place of the people is here in the Northwest Territories. So I think you are following up that and I support that 100 percent.

I’m a little bit sceptical in terms of working on some of the issues that Mr. Braden indicated in terms of Japanese tourism, because of the conflict we may be in with other organizations in Yellowknife that are also vying for tourism with the Japanese. So I would be cautious in terms of that and where the money is coming from. So just a little caution there. I’m not opposed to this. I’m just being cautious in terms of what may happen or what may transpire.

For the Cultural Enhancement Commission, I look forward to the type of work that they’re going to do in the Legislative Assembly and how this place is going to hopefully transform into a place that truly represents the culture and the values of the people in the Northwest Territories, especially the first people in the North; the aboriginal people. That has to really come out here. So I support that.

The issue of us as MLAs in our small communities and our constituencies, the demographics are so different that one region has an all-weather road and another region has fly-in for my community. Certain times of the year we can drive through the region on the winter road system. When we don’t use the highways as the most economic means of travel, our budget seems to go up quite high. So I’m hoping that we can have some discussion in those areas in terms of looking at some of those numbers that would reflect the true cost of travel and doing our business in these communities that are higher than the southern parts of the Northwest Territories. I would appreciate a comment from the Speaker in terms of any type of consideration that has gone on within his department in that area. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First I will speak a bit on the first comments that the Member had with doing something for the Japanese tourists in the building, and I just wanted to put the Member at ease that it wouldn’t be a promotion for us trying to capture a tourist market, but they do come here anyway because of the Visitors’ Centre and as part of their tour to the North. It would be something that would just be geared to making them aware that we appreciate the fact that they come here and having a little bit of a description about the building and some of our artefacts in their language, or that they could maybe put headphones and listen to that as they are going around the building. Again, it’s an issue that has brought out some other important aspects about addressing that same issue with all peoples of the Northwest Territories and truly making them feel welcome when they come to the building as well.

I think the Member is referring to constituency budgets a lot there, and that was taken into consideration when they put the constituency budgets together. Some of them are quite a bit different. I think Mr. Pokiak has probably got the highest one because of the geographical area that he covers, or maybe it’s Mr. Yakeleya that has the largest one, I can’t quite remember. But I know that it’s an issue that has been brought to the attention of the board a couple of times now, that should be looked at again.

We are in the process of establishing an independent commission to look at Members’ compensation and benefits, and that will be one of the issues that they will be looking at. So as far as what we’re doing from our office, we’re going to put those issues to an independent commission to look at and make recommendations back to the Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to tell the Speaker, Mr. Chairman, that the services by the Legislative Assembly have been really good for me. Just a comment to say that I appreciate the services that his department offers to me. I’m satisfied and that’s why I say I don’t see any noticeable impacts. Just a comment to give your staff a pat on the shoulder to say they are doing a good job, they are doing their best in helping us out as new MLAs and to let them know that I appreciate them. Thank you.

Hear! Hear!

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I have a quick comment with regard to the Page program. It’s a huge opportunity for our students from the regions to come to the capital for probably a week at a time, maybe two weeks at a time, to get involved in the Legislative Assembly. But I had an experience where I ended up paying for some of the costs like places for them to stay. It’s coming out of my budget, then there’s always that inequity where Yellowknife MLAs have Pages but they are not paying anything. So I would just like the Speaker to comment on that.

Shame, shame.

It’s a crying shame.

Mahsi, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know that this was an issue that came up in the 14th Legislative Assembly. As a matter of fact, I was one of the ones, as a Regular Member in the 14th Legislative Assembly, that pushed to have some kind of a program put in place and supported by the Legislative Assembly to bring Pages here to experience a week or two weeks of session. I think it’s a very important program that we have. I know that in the 14th Assembly we did come up with a bit of a policy where the Legislative Assembly pays for two Pages per Member per session to come over here, and they pay the travel expenses to bring the Pages over. However, for the rest of the costs, the Member is still responsible for meals and for accommodations and then the Pages also get paid for the time that they put in here. So it is a very good program. It may be an area, as well, if Members put that down with the commission as an area that they would like to have reviewed again of whether it should be supported more by the Assembly, I’m sure that this independent commission would probably be more than willing to have a look at that as well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I’ll just end on this note that I don’t think the commission has anything to do with the Page program. I think it has to do with the office and that they should pay for meals and accommodations. I don’t know why it’s coming out of my budget. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Menicoche. Any further general comments? Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m going to rally through a whole bunch of issues. Maybe I’ll start off with part of the discussions that have already taken place. Parking, Mr. Chairman; I think we need to improve that service, not only for Members, but for the general public.

I know that the Cultural Enhancement Commission will be looking into beautifying the outside and the inside and stuff like that. I’m sure I’ll have an opportunity to give them some of my thoughts on how I see certain things to be done in terms of enhancing our cultural elements inside the building and outside.

On another issue, in regard to Pages, I think the responsibility should be with the Assembly. I know for accounting purposes I think some is being charged to Members’ constituencies and then some to the general pot for their salaries and compensation for the kids getting paid. I think it should be coming out of the general pot from the Assembly.

In regard to staffing, Mr. Chairman, in terms of the number of affirmative action percentages here at the Assembly, it is very low. I would like to see what could be done in that area to increase our percentage in that area.

Another issue that really concerns me, I have even lost track now, Mr. Chairman, as to when I can speak Dogrib. I know that there’s a schedule that was produced, but I haven’t seen it for months. Different Members can speak their own language, but only periodically. It’s not simultaneous as we had years ago where all languages were provided. So that concerns me, Mr. Chairman, especially when here we are promoting all of our official languages in the Territories and we’re not using them in the House as much as we should be.

On another issue, Mr. Chairman, in regard to the Speaker’s program. I know the Speaker’s program, through his office, he used to travel to different communities, went to the schools and talked about the programs and what we do here maybe in a mock thing or as a general assembly in various schools. I recall the former Speaker doing that. They had their own little program in place where they would travel around and talk to students.

I’m not sure if those issues that I raised have been decreased or are being enhanced, Mr. Chairman. So if I could get the Speaker or his staff to maybe comment on the issues that I raised. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Zoe. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don’t know if the Member wants to pursue the parking issue and the Cultural Enhancement Commission issue further. I know I’ve given kind of where we’re heading with that area and it’s something that we want to promote and we want to do in this Assembly. We realize the importance of it.

As far as the Pages program is concerned, again, that’s certainly an area where maybe the independent commission that we’re going to be looking at may be an area that they can look at. Not necessarily at the Pages program itself, but that they could take that into consideration and look at Members’ budgets where the Member’s constituency budget may be able to be bumped up, for example, to cover that type of a program or the Member could also put a request in to the Board of Management to have that looked at. We would have to bring it up and see where we could find the money and do it. I know that the program is a very important program for everybody across the Territories, and it is costly to bring kids to Yellowknife to partake in that Pages program. I was probably one of the luckier ones, coming from Hay River, as far as travelling; probably one of the lower expenses travelling. I know for some Members from the north it would be very expensive to bring Pages down here. I am sure if the Member was to bring that issue and make it an issue to the Board of Management, we would look at it again. So I would encourage the Member to maybe look at that. He definitely made some good points that he is bringing up.

As far as the languages in the House, that is an area that we don’t use a lot. We do have a budget for languages, the use of official languages in the Assembly here. It is not hard to get interpreters here to use the official languages. All that we do is we ask that the Member let us know ahead of time what day he wants to use his official language in the House, and we would bring interpreters in for that. So there is no set schedule but, if we do receive a request from a Member saying that he wants to use his official language in the House on that particular date, arrangements can be made for that.

The Speaker’s program, again, the Member brings out some good points; all those things about the Speaker going around and making presentations at schools, or speaking, or putting on mock parliaments are all good suggestions. The Assembly used to do that a lot more in the schools. I think we have taken a step beyond that now where in our Youth Parliament we bring in kids. It is talked about at the schools quite a bit, and kids are picked from the schools to come here and take part in the Youth Parliament. Again, that has proved to be a very successful program and one that the students really look forward to coming and taking part in.

On other programs of what the Speaker can do to promote the Assembly and government, I know that we are working right now on doing a possible Mace tour of all the NWT communities, where the Speaker would go along with the Mace and explain what the Mace means, the symbolic meaning of the Mace and how it was created and made. There is an awful lot of history in it, and it is very much representative of the whole Territories. I think that would be a good program to take part in.

I am certainly open to go into schools and talking about the Assembly and the role and promoting this government. I think it is a big part of what the Speaker’s job should be. I look forward to areas like that where I can take part in those events. Any suggestions that the Members have, we are certainly open to them. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just on the issue of language services that the Speaker indicated that we don’t have a set schedule for the various languages. The onus is up to the individual Members to approach the Assembly to provide that service, but it causes a problem. We don’t know when we are going to have a big delegation of our constituents in the House. You can’t really predict. Sometimes, it is nice. If you see a large delegation in the House that you weren’t aware of and you want to speak in your own language, the opportunity is not there for you. I wanted to speak in my language, but I couldn’t because the interpreters weren’t there. It is unfortunate. It causes me a great concern because sometimes, out of the blue, I feel like speaking my own language. I can’t just say, okay, today, on this issue, I am going to speak my language. I don’t work like that. It is the way I am feeling that day or, if I want to make a point to the government on a certain issue and I want to speak my language so that my people understand what I am trying to convey to the government, I would rather do it in my own language so they understand where I am coming from. It makes it difficult, Mr. Chair, to leave that onus on individuals. It would have been nice. I know maybe the previous government didn't provide that service, because of fiscal constraints and stuff like that, but we have a surplus. Maybe we can get more money so we can have our regular interpreters back again. I think it creates not only employment for individuals, but also helps us to speak our own language any time, rather than trying to have a schedule of services for languages. That is the comment I wanted to make, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Zoe. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I certainly appreciate the Member’s comments and don’t deny the fact that Members would like to speak their own languages in the building and have that service provided. I know, when we had it before, it was an extremely expensive service to have all the official languages here on a constant basis. A decision was made that it was just too expensive to carry on that way. There have been different things done now to try and make it more affordable and still allow Members to use their own language in the House.

On the other point, when there are delegations in the gallery and Members want to use their own language in the House, there is nothing stopping them. They can use their own language any time. It is just that we wouldn’t have the interpreters on hand on that particular day if it is just on the spur of the moment. But there is certainly nothing stopping the Member from addressing the Assembly in his own language on any day. Again, if we were to look at a totally different program like that, it would be something that would have to be looked at very closely and whether the funds would be available and if the will of the House would be to do that again. Thank you, Mr. Chair.