Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask my questions today to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. In my Member’s statement I spoke about the Enbridge Pipeline Incorporated, the oil spill just south of Wrigley at the Willowlake River. I’d like to ask the Minister what is the role of the Department of ENR when there’s an oil spill incident and an emergency of this nature. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In a spill of this nature, the immediate folks that are involved, of course, are the owners of the pipeline. The National Energy Board has the lead. Environment and Natural Resources has a support role in that process. If it’s a significant spill, then it will trigger a broader group that will come into play, but in this case, given the size of the spill, it’s those two parties that are initially involved.
We have been working, as the Member’s aware, very closely with all government agencies as well as Enbridge and Imperial Oil in Norman Wells. In terms of the spill itself, we are being kept up to date and we are involved in making sure that the environmental concerns are going to be addressed. Thank you.
I spoke with Chief Tim Lennie last night and he said that none of our regulatory bodies or even federal regulatory bodies contacted his community to offer assistance, to advise him about the nature of the incident or anything like that. In fact, the only person that reached out was, of course, the people that spilled the oil, which is Enbridge Pipeline. I’d like to know what our government’s role is in contacting the community, offering assistance, advising them where they can go for health concerns, environmental concerns and safety concerns, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
As the full extent and impact of the spill is determined, as the cleanup proceeds, if there’s further follow-up work that’s needed, then we will be there in our support role. If there are health concerns, then Health will be involved. But clearly at this point we’re working through and following the National Energy Board lead. At this point, the issue seems to be under control. If there are very specific community concerns from Wrigley, then I would be happy to talk to the Member about those. Thank you.
I’d like to ask the Minister to work with the National Energy Board, because even them, they did not make any contact with the chief or the residents of that community to advise of their role, how can they be of assistance to the community, because it is very significant to them. They are concerned about the environment and they’re concerned about the water. They’re concerned about public safety, but no one’s reached out and tried to deal with them and try to answer their questions there, Mr. Speaker. With that, can our government do that? Can they contact and work with their federal counterparts, the National Energy Board, and reach out and talk to the community of Wrigley and the chief there? Thank you.
I’ll commit to ensure that we encourage and push the federal agencies, in this case the National Energy Board, to become visible, to make sure that there’s adequate information and that there’s an opportunity, and if necessary, they have resources put by their people to deal with the affected communities like Wrigley. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. There was also Chief Lennie, as I indicated in my Member’s statement, who was impacted. His health was impacted. He has serious concerns. He would like to know when will the Department of Health and Social Services take a role in this incident, advise the community of the health concerns of potential H2S and the effects of just the odours, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to get some certainty that even the Department of Health and Social Services can contact the community. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand the spill is about 70 kilometres outside of Wrigley. If the chief has specific health concerns, then I would encourage him to contact the Deh Cho Health Authority through his community if he has those symptoms that the Member’s talking about. If there are broader issues, as well, once again, we’ll make note of those and I will ensure that the chair as well as the CEO of the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Authority is prepared to respond, if necessary. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Deputy Premier. In my Member’s statement I spoke about the recent federal election. We here in the Northwest Territories only have four months left in the life of this government and we have some major files currently at play in Ottawa, like the Mackenzie gas project, the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the Tuk-Inuvik commitment for $150 million for that road, the many other infrastructure needs around our territory. I mentioned earlier, too, Northland Trailer Park here in Yellowknife and the infrastructure to advance our needs there. I’d like to begin by asking the Deputy Premier what strategy does this government have to advance these many priorities with the federal government. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Deputy Premier, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We should keep in mind the long list that the Member has laid out. We have active files on... We have many things on the go. All those, the pause button was hit, as it were, on the federal side as the election kicked into gear. The election is now over. As the Member said, we have now the good fortune of a majority government that will give us consistency over the next four years. We’re still waiting to find out the line-up in terms of the Cabinet. We have all these files ready to re-engage, we have a Federal Engagement Strategy. The Ministers and the Members in this House know, for the most part, their counterparts know, but that may change and we’ll have to allow that to happen, but we are ready to go with all the work that’s already underway on those initiatives, keeping in mind, as the Member said, we have about four months left. Thank you.
I thank the Deputy Premier for that response. The new federal Cabinet will be sworn in soon. I’d like to ask the Deputy Premier if once that happens, are there any plans by this government to invite the Ministers, you know, in dealing with the many issues I mentioned earlier that we have here in the Northwest Territories, are there invitations that are going to go out to your federal counterparts in Ottawa to get them north to discuss these issues before the end of the life of this government? Thank you.
Thank you. Yes, the letters are basically there. We’re just waiting for the appropriate individual’s name to be able to put in there, find out if there’s any change in key staff that we have to contact, but there will be basically a full court press on all those issues that we’ve talked about, and others, to move forward with all time constraints that we now face as a government. Thank you.
Thank you. Over the life of this government we’ve talked many times about engaging the federal government in a meaningful way and having a building up on that relationship that we do have with the federal government. I’d like to ask the Deputy Premier, in looking at relationship building with the federal government, will that be a key part of the transition document that this Cabinet is going to prepare for the next government which will be elected on October the 3rd? Thank you.
Thank you. We have the benefit of a stable Cabinet here. We’ve been dealing with the Conservative government now for the last five years. In many cases there’s been relationships developed among the various Ministers at the federal and territorial level. As we move forward, we do have to look at how do we nurture that relationship. How do we, as has already been stated, better work with our Member of Parliament? Another issue for this Legislature to consider is the role that we have in Ottawa, the presence that we have or should have in Ottawa, is that adequate? And if we are going to be seriously considered and be able to move our own agenda, should that be looked at so that it can be done more effectively on the ground? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve been fortunate to have good working relationships with our neighbours in the Yukon and in Nunavut, and considering, as I mentioned earlier, the Northwest Territories is the only jurisdiction in the country that doesn’t have a Conservative Member of Parliament representing it, I’m wondering if there’s going to be any effort by the Government of the Northwest Territories to ramp up our pan-territorial initiatives and work even closer with both our neighbours in the Yukon and in Nunavut? Thank you.
The Premier has made a great effort to nurture that relationship. He’s put out common documents, pan-territorial documents. We’ve dealt with issues, health issues, on a pan-territorial basis. In fact, as we stand here today, the three territorial leaders, along with the Minister Aglukkaq, representing the Canadian government, is in Nuuk, Greenland, to talk about issues of great importance in the circumpolar world. So it’s a relationship that there is common, there’s strength in common effort that we are small in population, large in geography, but we have huge political ties and a vested interest in working together. I believe that the Premier and this government are committed to that and I’m sure the 17th Assembly will carry that on. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, the Honourable Jackson Lafferty. Mr. Speaker, a while back we’d raised concerns in this House regarding the potential closing of a storefront school facility in Hay River. The storefront had been extremely successful in accommodating students in acquiring credit, that had not thrived in the regular conventional school environment.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that subsequent to that the Minister and some of his officials have taken the opportunity to meet with the DEA in Hay River and I believe that some kind of a solution has been resolved, or has been arrived at. Mr. Speaker, I would like the Minister, if he could, apprise the House of what their findings were and what has been done to ensure that this important community asset continue. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Member for asking that question, because this has been in the works for some time now.
The alternative school programming consists of Hay River, as well, and there have been several meetings between the school boards and my department. I did make a commitment to visit the schools as well, which I did when I was in Hay River for the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. I went to see the students there. But what it came down to is as of March we decided to look at the tentative school programming and let’s hire a consultant to have a thorough analysis of the programming in the community, which we did. So the recommendations that came out of that were regarding the funding that would allow for adequate funding for a successful program, which the Member has alluded to. It has been very successful, and the recommendations were considered, and a method of funding has been established, and we are working closely with the superintendants of DECs and DEAs to establish those working relations and the changes to the funding will be highlighted. Mahsi.
Thank you. So the changing to the funding, I’m going to assume, was increased funding so that the allocation that the DEA and DEC put towards the alternative schooling will continue. I’d just like to ask the Minister just for clarification then, has the issue essentially been resolved to everyone’s satisfaction and we can look forward to, in the fall, this service continuing in Hay River? Thank you.
Mahsi. First of all, I’d just like to commend the DEA and DECs, and also the Members, for voicing their concerns about this particular programming. Yes, the program changes, there will be an increase in funding that’s satisfactory to DEAs, DECs and our department. So that is in the works and it will be announced and the funding will be flowed through as of July 1st on the school year. So it’s good news for the communities that we represent on the alternative school programming. Mahsi.
Thank you. I’d like to thank the Minister for his attention to this very important matter and for the resolution that’s been brought to it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. I didn’t hear a question there. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. During my Member’s statement I spoke about housing and I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation questions. Last year the Housing Corporation had $8.5 million allocated in the area of house repairs. In the 2011-12 main estimates, the amount is reduced to $5.6 million. I would like to ask the Minister if he could return the funding from $5.6 million to $8.5 million in this area. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The money that we’d allocated last year for home repair, if you recall, our last year’s budget was $75 million and that was the final year of the federal investment. This year our overall budget is $27 million and a good portion of that is going towards repairs. If you base it on a percentage-wise, I think we’re doing more towards repair this year. We’ve had some units that were proposed to go up, HELP units. We’ve taken those. I think we have four that are proposed to go up this year. We’re taking the money from that and putting it into more home repair, because we do recognize that a significant investment has to continue to be made in home repair.
From the information in the 2009 Housing Corporation Needs Survey, about 80, maybe a little higher, around 80 percent of the communities have adequacy issues as a main core need problem. This is the reason I’m asking for at least this amount to be returned, in spite of the fact that we have less money overall. Will the Minister direct his senior staff to address the needs in accordance with the NWT Housing Corporation 2009 Needs Survey?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We continue to have discussions as senior management on how we can allocate more funding into the home repair. There are opportunities to move some money around and put it into home repairs, and we’re always open to that because we do recognize, as the Member does, that we do need to have a fairly good investment into the home repair, so that would deal with a lot of the adequacy issues we face in some of the small communities.
It’s my belief that part of the issues with the delivery of home repairs is communication. I feel that best communication is to the Housing Corporation to deliver programs through a decentralized model. Will the Minister examine the possibility of creating a decentralized model and put program officers and project officers in the communities where they’re delivering programs?
In the past we had community liaison officers in some of the communities, but the funding for that was deleted in anticipation of the government service officers coming on board. I believe we have eight communities now that are piloting this particular program. The NWT Housing Corporation was working closely with the Executive as to what we see these folks doing on our behalf in the communities. I believe in one of the Member’s communities there is a government services officer. So this is a pilot project right now. Once we’re able to see the results of this, it may be something that is expanded in the future.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree that is a positive step, and a step in the right direction with the individuals working in the communities for the GNWT. However, the people in the communities are seeing the program officers and project officers as the key to delivering. No matter how well the corporation advertises, I still walk into elders’ homes and they’re still waiting for somebody to come visit them. I’m wondering if the Minister can direct the staff to ensure that the delivery staff and program officers are going door to door. If there’s an individual there to work with the clients or the community officers in the communities from the Executive and work with them to go door to door to visit the elders when they’re delivering housing programs.
I have made commitments in this House in the past that we would try and get to as many folks in the communities, especially seniors, that would like to put in applications. I’ve made commitments to also have someone come along and interpret some of the programs so they’re more understanding of the programs that we offer and they’re able to fill out the applications a lot more accurately with the help of an interpreter. I have made those commitments.
As far as going door to door, that would require a great deal of time and resources. We prefer that those who feel that they need some work done or would like to fill out an application, contact us and then we will go to their units again, along with an interpreter if the need is there.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Deputy Premier. With regard to the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, apparently there’s been a list of prescribed amendments that the federal government would like to meet which has been shared with this government. I’d like to ask the Deputy Premier what the government’s position is when it comes to the amendments, the possibility of having a centralized board and having regional boards which presently are part of the land claims agreements. I’d like to ask the Deputy Premier what position this government is taking when it talks about restructuring the boards in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Deputy Premier, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a very fundamental political issue. The reality is that Northerners should be making those decisions, that if we had the authority over land, water, and resource development, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
This is a federal initiative and it’s one where what has been portrayed is that there is a need to reform the processes in the Northwest Territories.
It’s our opinion that the system we have is fundamentally sound, that the gaps and delays that happen occur when decisions have been made in the North and go to Ottawa. We do not even have, at this late date of our political evolution, the authority to appoint our own board members. That’s why we signed the agreement-in-principle and are moving on devolution. We fundamentally believe that the system is sound, that our position has been clear since 2009. It’s on our website that the system that’s here should be properly funded, that the structure that’s there should be maintained. That they should look at doing things to clarify, where there are policy issues that are grey, sort those out, properly fund the boards, and delegate simple authorities like making our own board appointments.
Again I’ll try to get back to my question. Hopefully I can get an answer. I’d like to ask the Minister if there was a list of amendments being proposed to the Government of the Northwest Territories. My understanding is there is a working group that was established between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government. I’d like to know what those items are on that list of amendments that they’d like to be made, and can we see that since the Government of the Northwest Territories is part of that working group.
