Mr. Speaker, we’ve been writing to committee since 2009. The Member, as the chair, could have requested a briefing at any point.
Mr. Chairman, we should also clarify that we didn’t change the design of the plate. We upgraded the plate to meet national standards that require some safety, there were safety concerns. There was also a size that needed to be incorporated into this new plate, and while we were at it we wanted to be able to be consistent with the government’s slogan, which is “Spectacular,” and incorporated that as a way to promote the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
I agree with the Minister on all those points but the fact is the design of the plate itself. I know the department came back to the committee and told us this “Spectacular” slogan would end up on that. We agreed with that. However, there is some design on the bottom of that plate that was never discussed with committee.
I’d like to ask the Minister why the committee, why the public wasn’t given some opportunity to comment on proposed options for the new design of the plate.
I guess the committee didn’t provide feedback because we didn’t have an opportunity to brief them. There was no opportunity to go in front of committee to present on the licence plate. We did talk to North America’s leader in licence plate design, 3M Corporation, who provided us some advice. We talked to the NWT Tourism Association, who provided us some advice. We also talked to the veterans, the Legion, the municipal officers, the RCMP, and we also consulted with other jurisdictions.
We didn’t go out and do a full-blown consultation process because we were not planning to change the design. It was one design and we wanted to incorporate safety factors into this plate. We wanted to deal with the environmental concern. We also wanted to meet industry or national standards and work with NWT Tourism and our government to promote the NWT. I think we did all these things.
The reality, and I respect that change is always hard to accept, especially with a new fee incorporated, but the reality is that we would have had to replace the licence plate in any event and if we had tried to maintain the old plate, the old design, I guess we could have, but that’s not the advice we got. The cost would have been a lot more than what we are incurring right now.
I thank the Minister for that. The bottom line is that there is a new design on the plate. We can agree to disagree on whether there’s a new design on the plate, but anybody looking at the new plate will certainly see that there’s a new design on the bottom portion of that plate. I’ll leave it at that.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation, for example, if somebody had personalized plates with the old plates, they pay a specialized fee for getting personalized plates. If they’ve just done that in the past six or eight months, now they’re going to be expected to not only pay the $10 for the new plate but also $25 to keep that plate after having already paid a fee for a personalized plate. I’m wondering if the Department of Transportation has any ideas in mind when it comes to folks like this, if they’re going to be paying twice within a short period of time for what in essence is the same plate on their car.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; there are instances where individuals have recently purchased personalized plates and they will now incur a new cost to replace them. It’s not the full cost. It’s $25 for the personalized plate plus $10 for the new plate. That doesn’t seem to be stopping people coming forward. We’ve already had up to 200 people come in and request new plates or replacement personalized plates. We think it’s a cost that’s fair and we’ll be sticking to the price that we are trying to take.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Getting back to the question Ms. Bisaro had and that Mrs. Groenewegen raised in her Member’s statement, the utilization of existing plates. If folks could go into the Department of Transportation and give them their old plate -- and I know the Minister talked about there being some kind of toxic paint or something on them. People aren’t going to eat them. They’re going to put them in their rec room or have them as a memento of their visit to the Northwest Territories. What’s stopping the Department of Transportation from collecting the plates from residents, giving them to ITI or some other agency to sell to tourists when they come North?
Great idea.
We are collecting the plates right now. As this moves forward, we will be collecting plates. People will be coming forward with the plates for disposal. ITI has already requested to see if we can recycle them. We’ve turned them down. We don’t want the plates going back on the market and being utilized in any other form, especially as souvenir plates on the front of a vehicle.
We are creating souvenir plates for the public to use, for the public to do whatever they want to do with it. They’re free to do that. That will go out to consultation, and Members, people across the floor can have input on that if they want to change the design or format of how it looks, colours, that’s open for discussion. As for recycling the plates, the public can retain their licence plate and do what they feel they want to do with it. But for the plates that are turned in, we are not putting them back on the market. We will be finding a way to dispose of them.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement was regarding the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline and the government’s stance on going forward. I just want to ask the Minister if the government is devoting the resource and attention to this megaproject and if the government will involve the MLAs up and down the delta, up and down the valley, community leaders, to push forward from an all-inclusive campaign group to work with this project.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the release of the Joint Review Panel report, governments have had to spend their time and effort on dealing with the recommendations, and legal advice we have been provided is that we should let the responsible Minister deal with the pipeline. As such, we have been limiting our remarks to just talking in general terms about the pipeline. That’s the approach that we’ve been taking.
The Minister said keeping on the timelines. Last year they took almost five years for this. I really hope that the federal government and our government don’t take that long regarding hearing back from the NEB. Will we be working with the federal Minister and our Minister regarding keeping the timelines and keeping them on track on the date that is set already, and when is that date?
The responsible Minister for our government is working hand in hand with the responsible federal Ministers. The timeline that everybody is working towards is to finalize the final reports by September 2010.
This report took five years from the JRP to get handed in. We have businesses in the delta that you know of in Inuvik and Tuk and Aklavik that are relying on this project. Not only this project, the people are having... There’s no work up there, no economic benefits and nothing going on right now other than building, if you’re a carpenter. No roadwork or anything. At the end of the day, this government has to take a step.
I thought we were too lax on not pushing this thing forward as hard as we should have. The Minister is doing a good job on working with the federal Minister, but I think the timeline, we have to get more concentrated in pushing them now to make this project happen. We need this project to go. We need the work. There’s nothing going on up in the delta. We’re going to have to wait another two years or three years before something happens.
Will the Minister commit to me today to work with the...to get this project off the ground and get the shovel ready?
We will continue to do what we can in this area. It’s very important for us, or critical for us, to wait until the final reports so that we can work from there. I think one of the very important factors is the sunset clause that was discussed at length. We would have to wait for the final report on that. Also the federal government has, through the consult to modify process, we will have to wait until that process runs its course and everything is geared to when we get the final report in September of this year.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline, I just want to make sure that our government is taking the proper steps in pushing forward this project so the people of the Territories... This is probably going to be the biggest project ever for us in Canada. Everybody wants to do it right. We have to find some stimulus to get people working up in the delta. Just want to make sure there are timelines and we have to stick to them.
We are working very diligently to make sure that all of the timelines are met and that when the report comes out in September 2010 we’ll be able to deal with the recommendations.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t want to belabour this licence plate issue, but I am not understanding why the Department of Transportation wants to dispose of the old licence plates. There are non-profit organizations, youth groups, sports associations, all kinds of people that if you won’t trade a new plate for an old plate, understood, but people can turn their old plate in to the Department of Transportation. You could in turn, instead of disposing of them, give that to some organization. They’re light as a feather, you can mail them out to people, and somebody could make money off these things. I need to understand why you wouldn’t give them to your brother’s department there.
I don’t know what he was going to do with them, but I think they have value and I don’t want to see them going into a landfill. Tell me again, if the Minister could, please, why we could not recycle these plates and earn money from them for some good cause. People would probably even bring them and trade them in and drop them off and pay for their new one if they thought the money was going to a good cause.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are two reasons, I guess, that we are reluctant to try to recycle these plates. Our preference would be to collect all the plates. We know that’s not realistic. People want to keep their plates as souvenirs. Some have personalized plates or numbers that they want to hang on to. Some want to keep it because the plate is not going to be in production any further. So we’ve made allowance for that. People can keep their licence plates. Organizations can do a drive to pick up licence plates. However, we have a concern about disposal of plates that are out on the market. These plates have a toxic dip that was required to prevent corrosion. We also would like to have all the licence plates off the market by December 2011 so that we can try to alleviate some of the concern of having unregistered vehicles out there with plates so that all vehicles will have new plates by then. We’ll also eliminate the temptation to put the old plates on the front of a vehicle, which is also illegal. There are a number of things that require us to move forward in keeping the plate off the market. Those are the reasons.
People put all kinds of things on the front of their vehicles. I didn’t know it was illegal to put a valid driver’s licence on the front of the vehicle. That’s news to me. I’ll have to make sure I don’t ever do that.
So the Department of Transportation is not willing to be the receiver of these plates to be recycled for any organization. So I guess it’s just, I think the whole idea of them being dipped in something is a bit of a red herring. I don’t think that’s going to stop people from collecting or reselling or doing anything. I guess all we can do is throw it out there that if somebody wants to mobilize or organize, that there could be some other way of collecting these and reusing these. I thought a good way would be to trade an old one in for a new one, but I guess the Minister doesn’t really have any appetite for that.
Just to be clear now, this chemical that these plates are dipped into to prevent or retard erosion, how worried should we be about that, handling these plates? Have they always been like that? I mean, let’s quantify that problem. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Member shouldn’t be driving with decorative plates on the front of the vehicle with any kind of numbering or any indication that it’s a legal plate. The plate is required to be on the back of the vehicle.
The disposal of the plates is not a red herring. It’s something that we have to do due diligence on. As the plates are turned over to us, we have to ensure proper disposal. We can’t afford to let 30,000 plates go into the landfill. That would collectively be of concern. So that’s what we have to do. The opportunity is still there for people to keep their plates. The opportunity is still there for organizations to collect them, if they so wish. It’s just that if they come into our hands, we want to make sure the disposal is done properly. Thank you.
The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during my Member’s statement I talked about the difficulties that people face when they have members of their family that are sick or members of their family who have passed away. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services questions on some of the policies that these people have to deal with. Would the Minister direct her staff to develop a policy on accommodation support for family members that are supporting the sick when they are outside of their home community? Thank you.
The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct in his concern that we do not have a policy or program funding to accommodate a family of our people when they are dying or when they are sick for any length of time. The only thing we have is a medical escort to medical travel. It’s limited to one person and usually for a very specific period of time. If the Member is interested in working as a committee chair to pursue this further, we could analyze that and see what the cost implications are and what the scope and breadth of that program might be. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, would the Minister then re-examine the Medical Travel Policy so that common sense decisions can be made quickly by the government to support individuals when the elderly or when the sick are involved and medical travel is required for family members? Thank you.
I believe the challenges and the problems that families have to go through has to do with the fact that we do not have a separate pot of money or program to accommodate families who want to be near those who are in care. All of the health authorities try to do their own way to accommodate them. Sometimes they get help from local bands or they look at every bit of money they have to do this, because we do not have a program and funding for that. So if the Member and the committee are interested in pursuing this, I’d be willing to… The Member knows that any changes to policy or establishing of a new program goes through working with the committees. So I will commit to working with the committee on those. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, also, in situations leading up to when an individual passes away in the community, there’s always the issue of providing a casket. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, the individuals and communities like to pull together to support families who have lost loved ones. Would the Minister review that policy of providing a casket -- I think it’s mostly for indigent people that they are providing -- so that there is some certainty when family members have a loss, some certainty to family in these trying times when they don’t have to deal with complex issues? Thank you.
The program we have now for providing for a casket is for the indigent only, which means people on income support. There is a very specific amount of money that is allocated for that. The problem is when the families want to go with something more costly, because they want to, as the Member said, do the best for their families. We currently do not have a program that would do that. Lots of back and forth that goes on is that staff are clear about what they are able to purchase. It’s the people who want to do more and we do not have programs for that. If the Member wants to pursue that and work with committee, I will be prepared to look at that. Thank you.
Your final question, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps there’s a requirement for an expansion of the policy outside of just purely indigent people, as well, considering the cost of living in the communities, even with individuals that have jobs. The cost of travel, especially if several family members have to go to Edmonton, even Yellowknife or even Hay River, for that matter, but especially when many members of the family have to travel to Edmonton, and then on top of that the cost of the casket adds to the expenses and a lot of the people can’t afford that. Like I said, communities do pull together, but I’d like to know if the Minister would also look at the policy again. I recognize what it’s for. Look at the policy again and maybe consider expansion of the policy to reach other constituents that may need that assistance. Thank you.
The policy is there now. Any expansion of the policy would require additional money and that would have to be the decision of the Legislature as a whole and the government as a whole.
Mr. Speaker, we spend lots of time talking about the sustainability and affordability of our health care and health care related costs. Obviously if we want to expand that and try to find new money, it would have to be done as a partnership between this side of the House and that side. Certainly, I’m willing to explore that, but at the end of the day, it would have to be a decision of the entire Assembly. Thank you.
The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions will be to the Minister of Education today and it will be a follow-up to my Member’s statement regarding the potential of a pan-territorial university, perhaps an aurora university, that could be either based out of the Northwest Territories or in certainly some partnership with our two other sister territories. Mr. Speaker, my question is: has the Minister of Education given any consideration to the creation of a northern university? Thank you.
The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think we have to keep in mind that we are delivering university courses right now. We currently deliver degree programs and masters programs at current stages right now, but we are exploring further to delivering more of university-type programs to our schools, into our institutions, the three main campuses that we have. I just recently met with my colleagues in Nunavut, in the Yukon, on exploring options and how it’s going to look, a university of the Arctic. We realize that more work needs to take place.
At the same time, I just recently met with Minister Strahl as well. It is under his jurisdiction. We talked about the vision of the North and the three main campuses and also the three territories as a united approach. We did agree that we need to expand on our campuses. We are exploring those options right now, Mr. Speaker. We will continue to update the Members as we move forward. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, if I understand it, our college presently offers university courses, but it is not necessarily university based. It works in partnership with other universities. I will let the Minister correct in the record if that is not quite accurate. Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear what the progress milestones are that we could achieve. Are there any types of roadblocks stopping the potential of an Arctic university emerging here in the Northwest Territories? As I said in my Member’s statement, education is the best gift we can offer any future generation. Certainly, I would like to see us plant the seeds on a project like this. Again, Mr. Speaker, what progress to date really has been made? Are there any substantial roadblocks bowing this evolution down towards a northern university? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I do agree that education is the best gift that we can provide to the Northwest Territories. I did provide to the Member that one can look at it as not a university base, but we are delivering university core courses and we are graduating teachers with degree programs. A Member can look at it as not a base but we are expanding on our programs.
The three main campuses that we have, the goal is to expand further so it is recognized as a university of the north or the university of the Arctic. That is the vision that we have with Minister Strahl. The three jurisdictions, Territorial Ministers’ Meeting, we met on this. We are making progress in this area. Some may question the bricks and mortar if we are going to have an established university in the North. Due to the economy, it may not be feasible at this time, but we are focussing on what we can do now, expanding more partnerships or approach the universities across the country, the Northwest Territories, across Canada and also internationally.
Mr. Speaker, we are doing what we can to be recognized as a university institution so we can access federal funding on scientific research through the federal government. That has been a discussion at the federal level and we will continue to discuss that. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, just working in this direction, I am not necessarily sure bricks and mortar needs to be our first stop on this future goal to bring in a university to the Northwest Territories working in a pan-territorial way with Nunavut and the Yukon. I think when you have excellent examples like Athabasca University, I think that shows that you can create courses and a system that works well for everyone. It is really about the designation and the quality of education that we can provide people to the next step. As the Minister is quite correct, we are aiding people in their pursuit through a nursing and Teacher Education Program through university designation, but the designation seal doesn’t come with the university of the Arctic because we are a college.
Mr. Speaker, the last point I just want to say is, with the gap created by the loss of the First Nations University, this could be the opportunity for us to seize that brass ring to bring that education level to the Northwest Territories, that type of education level to the three territories in a pan-university style. Would the Minister look at it from that perspective and tell me what he sees as roadblocks in taking advantage of this and does he see the opportunity I am presenting? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I did touch on that. That is our vision with the federal Minister for the territorial jurisdictions. We see this coming. Definitely that is an area of vision that we have in our target, is to establish an Athabasca University type here in the Northwest Territories and supporting the other two Nunavut and Yukon campuses as well. Mr. Speaker, those are the ongoing discussions that we are having.
I think we definitely will see a light because what we are discussing here, there is a university of the Arctic funding flowing through Saskatchewan. Of course, yes, the money has been scaled back by the federal government, but I don’t see any obstacles. I see challenges, but at the same time, there are opportunities for us to move forward with the federal government. That is why the federal government met with us and discussed opportunities. We will be following through the federal Minister, probably in the beginning of the summer, and discussing further on the action plan on where we need to go, develop a business case scenario. Mr. Speaker, we are developing a business case scenario between the three territorial jurisdictions and present that to the federal Minister. We will update the Members as we move forward. Mahsi.
Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
