Debates of May 15, 2007 (day 7)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that we extend sitting hours beyond the normal hours of the adjournment to conclude the bill under consideration. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The motion is in order. It is not debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Do you have a follow-up?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to have to apologize to the Minister in terms of his response. Can I ask him to repeat it, because I didn’t have the mic on.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, once approved, this money will be eligible on an application base by communities, to a maximum of $30,000. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The $30,000 per community, up to $30,000, I am not saying that they are going to give every community based on an application, first-come, first-served. It is application-based up to $30,000, so it doesn’t say a community will get $30,000. Is it somewhat within the department to say that the Gwich’in, the Beaufort-Delta, Sahtu, Tlicho, South Slave and the North Slave here will get a certain percentage of the funding? Some communities might be a little slow coming out of the gate in terms of how this application is filled out and sent to the communities in Nahendeh in terms of this funding here. Some of them are pretty quick on the draw in terms of getting this application filled out here. I want to ask the Minister that.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding is all community governments established under our legislation are eligible, as well as First Nation councils. They are Jean Marie River, Kakisa, Hay River Reserve, Lutselk’e Dene Band, Nahanni Butte Dene Band, Wrigley and Detah. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs may have further detail on that.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The intention of this program is to support the community operated youth centres. This pot of money would be targeted towards those youth centres on an application basis. With the maximum being $30,000, any one community could apply for it and only one organization within that community. Right now, we are anticipating there are probably around nine youth centres that would be applying. If we have an intake of more than nine, then we would have to decrease the cap of $30,000. That is what we are intending to do. It is really intended to supplement some of the fundraising that the youth centres are currently using and allow them to operate with a little more room to manoeuvre.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, would the new youth centres be eligible to qualify for this funding? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, consideration will be open to all applications, new and existing centres.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am very happy to see this item in the budget here. I have asked for it. Even if you had communities that apply for it, it would certainly help to offset the…They want to help the communities. They want to offset some of the stuff that is happening in communities because of some communities that don’t have the youth centres open. Even certain amount of time through the months there, that they can have youth centres open, especially on Friday, Saturday and even Sunday nights, that the youth centre would be open to eliminate or to minimize the other stuff that is happening that sometimes has the youth be in trouble or deal with problems. I think that is really good. I think it is a good thing. I am glad to see that this is in the budget and is being looked at. I think the government has heard. I know it is not enough, but I certainly appreciate this being in there. The Minister indicated that there are probably nine youth centres that could be eligible for it and maybe more coming forward. We might have to reduce the…but at least it gives the start for some of the youth centres to get the doors open for them. It is better than nothing. That is what is happening right now. There is money only eligible for certain youth centres in the North and the rest are suffering, so I certainly welcome this. This is good news for me anyhow for the region. I look forward to the criteria. I hope the criteria doesn’t hinder any youth centre organization in the community to not apply for this money. I hope it is a friendly application that people could have access to this and use it in better ways in terms of helping the youth stay away from behaviour that gets them in the newspaper or in one of the RCMP stats. That is all I have to say. That is not so much of a question but more of a comment to the Ministers. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Sport, recreation and youth, not previously authorized, $250,000.

Agreed.

Municipal and Community Affairs, operations expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $21.465 million.

Agreed.

Page 13, Public Works and Services, operations expenditures, directorate, not previously authorized, $193,000.

Agreed.

Asset management, not previously authorized, $1.334 million. Mr. Braden.

Mr. Chair, one of the initiatives outlined here, it is a new initiative. It is to provide funding for decommissioning and environmental remediation of tank farms in Fort McPherson and Wrigley to the tune of $350,000. I wanted to ask, Mr. Chair, are these funds in any way being secured through the eco-Trust funding or any of these kinds of initiatives from Ottawa, or are they being handled in our regular course of business in managing our tank farms, Mr. Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there is no money from the eco-Trust dollars going into this. This is part of the normal work that Public Works would be undertaking. With this process of some additional dollars, not from the eco-Trust but from our regular form of financing arrangement, with additional dollars, they requested that this be put back in. It was part of the new initiatives that they requested through the business plan, but it was not addressed as a lot of the new initiatives were. The Fort McPherson tank farm ceased delivery services in December of 2001. The last inventory from that tank farm was sold off in December 2003. The Wrigley tank farm ceased delivery services in July of 2002. The last inventory it had was sold off in the summer of 2004. They have been sitting there now. We need to proceed with decommissioning. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The total bill for this will be under the first of a three-year program, so the total cost for this work on these two tank farms is $1.3 million over three years for decommissioning and environmental remediation. Could the Minister give us a bit of an idea how much to actually do the tear down and then how much for remediation out of that $1.3 million allocation, Mr. Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Details, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don’t have the actual dollar breakdown per job. What we do have, for example, Fort McPherson in 2007-08, decommissioning of the tank farm and resupply pipelines will be carried out. In 2008-09, hydrocarbon remediation as well as 2009-10 and then the final report. Wrigley in 2008-09 is decommission, resupply pipeline, shore manifold with catchment basin and dispenser cabinets and then the hydrocarbon as well and hydrocarbon remediation as well in 2009-10 and then the final report. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Page 13, Public Works and Services, operations expenditures, asset management, not previously authorized, $1.334 million.

Agreed.

Public Works and Services, operations expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $1.527 million.

Agreed.

Page 14 and 15, Health and Social Services, operations expenditures, directorate, not previously authorized, negative $24,000.

Agreed.

Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted a little bit more information on the Northern Women’s Health Program, $116,000. It looks like that is a PY. I am just wondering how that position would relate to the Aboriginal Wellness Program.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Member is right; the funding of $116,000 will fund a nursing position. The position will be located in Yellowknife and will be part of the services offered by the Stanton Territorial Health Authority working with the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority and remote communities. It will work at implementing a coordinated Prenatal Care Program for the NWT and facilitating an educational-based program for health care professionals delivering prenatal care in the NWT. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. How is prenatal care coordinated in the NWT today? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, health authorities right now have delivery of that program. The department does work with them in trying to set up an overall program. I feel that this is needed to help improve on that delivery aspect of it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Ramsay.

That is good. Thank you.

Thank you. Page 14 and 15, Health and Social Services, operations expenditures, directorate, not previously authorized, negative $24,000.

Agreed.