Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My next question is concerning one of the issues that face the commercial fishermen right now and that’s the high cost of fuel. One of the things that they pay is they pay the full taxes on the road tax. I know the department has looked in the past at this and they recently reviewed this policy. Is there somehow they can support the commercial fishing industry, because the gas is not used on a road system?
Thank you. The $225,000 that I spoke of earlier, that is money that goes to commercial fishers here in the NWT to help offset the high cost of fuel to help get them out on the lake harvesting fish. That’s something that we will continue to support. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow up to my Member’s statement, I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Why is there still no nurse in Tsiigehtchic? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Health, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently the system that we’re employing and working with is the health and social services integrated service delivery model, which uses a combination of nurses, physicians and other community primary care workers to cover the nursing needs in all communities that have under 250 people. Thank you.
Thank you. What are Health and Social Services and the regional health authority doing to remedy this situation?
The first thing we’re doing is we’re reviewing the integrated service delivery model and working with the health and social services authorities across the territory so that they have an opportunity to re-evaluate the nursing needs in each community, including communities that have under 250 people, for a possible placement of nurses in those communities. Thank you.
As I mentioned earlier, the community has set aside housing for a nurse. Will the Minister work with the community leaders to find a way to put a nurse in that house? Thank you.
Yes, the department and the health and social services authority is willing to work with the community to try to get a nurse into Tsiigehtchic on a full-time basis. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No further questions.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have so many questions today I don’t know which ones to ask, but let me follow up on my colleague Mr. Moses’ questions.
Now, I’m not familiar with his constituent and I’m not familiar with the contract, but I just want to tell you what I heard through objective ears here in this exchange on the floor of the House. I heard that the health authority assessed an RFP and the local contractor was the appropriate contractor or proposal to win the contract. It got put through the BIP process and they, as a northern BIP company, then, after you’ve applied the BIP process, lost the contract to a southern contractor. Is that what I’m hearing? Because if that’s the case, BIP backfired on us this time.
I’ve listened to the exchange and I’m extremely curious about it, because RFPs are purposefully set up to allocate a score for experience, management, and you’d think if the person had the contract already that they would score very high in that area. So I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services is that where this contract was lost with the application of the BIP on a northern company. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The original evaluation of BIP and how an individual from the authority advised a northern contractor that looked like they had the best bid was based on the fact that the evaluation was done without evaluating the northern content of the southern bidder, the original. Thank you.
Thank you. Okay, so I understand that. So they didn’t look at the northern content piece of the southern bidder’s proposal, but then the northern proponent appealed the evaluation and there is an opportunity, there is a vehicle to do that. Why was the contract awarded while the appeal process was still in play? Thank you.
The contract was awarded after the appeal process was denied by quality assurance, Public Works and Services. Thank you.
Thank you. The details of this are starting to sound more and more like, as my colleague Mr. Moses suggested, that we need a little disclosure on this, because we as MLAs, and residents of the NWT who are bidding on contracts, need to have confidence that their proposals are being treated in a fair manner and this seems to have a few anomalies which would indicate to the contrary.
So along with my colleague Mr. Moses, I would like to ask the Minister if he will provide a full briefing for us on this side of the House on how this went wrong. Obviously something went wrong. The proponent from the North thought they had the contract, then found that they didn’t have the contract and there was a mistake made, perhaps that things should have been recalled and they should have started over again. Thank you.
Yes, we can do that. I will discuss with the two other departments that are involved in this evaluation, those being ITI for BIP and then the appeal process through Public Works and Services. The three departments will get together and develop a presentation specific to this review and provide that to P and P. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So this in fact is three departments. ITI, Public Works and Health and Social Services will do a post-mortem on a process after the fact. What opportunity or vehicle or tool does the Minister have to correct this problem should it be determined from this evaluation of this process that this was in fact awarded to the wrong company? What will the Minister do about it?
That’s a hypothetical question, but I’ll give it if the Minister wants to respond.
Mr. Speaker, I would have to do the evaluation with the departments, like I indicated. Then there are tools that will allow us to make a decision that if we felt that the wrong decision was made at the end of the day, then we would have to consider doing something. I don’t know the process, I don’t know if that technically has been reversed in the past, but at this time the decision was based on an evaluation of the authority, ourselves, ITI and Public Works. So the decision was made based on that. If this re-evaluation going through another appeal process determines a different outcome, then we’ll have to cross that bridge when we get there.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member’s statement I mentioned the increased need for physical intervention to provide safety to both motorists and bison on our NWT highways. Admittedly the Department of ENR in conjunction with the Department of Transportation have done a relatively good job under the Wood Bison Management Strategy, with harvest strategies, deterrence measures, communication and improved signage. However, it is very clear that it is not enough, given the unique circumstances and increased migration of bison onto our highway corridor. Can the Minister of ENR indicate what’s been taking place behind the scenes with his department that would address a more forward thinking of bison and motorist safety on our NWT roads?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The list that the Member outlined I think is fairly progressive and it’s reflected in the number of collisions that ENR has in their database. There’s been a steady decline since 2009. There’s 17 collisions in 2009, six in 2010, five in 2011, none so far in 2012. I think the work is paying off and the ultimate responsibility, of course, for the control and care of the vehicle is that of the driver and making sure they drive appropriately given the conditions on the road, be it the condition of the road itself and if there are animals in the vicinity. Not just bison, there could be moose as well. I would point out that there’s a far greater chance of suffering any kind of injury or fatality by hitting a moose than there is a bison.
It was impressive today to hear some statistics. Unfortunately, if one is looking under the website under the Drive Alive program and bison awareness, the most recent statistics posted are somewhat dated. In fact, the last entries indicate only 2007 numbers in which 18 wood bison were killed by vehicle collisions. Given this information here, can the Minister indicate as to when the proper information that we just heard in the House will be posted on the website for update?
The officials are listening as we speak and we’ll make sure that this information that I have before me is there for the public as well.
I guess the question today is not so much the probability of hitting a moose; the hot topic today is bison. I believe there is obviously a need for it. Anyone who is driving these roads, as I said earlier, it’s not a when, the imminence is there. There is no doubt. Given the need for a physical intervention, as I mentioned earlier, potential electronic tagging or reflective tagging to alert motorists of imminent bison danger, would this Minister and his department consider working with Regular Members, with industry leaders of reflective technology, the scientific community, and of course Aboriginal leaders to draft a business case that would allow real employment in the region, real-time herd management, and of course motorist safety in the region.
The accidents involving bison are on a fairly significant decline, it would appear, because of the concerns that have been voiced over the years and the efforts that have been made to inform the public, to educate them, to do some of the signage issues, the increased hunting, the tags, which I think has been a great deterrent to bison hanging around the roads. The worst time of the year is October as things get dark and people still drive at speeds that they do in the summer and often get surprised. I also understand, as well, that bison don’t, unlike other animals, turn into the approaching lights but tend to keep sideways, minimizing whatever benefit would be there from reflective tags. The other big issue is, especially with bulls, during rutting season tags tend to get torn off and all that work is in vain, as it were, so that the cost is great and the benefit seems to be minimal for that particular type of approach.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d have to disagree with the Minister on this one here. Studies in Colorado and BC are actually telling quite the opposite story with reflective technology and I would encourage the Minister and his department to do some research in that area. I hope that at the end of the day we’re talking about public safety and it only requires one incident here, and we’re trying to prevent that one incident.
Again, my last and final question to the Minister is: How and when would the Minister consider such a strategy to be implemented within the life of the 17th Assembly?
I’ll ask the officials in ENR to take a look to see what other studies have said. Clearly the numbers don’t bear out the type of investment the Member would seem to want and the risk to public safety, I would once again submit, is greater if you’re driving the highways in the North, especially towards the southern part where there’s moose, of hitting a moose where there has clearly been fatalities that I’m aware of both in the North and in the South. Once again, the ultimate responsibility of the vehicle is under the control of the driver and the driver has every responsibility to exercise due care and caution.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. My statement today was about sport fishing. Sport fishing, of course, is a very leisurely activity that all Northerners undertake. If done right, more likely it could draw in tourists that more likely could spend dollars in the communities. It could also boost, ideally, business ensuring there’s a service delivered for tourists to travel up here for fishing. In Fort Providence this is kind of a classic example of where perhaps we need to balance efforts to create economic opportunities plus conservation, so my question is: Can the Department of ENR assist in helping the communities seek a long-term sport fishing management plan for the area of Fort Providence?
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member raising this concern and I would be happy to share with him the information that I do have on the work that’s been done over the last number of years on this issue that’s come up. The very specific question that he asked, I will have discussions with the officials of ENR and the deputy, keeping in mind that fisheries is a federal obligation and as of late they’ve been under some pressure due to deficit reductions and layoffs and such. We’ll see what is possible. I appreciate the Member’s concern and I’ll once again share the information that I do have about the work that has been done over the last number of years trying to deal with this issue.
I’d like to thank the Minister for responding and ensuring that there is an information flow to this side of the House. My immediate concern is this has been ongoing for some time, especially with the increased traffic as the potential for the bridge completion more likely we’ll have more people coming in by vehicles and also by boats. Just namely because of not just for the scenery but the fish that exist in that area. My question is: Is there anything immediate that the department could do to help the community monitor at least if the fish stocks in Fort Providence are at a sustainable level?
There have been discussions with DFO with the community. There have been quotas put on. Especially during this time of year when the fish are running. There have been the renewable resources officers on the water more often and if they’re taken away by other fire duties, for example, we’ve in the past as well had local fish monitors making sure to check the fishing that’s going on. We’ve been making sure that all the folks that are fishing have the proper licences and making sure that the catches are within the established limits. Once again, I’ll look forward to having a more detailed discussion with the Member.
Would the Minister agree as one possible option in consultation with the local community that the Minister could in fact perhaps consider designating the Fort Providence area as a conservation zone in land use planning?
The Member is very well aware, I think, of the complexity of the Dehcho Land Use Plan and Protected Areas Strategy listing sites as conservation areas. There’s a process that’s been underway for many, many years now. If there was any wish to change that, it would be done through the table that currently is trying to resolve that issue.
I know as a government we’re committed to trying to get the Dehcho Land Use Plan agreed to and approved. It’s been a long time in the works. That issue would flow through that process and would require, I think, a significant amount of discussion if there’s going to be any significant change to what’s currently on the table.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is just on the fish studies, whether there is perhaps within the department’s plan to evaluate the fish stocks on the Mackenzie River, ensuring that levels do indeed maintain at a sustainable rate.
I’ll commit to have the ENR officials contact the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to get a full update on that particular issue which I will share with the Member.
