Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. After the July 31st report has been delivered and has been reviewed, could the Minister put some kind of a time frame on when we can conceivably see something like this in operation in Hay River, perhaps by the fall? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to say the fall, but we do need to go through an O and M budgetary process to identify the resources that are needed to deliver this court. It will be part of the normal budget process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the Sahtu being at a critical point in training its workforce. I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about the opportunity to get a Sahtu training centre in our region, due to the increase of oil and gas exploration. Last year there were 150 workers that were hired outside of our communities to come in and do work there, and also there are more and more people now taking advantage of these training opportunities.
Can we have something like a larger centre like Smith, Yellowknife and Inuvik, where now we can have a training centre in our region?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Sahtu region training centre has been a topic of discussion for a few meetings we have been to. We have regional training representatives, as well, to identify the training needs of the Sahtu region. We also have the college involved in the process of our discussion. Just recently I also delivered the interesting, high-profile Sahtu when it comes to training, how the college can get involved so it can be a training centre for the Sahtu region. Those are the discussions we are currently having, and I will inform the Member as we move forward on a progression plan. Mahsi.
Husky is building an all-weather road for $30 million/$45 million. The application for Conoco through the hydraulic fracking is going for a review, and if that application is approved, certainly you’re going to see an increase in employment activities in the Sahtu.
If that continues with the potential of billions of barrels of oil that needs to be extracted from the Sahtu lands, in light of this, can the Minister give me a commitment to say that yes, we will start working on a capital plan infrastructure so at the end of this Assembly we should be looking at the training needs assessment, the requirements, the program, and we can start putting something together that would say we can have a Sahtu trade centre in the year 2018 or ‘19, something like that? Can the Minister provide me with that type of commitment?
This is the very reason why we need to reach out to the community representatives, so they can provide us feedback on what is required at the regional level. Part of the discussion involved the local leadership as well. The chiefs made remarks on Trades on Wheels, mobile trades training similar to Beaufort-Delta. How can we integrate that into our discussion for the Sahtu region? So we are talking about partnerships. That’s what it comes down to.
There have been various partnerships driven by the community of Inuvik and also surrounding communities in the Beaufort-Delta. So we’re going to be having similar discussions with the Sahtu region and other regions, as well, about the high-profile training demands that will be happening.
The Sahtu has been committed to spend over $635 million, close to $700 million. This year there’s more lands coming up, and we decided on September 17th there will possibly be more money spent in there. So this is telling us that this government needs to look at a trades centre. We need to get these learning centres into more than upgrading. We have to have cooking, welding, carpentry.
Can the Minister give a commitment to say we are in competition with maybe the Yellowknife Campus here for schooling? We have to look outside the box. I want to ask the Minister, can he provide an overview as to what it will take to get this into the capital planning process for a Sahtu trades centre. Thank you.
I would see this as an opportunity as opposed to a competition with the college. The college is on board and they want to do as much as they can, even beyond what they currently deliver at the college campuses, whether it be Inuvik, Yellowknife or Fort Smith and now the Sahtu region. At the same time, I would encourage the Member to voice, as well, with the industry.
We understand that there is upwards of $700 million going into the region and how industries can take part in that, whether it is the centre or training programming. It will be based on industry standards as well. They have done that with the diamond industry. It’s been very successful. If we can get them on board, I would encourage the Member and we will do the same with our department as political leaders around the table, to push that forward with the leaders and also the industry leaders as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Last supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How is his department working with the oil companies to identify and meet the training needs for local workers? I have been voicing with the oil companies. Unfortunately, I am not in the position to make that kind of final decision to say yes, we will commit. The Minister can do that. He’s in that position. So I want to ask the Minister for his direction and leadership. How can you tell me you’re working with the oil companies and they can commit to a Sahtu needs training centre?
Mahsi. That’s the very thing we’re doing right now with the committee representatives. I do believe there are industry representatives. I can double-check on that. Those are discussions we are currently having with the leadership in the Sahtu region. I’ll provide the Member with the latest update on our discussions and we’ll continue to drive that with industry because they need to be on board. The whole economic boom that is happening, they need to be part of that as we are. So we’ll continue to push that forward. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Member’s statement earlier today about the situation that we’re dealing with in Inuvik, my questions today are for the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation, or the Minister of Finance. He made a statement in his budget address for the ‘13-14 fiscal year, and he had mentioned that there was $100,000 that was allocated to advance the liquid natural gas solution for the community of Inuvik with the situation that they find themselves in right now. I’d like to get an update on how that $100,000 has been spent and where we are in terms of where we are in finding a solution to that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are on track to have liquid natural gas in the community of Inuvik by this fall, running the electrical requirements through the Power Corporation, and all the pieces are in place for various contracts. There’s some construction work to do. LNG contracts have been signed. So we’re on track to provide that through NTPC. As well, we’re working with the town to see if there’s an opportunity to piggyback in terms of supply, should the community itself want to look at changing from synthetic natural gas to liquid natural gas. Thank you.
I think that’s great news for the residents of Inuvik that in the fall time we should have something up and ready.
In terms of storage, I think we had about 20-some days where the road was closed during the wintertime. I’d like to ask the Minister, with this liquid natural gas in terms of storage, what is the plan on putting to storage and how many days can we see this LNG be stored for should we have a road closure? How many days will we have a supply of liquid natural gas to the community of Inuvik? Thank you.
The requirement for storage is going to be minimized partially by the extension of ferry service in Inuvik, which is going to keep the ferries open much longer than what has normally been the practice up until now, because of the improved equipment that’s going to be used there. We also have full redundancy with diesel. So, once again, the requirements for expensive storage of liquid natural gas are somewhat mitigated by those two factors. We’re looking at storage of up to a month, if necessary. Thank you.
A lot of really good answers there and very positive. The situation, as I mentioned, January, February, March were almost disastrous to some of the families that have to deal with the high costs that they experienced. I guess my next question is the timeline. The Minister did mention the fall time, but for any residents, we want to put them at ease. Is there an exact date? Are we looking at August, September, October that we’ll have this type of system in place before it gets cold and we start experiencing the cold of the winter months? Thank you.
The Power Corporation intends to be on-line with liquid natural gas by October, providing everything rolls out smoothly and it looks like all the pieces and planning are proceeding at a pace to hit that date. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On February 28th this House passed a motion regarding fuel price regulation, to investigate and evaluate the possibilities of gas price regulation here in the Northwest Territories.
My question to the Premier of our Assembly here is: What has this government done to date in preparing for the 120-day response over gas price regulation for the people of the Northwest Territories?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a very sensitive area. We are working to find solutions, and we’re trying to find out why a carbon tax is embedded in the high prices for gasoline.
I’m not sure what carbon tax has to do with anything on this. My question for the Premier, once again, is: What work has been done to date preparing for the official response to the House on gas price regulation, which the request was to investigate and evaluate that possibility?
As usual, we’re doing our due diligence. We’re going out to look at best practices. We’re going out to all of the provinces to see how successful or how well they’re doing with regulating the prices. I think that we always feel that, let the private sector do it; the private sector can do a better job. We don’t want to get in a situation where we regulate industry and then government is going to have to operate all of the service stations. We’re checking to see how well other provinces are doing or if there is something there that we can emulate.
When I hear the Premier how he feels about this issue, I mean, to be quite frank, I don’t care how he personally feels. But it sounds as if the decision has already been made on that biasness, and there are five provinces who already regulate as very good and simple models.
What type of public input has the Premier gone to beyond his personal feelings, or the government’s feelings, of price regulation? What type of public input on what the people would like on this issue? That’s ultimately the question here is: Is price regulation needed in the Northwest Territories, and is it wanted by citizens?
We haven’t gone out with a survey or… I would imagine that everybody wants lower prices, so I think it’s a given that the people of the Northwest Territories want lower prices. The MLA from Tsiigehtchic indicated they’re paying $1.99 for gas, so obviously, that’s something. We want to find a way to reduce the cost of living in all of the communities in the Territories.
When you look at some of the prices that are regulated – I think PEI is one of the places – and the last time I checked, it was something in the neighbourhood of $1.31 a litre for gasoline, and that’s a regulated price in Prince Edward Island. We are looking at different approaches, and as part of our business planning, we will see what we can propose to try to find a way to reduce gasoline prices.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think even our own economic opportunities group that was doing a study on creating a robust environment for business cited concerns about the difficulty in prices around fuel in every region.
Would the Premier provide an opportunity for the public to provide some public input on their feelings on this particular issue? Will he reach out to the public as they build a government position? As the Premier knows, I have an on-line petition. Will the Premier be willing to help promote that to ensure we get public input on this issue that’s so important?
I thought the Member didn’t care how I felt. Definitely, we will find a way to get public input.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mentioned briefly in my Member’s statement that residents of Tsiigehtchic are now paying $1.92 per litre for gasoline and also $1.87 for diesel and $1.73 for heating oil. I thought our fuel prices are supposed to be subsidized. How is the department subsidizing the fuel prices for Tsiigehtchic? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Abernethy.
The Department of Public Works, through the petroleum products division, does not subsidize fuel. In fact, through the Petroleum Products Revolving Fund Act, we are required to recover full operating costs from the retail sale of our fuel products. So there is no subsidy, but there is also no profit added on.
When fuel prices are calculated and determined, it is based on the actual product cost to the GNWT, transportation costs to the GNWT, a slight sales commission that goes to the local provider, O and M expenses, some evaporation loss, and taxes. But under the act we have an obligation to do a full cost recovery, no profit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, there has to be some profit there. The community of Fort McPherson, which is 57 kilometres away, is paying $1.65. There is a big difference there. How is that price difference of 57 kilometres roughly 30 cents more? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am not currently familiar with the actual price of fuel in the community of Fort McPherson. There are a couple of things to consider. Often, when people come to us and express concerns about the fuel prices, they are referring to the price of regular fuel. We do not purchase regular fuel in PPD. We purchase mid-grain, which is usually three to four cents higher than the regular.
With respect to the prices in Fort McPherson, they are a for-profit organization. We don’t know any of the criteria they use to price their fuel, but ours are based on actual purchase price for the GNWT, the actual transportation costs, sales commission which goes straight to the provider in the community, as well as some evaporation loss and taxes. We don’t have any profit margin on the fuel that we are providing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I request unanimous consent to return to item 3 on the orders of the day.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, colleagues. I appreciate the opportunity to give my Member’s statement here today. For the past four years, I pushed for sound recreational land use planning in the Yellowknife block of land transfer area surrounding Walsh and Banting lakes and beyond. We had a premature draft plan released by MACA and a promise for a completed policy framework by this March 31st, but thanks to recent and outrageous action by our federal land management partners, we can forget about that document or any worthwhile plan for now.
Walsh and Banting lease holders are steaming over AANDC’s recent granting of both hunting and fishing leases on the lakes. According to reports, building materials have piled up on the new lease site with a busy construction season in store on leases that are temporary leases for five years of casual occupation.
The MACA Minister has described a close and consultative relationship with the feds over land permitting. At my urging, he wrote to the federal Minister in 2012 to stress the need for information sharing, co-operative action, and enforcement to discourage squatting. Despite glowing descriptions of consultations to keep both sides in the loop, our government was apparently blindsided by constituent report of the new leases, 85 new leases across the NWT with many more applications in this area, a federal track record of zero enforcement on squatting and compliance with lease conditions. What is the point of our new plan when the feds throw in a highly suspect game-changing lease rampage?
Along with the residents of Walsh and Banting, I’m fed up, Mr. Speaker. Coming up to devolution, this government is afraid to breathe on land issues such as Protected Areas Strategy. On the federal side, there is disregard and apparently even contempt for our efforts at responsible land management. The Minister says the feds knew we had a new recreational lease management plan in the wings, yet they toss off new leases in the exact area where we’re trying to manage responsibly.
Just as our plan was to be finalized, the Minister now acknowledges we need yet a new density study. With the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, this continuing alienation of land rights in the absence of a claims settlement is insulting, arrogant, and crippling to the prospects of a just settlement. Enough is enough.
I ask the MACA Minister: How could the feds have so contemptuously disregarded our announced actions and saddled us with these unplanned tenures in the months leading up to land management transfer?
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Mahsi.
---Unanimous consent granted
With my colleagues’ co-operation again for returning to the next item on the orders, I will be asking the Minister’s assurance that he will make clear that come devolution day, every hunting and fishing leaseholder will be rigorously held to conditions for no creation of permanent structures. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
