Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I talked about the celebration of students who have graduated from universities, colleges and other post-secondary institutions. I want to specifically focus on the Northwest Territories Aurora College graduates. These students have made some huge sacrifices to take their studies in the North, to leave their communities, and they have made sacrifices to the families. They have also done things that I just don’t know how they did it. They take on extra jobs, one or two jobs, study late at night to get a degree or diploma or certificate.
I want to ask the Minister, with our continuous support of services to these students through these hard times, what is the department doing to look at ways that we can help the students with large families away from home living in cramped conditions to help them through their educational studies as they attend either Inuvik, Yellowknife or Fort Smith institutions? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First and foremost is congratulating all the college grads throughout the Northwest Territories. We are very, very proud of them. Obviously, we want them to further their education success, as well, then, upon completion, return back to the Northwest Territories so we can offer them a northern attractiveness when it comes to workforce development.
Part of the Student Financial Assistance program is, again, one of the best across our nation and also international world renowned as well. We continue to provide those subsidies, those services to our students, whether it be in the certification of the diploma programming degree or master’s program or even Ph.D. Our students are now pursuing Ph.Ds. We have increased our SFA, so we can increase the disability area, professional areas. So, those are areas we can continue to monitor and we’ll make changes that reflect our northern students. Mahsi.
I want to let the Minister know that I would like to continue tracking the types of support services that are going to be looked at for continued support for our Aurora College students and in our institutions. I also want to say to the Minister, I would like, one day, to see our learning centres in our small communities take part in the celebration like we have done in Fort Smith, Yellowknife and the Inuvik campuses. We have had a good celebration in our own communities in our learning centres.
Is the Minister looking at ways that we can improve our community learning centres so that one day we can also have a celebration in one of our small communities at our learning centres? Is that a possibility?
Yes. It’s a great possibility. In fact, I’ll be addressing that with the Board of Governors when we’re meeting in June. We’ve already addressed with the Board of Governors a while ago, and they are developing their corporate plan for a long-term strategy. This will obviously be part of their strategy, community learning centres in all communities. They should be producing highly skilled, qualified people. That’s my view, that’s my push, and I fully support that. The Members support that, as well, so we’ll continue to push that forward.
In my research specifically in the Sahtu communities, I have noted that the high school students with greater or higher grades needing diplomas or certificates in the Sahtu. Norman Wells has 89 percent of students. Colville Lake is 78; Fort Good Hope, 68; Deline, 62; and Tulita, 58. These are good start points for measurements to say at some period of time that we want to get 100 percent of these students that have a higher than Grade 12 diploma. This leads me to my third question.
I understand from the last session, and I’ve been pressing the Minister very hard on a Sahtu needs assessment, because we have opportunities that are knocking on our doors. I need to know, is this needs assessment going to be released? What are the next steps? We need to get these students who are willing to work, who want to work, and get them trained now in the Sahtu.
First, I’d like to commend the Sahtu region and the communities for their academic success. Congratulations to them. The needs assessment that the Member is referring to is before our department now compiling all that information. I know the Member has addressed that issue in the House on numerous occasions. Now it’s before us within the department. Now we’re compiling all the information from other jurisdictions, as well, because we are looking at a territorial-wide training initiative and how it’s going to look in the Sahtu region. The Member alluded to earlier about the program development institution potentially and a May tour and so forth. Those are the discussions that we are going to have, and I will update the Members once that is available by the end of this summer and the fall time.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to having this needs assessment discussed within the Sahtu, the leadership and the communities. I want to ask the Minister as I’ve also been pressing with the help of my colleagues on a feasibility study with the Sahtu technical institution, and that’s going to be greatly needed in the Sahtu. I want to ask the Minister if he can provide the House and the people in the Sahtu, where is that specific project at, at this moment now?
Again, it was brought up in this House about the Sahtu and will there be a training institution. We were waiting on the training needs assessment and the assessment of the communities, which involves the stakeholders, the industry, the community leaders and community educators. Now we have that package and now we need to identify what’s needed in the Sahtu region when it comes to program development and also a training centre area, how is that going to look. Based on the package that we received, those are options that we’re going to create and then deliver that to the Sahtu region.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation to provide a brief update on the Trout Lake Airport project that has been going on for some time. I’d just like to know how it has progressed.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There have been many challenges in the construction of the airport, being weather, quality and quantity of material. However, we have recently completed a change order with the organizations that we’re working with to complete the airport this summer.
Exactly what type of work will be done in Trout Lake this summer and fall?
As I indicated, there was an issue with the material and the quality of the material and the quantity, so what we are doing is we are bringing in some crush material and we’re going to blend the material to complete the airport. It would be all of the work that would be required to have the airport at a finished stage. As I indicated, we have completed the change order and the work should have started four days ago, actually. That’s what the change order indicates.
For a small community and a large project like that, that’s good for the economic sustainability and jobs for the community. Just for clarification, did the Minister say potentially we’ll be landing at the airport this fall?
The department and the community of Trout Lake along with the development Corporation and Rowe’s Construction have full intentions of completing the airport this summer, so for sure we’ll be landing at that airport in the fall.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Like the Minister had indicated, given a lot of the challenges, I’m really pleased to see the work towards the completion this fall.
Just one more question is the question of an airport terminal. Is that on site in Trout Lake this year or will it be there soon?
This has been a very likely project. As the Member knows, it was back in 2009 that we got the money from the federal government for the Building Canada Plan so that we are able to complete this project. With all of the issues that were pertaining to the airport itself, we have been concentrating on that. The information on the actual terminal itself, I don’t have with me, but I would be pleased to provide that information to the Member. But I can assure the Member that the department is serious about completing the project. The project has gone on for a significant time and we’ll be working with the community closely to ensure that the completion is done this summer.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The time for oral questions has expired. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7 on the Order Paper.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Today I want to talk about one of the mismanagement projects that we’ve had in our history of the Northwest Territories. In fact, this project has even been earmarked by the Auditor General of Canada as having definite issues with accountability and transparency, and even more recently, the taxpayers are still dealing with cost overruns with this project. I’m talking about the Deh Cho Bridge.
This project is still not done. I’m led to believe that we are still dealing with structural issues and even as of this summer that we’ve just recently sole sourced a southern contractor for a substantial amount of money to fix the pillar that is in dire need of repair, which has failed engineering specifications and it is really an issue of safety. So I’m now going to ask the questions to the department, represented by the Minister of Transportation, or maybe give us a little bit of an update here.
What exactly is happening this summer with this new contract that’s being sole sourced to a southern firm? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding is that the bridge was shut down temporarily a couple of weeks ago to complete the work that had to be completed. I know that that did not create a tremendous amount of issues. We had some issue with the traffic and people wanting to haul larger loads across. We’re able to accommodate everything at this time. I don’t have the specifics of that contract that the Member refers to, but my understanding is that that’s not an issue. Thank you.
Contrary to what we just heard from the Minister, I don’t believe this is indeed what’s transpiring. What we’re hearing from the industry is that there is indeed a large contract that is coming from the South, sole sourced, to do major repairs on the cement pillar to bring it up to safety code. We’re also hearing that this organization is coming back to fix the railings that were not repaired last year and to fix the electrical system that was not done properly last year. Again, we’re hearing to the tune of up to $4 million. Can the Minister confirm or deny whether or not we’re going to be doing this large-scale project to bring this bridge really to safety code? Thank you.
Thank you. One of the piers that was repaired on the Deh Cho Bridge, we have confirmed that there were three issues with the pier underneath the water. What had happened was that after the repair work was done, we had taken photos of the repair work. Unfortunately, we only obtained two photos of the three areas. We’re going back down when the season is right to look at that pier. That’s my understanding of the pier and the rock that is around the pier. There is some work that needs to be done. There’s some holdback on it.
I’m not aware that we are requesting $4 million to complete work. If there is $4 million worth of work, it would be work that would be done in the budget that was approved here in the House. Thank you.
Thank you. This is exactly the problem with why the Auditor General of Canada was brought in to evaluate this project. We continue to have mismanagement of these cost overruns, we continue to have a clandestine approach to how this project is being managed in the department, Members on this side of the House have no idea where this money is being spent. We go to the website, there’s nothing mentioned. We go to the Deh Cho Bridge info website, what does it say, account suspended – no information.
Can the Minister indicate as to when we’re going to get updated information so we can follow this so-called phantom spending that may happen this summer? Thank you.
Thank you. I know that each time the Members had asked for an update on the Deh Cho Bridge, the department has been more than accommodating. We are prepared to do that and we can provide an update, full disclosure of costs, anything that needs to happen that we need to communicate to the Members.
The issue here is not as simple as the Member makes it out to be. We had an issue with a contractor, the contractor that had to be removed from the site or had been taken off the site. The contractor changed. There were some issues with that. Anytime you do a large-scale project of this size and you have to change contractors in midstream there’s a potential for issues. So, there is some of that and that had happened.
The bridge is substantially complete. There is some work that has to be done, some is seasonal and some are minor deficiencies, but nothing to the scale that the Member speaks of. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again I ask, the Department of Transportation website last correspondence was 2010. That is it. Your current Deh Cho Bridge website is suspended. I appreciate the Minister wanting to provide Members information, but I think the public deserves to know where their dollars are being spent, not just the Members.
Will the Minister commit to do a full disclosure update, update these websites, talk about all the money, talk about the reserve and put a final closure to this project so we know indeed what taxpayers are on the hook for? Thank you.
Yes, I will commit to that.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Environment. I’d like to follow up from my Member’s statement of earlier today on Giant Mine. As both a proponent and a regulator, I’m asking the Minister if he could ask himself and tell us when you will sign the agreed upon environmental assessment for Giant Mine and allow its implementation. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We, along with the rest of the responsible Ministers, are waiting for the lead responsible Minister from AANDC to publicly announce the agreement and agreed upon recommendations and modifications. Thank you.
We often hear complaints about delays in process and so on, but really fundamentally most of the delays are because things end up on Ministers’ desks without resolution.
Could I ask why the delay? We’ve agreed upon it. Everybody has agreed upon it. Work is going ahead without being done under the conditions of the environmental assessment that everybody has agreed on. Why the delay?
Mr. Speaker, this is a project on a site that is under federal responsibility. The federal Minister of AANDC has hold of the pen and is investing his department. We, like everybody else, are awaiting his public release and approval of the report and the agreed to modifications. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. Will the Minister ask his federal colleague why the delay and report back to the House? Mahsi.
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ll probably be delayed on the answer, but if it could be done during this session so the public is informed, that would be appreciated. Thanks for that commitment.
Work is needed, definitely needed. It’s a situation that we want to get resolved, and work is underway, but there is also the need for oversight to make sure it’s being done in the way that everybody has agreed upon.
Is the delay being done on purpose to delay public oversight? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the attribution of motive is not something I want to engage in. We know what is before us. We’re waiting for the federal Minister to give a public response. In the meantime, some work is carrying on. It has been taken out of the EA that has been deemed to be critical with the roaster and underground stabilization and such, but other than that, the project remains under care and maintenance until the federal Minister releases the final decision following the response from Ministers. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Hawkins.
