Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, and I want to follow up on my Member’s statement in which I said I was very impressed with the way the Economic Opportunities Panel heard and documented our citizens’ grassroots visions for the future of our economy. We have the input and now we must put it into action.
Can the Minister explain the process and timing for bringing this input to a final strategy and confirm that the strategy will include an action plan of costed, concrete measures to put the ideas into action? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have to congratulate the advisory panel in the work that they did around the Northwest Territories in meeting with stakeholders. This is all about partnerships and building those solid relationships. We had a number of partners in this effort.
We are going to be moving the work forward. The What We Heard report that was tabled will be turned into an action plan. We hope to have that action plan to the House and to standing committee sometime toward the end of September.
You don’t get into an effort like this with the partners we have and not put something forward that we are going to be able to accomplish in the life of this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I’d like to thank the Minister. I’d also like to thank very much all the public, our citizens who took the time to participate and contribute to our ideas.
A major point raised in the continuing economic drain of fly-in/fly-out employees from other jurisdictions has been raised before. We have socio-economic agreements with hiring targets, but the targets aren’t being met and government isn’t being firm, insisting on better results.
How does this government intend to move now to call the big companies to book on their performance and up their proportion of NWT resident employees? Mahsi.
My belief is that we have to do more training; we have to get more of our own people trained and ready for the jobs that are coming in industry, and my belief is we can do that. Some of the recommendations contained in the What We Heard report would suggest that the government needs to address the training component. If we can train more people, we’ll keep more people at home and have less of the fly-in/fly-out type of workers.
I should also mention that the new ownership at Ekati, Dominion Diamond Mining Corporation, certainly is looking at ways to try to keep their workforce here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
I’ll look forward to a lot more fleshing out in the weeks to come here. For our community residents, mega projects clearly aren’t the priority, though. Our citizens stress the benefits of locally controlled, sustainable businesses that will take us through boom and bust. Yet this government’s focus continues to be the huge developments local people can least control, and as we see from fulfilment of hiring targets and fly-in workers aren’t delivering full benefits here.
I’m wondering: How does the Minister intend to really take this input to heart and turn the super-tanker approach of government policy towards a local fleet of small but priority opportunities and benefits? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I’m not quite sure how the Member believes that we’re only concentrating on mega projects. With an effort like the Economic Opportunities Strategy clearly in place, we are planning to move forward with diversifying the economy. We know we can’t do it on large projects alone. That’s why we started this effort and that’s why we’re going to see it through. That’s why we’re going to come up with an action plan that’s going to see us move forward on areas like agriculture, forestry, fisheries and the traditional economy here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for the Minister’s comments. The renewable energy development to cut the costs for families and businesses were also emphasized by the public. At a time when electricity rates are guaranteed to increase by 7 percent per year and heating costs have soared, how will the Minister ensure that the strategy reflects an emphasis on shifting from expensive imported fossil fuel to renewable energy? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, that goes without saying. I mean, that is always something that this government is continuing to pursue.
We’re developing an Energy Strategy and we need to find ways to get communities off of diesel. Our intention is to do just that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about real estate problems from appraisals to disclosure agreements, real estate sales people working for both ends of the transaction and, finally, new home warranty.
My question to the Minister responsible for the situation or this area of governance would be R.C. McLeod from MACA. What I’m going to ask him to do is rather than try to explain why we’re not doing stuff, would he be willing, as Minister, to look into the situation to see if we can balance some of these concerns and report back to the House with a bit of a plan, not necessarily bringing forward legislation or regulation, but a plan or strategy on how we can deal with some of these anomalies in our system that aren’t protecting our Northerners at this time? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will commit to the Member that we will gather some information and report back to the Member and Members of this House. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today, I have questions for the Minister of Public Works and Services. I think we as the government, through the Department of Public Works and Services, should allow for a local interpretation and local input into how they want their community infrastructure to look and the kinds of things they want to accommodate. But, Mr. Speaker, we pay top dollar for architects and engineers when we build these kinds of projects. I guess Inuvik particularly stands out in my mind just because of the sheer cost of it.
I am not in any way trying to discourage the staff or anybody of that school, but we as a government, when we build a building, have to give the staff the kinds of things they need to work in a tidy and a useable and functional environment.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Public Works and Services, when building a school, quite apart from what the architects want to do or things should be done, do we not have standard things that would be built into a classroom, like a shelf to put shoes on, blackboards, bulletin boards? Are there not standard things that we set out as at least a minimum before the architects take them and add their flavour to it? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Public Works, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear the Member’s point. We do planning studies with the department that is leading the build. In this case it was Education, Culture and Employment, and they identified the requirements, the things they would like to see in the building, the input from their staff, the input from the boards, the input from the community. All that is incorporated into the design. We build what is asked of us to build.
In the case of the school, we heard clearly from the board of education, from the Department of Education, and we incorporated state-of-the-art kitchen facilities, music rooms, theatre capacity so community groups could do those types of things. We put in state-of-the-art gym and physical rooms, so that the students could be healthy and well. We also incorporated a significant amount of light and open space that the community, the students and the staff all indicated they wanted.
So we do try to incorporate community input as much as possible. If you look around the Northwest Territories, every school in the Northwest Territories is different and they’ve all had input from the communities. A good example would be Diamond Jenness. If you go into Diamond Jenness in Hay River, clearly the community has had input into that facility and the types of things they would want to see in that facility. It, as well, with the upgrades, is a state-of-the-art facility.
The people of Inuvik are very proud of their school. They are very proud of the facility that was built and it is a state-of-the-art facility with tons to offer. Are there sore points for certain individuals? I’m sure there are. Are there things we can do better? Absolutely. We will learn from these experiences and we will take the Member’s point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I’d like to thank the Minister; good answers. There are always going to be deficiencies with new construction. Any new building, there is going to be a list of deficiencies of things that need to be addressed. I am just disappointed that such fundamentally required things like millwork or cabinetry to store things like kids’ shoes… All the way down the hallway, there were those $1.99 plastic boot trays on the outside of the hallway. Inside the classroom door, literally, were Rubbermaid white laundry baskets with all the kids’ shoes all chucked in there in a pile. I’m sorry, I’ve been in a lot of schools in the Northwest Territories and that’s not standard. It’s not conducive to a tidy and workable environment for me. When I go into a school and the first thing I want to do is start cleaning it up, straightening it out and taking papers down and putting things on bulletin boards, maybe it’s just me.
They have a dental facility in the school. How amazing is that? That is beautiful, but they can’t use it because the door opens the wrong way. It’s completely unusable.
There are things that somehow, someway when the translation between what the community and the staff and the DEA wanted and everything, and what was delivered, there are deficiencies. I guess, suffice it to say, I hope that these things can be addressed so that the residents and students of Inuvik can enjoy this new facility to the utmost.
I’m not familiar with the door issue, but I’ll certainly have Public Works and Services take a look at it.
With respect to the other items, they weren’t part of the original design. I’m happy to work with Education, Culture and Employment, and if they are interested in putting in those types of things, we, as the facilitator of building in the Northwest Territories for government infrastructure, will be happy to work with them and do as they ask.
There also seemed to be a question about snow removal. This school is located on a very large lot, and of course, you get a lot of snow. Like anywhere in the North, you get a lot of snow there. But I guess in the old school maybe they had like a shed for snow removal equipment. I know this is a problem in Hay River too. I’m not even sure whose responsibility it is to clear the snow. Is it the schools or is it Public Works and Services? That was another deficiency that we observed and heard about when we saw the new school in Inuvik. Maybe the Minister of Public Works could answer that for us. Who is responsible for the equipment and the actual removal of snow on school property?
Ultimately, the authorities are responsible for the schools themselves, but we do a lot of maintenance work for schools as negotiated. In the case of Inuvik, I’m not sure what the situation is with the snow, but I will certainly look into that and get back to the Member.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions will be for the Minister of Health and Social Services. After quite a lot of advocacy work done in BC province, on March 14, 2013, the BC Premier and her government amended what is referred to as their Medicare Protection Act, which now allowed for the coordinating of regulations to formalize the extension of out-of-country stays, from six months to seven months.
Once those regulations will come into effect, what this means is residents in that province will be permitted to spend up to seven months outside of their province and still maintain their health care coverage.
Keeping our seniors in the North and those who wish to enjoy the fruits of their labour means we have to offer the same level of commitments many other provinces are offering.
For my first question: Is the Minister of Social Services prepared to consider similar provincial regulation changes to formalize an extension of health coverage for out-of-province stays, from six to seven months?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department would be prepared to look at other jurisdictions to see what all the jurisdictions across the country are doing in as far as coverage and the extent of which the person can be a resident in another part of the country or another part of the world. We would be prepared to look at that and to look at the cost of that.
No further questions.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member’s statement, I will have questions for the Minister of Transportation. I heard him talking about economic development today with his other hat, and I have concerns about how open for business we are here in the Northwest Territories.
My first question is: What is the department doing to recognize the configuration of a tri-drive truck that we currently do not recognize but Alberta does, the jurisdiction right adjacent to us?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve got a balancing job to do here in the Northwest Territories. With all the gravel and chipseal surfaces here in the Northwest Territories, it’s important that we protect the integrity of those road bases from harm. Some of these larger trucks may, in fact, be damaging our road surfaces here in the Northwest Territories. We’ve done some research and we’ve listened to the concerns of Members, and we are going to be moving forward with a two-year trial period changing regulations on tri-drive configurations here in the Northwest Territories. We expect that these changes will come about in the next month and we look forward to watching how our roads are impacted as a result of this change, but we’re certainly listening. We understand that trucking companies want to bring those types of configured vehicles into the Northwest Territories and we are going to look at changing regulations so we can allow that to happen over a two-year trial period.
That’s great to hear; and my friends in the trucking industry will probably be happy to hear that as well.
My next question is all the inconsistencies I was speaking of today in the two jurisdictions, whether it has to do with licence plates, whether it has to do with wide load signs, whether it has to do with truck qualifications, whether a pick-up is 4,500 kgs and the class of driver’s licence you require for that. What is the department doing to try to get the jurisdiction, considering it’s mainly with Alberta, but because we are so adjacent and that’s where the majority of our stuff comes from, what is this department doing to meld or mirror our legislation between us and Alberta and make it consistent for the trucking industry so they feel like we’re helping them out?
It’s, in many cases, in our best interest to look at harmonizing regulations with other jurisdictions, but as I mentioned earlier, the Northwest Territories has roads that are gravel, chipseal. Sometimes the regulations that may work in southern Canada aren’t going to be able to work here in the Northwest Territories, but I do believe, if the Member has some examples, I know he’s spoken about a class 3 driver’s licence for the one-ton pick-up hauling a trailer, if there are others the Member speaks of.
Perhaps what I could suggest is a meeting with the EDI committee that the Member is on and we can go over the regulations that they have concerns with. We’ll get department officials there and we can try to chart a course forward, because we do want to listen to the concerns of Members and the public as well.
As a Member of the EDI committee, I’d be interested in that, and I will follow that up with my colleagues and see if we can get a briefing on that. Obviously, my concerns are definitely the fact that there is that inconsistency in the class 3 driver’s licence because there are businesses out there that are dependent upon unskilled labourers that only have a class 5 driver’s licence. Now they’re having to get a class 3 driver’s licence, which is more expensive and not conducive to doing business in the Northwest Territories.
Will the department look at this regulation of pick-ups requiring class 3 drivers’ licences, and if it can be changed to meet and mirror the Alberta legislation?
I know we are looking at that situation the Member outlined for us. As soon as we get some work done on that, I will be able to get that back to the Member as soon as possible.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
That’s all, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At one point or another, everyone here, I think it’s probably safe to say, grew up with radio in the background, in the bush or else in their homes. Radio continues to be an effective medium of communication for Aboriginal languages. It’s a vital net that bonds everyone together in the smaller communities.
My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. The $6,000 a year grant has not increased since 2001. That’s very concerning. Why hasn’t ECE supported community broadcasting and not increased it for so long, especially trying to even consider it perhaps in terms of inflation as well? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I agree that radio is an effective means of communicating throughout the Northwest Territories and we must support that in any means we possibly can. There’s also a federal partnership. The federal government contributes to NCS and we contribute up to $6,000 per community for the operation. The Member is asking why it hasn’t been increased. This is an area that we can definitely look at. Again, it’s based on our agreement with the federal government and our funding within the GNWT. So this is an area we can definitely look at. Mahsi.
It’s encouraging that the Minister is committing to review such a priority for small communities. Has ECE taken the steps to review or evaluate the community broadcasting program, and if so, when was it done and what was the conclusion? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, when it comes to community broadcasting, we work closely with the NCS. NCS does the overall Northwest Territories broadcasting in Aboriginal languages. Those are the avenues that we work with.
In re-evaluating our own programming, I’ll have to get back to the Member if there has been a review of all programming. If not, then we’ll need to pursue that in those areas. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
