Thank you. It’s encouraging that the government continues to at least build upon the relationship agreement with the Community Opportunities Funds and the Community Involvement Agreement.
How could the Minister of the Department of Transportation perhaps help out the community by, maybe, discussions with the community to help enhance the strategic location of Fort Providence as a major highway and marine centre and not just simply a drop-by community? Mahsi.
Thank you. Certainly, anything that the community, the Fort Providence Metis Council and the Deh Gah Got’ie First Nations wish to do with that opportunities money that involves transportation, whether it be highways or marines, the department would be prepared to work with that community in order to develop something so that, as the Member indicates, it’s not so much a drive-by community, because the bridge is in and the traffic does flow through more readily than it used to with the ferry. So, yes, we will be prepared to work with those two organizations to try to develop something that can attract people to stop in, in Fort Providence. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you. I’d like to once again thank the Minister for his response. It seems there’s a positive spirit to maintain the working relationship with the community. One of the opportunities that the community faces, of course, is building upon the tourism opportunities.
Would the Minister agree that the GNWT Department of Transportation would continue its obligation to maintain the winter road access of the ferry crossing? Mahsi.
Thank you. The department is prepared to look at the cost of maintaining the stretch of highway from the ferry on the north side of the river to the old ice crossing. Right now the only program that we have available is a capital program, the Access Roads Program, and that would be something that would go to make sure that road doesn’t deteriorate and that would probably be summer work. But one of the main things where work is needed was to clear the snow. So we’re going to work with the community to, first of all, determine the cost of that because it’s not in any program, and then determine how we could maybe cost share to keep that road open from the bridge to the old ice road. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On February 7th of this year, in this House, MLA Moses was asking about detox beds. The response from the Minister of Health and Social Services of the day was he said that there would be two detox beds in the North and there would be two detox beds in the South. This was very welcome news to people in Yellowknife. However, we continue to wait. The capital plan has just passed us and yet we’ve seen no results of these commitments. The Minister made a commitment. So the question to the Minister is: When will we see a promise made is a promise delivered? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll get that information from the department and provide it to the Member in committee this week or early next week.
The Minister’s binder would probably have a nice tab on this particular issue and I would encourage him to turn to that tab and read that page. Yellowknife continues to feel the cold shoulder of results and commitment by this government, especially on the issue of addictions. Northerners want addictions treatment.
Would the Minister read what the breaking binder page says on the tab and go to that tab and tell us what the Department of Health is doing on the detox issue?
Thank you. I’ve already said I’ll get that information for the Member and I will. I will provide it to the Member and committee in due course. Thank you.
This is an important issue; it’s not a new issue. Northerners are in pain, Northerners are suffering, Northerners need help. What is this Minister willing to do as far as his briefing binder will tell him? Turn to that page and tell Northerners what the commitment is. Would the Minister do that for us?
Thank you. These are important issues, and as I’ve already committed to the Member, I will get that information, I’ll provide it to committee and the Member in due course. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In a couple of weeks we have the operations plan. Obviously, we still have a lot of work to do on the addictions issue. There was no capital investment for detox. Promised, but never delivered.
Will this Minister be working towards the operation plan in a few weeks, which is in about four weeks in early December? Will he be making a commitment in this House that he’ll work to deliver those detox beds in that plan? Otherwise, there should be a clear statement that this government is not interested in this issue.
Thank you. This government, this department will live up to the commitments made by the current Ministers and the previous Ministers. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions today for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. It has been a bit of an issue for me over my time here to try to advance the issue of minimum wage. So my questions to the Minister are in regard to the latest action, I guess, on the part of the government on minimum wage.
In the spring, in March and May, we had some talk about minimum wage and how to have a considered and constant increase to minimum wage. The Minister talked about establishing a minimum wage committee. My understanding is that that was done in the spring. So I’d like to first off ask the Minister if that committee was established, and if the committee was established, did it meet? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We did appoint those members to the committee: the Federation of Labour, the NWT Chamber of Commerce, a business owner, two members of non-profit organizations and two GNWT employees. The committee has held a meeting in October 2013 and will make recommendations to me for spring 2014. So these members are currently established, they’ve met and they are going to make recommendations to me to move forward. I will keep Members informed about the progress. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister for that update. The committee was supposed to meet in October. It’s gratifying to hear that they did meet at the time they were actually supposed to. It doesn’t happen all that often.
I’d like to know from the Minister, they met in October and they are going to bring results forward to the Minister in the new year, so when is the committee supposed to meet next. How often will they meet and consider minimum wage? Thank you.
The committee just met just recently. I believe the meetings required are on an as-needed basis between the parties, their availability and when the best time to meet will be. They will be providing recommendations to myself for the spring of 2014. I will be moving forward on it and working with the Members. I believe it will be on an as-needed basis when meetings are required. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister. I’m glad to hear the Minister say he’s going to work with the Members, so I look forward to see the results of this committee and what they’re proposing. My question about timing is a little more long term. I realize they may or may not meet while they prepare the results of this meeting held just last month.
Can the Minister tell me what the intention is of the department for his committee on an ongoing basis? Will they meet twice a year, will they meet four times a year, will they meet every two years, et cetera?
The timelines will be established by the said committee. My department will be working with the committee to establish those timelines. If it’s going to be once or twice a year or on a quarterly basis, we will soon find out. They just met this past October, this past month. I will keep Members apprised as we move forward. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding was when this committee was established that the periods when they would meet, the frequency of their meetings was established in the terms of reference for that committee. Can the Minister advise me whether that is so? Thank you.
The terms of reference has been highlighted and it does highlight a number of meetings, so it would capture when those committee members will be meeting, so I will be sharing that with the Members. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I continue to have questions and concerns raised to me by constituents around the issue of fracking in the Northwest Territories. There is so much information out there on this topic. People read it and they are concerned. We’ve had members of the EDI committee who have gone on investigative tours to see how this process is impacting other jurisdictions and this information has come back. I’d like to ask the Minister some really simple questions.
In terms of fracking, what is the status of approvals for this activity in the Northwest Territories at this time? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today the news came out that ConocoPhillips got approval for their application. Thank you.
If I had to convey comfort to people who are concerned about this, is the Minister able to comment on the environmental review and assessment and approval process that is in place? Since this is something relatively new in our territory, is he able to comment on the effectiveness of the approval processes that are currently in place for this activity? Thank you.
We are using the existing processes. We’ve offered our best guidance, advice and position, as a government, in a document in terms of best practices on fracking that has gone to committee, which we are looking on feedback for. It has been developed in conjunction with the regulators and we intend, once it goes to committee, to put it out to the public and industry.
We are also, as a government, as we look at post-devolution, looking at the structure of the regulatory regime so that we can design a northern controlled, made-in-the-North, resident-in-the-North regulatory process, all of which are going to allow us, I believe, to manage the risk and balance between the resource development and sustainable protection of the environment. Thank you.
So, nothing about our approval or assessment process has changed specifically in relation to fracking, which is something, as we said, relatively new.
On the issue of a timeline for the kind of things that Minister Miltenberger is referring to, how far down the road of approvals for this activity are we going to go before these things that Mr. Miltenberger refers to are actually in place? Are there a lot of companies out there, or even ConocoPhillips… Is there a lot more of this activity imminent at this time? Thank you.
We are working closely with the current federal regulator, which is the National Energy Board. They’ve just released their filing requirements a few weeks back as it pertains to hydraulic fracturing on their requirements. For example, the disclosure is there of fluids on a voluntary basis. They are encouraging industry to make sure that they do disclose. We are told as a government that it’s an industry best practice that there be public disclosure. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers agrees. We are working with all the various parties to come up with a guidance document. So this is going to continue to evolve. We are going to make improvements, but we currently have the processes in place that are working. After devolution, the governance piece is going to be looked at and we are going to continue to look at what we need to do to have the best system possible.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a Minister of Environment and Natural Resources and a well-known keen champion of the protection of our environment, our land, our water, our resources, I’d like to ask the Minister if he is satisfied at this time with these approvals going forward, given the additional work, obviously, that still needs to be done. Thank you.
We are collectively in the practice of managing risk. In this case, we are doing that and I’m of the opinion – and I’ve stated this already and I will restate that for the Member – as a government that we can manage that risk. There are things we have to do for clarity, for prudence on a go-forward basis and devolution is going to allow us to do some of those things. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today we heard the announcement from the new Minister of Human Resources and I’d like to welcome him to the file. Clearly, this is a great announcement that we have here before us. I want to make sure, for the record, that it was a lot of pressure for this side of the House that has been applied as of late. Again, we had numerous numbers of fines, double fines, some of those fines to the tune of over three-quarters of a million dollars. We did talk about a lot of increased claims growth that the GNWT had. It was clear that we needed a definite change in direction to make sure we had a safer GNWT. My questions today will be for the new Minister of Human Resources.
Can the Minister indicate prior to today’s announcement, how many full-time safety officers did the GNWT have for its almost 5,000 member workforce? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know how many full-time safety officers that the GNWT had. However, I do know that this is a piece of work that has been in the works for seven years. It has taken a lot of work and lots of reviewing of a lot of acts and regulations. In fact, there were 14 different health and safety acts and regulations that were reviewed in order to come up with this agreement and this partnership with the Northern Safety Association.
I think I know the answer to my question because I just did a little bit of research on our website. I think we had one. We had one member for almost 5,000 employees, which is kind of a paltry number, if I do say so.
With today’s announcement, how many more safety officers will the GNWT acquire?
I recognize that this agreement with the Northern Safety Association allows them to go out and get some specialists in certain fields. I am told by the individuals from that organization and the department that this will actually be an agreement that will assist us in the issues that were recognized in the House here over the last couple of years, where there were some fines and so on levied by the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission from workplace injuries and so on, and how they would try to focus in on the key areas that we’ve identified in the House; the hospitals, the corrections centres, and so on, where there’s high incidences of those type of injuries and workplace accidents. I think this is a move in the right direction, so I believe this is something that we’re going to all benefit from.
I appreciate the Minister’s response. I agree; claims that we’ve had, claims growth that we’ve had and fines, like I said, well over three-quarters of a million dollars. Clearly, we had to take a new directional change in our department safety and our government safety.
With that, with this new initiative there has got to be some cost forecasts that were done by the government. Can the Minister say what will it cost for the implementation of this new direction in safety?
Although I am prepared to provide the cost to the Member, I don’t have the cost of the partnership agreement between ourselves and Northern Safety here with me today, but I’m sure that I can get that very quickly.
