I look forward to the Minister’s end results of that discussion. I guess I’m going to ask what type of commitment he can make here in the House that he will get back to me and other Members who also have trappers in their regions that could possibly benefit from this type of discussion, and what type of numbers we are looking at.
I will have the department look into the possibilities of that right away and get the information to the Member, and we can move from there to discussing it possibly with committee and Cabinet.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Transportation. The Minister of Transportation is aware of the condition of roads leading to and from recreational properties along the Ingraham Trail. These leases have been in existence for almost three decades. The roads from the properties to the trail traverse federal Crown lands. In many cases the roads accessing these lots have fallen into disrepair. Since they aren’t an official part of the territorial road system, the GNWT doesn’t maintain them, at least not all of them. I realize this is a complicated situation of jurisdictions, but for the record, could the Minister state the territorial policy regarding maintenance of these roads?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We only maintain roads that are included in the NWT highway regulations. Those are the only roads that the Department of Transportation maintains.
I know that includes some exceptions to the general rule. For example, into Prelude East and so on that are clearly Crown land. The reality is here, however, territorial citizens and residents have cabins with long-term leases. After devolution we will adopt responsibility for these lands and land routes, bringing forward the issue of incorporating the roads into the official road system and beginning to maintain them. Obviously, a modicum of support now would go a long ways to avoiding further deterioration in roads we will inherit. Can the Minister tell us that he will begin dialogues with residents to proactively deal with this emerging issue?
As we move forward with devolution, that will ultimately be a discussion that we will have to have, but certainly as it stands today, those roads that the Member talks about in his riding aren’t roads the Department of Transportation maintains. Is there a way that we can try to bridge that gap between now and when devolution does come in? There’s a possibility we could sit down with the Member and residents to discuss how that will happen, but we’re going to have to find some dollars between now and then to make that happen.
I appreciate the Minister’s commitment there. These are modest dollars, I’ll note right away. Although federal leases to property improvements on these lots are taxable land improvements relative to services provided, the tax revenues are a windfall to the GNWT. Once these leaseholders become territorial tenants surrounded by territorial lands, we can reasonably expect they will be seeking an increased degree of territorial services given the taxes they pay.
In preparation for devolution, has the Department of Transportation begun working with other departments such as MACA to consider the new costs and infrastructure requirements that will arise from the adoption of new lands and taxpayers?
The issue the Member talks about in his riding is not an issue that is only taking place in and around Yellowknife; it’s also an issue in other locations throughout the Northwest Territories. It’s an item that we have to pay attention to as we move towards devolution, and we do, certainly, discuss that item with MACA. We need to come up with a way to move this whole thing forward. We certainly intend to do that by working with MACA. Of course, the landscape is going to change post-devolution and we understand that, and we need to ensure that we are coordinating our approaches to deal with that as it all moves forward.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for the comments from the Minister. These leaseholders are a hardy bunch with a record of considerable work to maintain these access roads. Unfortunately, they lack the heavy duty equipment and volume of materials rarely needed but critical to replace, say, a culvert or deal with the consequences of major weather events.
Does the Minister think investing a few hours with a caterpillar or a few loads of gravel would go a long ways towards supporting our residents and preventing greater costs down the road?
As I mentioned, if you do it for one, you’ve got to do it for everybody. There are a number of kilometres of highway or road in the Northwest Territories where folks understand that the Department of Transportation does not have responsibility for maintaining those roadways. It’s an issue that as we move devolution forward, we will have to pay attention to, and certainly, like I said earlier, the landscape is going change and we’re aware of that.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I’d like to follow up on a statement that I made a little while ago with regard to some sports being dropped from the 2016 Arctic Winter Games. At the time, the Minister had just come back from a meeting with some of his other counterparts. He had met with the Arctic Winter Games International Committee. There was a certain amount of publicity around the whole dropping of sports issue, and there was publicity in the media as well.
I would like to know from the Minister at this point, considering there was publicity, considering it is an issue that is of concern to quite a few Northerners, I would like to know if the Minister has heard from the sport governing bodies, the territorial sport organizations for the five sports that were dropped for 2016.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
We had the opportunity to meet with the presidents of the affected sports organizations. It was a very productive meeting. They had expressed their concerns on the sports that were excluded from the games. We had committed to them that we were going to have a meeting again with the Arctic Winter Games International Committee again this spring to look at the options that the Arctic Winter Games International Committee has come up with, and compare them to our options to see if we can find some common ground. It was a very productive meeting, and they had many good suggestions from the territorial sports organizations.
Thanks to the Minister for the information. I guess I would like to know, and I imagine many of the people who might hear this, our conversations in the House, would also like to know, what some of the options are that have been presented by these sports to give their kids, their athletes an opportunity for a major event in 2016.
Due to the lack of facilities in the host community in 2016, the six sports that were dropped, some of the options that we came up with – and it’s a discussion we had with the Arctic Winter Games International Committee – is possibly having a satellite location where these six affected sports would have an opportunity to compete as Arctic Winter Games athletes, and flying the Arctic Winter Games colours and using the Arctic Winter Games uniforms. The TSOs had suggested that would be their main priority, is to ensure our kids have the Arctic Winter Games experience and that’s one that we will be presenting to the Arctic Winter Games International Committee. They are aware of that and they are following up with that, also, to see if there’s some way we can make it happen.
Thanks to the Minister. That’s really good to hear. I think the sports that have been dropped, that they have an opportunity to be a part of the Arctic Winter Games, even if it’s in a different jurisdiction, is a great thing. I hope the Minister follows up and pushes for that, which I think is what I’m hearing from him.
My question goes to the hockey that’s going to be held in 2016. At the moment, from what I understand, there will be two divisions of hockey held in Iqaluit. Midget hockey will be held maybe someplace else. I’d like to ask the Minister if it’s on the radar for the sports Ministers that hockey, all three divisions, be held in the same place or are they going to keep them split.
The bantam hockey and female hockey will be held in Iqaluit. That was an agreement that the host society had made with Iqaluit. One of the suggestions that we made during our meeting with the TSOs is if we were to have hockey as part of our satellite games, then we would like to see all divisions of hockey, whether it be in Iqaluit or any other jurisdiction, but we would like to see all divisions of hockey be held at the same time as the other sports that have been excluded. They’re very receptive to that, and that would be their preference also.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I’m really glad to hear that hockey will be all together. I think that only makes sense.
My last question is a statement, I suppose, a comment to the Minister. I hope that he will keep the pressure on, and with the other sports Ministers that he’s already working with that he will keep the pressure on the Arctic Winter Games International Committee, and I would ask him if he could keep us up to date as things progress in the spring.
One of the concerns we heard from the TSOs was the fact that they’d be losing almost six years of development as far as our young athletes go. This may affect some of their funding also. We have to recognize that and we have to ensure that we don’t lose this group of athletes.
As far as the hockey goes, they have an agreement with Iqaluit to host those two events. We would like to have all hockey events in the same location if we do have a satellite game. We are in regular contact with our counterparts in Nunavut and the Yukon. They have the same concerns we have. Alaska and Northern Alberta have the same concerns we have.
I have committed to the TSOs that I would like to meet with them again before my spring meeting and after my spring meeting, and I will continue to keep Members of the House updated as to the discussions that we have.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday the Minister of ITI had an exchange on the Sahtu oil and gas exploration and the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars that are going to be spent in the Sahtu in the next couple of years. In Fort Good Hope, they actually closed off the bid there and Shell Canada won. I think it’s just over $90 million worth of exploration.
I want to ask the Minister, in regard to the Mackenzie Valley Highway, we’re going to do this in steps and, certainly, we in the Sahtu support the Inuvik-Tuk highway to go through. We’re also looking forward to some support to build a highway into the Sahtu. I want to ask specifically to the Minister, is there any discussion up around Fort Good Hope to building a winter road up to the Dempster Highway. I know people in Fort Good Hope were talking about this. Is there any type of discussion with the department?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The two leases near Fort Good Hope totalled $92 million. I thank the Member for bringing that up.
On the discussion regarding connecting the Mackenzie Valley winter road between Fort Good Hope and Tsiigehtchic, it’s something that was brought up at meetings. I was on a constituency tour with Member Blake in the spring and it’s something that came up at a number of his communities. It is also something that I’ve instructed the department to include in the business plan that was before the House just a couple months back.
It does require a great deal of permitting. It’s certainly not something that could occur this coming winter, but something I see happening next winter, perhaps, if the permitting can get done. It would really, to me, make a statement about the Mackenzie Valley and the fact that the Northwest Territories is open for business. We don’t have an all-weather highway down the Mackenzie Valley yet, but if we could connect the valley with a winter road, I think that’s a step in the right direction, and it says the right things about the economy here and our intent to get an all-weather highway down the Mackenzie Valley at some point in time.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled A Vision for Energy in the Northwest Territories – Developing the 2013 Northwest Territories Energy Plan, October 2012.
Thank you. Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled Action Plan 2012-2016, 20/20: A Brilliant North – Public Service Strategic Plan, July 2012.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to table a letter from the Minister of Human Resources to myself, dated August 16, 2012, on the GNWT’s Safe Advantage program results.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to table a letter to Prime Minister Harper regarding the Financial Investment Protection Act, “First Nations lands and treaty territories cannot be sold out to foreign investors.”
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, November 5, 2012, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that the NWT Housing Corporation immediately cease treating child tax benefits as income for the purpose of calculating public housing rents;
And further, that the Government of the Northwest Territories work to identify and eliminate other similar inconsistencies in its subsidy programs;
And furthermore, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this motion within 120 days.
At the appropriate time I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion today.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, November 5, 2012, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that this Legislative Assembly strongly urges the Government of the Northwest Territories to include sufficient new funding, of at minimum $2 million, in the Health and Social Services 2013-14 Main Estimates for the department to substantially enhance addictions and mental health services;
And further, that these funds be added to the department’s base for future years and be directed at program delivery to address service gaps identified in the Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan, 2012-2015, rather than further evaluation and studies, with the ultimate objective of creating a seamless, integrated system of addictions and mental health programs delivered within the Northwest Territories;
And furthermore, that the government provides to the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning, before the February-March 2013 sitting of the Legislative Assembly, a list of the proposed new addictions and Mental Health Program delivery investments to be implemented in 2013-14;
And furthermore, that the government provides a comprehensive response to this motion within 120 days.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bromley.
