Can the Minister advise me if he is aware of who has the financial responsibility for fuel spills that are not necessarily within people’s properties or maybe within the areas outside people’s properties and more on the municipality roadways or ditches and so on? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
If it is on GNWT property, then the GNWT would be responsible. If it is on federal property, the federal government would be responsible. I think back to the major spill at the college in Fort Smith where they had tanks that leaked for a number of years. It was a massive clean-up. I would suggest that the owner of the property would have a primary responsibility. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise us if there are any deterrents to creating a contaminated soil site in Fort Resolution? Thank you.
Without knowing the specifics, I could just indicate to the Member, I know that when they had the major fuel spill at the college in Fort Smith, out at the landfill site they fenced off a fairly large area and they dug it out. They put in a big membrane and they did all the things necessary under that particular policy to set up a contaminated site area and they put all the dirt out there and they turned it over the years. It is possible. It has been done just down the road in Fort Smith. It is an issue of finding some assistance to get it done and identifying the land where it would occur. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister commit to having the environmental protection staff of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources work with the community of Fort Resolution to work towards creating a contaminated soil remediation site? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My first commitment would be to work and talk to the Member to get a bit more information. The contaminated site area in Fort Smith was done to help remediate a very specific major spill. If there are issues in the community that would justify that kind of investment, what the Member has in mind in terms of a plan going forward, those are all the types of things that we need to talk about first and then we can involve the appropriate staff, instead of a meeting with myself and a deputy, to further discuss this issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I spoke in my Member’s statement about some of the difficulties that some of my constituents have encountered in trying to access their client support officers at the income support office here in Yellowknife. I did want to express these are difficulties my clients have encountered. I don’t mean to say that all the staff that work over there create these difficulties, but there obviously are some problems that are encountered. My first question to the Minister is whether or not he can explain to me, or I hope he can explain to me, the rationale for the hands-off approach or the hands-off action that income support reception desk takes. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly we deal with a number of clientele within the Northwest Territories and specifically for larger centres such as Yellowknife, we do have individuals that, whether they be a receptionist or a secretary at the front desk, should be able to assist clients whenever they approach the office, assisting them to connect to client service officers. They are certainly there to assist. There are certain hours of the day that they operate under, because it is under the federal building within the hours of operation. Those individuals should be there to assist with the clientele to forward them to client service officers. Mr. Speaker, they are there to provide services. Mahsi.
I thank the Minister for the answer. I guess if that is the policy that the receptionist or the secretary is there to provide assistance, perhaps the Minister ought to check in to see what actually happens and send in a few secret shoppers, so to speak. Because my information is that income support clients are not necessarily being assisted.
I mentioned in my statement that many clients have difficulty getting in touch with their client service officer, or their CSO, when they happen to be away. There doesn’t seem to be any sort of file backup or whatever. When a client’s officer is away, nobody else seems to take charge. What policies are in place to help those clients who are in need when their own CSO is not available? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we currently do not have a written policy specific to those individuals if the client service officer is away. But we do have a backup plan where in a larger centre such as Yellowknife, we have an on-call duty officer that takes those calls. If there are inquiries, then that individual follows through with that. Not only that, Mr. Speaker, that on-call duty officer also takes calls and is accessible any time, even without appointments. But in those communities outside Yellowknife, certainly we have client service officers going to the communities from a regional perspective. They do provide services in that venue. Certainly with the Yellowknife perspective, we have individuals who are dedicated to answer those calls that are coming in. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister. I accept the explanation of the on-call system, but again I would have to say that this is a system that is not working. The experience of the constituents that I have heard from is that they go to reception, they are told to make a phone call, they phone their CSO who doesn’t happen to be there. There is then no opportunity for them to speak to anybody else. The receptionist doesn’t help them. They are not transferred to the on-call duty officer. Again, I think the Minister needs to do some investigation into this.
I understand that there’s confidentiality issues and that not anybody can speak to particular clients, but I guess my question again to the Minister with regards to this on-call system is: if I phone my CSO and he or she is not there, how then do I get through to the on-call person if the receptionist won’t help me?
Mr. Speaker, the on-call duty officer can certainly assist those clientele whenever a client service officer is not available due to whether it be vacation or on sick leave. So those areas and the filing system is also taken care of. There is strictly a confidentiality that every client service officer respects and takes into consideration. So whenever there’s a client that’s calling into the receptionist, the receptionist should provide assistance, support, and also the phone numbers of certain individuals that they can contact. I do believe that they should provide those services. If not, then certainly I’ll commit today to look further within my department. If there’s an issue there, we should deal with it. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the commitment from the Minister to look into this. It’s my understanding that clients very often have to leave the office without ever having talked to a CSO when their own is away, so there’s something wrong with the system.
Lastly, it suggests to me, from the experiences that I’ve heard about, that there are a few basic office procedures which aren’t being followed or aren’t evident from within the office. I come from a service background myself, so I find it hard to understand why there’s no things like an e-mail out of office reply which is automatically used, why there’s not a voice mail message on people’s phones which indicates that they’re out of the office. So I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not that’s standard practice for this office in Yellowknife and/or all income support offices. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, yes, the auto reply, whether by e-mail or phone call, is a standard procedure that we use in our office, whether it be Yellowknife or other communities. If it’s not being used, certainly those areas need to be looked at. Mr. Speaker, the procedure is in place and it’s just a matter of following through with that. So I’ll certainly make a commitment again to look into those areas. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member’s statement I was speaking to the Food Mail Program in my riding of Nunakput and more or less all over the Beaufort-Delta and the Sahtu in the small communities. Considering there’s northern nutrition and considering that only 62 percent of each dollar spent within the Food Mail Program actually results in reduced prices, the rest is being lost between Canada Post and they say the airlines, but I think it’s more the local stores not passing it along to the person who’s buying the groceries, the retailer.
Will this government work progressively with the Members of this Legislative Assembly and the Government of Canada to adopt changes to the Food Mail Program that will ensure that each dollar of the subsidy is visible and accountable to the northern consumer to actually assist residents in the small, remote communities to eat healthy and live healthy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for...Mr. Michael McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, the Food Mail Program is probably long overdue for an overhaul and I think many Members in this House have recognized that. We’ve had some discussions over the years as to possible changes. Our desire was to see this review finally came to reality in the last couple of years. In 2008 there was a review through the federal government with an assignment with a number of consultants to do an evaluation and, more recently, there were further reviews that are ongoing that we are hoping will make the necessary changes.
At the request of the Members of this House, we did talk to INAC and they responded to our request that was posed for them to come and make a presentation to the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning on September 21st. They did come and do that and reported a number of the findings and recommendations that they are looking at.
At this point, Mr. Speaker, there are three scenarios, three options that they are reviewing and will be considering and making a decision on in the near future. The first one is the concept of using a point of sale system that would allow the retailer to discount the item based on the INAC subsidy level. The second option is the freight retail subsidy where the retailer would claim a subsidy for eligible food shipped to retail locations, and the third is a revised transportation subsidy and that would allow for a number of changes to the existing program such as modifying the eligible food, modifying entry points and adjusting the current subsidy rates and dealing with some of the shipping issues and rates. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Given the cost of living in most northern communities, it makes healthy living a luxury only for the privileged that can afford it. Currently the residents of Nunakput could pay up to $10 for a small bag of salad. Given the current approach, it seems just not to revise the status quo. Mr. Speaker, this government has to place the current review changes to the Food Mail Program a priority and get involved in regards to the point of sale. That is what I would like to see, an actual...When you go to the store, you will have two prices, the price that the store paid and the price of the cost of shipping. Would the Minister work with us to see if that could happen? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Department of Transportation has taken the lead role on this whole review and also has been providing oversight on the Food Mail Program for quite a few years now, and we are working and have partnered up with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, and the Department of Health, and we are looking at the options and looking to see what are the benefits and the pros and cons of each option that has been put forward.
Indian Affairs has had their representatives come and make their presentation to committee. I am sure every Member will be in a position to make their comments directly to INAC.
We, of course, will be happy to accommodate any Members that want to make a recommendation or have discussion with our staff. Of course, Mr. Speaker, there has been some indication through the Rural and Remote committee to have further discussion. I believe there was a real desire to have a recommendation brought forward from them and we are still waiting to see if that discussion is going to take place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I really want to work with the Minister with regard to this and Rural and Remote committee. We know how important this is to our people in the small, remote communities, people on income support, people with big families that are having to struggle with the high cost of living and trying to feed their kids right now, Mr. Speaker. The biggest thing is getting in to speak with the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs to get this rectified sooner rather than later. People are going hungry in the communities, Mr. Speaker, and we have to do something soon. Thank you.
We are always looking for opportunities to reduce the costs of living in the communities. This is an excellent way to do it. We have roughly 18 communities that take part and take advantage of the Food Mail Program as it exists. However, we are still a very small percentage in terms of the overall budget that is set out for the rest of Canada and we’d be very happy to see what the recommendations are from the Members. If there was a submission the Member wants to make, we’d be glad to forward that. We’d also be very pleased to share our recommendations, once that’s formalized and presented to committee, and have that brought forward for the federal government’s consideration. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The time for question period has expired; however, I will allow the Member a final, short supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d just like to let the Minister know I sent a letter about two and a half weeks ago to Indian and Northern Affairs regarding the point of sale concept. I’d like to see that implemented in the local stores in the communities. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister that anything he’s going to do with Indian and Northern Affairs, if he could keep me apprised as he goes forward and any updates from the Minister. Thank you.
We’d be pleased to include all the Members that are involved in the program and all the Members that represent communities in the program and the appropriate committee as to our next steps and our actions that we’ll be following through with. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to go back to item 7, oral questions.
---Unanimous consent granted.
Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier and they follow up on the issue of contracts let at the ministerial level to prior Ministers and high-level government officials.
Recent revelations on the practices of sole-source contracting point out an absence of definition in contracting and verification of deliverables, poor or meaningless justifications for granting contracts on a sole-sourced basis, a lack of consideration or ignorance of possible conflicting interests of contractors, very slow disclosure of contracting activity, weakness of restrictions on acceptance of contracts by former senior politicians and senior officials, and sole-sourced contracts going to southern firms for services that might have been supplied by NWT businesses.
I’ll be raising some of these issues through the Board of Management, through a letter, to see if those can be addressed, but in the meantime can the Premier say what measures he will be putting in place now to ensure that contracts are written to provide detailed and explicit definition of services and deliverables, and that the decision to sole source is justified with detailed and meaningful justifications as to why the sole-source recipient is the only possible source of the service, and including specific justification of the need to hire southern rather than northern firms? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member has asked a number of questions in that one item. There was a fair bit of information there and I’ll have to get back to the Member once I have a chance to review the Hansard as to all the details he’s requested in that question. Thank you.
I appreciate that that was quite an extensive question. Perhaps to start with, what are the mechanisms for tuning up our contracting processes at the ministerial level? I’ll just note that when talking to bureaucrats they have to jump through a lot of hoops before they issue a sole-sourced contract, for example. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. It’s a rubberstamp, identical wording on all of them. So what are the tune-ups? What are the options for tuning up this process that the Premier can envision? Thank you.
Instead of going into a process of what my opinion might be on some of this work, what we would be prepared to do is take the items, for example, we have a number of contracting sources or ways of getting services from contractors out there, sole sources. One of them is by invitational tender, negotiated contract, public tender, RFPs, RFQs. What I’d be prepared to do is, if Members want to see a particular area looked at, I would be prepared to go to my Cabinet colleagues to see what areas were there and bring a paper back for discussion through committee. Thank you.
I’ll assume that when the Premier does review the Hansard, he will have my list of suggestions for him and his colleagues in Cabinet to look at. Can the Premier also state his view on whether or not we should establish a registration for lobbyists to declare their various interests for the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Once again, the Member is asking my opinion, my view on something. Again, we have a contracting process in place. If Members want to see something like a registry occur in the Northwest Territories, we’d have to have that discussion as a full body and decide where we would go with that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that my having raised this, then, will cause the Premier to bring it forward for discussion.
The last one, really, is the justifications on sole-sourced contracts, the unbelievable hoops that our bureaucrats have to jump through to let a sole-sourced contract and yet we’re using a rubberstamp with the same old wording saying these are uniquely qualified companies here. That doesn’t do it, Mr. Speaker. I’m looking for how the Premier will investigate ways to bump that up in a transparent and a much more accountable way so that we can have confidence in our sole-sourced contracts. Thank you.
As a government, we’re prepared to work with Members of the Legislative Assembly. I know there’s a lot of interest in different areas by all Members, whether it is a contracting issue or an income security question and so on and so forth for ourselves. If Members of this Assembly want to see some changes, we’re prepared to work with Members.
The Member has raised this issue on a number of occasions during this sitting. We’ve provided him information. I’ve said that if Members want to see a change to this, we would work with members of the committee. So if standing committee wants to write a letter to us to suggest changes, we’re prepared to look at those. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to continue on my questions to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources in regard to outfitter activities in the Mackenzie Mountains. Mr. Speaker, the magnitude of this issue is that there are eight outfitters licensed by the GNWT that cover 51,000 square miles in the Mackenzie Mountains. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister, in terms of the outfitters’ activity there, does his department monitor the agreements between the GNWT and the groups there in terms of an outfitter’s agreement, in terms of employment or in terms of agreed things that should be happening between the communities and the licensed outfitters?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
