Thank you. I think he at least did the proviso at the very end and I just want to be very clear on that. Would the Minister make sure that there is an access point so that the public can provide their perspectives on the fire season and if they have whatever type of info that they can provide, that is made available to the public? There are a lot of people who would like to provide suggestions, and it’s not just that they’re angry or anything, they just want to help. We have people wanting to do stuff. Let’s give them the chance to provide that opportunity because it is very meaningful. Thank you.
I note the Member’s suggestion and will talk about it with the department. I just want to restate that I believe we have a fairly effective system right now. We will be putting a product on the table that will be the result of that work and it will be there and available, and we do make that contact at the community level. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “Inter-activity Transfers Exceeding $250,000, April 1 to September 30, 2014.” Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “Government of the Northwest Territories Contracts over $5,000 Report for the Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 2014.” Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following two documents, entitled “Government of the Northwest Territories 2013-2014 Annual Report on Official Languages,” and a letter to Mr. Bob Bromley, dated November 4, 2014 regarding a statement in the House on the safety in junior kindergarten.
I wish to table the following two documents, entitled “Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission Annual Report 2013” and “Northwest Territories and Nunavut Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal Annual Report 2013.” Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “2014 NWT Community Survey – Summary of Housing Results.” Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Pursuant to Section 23 of the Official Languages Act, I wish to table the “Office of the Northwest Territories Official Languages Commissioner Annual Report for 2013-2014.”
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 41, An Act to Amend the Partnership Act, be read for the first time. Thank you.
Bill 41, An Act to Amend the Partnership Act, has had first reading
---Carried
First reading of bills. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Bill 42, An Act to Amend the Residential Tenancies Act, be read for the first time.
Thank you. To the motion, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just briefly I want to speak to the principle of the bill. The Residential Tenancies Act, sorry, my apologies.
It’s first reading, Mr. Hawkins. Bill 42, An Act to Amend the Residential Tenancies Act, has had first reading.
---Carried
Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Committee Report 7-17(5), Report on the Development of the Economic Opportunities and Mineral Development Strategies, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.
I call Committee of the Whole to order. We have one item before us today. What is the wish of the committee? Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We wish to consider that one item, Committee Report 7-17(5), Report on the Development of the Economic Opportunities and Mineral Development Strategies. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. We will take a brief break and come back with that matter. Thank you.
---SHORT RECESS
I’d like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. We are dealing with Committee Report 7-17(5), Report on the Development of the Economic Opportunities and Mineral Development Strategies. I would first like to go to the chairman of the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure for some comments on behalf of the committee. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This Assembly’s very loyal and dedicated committee has some opening remarks, and I’d like to now read them officially in the record.
The Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure sees the development of the Economic Opportunities and Mineral Development Strategies as major initiatives of the 17th Legislative Assembly. The policy direction of these strategies and their implementation and action plans will have significant barriers on the work of the government departments and the economic direction of the Northwest Territories over the next 10 to 20 years.
From the outset, the committee expressed considerable interest as well as criticism with the development of both strategies. The committee’s major concerns were highlighted in its Report on the Development of the Economic Opportunities and Mineral Development Strategies tabled in June of this year. These issues included the short time frame for the development of both strategies, limited public input into the development of the Mineral Development Strategy, and the lack of a thorough response to recommendations submitted by committee.
In tabling this report, it was the committee’s intention to share its experience with the House so that future strategy initiatives may be developed efficiently, collaboratively, and in keeping with the spirit and the principles of consensus government resulting in the delivery of meaningful policies and tangible benefits to all residents of the Northwest Territories.
That concludes my remarks regarding the tabled report, and I am under the understanding other Members may have comments as well.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Further general comments to the committee report? Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think my colleague Mr. Hawkins, chair of the EDI, I agree with all the points that were made. Basically, the concerns in particular were emphasized on the development of the Mineral Development Strategy and I think were well laid out in the report.
Just to do a quick review, basically there was a stakeholder engagement panel made up of industrial representatives put together by the Minister. They went out and did consultation. We had serious concerns that the public interest was not represented on that panel and that a lousy job – speaking straightforwardly here – was done on consultation compared to the economic opportunities panel, which spent their full budget doing participation and the panel was made up, of course, of people with expertise in public interest policy. It was an extraordinary situation, I would say, for committee, and on that basis, we contracted the Pembina Institute, selected the Pembina Institute after looking at a number of possibilities based on their record, and they developed a report, entitled “Responsible Extraction and Analysis of the NWT Mineral Development Strategy Panel Report,” which was tabled last October, a year ago October.
Again, that report started off by mentioning first of all…and it was an important time. It was just before devolution, so this is going back a little bit now, and they recognized that that was an important time to be getting it right and making sure that consultation was very thorough and that public interest was well represented.
When this report was presented to the Minister repeatedly, there was a refusal to consider the points raised in this report, and that was also of significant concern to the committee. The report, as well as noting that it was sort of a pregnant time with devolution just around the corner, they also reviewed the draft mineral development report, in recognizing the 17th Assembly’s vision of a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable Northwest Territories, and they supported that in their review.
I think the Pembina report presented some very important perspectives including in the area of industry subsidies, need to review economic rent – that’s the capture of appropriate value from the exploitation of public resources by industry; the role of communities, for example, in helping identify the right pace and scale of the exploitation; providing mechanisms for monitoring and enforcing that pace and scale of exploitation; allocation of resources and inspection and monitoring – areas we know are very critical; implications of the NWT Heritage Fund Act; requirements to address reclamation – we know there are serious gaps there; follow-up to environmental audits which are required under the MVRMA every five years and now our responsibility; reviewing alternatives to the free entry system, something we’ve talked about for quite a long time; and completion of the Protected Areas Strategy.
The report, the Mineral Development Strategy, is essentially silent or completely industry directed in almost all of these topics, I would say. We need a critical look when we seek to develop strategies, and especially to be aware of our responsibilities for the public good. I’m not at all convinced we did achieve that with the Mineral Development Strategy, but going forward, committee has thoughtfully presented those concerns and some recommendations to guide future efforts and avoid these pitfalls.
What I’d like to do today is propose committee motions to formalize reports, which are on page 3, and they’ve been formalized with some help from our staff. I’ll just move right into that, if I may, Madam Chair, the first motion?
Mr. Bromley, I think what we’ll do is just canvass the Members here and see if there are any more general comments, and we’ll conclude those and then we’ll move to the motions. Are there any further general comments to the committee report? Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Looking at the report, it’s a three-page report, and I’m very interested in this report because the economic and infrastructure report sees the development of the economic opportunities and the mineral development strategies as the 17th Assembly’s major initiative, and more so the implementation of these plans. If you look at it, the report says the next 10 to 20 years. One of the biggest red flaggers that come out of me when I see this report is 20 years is 2035 and that’s close to the year that the federal government is bringing the Northwest Territories housing funding down to a dwindle. Somehow we have to continue with that type of level of funding or we are going to move into more of a homeownership type of programs. We have all these public housing units, public housing that has been almost enshrined into an institution unto itself in the Northwest Territories. We have to pay for it somehow. The programs and services, we have got to pay for it.
We have a wealth of resources here that, I have heard over time, there has got to be a balance. There are some regions that are still in the process of settling or coming to the conclusion to a land claim of jurisdictions, institutions and certainty, and there are other regions that have that already. There are already systems and mechanisms and institutions in place and is enshrined into the Constitution as a constitutional document. From the economic opportunities, we welcome it, we welcome the Mineral Development Strategy and we have some mineral opportunities. There are certainly some of the past remnants that are coming up now in the Northwest Territories, such as the Canol Heritage Trail, where the US government basically said to Canada, are you going to help us or not? But we are going in there, because we have to get that oil from Norman Wells to Whitehorse and further to the United States. When the war was over, they just got up and walked away. Now we are dealing with that through a process, the liability.
Norman Wells also was one of the first significant oil discoveries in Canada, Northwest Territories, and that was done through Imperial and the federal government as to how they put that deal together. Those days are gone now because our region has the mechanism and the means to look at situations that economic opportunities bring to us. So that is one of the complexities.
My whole thing behind the economic opportunities and report is the relationship with the Aboriginal governments. They are major stakeholders in ownership of surface and subsurface lands. That’s our government-to-government-to-government relationship, given that they have a Constitution document, they have institutions such as land and water boards as independent, we have land use plans and we have provisions within a prescribed document such as the land claim to deal with issues. We welcome other opinions, but they are just opinions for us and not to have a government such as the territorial government override. We want them to work with us.
The region claim has already been set. Let the people within the region that negotiated set their direction. I wanted to say this, that the people that were in these discussions are highly respected, know what’s going on, and that we ask that, through this government, they respect the jurisdiction, the certainty and the boards that we set up to negotiate. There are some very, very capable people and if you ask them to come to the table with us to give us their opinions, then that’s fine, but not for another party to tell us how to live and where to live and how we should live. Those days are gone, all gone. We will work with you.
As I was stating, the economic opportunities are really, really significant in the Sahtu and we have some people that are looking to it as a way to create some economic freedom in our region. We have some people in our region who sit on these co-management decision boards.
Right now we are in a state of doom and gloom. Go to our region right now. Just this past week one part of the hotel shut down November 1st. The owner packed up and walked away. You know, that’s not good.
We do not want to remain in the poor house. It’s like having a cow but you are buying your milk from somewhere else. That’s not right and that’s what we always stated in our land claim agreement. We know what we’re doing. We know what we are doing. At least allow us the dignity to work towards what we want in the Sahtu. There are provisions; there are things in the report. They should respect that.
There are lots of issues out there and so I want to say that these Economic and Mineral Development strategies, within our land claim we can work with it as long as the Government of the Northwest Territories respects what was fought for, what was negotiated, what was settled, and not to alter, change or to do anything that is going to create hardship within our region.
We have the oil and we can use it, and that I would like the members of this committee to understand. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. I have several other Members here for general comments. Prior to that, I will use the prerogative of the Chair to recognize Marc Miltenberger, a constituent of Hay River South, in the gallery today and, of course, the brother of our Finance Minister. Welcome, Marc.
---Applause
Next for general comments I have Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Madam Chair. There are kind of two strategies that are here. Obviously, there is the Economic Opportunities Strategy and I am pleased with this strategy. Seeing this strategy and seeing some of the implementation, I see it as very conducive to some of the business that is done in the South Slave. I know that they had some public consultation there. In this report, some of the comments are tying the two of them together and I have some difficulties with that because I am obviously supportive of the Economic Opportunities Strategy and a lot of the initiatives that are in there.
The Mineral Development Strategy, on the other hand, my colleagues have expressed concerns with the consultation with the general public. I was there for the launch of the strategy, which was done at a major mining conference. Some people questioned why it wouldn’t have been launched in the Northwest Territories, but when you have the opportunity to launch it in a national light I thought that was a good opportunity to get it out that the Government of the Northwest Territories is looking at doing a Mineral Development Strategy. Should we have done more consultation? Sure. Our committee had a report done by Pembina and we should have had more answers and concerns that were in that report given to us, but we weren’t. That’s the downside of the Mineral Development Strategy.
Going forward, implementation-wise, we’ll have to see what the future brings on that strategy. I know the Minister is committed to some reviews in a short period of time. My comments, Madam Chair, are just the fact that we tied both of these strategies together because they basically rolled out at the same time. I guess I definitely see some of the concerns with the Mineral Development Strategy and where we go to relieve that or make that better the next time definitely needs to be taken into consideration.
Those are where my concerns are. Most of my concerns in this report are directed at the Mineral Development Strategy, not so much at the Economic Opportunities Strategy. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Continuing on with general comments, I have Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Economic Opportunities Strategy and the Mineral Development Strategy are documents that this committee had time for at least playing a hand in forming the documents. As my colleague Mr. Bouchard had indicated, he feels good about it and my sense is that I am fairly confident this is a go-forward document and I’m looking forward to the rollout ensuring communities and regions and territories and the whole NWT as a landscape. We become involved with this whole document.
What I do want to highlight is that there needs to be at least a clear reporting mechanism. The Minister has indicated there could be possible periodic reviews of the timeline of the strategies, both the Economic Opportunities Strategy and the Mineral Development Strategy. I think it’s essential that we have, at least in the mid-term, some status reports in terms of the major sectors that have been highlighted or at least been part of the strategy. At the same time, there needs to be a final analysis of how the strategies work.
The strategy, essentially, is not identifying the goals and how we are going to employ economic initiatives across the NWT. For the most part, I feel that this is a good constructive document. At the same time, we need to remind ourselves that some communities are have-not communities. It’s just the way that geographically where we’re located, some of the smaller communities, and we need to ensure that we don’t forget about the traditional local economies and that’s the hunting, fishing and trapping. Arising out of that, if we could maybe develop opportunities.
The whole area of tourism, we have to remind ourselves, too, that there are some local initiatives that are happening. Like in my riding, we have Dene Fur Clouds and we have the service sectors that operate at least a service for the travelling public, and we need to remind ourselves of those important mechanisms and pillars need to remain so that we have a vibrant economy in all of our ridings. At the same time, we have to look into the future in terms of being optimistic. I’m very hopeful that at some point we’ll realize our wood pellet initiative in the riding that I represent, that all communities will be able to be involved and benefit from the project.
Last, but not least, because in the North where we’re at there’s a strong propensity for natural resource development. It’s a matter of fact that we need development to happen so that we can invigorate the economy, create businesses and jobs. At the same time, we need to be reminded that it has to be done in a balanced way. Recently this government came up with the Land Use Framework in terms of how it is that we’re going to engage the land and water of the NWT. So we play it fairly safe and, at the same time, we have a balanced perspective. The big thing in that too, and one of my colleagues raised it, is there has to be proper engagement with the Aboriginal governments. We can’t roll out these initiatives in a silo. There has to be multiple partners ensuring that we have maximum involvement for maximum success. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Before we continue, committee, I’d like to draw your attention to the gallery. With us we have the Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, Ms. Snookie Catholique. Thank you for joining us today. General comments. Minister Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the opportunity and I wanted to start off by thanking the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure for their time, their input and their efforts in providing us with valuable feedback on the development and implementation of the Economic Opportunities Strategy and the Mineral Development Strategy.
I’ll start off talking a little bit about the EOS first and then get into the MDS. The timing of our work on the implementation plan for the EOS was intended to respect SCEDI’s considerable workload and the recognized priority of matters arising from devolution and the review of the main estimates for the GNWT. Committee members can be assured that all investments identified in the EOS Implementation Plan were previously addressed and approved in the 17th Assembly’s consideration of individual departmental main estimates.
The implementation plan was a formalization of the department’s plan for the purpose of public presentation. The EOS engagement process that Members were a part of was extensive and far-reaching. The strategy itself was very much a partnered approach, and themes and recommendations of the NWT EOS are a reflection of that collective process.
Again, I want to thank SCEDI for the input and their assistance in defining a more pragmatic approach to illustrating our multi-layered, multi-faceted approach to implementation. A number of changes in the proposed implementation plan were made directly in response to SCEDI’s feedback. Recommendations for implementation by the Department of ITI were separated from those identified for implementation by other strategies and/or departments.
In both cases recommended actions were presented according to the four pillars of economic development targeted by the EOS. They are improving supports to the NWT’s small business community, growing a stable and attractive entrepreneurial environment, pursuing major investment projects and preparing and positioning NWT residents to benefit from future opportunities, while attracting and retaining residents with key skill sets.
Recommendations to be addressed in the short term were distinguished. Related recommendations were noted. Recommendations for which incremental funding has already been approved by the Legislative Assembly in the business planning process were identified.
I just want to talk about communications, if I could. Through public media announcements, news releases, advisories and interviews, all of the EOS partners are committed and have been committed to highlighting investments, actions and initiatives related to the implementation of the EOS. Members of the EOS Governance Committee will continue to seek opportunities to champion, inform and highlight their individual participation and partnered goals and principles of the NWT EOS process.
The NWTOpportunities.com website is being maintained as a portal to all EOS-related communications. Content from this website is also being highlighted on the EOS Facebook page which is experiencing a steady gain of likes and views. A monthly newsletter will be delivered to a publicly subscribed list and distributed by EOS partners to their members and stakeholders. A working group comprised of communications representatives will work to maximize communications opportunities including speaking engagements, discussions and presentations advertising and media features. Alongside the work that we are doing to implement this strategy, the department is taking inventory of its communications tools and products with a view to communicating better or more efficiently in areas that the EOS has pointed out to us.
I heard some Members speak of the economy and the resource development, and really the EOS was intended for us to diversify the economy. We believe it’s a valuable product and is going to set the stage for us growing the economy in all regions in the territory for the future. We’re happy with the input SCEDI has provided.
If I could, I just wanted to touch base on mining and the MDS. The mining industry in the Northwest Territories is the backbone of our economy and provides thousands of Northwest Territories residents and businesses with jobs, training opportunities and business advantages. The creation of an environmentally sustainable NWT Mineral Development Strategy was a key priority of the 17th Legislative Assembly, and it establishes a comprehensive plan to ensure the long-term growth of the sustainable mining industry that will create jobs and economic opportunities for the people of the NWT.
The MDS and the implementation plan was a partnership effort and were developed in conjunction with the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines. In 2013 NWT’s mining industry contributed nearly $1.7 billion in production value. Diamonds presently account for about 90 percent of the total estimated value of mineral and non-mineral production in the NWT.
The development of the MDS and the subsequent implementation plan was a consultative process. From the very beginning, we worked with our partner, the Chamber of Mines, to hold targeted representative meetings. Meeting attendees were actively engaged and I’ll point out that more than 40 meetings were held across the Northwest Territories. Attendees represented 65 different organizations including municipal governments, Aboriginal governments, organizations, industry, regulatory boards, chambers of commerce, development corporations, education and training institutions and non-government organizations. Guiding these engagement sessions and the creation of the MDS was a three-person external expert advisory panel which included Mr. Rod Brown, a Yellowknife resident who spent his entire career as a leader in the mineral development service industry; Mr. Murray Duke, who worked with the Geological Survey of Canada for 18 years and since retirement has worked with the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada on major review of public policy as well as consulting on projects for Natural Resources Canada, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources and the Geological Survey of Newfoundland and Labrador; and also Mr. Angus Robertson, who has an extensive background in the public service at both the federal and provincial/territorial level as well as a devolution expert with his time with the Yukon government and also in land claim negotiations.
We’ve had an ongoing correspondence with the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure and provided them with updates and various opportunities to review and provide input. The committee’s input was extremely valuable and we considered each suggestion that they presented.
The investment climate has been declining in the NWT for several years. It is essential to encourage grassroots exploration to ensure the long-term health of mining and mineral development and have a flourishing industry here. The MDS and several of the short-term launches, such as the Mining Incentive Program, are an important first step in achieving this.
The implementation plan to put the Mineral Development Strategy into action was released just last month. Many of the implementation activities are ongoing across GNWT departments. Two activities recommended in the MDS have already been put in place: the hiring of two specialists at the NTGO and the development and implementation of a Mining Incentive Program. The Mining Incentive Program was very successful and launched in July of 2014. This grant program is tailored to the unique NWT operating environment and attempts to maximize return on investment through innovative and effective exploration. The Mining Incentive Program was modeled on similar successful programs operated by other jurisdictions. The 2014 budget of $440,000 was fully subscribed and, in fact, we had over $1 million in requested funding.
We continue to work closely with other organizations, including Aurora College, the Mine Training Society, Aboriginal governments and the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, to put the recommendations in place. To ensure the implementation plan stays on track, I want to assure Members that we have a performance management plan and results reporting document that will be developed through report tracking on the GNWT’s performance. In 2015-16 an updated implementation plan will be released that highlights early achievements of the MDS and objectives for the continued implementation of this strategy.
With that, I just want to thank the standing committee, as I believe others highlighted. We are moving forward with other strategies. It’s important that we get feedback from Members on how best to go about getting public consultation in place following the steps we need in order to get the strategies that we want. Certainly, we’ve learned a lot. These were two big pieces of work. I do want to thank my department at ITI and the staff that I have there and the help that we’ve had in putting these plans in place. We really do believe that they will certainly help us grow the economy here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. General comments. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s obvious the Minister hasn’t heard a word that we said, the ongoing record of committee bringing concerns to the Minister and getting no joy.
I appreciate that committee’s done a good job laying the issue out here in this report. I hope the Minister will, at some point in his life, read it over and really take it to heart.
The motions that I have are the motions that are in the paragraphs on the last page. There are no changes to those. We thought, let’s formalize them and just see if the Minister might eventually acknowledge that a lousy job was done on the consultation, that the public interest side was under-represented and so on, all the things that are talked about in the report.
We’ve moved on. We’re not attempting to change the Mineral Development Strategy. I know Mr. Yakeleya was worried about that. The committee has moved on from this. We’re moving ahead. It would be great if the Minister would look to the future to improve his performance and the department’s performance in this regard.
Certainly, the mining is the backbone. There’s no question about it. It is a priority. I don’t think committee has any problem with that. What committee wants to do is maximize the public benefits given that this is such a fundamental part of our economic activity. The Minister clearly didn’t hear a word we said on that front now. That’s not true for the economic opportunities panel as profiled in the report. That was well consulted and so on. It wasn’t a third party there. We actually had input and made decisions on what would be included in our strategy as opposed to mineral development which was adopting the industry perspective without input despite how valued our zero input was to the Minister.
I would like to move… First of all, committee recommends that when departments adopt third-party recommendations, such as the stakeholder panel… Let me start over again.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. There’s a motion on the floor that is just being distributed now. Committee, the motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Bromley.
