WHEREAS the Sahtu region has an employment rate of 55 percent;
AND WHEREAS approximately 9 percent of the population of the Northwest Territories has less than a Grade 9 education and 20 percent of the population has not obtained education beyond high school;
AND WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories strongly supports a resident workforce in existing and future development;
AND WHEREAS there is a potential for major industrial development in the Sahtu that would result in a great demand for skilled workers;
AND WHEREAS there is an increasing demand for renewable energy development in every Sahtu community, creating a long-lasting demand for skilled workers, particularly amongst the local resident population;
AND WHEREAS resident workforce development has been identified as a key piece of Sahtu exploration readiness;
AND WHEREAS the pending Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway and future infrastructure initiatives in the Northwest Territories will also create a demand for skilled workers;
AND WHEREAS there is a growing shortage of skilled labour nationwide;
AND WHEREAS Aurora College, the Mine Training Society and partnerships with industry have provided successful opportunities for the development of the northern workforce;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that the Government of the Northwest Territories conduct a planning study in the 2014-2015 fiscal year for a Sahtu regional institute of technology;
AND FURTHER, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this motion within 120 days.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated in the motion, the Sahtu employment rate is at 55 percent, and also that 9 percent of the population in the Northwest Territories has a less than Grade 9 education, and 20 percent of the population has not yet obtained an education beyond high school.
When I did my numbers here in the Sahtu, there are 675 youth between the ages of 10 and 24 years of age. That’s a high population. That’s 30 percent of the entire Sahtu population, which is about 2,680 people, according to our stats here.
With all the oil and gas development, there is great potential for major industrial development in the Sahtu and the Northwest Territories that would greatly benefit everybody and also benefit a great demand for skilled workers. In a newspaper article in the Edmonton Journal on July 20, 2013, in the article, the lady, Cheryl Knight, the president of the Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada, said about the jobs that are going to come into the oil and gas industry. By 2022 the oil and gas industry will sustain up to one million jobs across Canada with about 200,000 of those jobs directly related to the oil patch.
Canada is getting ready, and we need to get ready in the Sahtu, in the Northwest Territories. The numbers are there that speak quite forcefully on the number of workers that we’re going to need.
There is an increased demand for renewable resource energy development in the Sahtu communities, creating a long-lasting demand for skilled workers and mostly local residents. In the exploration report tabled by Minister Ramsay in ITI, they give us a simple picture as to what type of skilled labour is going to be needed this winter, next winter, and in the future.
For example, the pending Inuvik-Tuk highway and other future infrastructure in the Northwest Territories are also creating a demand for skilled workers, especially in those communities. The Department of Transportation set up a training program up in the Inuvik-Tuk Highway Project. There is a training program going on there. We can do it also. Like I said, there’s going to be a growing shortage of skilled labour nationwide, and we need to respond to that.
Last year, 26 students in the Sahtu graduated from their high school in 2012, and the numbers are increasing each year. Seven students last year graduated from a post-secondary education. Another example of a training program at Aurora College and the Mine Training Society that partnerships with industry has provided successful opportunities for development of the northern workforce.
I ask all Members to support this motion. This motion talks about creating and having a planning study for a Sahtu regional institution of technology in the life of this government so that we can put plans together and get ready for the potential oil and gas exploration that’s going to happen in the Sahtu with all types of areas that we need to look at, from environment to oil and gas to administration.
I thank the Members for allowing me to bring this motion to the floor, and I look forward to their support on this motion.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. I’ll allow the seconder to the motion, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When Mr. Yakeleya first stated this idea to me, I thought it was a fantastic idea. It’s quite a breath of fresh air in the way we do business, and we should really target areas that could really use not only educational opportunities, but educational opportunities that are necessary and are relevant.
This motion is, really, it’s talking about the tsunami of opportunities that are sort of creeping along and about to crash into the Sahtu region. There is so much opportunity there, but one of the key things to this is they need skilled workers that are relevant to that industry.
The idea of a Sahtu regional institute of technology, I have to say, is right along the lines of a brilliant idea about getting the right type of skills in the right area. We could talk at length, if not days, about the need for skilled labour in the Northwest Territories. We often hear criticism from folks like myself about our socio-economic agreements not being lived up to, certainly, in the spirit and the intent.
If we can’t get them here, you know, let’s train them. Let’s start training and developing our own people who want jobs. This is a real opportunity in the sense of energy, in the sense of future, in the sense of investments, but that’s dwarfed by the opportunity and the untapped potential that belongs in people who are looking for work so they can feed their families, so they can house their families, so they have a future.
In short, this is a great motion. I look forward to the free vote from Cabinet to support this. They’re so happy. They were smiling when I said that, I know. I just, once again, want to thank Mr. Yakeleya for this initiative. If it just takes ideas like this to finally break through that crusty exterior Cabinet has on Members’ ideas, this is the excitement we need to do. I hope this motion passes. It certainly has my full support.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Member for putting the motion forward in this House. As Members are aware, to meet programming infrastructure needs, all departments follow and also plan within the GNWT’s established capital planning process. The capital planning process contains a method to identify the highest priority projects using these five conditions: protection of the people, assets and environment, financial investments and also program needs and requirements.
For the proposed education or training projects, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment explores possibilities and capital needs with education and training partners, such as Aurora College, divisional education councils and regional training partnerships. To date, the department has been working closely with ITI on the Sahtu potential and has been conducting needs assessments, beginning in 2012. The first phase was completed, focusing on potential industry needs, should a commitment arise from the company exploring the Sahtu potential. A second needs assessment, of course, is underway, with local businesses, educators, NGOs, and various levels of government involvement.
It is also important to know that while there appears to be potential, we do not have either a scope of work or time commitment from the company currently exploring the region for a definitive or expansive drilling plan. We are, however, ensuring that we have continuing opportunities and people in place to address potential training needs and opportunities.
Over the last few years, ECE’s career development expenditures in Sahtu increased by nearly 90 percent, to $798,000 in 2013-2014. These are delivered through Canada-NWT Labour Market agreements and territorial programs. Residents also can access programs in the NWT through our colleges and various levels of programming. Funding has been allocated to two new positions that will support the coordination of training for the Sahtu region as well. Both positions are located in Norman Wells and include a career development officer at the ECE Service Centre in Sahtu region and a training coordinator at the college. As well, the Sahtu regional training partnership has a five-year training plan to identify and guide training for the region.
The merits of the Sahtu Institute of Technology will certainly continue to be assessed in the capital planning process and through our ongoing work with our partners to provide training employment opportunities in the Sahtu region. Since the motion is a direction to this government, Cabinet will abstain. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. I will allow the mover of the motion to have closing remarks. Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, due to the increase of activity now in the Sahtu, when you have a record-breaking number of parcels being taken up by the major oil companies of the world and spending over $600 million, close to $700 million, you know there is something happening very big. Even if the Fraser Institute report comes out saying that it’s not very good to have investments in the Sahtu, and the next day you have a company come and say we’re going to spend over $700 million in the development of the Sahtu oil and gas exploration, you know that when Husky Energy puts in a $45 million road out in nowhere, putting in two big camps, you know there’s something big there. A company does not throw out $45 million. It’s like us coming around this table and arguing for $45 million of road of where infrastructure should go. They know there’s a potential there. When a company this winter spends $75 million going into the Sahtu communities, going into the Sahtu region, you know there’s something there and they’re going to develop it.
So, I’m saying that put it in the planning study and look at it. We need to have a serious look at the trades. It shows here in the trades of how many millions of dollars, $350 million going out of the Northwest Territories because of the lack of tradespeople in the North here. That says something.
Sahtu needs to have a training institute. Look at it. Look at the planning study so that the oil companies and us and the Aboriginal governments say yes, we can start the planning process and see where we can get the funding.
This is serious stuff here. We’re talking about looking at the Sahtu and looking at how we can get the students and the people ready. That’s what I’m asking for through this motion. The oil companies and that are saying if the resources are proven up from exploration wells, using the technology of hydraulic fracking, we could be there for 30 years or longer. That is real. That is real.
We have a training institute here in Yellowknife and the NWT Mining Society and they’re producing some pretty good, skilled workers and we’re supporting them. We’re supporting them. It’s no different than asking for our people in the Sahtu to support us through a planning study. Look at it. If there are other regions, yes, we’ll do that too, if that’s what they’re looking for.
But today the action is in Yellowknife for the diamond mines and in the Sahtu for the oil and gas exploration. That’s where the action is. We have to look at that. That’s what we’re saying in the Sahtu. We appreciate what the government has done to respond to the needs of the Sahtu, because we’re asking for help. The Sahtu has said yes. In spite of all the controversy of fracking and environmental, they said yes. We will bring in $75 million this year, this winter, into the economy of the Northwest Territories. We brought in over $100 million last year. All through these years, we’re going to bring in over $600 million into the Sahtu, into the Northwest Territories, and say we need some help. We have seen workers coming off the planes. We don’t know where they’re from. They’re from the South and they’re working on our gas and oilfields because the oil companies say we don’t have the trades, we don’t have the expertise, the specialists. But we’re saying okay, let’s do something about it.
I’m asking through this motion to seriously look at this and help the people in the Sahtu and all the five communities, even the people of the Northwest Territories. There’s more than enough work there for the people in the Sahtu. That’s what I’m asking through this motion. In their goodness of heart and the criteria, I know it’s right here in the capital planning study I’m looking at, and give some consideration to what’s happening in the Sahtu. They’ll get a sense of what’s coming down the tube in our region. We’re asking, the goodness at the heart of this motion is to look at a planning study for a regional institute. That’s what we want.
I thank the Members for hearing me out and rising to the floor. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called.
---Carried
Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.
---Unanimous consent denied
