Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. I’d like to again welcome everybody here in the gallery. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings here today.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of ITI. I’ve talked about the small businesspeople in the North, specifically around the communities I represent in the Sahtu region.
I want to ask the Minister of ITI, given the recent economic recession slowdown this year, has the Minister been monitoring the performance of the number of applicants under the Business Incentive Program this year.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Some companies have made business decisions affecting the amount of work that is going to take place in the central Mackenzie Valley in the Sahtu this coming winter. I understand there will be some meetings here this fall, and hopefully the activity returns to the region. But certainly the department and our regional staff are keeping a watchful eye on what’s happening in the region. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, perhaps we could look at the macroeconomics or step back from the government coffers and look at the industry.
Can the Minister of ITI tell us how much investment this government is making in the Sahtu with regard to infrastructure or training, compared to the $35 million invested by big oil in the Tulita district?
Mr. Speaker, I know at ITI we’ve added some positions. There are other government departments that added positions as well. So to get a comprehensive look at what we’ve put into the Sahtu, if the Member wants, over the past two or three years since the activity started, that’s something that I’d like to do for him and we can hopefully put that together and get it to the Member in short order. Thank you.
The businesspeople in the Sahtu are certainly suffering due to a decision by the oil companies. The Sahtu Dene Inn will be a heritage hotel in Norman Wells, or even the Yamoria Inn. They are both beautiful hotels, well-furnished and fully staffed. They are just maintaining the level of just keeping the lights on. Some weeks they only had one or two guests in those hotels, compared to the years back where they were so fully booked that they had to bring in extra trailers.
I want to ask the Minister, this being Small Business Week – and this is the only sector of the businesspeople that I’m talking about in the Sahtu – what is the government doing in regards to the slowdown of the economic activity of the oil and gas industry in the Sahtu, so that our businesspeople do not have to close their doors, turn off their lights and come back when the activity if ramping up again. What is this government doing?
Mr. Speaker, we have to continue as a government to make investments in the Sahtu, and that is in infrastructure. If there’s a way that we can look at projects or opportunities to partner with the region, that’s something that I think is very important, if there’s a lull in the activity here, at least for the next winter. Hopefully there is a return of some activity in the central Mackenzie Valley, so that companies and employers have opportunities there to put people to work. It’s important to see that happen, and I look forward to continuing to work with the Member to see that happen. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The people in the Sahtu from 2006, 2010, had about six Aboriginal businesses, I believe, and later on over the years they have grown to over 30 businesses, maybe more. The economy has slowed down for a time, but they will come back. Believe me, they will come back.
I want to ask the Minister in regard to the activity that’s happened in past years. Can the Minister, through his colleagues, tell us in regard to the income support that this government has given out to our people in the Sahtu region? When the business was booming in the Sahtu, did our income support payments to the Sahtu go down a significant amount of dollars compared to now that we see a huge increase because there is no oil and gas exploration happening in the Sahtu? Thank you.
Thank you. It is a very proud statistic for the region that we saw in Tulita the growth from six Aboriginal-owned businesses to 30 Aboriginal-owned businesses in the past few years. That’s a testament to all the activity and the entrepreneurial spirit that’s in the community. We also saw a big decrease in the amount of income support payments paid to people in the Sahtu. For the exact figure, the Member would probably want to go to ECE and get an exact figure, but anecdotally that figure was around $1 million less in income support payments paid to the people in the Sahtu last year. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I spoke about the difficulties of our Aboriginal teachers and new northern teachers in getting into our education authorities.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment to advise me how is the current hiring process set up with our district education authorities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The district education authorities go through a process of hiring teachers and other professions in the community, such as principals or administrators. They all follow the Affirmative Action Policy that’s been established by this government, by all education authorities. Not only that but they also have to follow an established hiring process monitored and overseen by our Human Resources department.
The selection committee is also responsible for hiring teachers, also including local DEA members. So they can involve the community as well.
So that’s part of the process of the hiring process of DEAs. Mahsi.
Thank you very much. I’m going to have to contradict the Minister on the DEAs following our Affirmative Action Policy and our representative Workforce Strategy because I’ve been informed in the past, there’s one particular case, where an Aboriginal teacher had the same equivalencies as southern teachers, where we get a lot of them from, I’ll say that in this House, but that job was given to a southern teacher instead of our Aboriginal teacher. The affirmative guidelines clearly state same experience, same level of training and we lean towards the Aboriginal teacher.
So once again, can the Minister ensure me or show me where our education authorities must follow our Affirmative Action Policy, because I’m given to believe it’s not happening. Thank you.
Mahsi. We work very closely with the local DEAs and DECs, so we have to ensure that they all follow. That Affirmative Action Policy fully applies to all education authorities across the Northwest Territories and they must follow and establish a hiring process monitor and are also overseen by our HR department that Mr. Tom Beaulieu is responsible for.
So those are some of the processes that we need to work closely with all the DEAs across the Northwest Territories to make sure that they hire the most qualified people from the communities as well. Mahsi.
While the policy may be there, I don’t believe that it is being followed out, because in our Health department, which is also a stand-alone department, they involved Human Resources right throughout the selection committee and to the hiring committees as well. But there’s no such thing that happens with our education authorities. Human Resources is not involved, nor are they with the selection committee and our interview committee and I think that’s an issue and that’s what I’d like to see our education authorities do. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, part of the process obviously involves Human Resources staff personnel. There are regions that differ when it comes to hiring, but with respect to the Dehcho DEA, I have to make further inquiries about Human Resources being part of the process as well. So I’ll get that information and previous incidents of hiring practices, if they have involved Human Resources. I’ll get that information. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much. I’m pleased with the Minister’s commitment to look into it and I truly believe that all our education authorities must involve Human Resources and must involve them at all levels, even at the interview stage, because I believe that we’ve taken great strides for this government. This government wants a represented workforce and it must include our education authorities. So once more I ask the Minister to look at that, meet with his officials at the boards and ensure that our Affirmative Action Policy is followed. Thank you.
Yes, we will continue to monitor and make sure that the DEAs are following the Affirmative Action Policy, and the process itself involving the Human Resources will be brought to the DEAs’ attention. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. According to Tabled Document 127-17(5) – and my questions today are for the Minister of Lands – Canadian Zinc’s Prairie Creek Mine has a shortfall of $6 million in the amount of financial securities provided, evenly split between the environmental land use permits and water licence. The same tabled document indicates GNWT has failed to collect the startling $170 million-plus in securities related to the water licence related to Dominion Diamonds’ Ekati mine.
Can the Minister explain these shortfalls and indicate when the required security will be forthcoming? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Lands, Mr. R.C. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Prairie Creek operation is a fairly complex operation as I believe some of the land is still on land that is retained by the federal government, so we’re in the process of trying to iron out the details to make sure that… We’re still in negotiations with these folks as to the security that is being required of them.
Mr. Speaker, how can you allow the responder to only answer to $6 million out of $176 million here? I’m wondering why the Minister has failed to answer that question. I’m perplexed here.
Federal failures to collect securities such as this are costing the Canadian public $8 billion. In addition to hundreds of millions in failed securities with this government, Dominion Diamonds have baulked at a condition proposed by the Wek’eezhii Land and Water Board to include a 90-day requirement for compliance with any revised water board security requirements. This, apparently, is also the position of the GNWT.
Can the Minister explain why this government is opposed to a condition sought by the Wek’eezhii Land and Water Board requiring timely payment of security deposits designed to protect the public? And I’d love to hear about the other $170 million. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, it’s too early in the game to say the sky is falling. This is a responsibility that’s being given to us and we currently, I think, have over $500 million in securities. There may have been some slippages in the past. We as a territorial government are going to do our best to ensure that these don’t happen again. We’ve formed a liability division within the Department of Lands to deal with this particular issue.
Again, I will follow up on the Member’s concern with these particular sites that he is pointing out, but I do know that there are some negotiations that are going on. We are hoping to have a resolution soon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the Minister’s intent, but we are looking for performance here. We are talking hundreds of millions of dollars here in liabilities, and history, yes, we have history up the gazoo, Mr. Speaker, on failed collection of securities.
The two shortfalls I referred to in my first two questions exposed the GNWT to liability, as I mentioned, and amount to a backdoor subsidy to industry and a proven risk – a proven risk – to taxpayers. These securities are levied to cover real liabilities.
Will the Minister commit to vigorously pursuing these two outstanding, legally required securities and safeguard the people of the NWT from huge financial and environmental liabilities such as the $8 billion Canadian liability mostly from northern mines? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I will commit to watching over this. I think it’s a commitment that we made to committee when we were speaking to them. Again, it is fairly early in the game and we’re still getting our hands or our mind wrapped around the liabilities and all that we inherited and what we can and can’t do. But I will commit to the Member and to this Legislative Assembly that we will be watching these developments and the liabilities securities that are required like a hawk and make sure that any future cleanup, if there needs to be, is covered. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment. I realize that despite the fact that I’ve been talking about this for over a year, that this has just been dropped into this Minister’s lap and I appreciate that commitment.
To be failsafe, governments have learned securities held must be in the form of bankable instruments such as cash or irrevocable letters of credit. Other instruments such as surety bonds are basically promises to pay. I note that the form of security is missing for Dominion Diamond $42 million environmental security listed in the tabled document.
After the Giant Mine experience, Treminco’s Ptarmigan Mine, Taherra, Snowfields and others, will the Minister commit to avoiding setting a low security instrument threshold such as surety bonds, and instead require highly secure and bankable instruments such as the ILOCs to provide the certainty we have learned is required to protect the public? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, The boards set the security and we negotiate with the company as to the form of instrument that we’re going to use. I can assure this Assembly that we will ensure that we have security that’s, as the Member said, something other than a promise to pay. I think with these particular ones, we might be in the process of negotiating right now the instrument, so I will give Members an update once that work is complete. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For many years the community of Tsiigehtchic has been asking for an RCMP detachment in the community. I would like to ask the Minister of Justice, it has been over six months now that we had a commitment that we would have the RCMP start overnighting in the community.
How many times since that commitment has the RCMP overnighted in Tsiigehtchic? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister of Justice, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. We have had a lot of back and forth with the community of Tsiigehtchic on trying to identify accommodations. There have been some difficulties in that. We are hopeful that we can rectify those problems and we can have members overnight in the community of Tsiigehtchic, and I hope to see that happen sooner rather than later. This is something that I will make sure happens. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I know the policy is one of the issues, that we cannot have one person put in a community, like a small community like Tsiigehtchic.
So I would like to ask the Minister, will the Minister adopt the policy from Alaska which allows community officers in small communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I recently was at an FPT meeting in Banff where Ministers from around the country were discussing Aboriginal and First Nations policing and the fact that the federal government hasn’t been forthcoming with more funding to see community constables put into small Aboriginal communities across the country.
It’s not only an issue here in the Northwest Territories but it’s something other jurisdictions are struggling with as well. I believe I was the fifth Justice Minister from the Northwest Territories to sit around that table and let the federal government know that we’re not happy with the amount of funding that we’re getting. We want to see more funding. We want to see an opportunity to have Aboriginal people back in the communities doing police service, and that’s something we believe strongly in. We have four positions that are legacy positions we received funding for in the Northwest Territories, but we certainly need more funding to deliver First Nations policing and have communities work with communities to have a better policing service.
We have made great strides in working with communities and the leadership in communities on developing community policing plans and community safety plans, and that’s been a real benefit to providing that service in communities as well.
Will the Minister continue to rely on our bylaw and my constituents to do citizen’s arrests, or with the Minister solve our problems and approve a detachment for our community of Tsiigehtchic?
It’s our intent to continue to work with the leadership in the community of Tsiigehtchic and other communities around the Northwest Territories to ensure that they have the best policing service possible. In terms of a detachment, a stand-alone detachment, it could cost somewhere between $10 million and $15 million, and of course, we don’t have the capital today to see us do that. We are moving forward with plans to repair and bring up to speed a couple of other larger detachments in the Northwest Territories, including Inuvik and Behchoko, at this time.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Historically, environmental remediation costs have been handled as a post-year and supplementary appropriation by this government. Given our new-found post-devolution powers as stewards of the land and environmental cleanup, this current practice of seeing an appropriation for the annual accrual for such liability is a direct violation of current public accounting standards of practice. According to the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, these new accounting standards require these remediation costs to be done up front.
Can the Minister of Finance confirm that the Office of the Auditor General of Canada assist the departments responsible for remediating sites under devolution, and did the OAG fully explain to these departments this is now the norm in accounting standards?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
