Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d first like to start by congratulating the Department of Transportation on winning the Silver Award from the Institute of Public Administrators of Canada for the Mackenzie Valley Highway Project. With that, I have a few questions on the project itself. I know a decision has been made formally approving the Inuvik-Tuk highway, which is the first step of the Mackenzie Valley Highway Project.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for his recognition of the award. We hope to be concluded with the EA process and get a report back on that early in 2013. Between that time and when session starts again in February-March, we hope to be able to get the cost estimates on the project so that we can better ascertain what the cost of the project is going to be. We expect to be able to come back before the House in the February-March sitting to formally make a decision on the Inuvik-Tuk highway. I look forward to doing that.
I’d like to ask the Minister when equipment will start moving and people will be working in the Beaufort-Delta region.
Processes like the EA take some time. I know the economy right now in the Beaufort-Delta isn’t what folks need it to be. We need jobs, we need opportunities there. I believe this project is going to help us deliver on growing the economy in the Beaufort-Delta. Should the project be approved in February-March, we will be able to hopefully move on a couple of sections that are shovel ready, both out of Inuvik and out of Tuk. Hopefully the project itself would commence construction in the fall of next year. That would be the fall of 2013.
My final question to the Minister is: What level of support is the Government of the Northwest Territories receiving from the federal government?
We’ve had a great deal of support from the federal government. It’s a project that the federal government believes has national significance. It’s going to lend itself to Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic. It’s going to connect this country from coast to coast to coast. We certainly look forward to continuing to work with the federal government as the project moves forward.
We have today a commitment of $150 million from the federal government. Again, I think there are some moving parts here. We need to nail down what exactly the cost of the project is going to be, and like other projects that we’ve had here in the past, we need to complete the environmental assessment, get the report back, and then look to the federal government to continue to be the partner they’ve been thus far, and we’ll get a funding arrangement with the federal government and look forward to a continued partnership with the federal government on building this territory.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission. Over the past three years, I’ve described the problem of injured workers not receiving compensation for the impacts of physical as well as psychological pain. Although the legal ability to compensate for pain evidently exists, no pain compensation is awarded, simply because the WSCC has not written a standard to rate the physical pain. The issue was referred to the NWT Human Rights Commission, and a complaint was upheld for referral to adjudication and that adjudication has been suspended pending the results of a negotiation with a specified client. Although, I am unable to refer to the details of that negotiation because of imposed confidentiality conditions by WSCC. However, can the Minister say whether a standard for rating and compensating the impacts of pain is being prepared by the WSCC?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission, Mr. Jackson Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Member alluded to where we cannot talk about the specifics of a case that’s before the claims. This particular case is before the claims. When it comes to compensation and benefits for individuals, injured workers, I have had a meeting with WSCC, the president and also the chair, discussing various areas where the Member raised that issue with me earlier. I did raise the profile and we need to deal with those matters that are before us. Those are the areas that the organization is looking after but they are very careful discussing matters that are before claims.
Thanks to the Minister for those remarks. I realize there are areas that we can’t delve into. However, I do believe there is full agreement that pain is to be compensated and that the policy needs to be written first. That is what my inquiry is. I think that is out front and clearly public. It sounds like, from the Minister’s response, that hasn’t been done yet.
I’m wondering if the Minister can say when we can expect completion and introduction of that new standard, and when it will be rolled out to apply to all new claims for injury compensation.
I would have to get back to the Member on the status of the compensation, the policy that he is referring to. Like I said, I did meet with my staff at WSCC and they did inform me that the paper was coming and that these are the areas we take seriously into consideration, were the compensation for injured workers. I have to get back to the Members on the exact status of the report.
Thanks for the Minister’s remarks again. I know the Minister is aware of the situation and has been supporting getting it resolved, but the standard does obviously need to be prepared, and to ensure accountability and sensitivity to client needs there has to be some transparency in its development.
I’m wondering if the Minister knows, or perhaps could assure me that the standard as it’s being developed examines other jurisdictions’ policies, seeks independent medical advice, and how the policy development will include the input of clients who will be affected by the standard ultimately developed.
When I met with WSCC staff to talk about the standards that are being developed, we wanted to do research in other jurisdictions, as well, as we’ve done with various other initiatives that we’ve undertaken when it comes to policy development, or benefits, or compensation. The discussion on potentially having input from the clients themselves, those are discussions we’ve had, but I will take those into consideration when I meet with WSCC and gather that information.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for that commitment from the Minister. Another issue here, and this has dragged out this case over four or five years now, has been the backlog of cases waiting assessment by the only physician contracted by the WSCC to do the assessments. Frequently, there hasn’t been one. I’ve been assured in the past that more staff are being contracted to eliminate that backlog and keep it from accumulating.
Can the Minister tell me if the backlog in physician assessment of new claims has been cleared, and if not, what steps are being taken to deal promptly with our injured workers?
My understanding was that the department, WSCC has been looking into the assessment backlog and to deal with that matter, find solutions. I have to get the latest update to the Members. I don’t have that information here before me but I will provide that to the Members.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, I find it unbelievable that the Department of Health does not have a matching line item for the 10 long-term beds that are currently planned to be removed from the new health centre. My first question for the Minister is: Will the community of Hay River be protected from having to move its seniors to other communities?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve said in this House many times that we are going to do everything possible to keep the seniors in their home communities as much as possible. The only time we wish to move seniors is when there is no long-term care available in their communities and they have to go to long-term care, then we will sometimes move them to another long-term care facility. For the most part, the idea is to keep people as close to home as possible.
I would like to ask the Minister of Health why there was no matching line item for these 10 long-term beds when they were being removed from the new health care facility. I understand the concept of not putting any in the health care facility, but why was there no line item to replace these in some other facility or add a facility?
The decision was made to build a new health centre and the decision was made not to have the new health centre be a home for people to live in. The long-term care beds were not incorporated into the new health care centre. Unfortunately, the long-term care beds were not incorporated into any other location. I’ve committed to the Member that we’re going to look at it. We’re not going to leave individuals that require long-term care that are in H.H. Williams Hospital now out in the cold. We will find a place for them within Hay River if at all possible.
The department has indicated they are doing an assessment of the Hay River area and the future needs. I would urge the department to complete that assessment and make sure that this facility is going to be a facility that takes care of the needs for the next 50 years.
Will the Minister commit to completing that assessment and making sure that if Hay River’s needs for the next 50 years are 15 beds, that Hay River looks to that type of facility? If the needs are only 10, that’s fine, but the needs may be even higher, especially with the aging population of the Northwest Territories. Will the Minister commit to that, please?
Yes. I would commit to completing the assessment for the need of long-term care beds in Hay River and try to move that to the capital planning process as soon as possible.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As time is of the essence in this project and the project is being constructed as we speak, when will the department place these essential 10 long-term beds in their budget process so I can see it and the community of Hay River can see it on the long-term budget process, knowing that it is going to be removed from the community within the next few years?
The Member will be able to see it as a line item in the capital plan once it goes through the capital planning process in this House.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The fact that the town of Norman Wells’ natural gas will be turned off in 2013 for business and 2014 for residents, the Town of Norman Wells has initiated a process where they want to look at the biomass energy district heating initiative. I want to ask the Minister, and I’m not too sure if it’s the Minister of Finance or one of the Ministers who are the lead on this initiative with the Town of Norman Wells, if they are helping them put together a business case where the town then can go to the federal funders to look at some funding to support their alternative heating energy use.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The officials and staff, in fact Environment and Natural Resources, who are conversant with biomass, have been working with the community of Norman Wells. Now that there’s been an election and a change in leadership, we have to revisit the priorities of the community just to confirm whether those are still the priorities or if there has been any change. But we have been working with the community.
The Town of Norman Wells so far has received a letter indicating that they are still continuing to pursue the biomass energy district heating process. I want to ask the Minister, would his government be supporting that initiative through a letter writing campaign when they formulate their business case to present it to the various funders.
The Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to working with the community of Norman Wells the same as we are working with the community of Inuvik to resolve these critical energy issues. We have been and will continue to work with the community to do that.
The Minister has indicated the government’s commitment. The Town of Norman Wells is compiling a business case and needs the support in writing from the Government of the Northwest Territories, to put together and complete their business case for funding. They are looking at this as urgent, and since it has to go through different levels of hurdles, can we count on this government here to provide some sort of comfort letter that they would give the town for a solid business case?
I’ll commit to have the officials check on the latest status of this proposal. As the Member has indicated, if it’s some type of letter or some type of letter of comfort, then, of course, we will seriously look at that either through Environment and Natural Resources or Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Town of Norman Wells would appreciate hearing from the Minister his commitment on helping them put together a business case for their alternative energy use.
Would the Minister, once it’s asked by the town, see this as urgent and get the support of his Cabinet Ministers to sign off a letter that would be satisfactory to all the parties?
In fact, Municipal and Community Affairs has provided the community about $175,000 to assist them with the work, the technical work, engineering work, as they look at the type of conversion that’s going to best meet the needs of the community.
Once again, I’ll commit that we will make sure, as a government, that we are coordinated and supportive of the community in this process. I will, as well, be talking to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to follow up to my Member’s statement earlier and my questions today are for the Minister of Justice. With most of the criminal activity that happened in the community of Inuvik, it was stated in the news today that a lot of it had to do with youth. I wanted to ask the Minister of Justice what type of preventative measures or programs are in place to help these youth that are high-risk youth, maybe troubled youth, to get back and become a part of society again. What kind of programs are in place in the communities that can help these youth get back on track and become part of society again?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a couple things. Some of it’s promotion and advertising. We do have the Not Us campaign, which is actually a community-driven promotion and awareness campaign. It does exist in Inuvik. The RCMP are working with the community group who is delivering that, and I think we’re getting some pretty positive results in Inuvik.
We also have community justice committees in most of our communities in the Northwest Territories. They are working through diversion to work with youth to find alternatives and healing methods, and ways to divert them out of the criminal justice system. There are things that are happening in the communities. Thank you.
The Minister alluded to justice committees and alternatives in terms of programs in the communities. Can the Minister confirm how many communities in the Northwest Territories actually have active community justice committees and what type of activities they’re carrying out in terms of diversion?
