Agreed.
Page 4-8, Municipal and Community Affairs, activity summary, community operations, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments.
Agreed.
Back to page 4-2, Municipal and Community Affairs, department summary, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $28.002 million.
Agreed.
Does committee agree that that concludes our consideration of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs?
Agreed.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Thank you, Ms. Young and Mr. Williams. I’ll ask the Sergeant-at-Arms if he would please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.
Does committee agree we can continue on with capital estimates with Public Works? Does committee agree?
Agreed.
With that, we will go to the Minister of Public Works to see if he has witnesses to bring into the Chamber. Mr. Abernethy.
I do, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Sergeant-at-Arms, if you could please escort the witnesses into the House. Thank you.
Alright, committee. Minister Abernethy, if you can introduce your witness to the Chamber, please.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With me today is Paul Guy, the deputy minister of Public Works and Services.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Welcome, Mr. Guy, to the House. Committee, we’re on Public Works. We’re going to start off with general comments. General comments, Public Works. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The comments that I have will focus around the upgrade to the Tulita fuel tank farm. We appreciate it and it’s looking like it’s coming together, and certainly, as I talked to the Minister earlier, and hopefully, once the Tulita tank farm has been completed, I would like to sit with the Minister and review the infrastructure on that project. There were some inquiries earlier when it did begin and there was some, I’m not too sure if it was a misunderstanding or a misinterpretation as to the project itself in regard to some of the community’s expectations and how the project has been carried out. I would like to, of course, when the project is done, sit down and review it and look at the project itself there. It is being carried out and I’d certainly want to know if it’s going to be done within the time schedule and the framework that was explained to us when the first project did come out on the capital plan books and the contract was signed, sealed and delivered and work started there. I wanted to ask that on the ongoing infrastructure.
The other issue I want to look at is, again, the energy conservation issues and projects with the Capital Asset Retro Fund under this program and looking at some of the issues that we have in Norman Wells with our own assets, buildings there, and helping out with the conversion. Helping out with the community there is something that I want to talk a little about and see what the department has been doing.
The gas taps will be turned off October 31, 2014. That’s one year away. We know that for sure and Imperial Oil will be turning off the gas taps to the natural gas to the town of Norman Wells. It’s quite ironic that we are sitting on a lot of fuel there, yet one of the taps is being turned off. We are looking at other means of energy, and certainly diesel, propane and biomass is being some of the energy alternatives that we could be using there. I want to ask about what’s happening in that community with our assets and I certainly look forward to seeing what’s being done to protect our assets. I will be asking questions later on about the support for business and residential homes at another time for support for my own people there. Those are my comments to the department. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. For that, we will go back to Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Member and I have had a number of conversations about that Tulita farm upgrade that we’re doing there. Just for the record, it is substantially complete. We’re using the old dispensers for the remainder of this year, as the new dispensers will actually be in in the spring. But for the most part, it is substantially complete and I have already committed to the Member that we would do a bit of a post-mortem on this project.
Having said that, we have also worked with the community and the Member and everybody involved when those issues did come up. I believe that we were able to address most of them. But lessons are always there to be learned, so I am absolutely willing to stand by my commitment to have a sit-down with the Member and whoever else when we are done, by way of a little post-mortem. On closure on that one, we will have that facility completely done early spring 2014, and pretty much the only thing left right now is the dispenser and a few other little tweaks. But the tanks are there, they’re being used and everything looks good.
The Capital Asset Retrofit Fund is obviously a program that we are incredibly proud of. We have been able to do a lot of good work with that. Obviously, we are willing to share any of the successes we have had with anybody. Some of the technology we have put into our buildings we are happy to sit down with anybody, both private and non-private, to talk about the benefits we can get so that people can see these benefits and hopefully start taking advantage of them on their own.
With respect to Norman Wells, we already have all the government assets off of the gas. In some cases we’re using different products. One of the things we’re doing right now, which I think is quite good, is we are currently putting in biomass on the school and the airport. We will be using biomass on the new health facility, long-term care facility, to provide heat in those buildings.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Yakeleya.
No, thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Public Works and Services, general comments. Mr. Yakeleya.
Just one more. I just want to again thank the Minister and thank the government for looking at the alternative heating system. I am very happy, at least for our assets, we’re off the gas and looking at alternative heating for our buildings. Certainly I will be asking later on. I had some discussion with the Minister of ENR in terms of helping the business outside the government’s realm of responsibility, and the private homeownership is still somewhat our responsibility. I don’t know how I can word that. Anyhow, I’m happy that the school will be looking at this project along with the airport and, of course, our new health centre. So I would like you to see if you could work with the Minister of NWT Housing Corporation on the units that we’re going to be building in the Sahtu. This is the Fort Good Hope seniors unit that right now the corporation is looking at a solar type of energy unit for heating that facility, and the three projects that you talked about in Norman Wells should be enough supply to look at the seniors unit in Fort Good Hope as a means of having enough supply to maybe convert the seniors unit into a wood pellet, same as the school. We have the three major infrastructures that are going to be using biomass, so that should tell the supplier in Norman Wells we have the demand. We can bring the supply if we have the knowledge and confirmation that the Government of the Northwest Territories could use this type of alternative heating in Fort Good Hope. Any other infrastructure, the government is going to use in the Sahtu that we have a supply. We have a supply already, so they need to talk to each other to say, is it possible in Fort Good Hope. I think it is. The will is there. I want to ask the Minister of Public Works on this issue. It’s critical to the people in the Sahtu that we look at this. I think it can be done. I just want to make that comment. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I take the point. The Housing Corporation and Public Works and Services obviously are capable of sharing information back and forth. The deputy certainly has a number of conversations with the Housing Corporation on a regular basis. We will absolutely share all of the information we have and any of the technical specifications we use within the Public Works and Services-managed building projects and buildings.
Frankly, we all know that the biomass is a good product. It’s affordable, it’s environmentally friendly or certainly more friendly than gas or diesel. We are continuing to move forward. Coordinated through MECC is the Biomass Strategy. We are looking at a large number of facilities in the Northwest Territories and we’re currently doing feasibility studies on biomass projects at a number of facilities. Mr. Yakeleya, I apologize if I pronounce this wrong, but the ?ehtseo Ayha School in Deline is one that we’re looking at. The Chief Albert Wright School in Tulita is one that we’re looking at. The Chief T’Selehye in Fort Good Hope is one that we’re looking at. The ECE complex in Fort Simpson is one that we’re looking at. The Milton Building in Fort Simpson is another building that we’re currently doing some studies on to see about putting biomass in. We will finish those studies and hopefully everything will prove out and we will move forward accordingly.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Committee, again, we are on general comments, Public Works and Services.
Detail.
I’m hearing detail. Thank you, committee. We are going to defer 5-2 here and go directly to 5-4 in your capital estimates binder. Public Works and Services, activity summary, assets, asset management, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $25.572 million. Does committee agree? Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to follow up a little bit. First of all, two things really. The Capital Asset Revolving Fund, are we planning on putting a cap on that, or are we going to allow that to build with the savings over time?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When that program was originally designed, we did have a target that we were working to, which is about $3.8 million, and eventually to have that completely self-funded. We’re rapidly moving towards that. For today, technically the answer is yes. There is a cap of $3.8 million. But I am very interested and I’m sure that others are interested, that once we are fully self-sustaining on that project, it would only make sense to look at a way to continue to expand that and fund it, obviously from within as well. The more we can save, the more we can cap that up, but right now and until we reach that, that’s our target. When we reach it, we will certainly re-evaluate.
Thanks to the Minister. I think that’s exactly what I wanted to hear. As we go down the road, the low-hanging fruit hopefully will be taken care of and some of our building practices will ensure that we have top grade and we don’t need to be retrofitting with the same degree of frequency. It would be nice to know that there is some thought being given to build for the more chewier problems we have along the way.
I brought this up once before and I don’t believe I got a response, so perhaps Mr. Guy would have the term I’m seeking here. There is an American engineer’s standard for energy. It’s more stringent than the Good Building Practices for Northern Facilities in terms of energy. From my look at it from another engineer’s eyes, it totally makes sense to adopt, and is being adopted more and more. So I’m wondering if I could get the Minister to commit to have a look at that and consider going to that. It makes even more sense in the North than it does in other parts of North America. Again, it is more stringent than the Good Building Practices for Northern Facilities. Thank you.
I’m just going back to the Capital Asset Retrofit Fund and I agree with what the Member is saying and I think we are both on the same page here. Having said that, we’re looking to get to the $3.8 million. Even when we do get to the $3.8 million, we aren’t stopping. We are going to continue to spend the money every year. It would be nice to see it grow, but let’s get to the target there first. As the Member knows, we already build to a higher degree than the Canadian Building Standards already, but I am interested to learn about this standard that the Member is talking about. Maybe we can get the Member to share with us the links so it will be a little easier for us to track it down. We, obviously, are always looking for ways to improve our buildings, to build buildings that are going to be more efficient and last longer in an affordable way. So I’m happy to have the department take a look at that and see if there’s anything we can steal. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Committee, we are on page 5-4, Public Works and Services, activity summary, asset management, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $25.572 million. Committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 5-7, Public Works and Services, activity summary, Technology Services Centre, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $2.023 million. Agreed?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 5-10, Public Works and Services, activity summary, petroleum products division, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investment, $910,000. Does committee agree? Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just briefly, I wanted to thank the department for something that’s really needed in the small communities. Tsiigehtchic is expected to get a fuel delivery vehicle and we are glad to have that. There are times when the community is in need of a backup fuel truck. Sometimes the vehicles break down. It’s always good to have a backup. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The way we accommodate that is the old vehicle will become the backup. It will not be taken out of the community. We will continue to use it, and many years down the road, obviously, when it’s time, the new vehicle would eventually become the backup and it still staggers out in that pattern.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Yakeleya.
A quick question, Mr. Chair. A tank safety valve device that we are putting into our tank farm, I know there was some issue with the Fort Good Hope specific parts and it caused some leakage to the community, to the department, and we had some issues with that. Is that somewhat being corrected? We had some losses in terms of quantity of fuel being spilled onto the ground there.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, it’s been completely resolved. There was some issue with some of the valves. There were some faulty valves that happened to be in Fort Good Hope and that was brought to your attention and you and I discussed it. We’ve dealt with that and we’ve looked at the valves that were bought that were similar, to make sure there were no more faulty valves out there. For a little more detail on that, I will go to Deputy Minister Guy, please.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Guy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Minister said, we’ve resolved the issue with those valves. The contractor did complete the repairs to those valves and there was no cost to the Petroleum Products Fund as a result of the fuel that was lost. It was covered by the contractor’s insurance in the community. We have gone through and done an assessment on all the similar valves and we have ensured there is no issue with the valves that are in service. We will be moving forward with installing the additional valves next fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Guy. Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Chair, the Minister and deputy minister are correct on the issue here. I’m glad to hear that. I would remind the Minister that when there are issues like this, because we were caught off guard when we went to Fort Good Hope… Actually, we drove to the tank farm and we saw this. I wasn’t aware of it until I actually drove to the tank farm. If there is any type of reporting of future fuel spills, I would appreciate being notified by the department.
