Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly this doesn’t fit with what I’m hearing. In the real world, the introduction of a large, complex program such as JK would be expected to generate some complaints, both with a philosophy of the program’s mechanics of its implementation.
Does the Minister still insist that there have been zero complaints from the implementation of Junior Kindergarten across the NWT, with the exception of that raised by the Member from Mackenzie Delta, or if not, what are some of the complaints and how have they been dealt with? Mahsi.
Mahsi. As I stated, there is no major issue or complaint about the delivery of Junior Kindergarten in 23 of our smaller or remote communities. There’s been some questions here and there, more clarification from the teachers that are teaching our Junior Kindergarten. They are being trained.
So, as I stated before, there hasn’t been much of a major issue or complaint brought to my attention as Minister responsible. But with any issues or concerns that are brought forward by the teachers or the principals or the organizations, we follow up with them, and I can provide some of the detailed information that we’ve heard to the Members as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement earlier today, I talked about a non-government organization doing really great work on behalf of the government for residents of the Northwest Territories. I’d like to ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs today, how does this government fund certain types of sports organizations, such as the NWT Rec and Parks Association, Sport North, all these organizations that do really good work in promoting health and wellness in the Northwest Territories.
How is funding allocated to these sport organizations through this government? Thank you
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The funding is distributed by the NWT Sport and Rec Council based on an application process. This is approved by the Minister. So that’s how all the organizations get their funding through the Sport and Rec Council. Thank you.
Thank you. Since it’s been an application-based request for funding, I know when we go through this budget process, whether it’s O and M, or the O and M budget especially, a lot of our departments will put in a forced growth aspect to the department’s getting their funding, but I’m not too sure if that happens at the NGO level, especially when we’re giving funding through the Sport and Rec Council.
I’d like to ask the Minister, is forced growth, such as increased wages, increased costs to travel to the communities, taken into consideration and is that affected into the year-to-year operations and budgets of these organizations. Thank you.
These organizations submit budgets and the funding is application-based. So we assume that they’re calculating their own forced growth as part of their application. Thank you.
I know that every year through the SRC, they have a certain amount of budgets. So they always look at if they won’t get the revenues that they usually do, then they’ll have to be looking at possibly cutting down programs or services in other areas.
Would the Minister or the department look at possibly subsidizing, should the revenues be lower, some of these programs so they can continue? Is that something the department has looked at, some type of subsidy moving forward, should revenues within the SRC not reach what they were in the previous year? Thank you.
A lot of the funding that we approve and the Sport and Rec Council distributes to the organizations is dependent on the lottery monies that we receive with all our terminals across the Northwest Territories. They’ll be made aware that if the lottery monies are down and our revenue is down, then that may affect their application. I’m sure many of them take into consideration the fact that our revenues are down and they may not get exactly what they got last year. But we try to make every effort to ensure that all these programs are funded and that they’re able to deliver the programs to the folks on the front line. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government has done a lot of work in the area of prevention and promotion and health and wellness awareness.
Has the Department of MACA looked at partnering with other departments, such as ECE or Health and Social Services, to do a collaborative effort should some of these fundings be not as high as they used to be, but also having a more collaborative effort in terms of doing healthy eating, active living and putting them all together and that way they can share the ultimate benefit in terms of education awareness? Thank you.
Thank you. We are partners with ECE and Health and Social Services through the Healthy Choices initiative and some of the programs that we work with through the Active After School Program and we have a food program that’s pretty well fully subscribed to. I think just about every community and school in the Northwest Territories receives money, except one, through the Active After School Program. So we work with our colleagues over at ECE and Health and Social Services to try and access as much money as we can that we pass on to communities to deliver all the important programs that they run in small communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister responsible for the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission. I want to mention a couple of things to set the background here.
Our Occupational Health and Safety Regulations are over 22 years old and some four years ago, in September of 2010, the WSCC Safety Advisory Committee started to do revisions on these very outdated Occupational Health and Safety Regulations. These regulations govern workers everywhere in the NWT, and after a lot of work, an initial draft was completed and distributed for consultation and there was a huge outcry across the territory, particularly industry and especially the construction industry. So they had further consultations. They did, I think, two or three more drafts and then the Safety Advisory Committee determined that the regulations were complete and they were sent to the Minister for approval. That was in January of 2012, literally years ago.
My first question to the Minister: What is the reason that we are still using 22-year-old regulations when we’ve had a new set of regulations ready for almost three years? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister responsible, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Member is correct about the Safety Advisory Committee did some work in this area and it is almost 22 years that we haven’t made any changes. There have been several attempts to update this particular act, the regulations, but they were unsuccessful over the past nine years.
What’s happening now is that recommendations came forward and there should be more engagement, consultation with the general public, the industries and various organizations representative of industries, businesses, governments and unions. So that did occur and now the recommendations are within my office as well.
We just want to make sure that we cover all areas and listen to various parties. There have been pros and cons of these particular regulations. It’s part of a large document, quite a bit of change that is coming, so we just want to make sure that we cover all grounds. We’d like to sign off during the life of this Assembly. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister. He said that there were some attempts that were unsuccessful, but there was a very successful attempt and the Minister received the results of that successful attempt in January of 2012.
Last year, on February 26th, in 2013, in answer to my questions in the House, the Minister advised me that the report was about to be reviewed by the WSCC Board of Governors, and that then the Minister and the Minister responsible for WSCC in Nunavut were going to look at the report, and there would then be some decision, from what I gathered.
I’d like to ask the Minister, what were the results of those meetings held almost two years ago. Thank you.
As I stated, with a large file such as this, we’re getting a lot of feedback from various parties and we’re followed up with those concerns or issues brought to our attention. There are some general ideas of where we should be focusing on.
All the great work that the Safety Advisory Committee recommended to my office, we are building on that, and again, we want to deliver that during the life of this Assembly, send out the final agreement and start implementing it. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, there was huge consultation done prior to 2012 when the Safety Advisory Committee had their draft out, their re-draft and their third re-draft. So I really don’t understand what the Minister expects to learn by consulting again.
Since January 2012 to now, October 2014, there’s been ample time to do the consultation that he’s referencing. There’s been ample time to talk to the people in the industry and to get their concerns and hear them and deal with them.
So I’d like to know from the Minister, what is he expecting to learn by now doing further consultation? Thank you.
We have done our consultation or engagement part of the process. We’re following through with what’s been brought to our attention, whether it be a recommendation from various organizations. Not everybody is in agreement or there are pros and cons of particular regulations coming forward, so we want to make sure that it is the right product. It’s a large document for the whole Northwest Territories and along with Nunavut; we still have to work with Nunavut on this particular piece of work. But then again, it will be delivered during the life of this Assembly and I’m willing to sign off before this term ends. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary. Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister. I know it’s a large document; I’ve looked at it. I would like to know from the Minister, if he’s talking about consultation and he’s talking about making sure that everybody likes the document – there was huge debate the first time this came out – so who is the Minister going to be consulting with? Thank you.
The recommendation is with me, as the Minister responsible, and there have been various discussions that took place for over a year, since 2011 until today, even the latest there has been some correspondence that came to my attention that I need to follow up. There are some legality and network issues that we need to deal with.
Again, it is a large file, so we want to have the best product for the whole Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Again, I have to emphasize that during the life of this Assembly, we will be delivering and signing off this document. Mahsi.
Thank you Mr. Lafferty. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
I understand the conference bureau initiative is already underway. Can the Minister describe what the conference bureau hopes to achieve? Mahsi.
Thank you Mr. Nadli. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This was part of our Economic Opportunities Strategy. Stemming from that, it’s an office that is set up in the Northwest Territories Tourism Marketing Destination Market Agency here in the Northwest Territories. Its goal and purpose is to attract people and meetings to the Northwest Territories, and I understand they have had some early success in trying to attract meetings and conventions here to the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Can the Minister discuss any early results so far? He has indicated that they are tracking visitor information. Mahsi.
Thank you. I know they are in discussion with a large national organization on hosting a conference here next year in the Northwest Territories. Because we have a dedicated person in that position, as well, they are familiarizing themselves with services and opportunities around the Northwest Territories. It isn’t just a Yellowknife Convention Bureau it is a Northwest Territories Convention Bureau and if something fits in a community, if a community can host a convention or a group of business leaders or a meeting, certainly those things will be looked at. We believe very highly that this bureau is going to be very successful in attracting conventions and visitors to the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
The Minister has indicated that one of the functions of the conference bureau is to track visitor information but at the same time ensure that there is indeed a list of meeting places that are quite possible that could be made for references for people that come up north.
Is the Minister willing to direct the conference bureau to consider adding some of the facilities in small communities, such as the Sandy Creek Lodge, to an inventory of venues for meetings and events? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, that is part of the role and the function of the Convention Bureau, is to identify lodges or places that could host meetings and conventions, and I would give the Sandy Creek Lodge a ringing endorsement. I know we’ve had meetings there ourselves and it certainly is a very nice facility and a facility that could host a meeting of a substantial size on the Hay River Reserve. It’s something I am sure the Convention Bureau is aware of, but if they are not aware of it yet, they will be after today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for his reply.
What assistance is available to the owners and operators of facilities in our communities to successfully host conferences and other events, for example, hospitality training, facility maintenance and administrative needs? Mahsi.
Again, through the EOS, we have identified some money for training, and in the case of Sandy Creek Lodge on the Hay River Reserve, I will go back to the department and see if we can get some staff to contact the reserve and the folks that are operating the lodge to see where it is we can best help them and we’ll try to get them the help that they need. Thank you.
Thank you Mr. Ramsay. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement about the important sector of fishery in the Hay River area, I will have questions for the Minister of ITI. Typically we have a fall session for the NWT Fishermen’s Federation. I would like to get an update on the infrastructure program that we are looking to do to upgrade the fish plant in Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you Mr. Bouchard. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We really believe strongly that we can reinvigorate the fishing industry on Great Slave Lake. Through the Economic Opportunities Strategy we have identified $1.5 million to look at an export grade fish plant, a new fish plant in Hay River and something that we continue to move forward with, although $1.5 million won’t get us to where we need to go. We are going to need partners. We are currently in discussions with some potential partners on seeing that new fish plant built in Hay River. Thank you.
Also in my statement I talked about training and convincing people to go back into this industry.
What can the Minister indicate to me that they have done as far as business opportunities and business training that would encourage people to get back into the industry? Thank you.
We have a number of programs through ITI that are going to help in attracting new fishers to the industry and, as well, helping those that are already in the industry. We have a Fish Harvesters Support Program, we have a Commercial Fish Harvesters Support Program, we have a Fish Harvesters Expansion Program, we have a Fish Harvesters New Entrants Support Program and also some core funding available to existing fishermen on Great Slave Lake. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, one of the issues that has always been there is the selling and marketing of the fish. We know that there is an opportunity, maybe, in Alberta.
Has the department looked at this opportunity to market NWT fish in Alberta now that they are closing down some of their fishery?
Yes, we are looking at the market, both here domestically in the Northwest Territories and the export market. We have a marketing subsidy that we have supplied to fisher people here in the Northwest Territories and it is certainly something that we will continue to explore with the events in Alberta. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
Thanks, Mr. Speaker. With that opportunity in Alberta, has the department looked into and discussed with the Alberta fisheries the opportunity that we could exchange some information, exchange opportunities, whether it’s training or maybe encouraging some people to come up here to maybe fulfill some of the quota to market NWT fish? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, our goal is to develop the commercial fishery on Great Slave Lake, and if we can’t do that within our borders with the fisher people that we have here in the Northwest Territories, certainly we have to look outside of our borders for other opportunities to attract fisher people to come to the Northwest Territories. That is really how the industry got started in the first place, was folks coming to Great Slave Lake and fishing Great Slave Lake that weren’t from the Northwest Territories, and that’s something that we currently are exploring. Thank you.
