Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was on the tip of my tongue on the last question, but I was trying to find out if the Minister of Health and Social Services was tasked with the lead role on the Disability Steering Committee for these initiatives. So, he is somewhat responsible for all the areas.
My last question is really focused around employment, and some people say the best poverty plan is jobs, an action plan, creating employment for people. I did talk earlier in my statement about stabilizing income and helping people so they can have a meaningful quality role in society that they so truly deserve and desire.
What is the Minister doing and what can the Minister explain to this House that the department has done to help provide opportunities for employment initiatives to help people with disabilities live meaningful lives while they can contribute and make an income? Thank you.
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment has taken the lead on the Labour Market Agreement for Persons with Disabilities. The labour agreement was signed with the Government of Canada in February 2014 to provide funding to better support education and training and to put more employment participation for persons with disabilities. This agreement is one of a series of labour market agreements successfully negotiated between the GNWT, particularly the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, and the Government of Canada with some targeted initiatives for some older workers and others. So, the Department of Education has taken a lead on this and has negotiated the agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask my questions to the Minister of Transportation about transportation in the Sahtu region, specifically the Mackenzie Valley Highway. I know that the Tulita district has submitted a submission under the Community Access Program in an effort to see that some work can get done in the region to prepare the young workers to be ready once the Mackenzie Valley Highway is under construction, which is an initiative the federal government has undertaken.
Can the Minister update this House and people in the Sahtu as to this community access proposal that has been submitted by the Tulita District Corporation?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are many aspects to the Mackenzie Valley Highway. I recognize that each of the groups are interested in having an opportunity to train some of their people and start to build some access to materials that they would need to build a Mackenzie Valley Highway should we see approval. The Tulita district, I recognize that their proposal, I believe is what the Member is referring to, was to come south from Tulita to access the first gravel access further south, which I believe is 32 kilometres. They are also looking at the possibility of staging the Mackenzie Valley Highway, should we get approval. That is staging the highway so that the Bear River Bridge would be the first piece of the Mackenzie Valley Highway from Wrigley to Norman Wells. That would give them a closer access to the first bit of material, which would be on the other side of the river from Tulita and not too far away from Tulita.
With that, I know the department has been looking at all of the access road proposals, which is beyond the scope of what we would consider community access. These are access roads, more capital, that is working towards the eventual construction of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. Thank you.
Over the years the people in the Sahtu, specifically the Tulita District Corporation, have worked for a number of years on a proposal to look at building infrastructure. They have looked from Norman Wells south to Tulita. They actually put in the Canyon Creek proposal.
Where is that proposal within the federal government’s infrastructure, capital planning? Where is it in this government? What can the people expect from that proposal in the coming years from this government and our government? When can we start building our roads in the Sahtu?
Another important part of the Mackenzie Valley Highway has been the Canyon Creek Road. Canyon Creek Road will give people the ability, who are eventually going to be building the highway, to access material for the highway. Canyon Creek proposal has been reviewed, approved at our level, GNWT. We’ve now included it in the overall Building Canada Plan bundle number two. We are presenting three different bundles to the government. We had bundle one approved last June. What we are hoping to do is have bundle two approved anywhere between January and March of 2016, and we’re hoping as soon as that’s approved, we will be able to start some construction on the Canyon Creek Road. Thank you.
That is good news and that it comes through from bundle two and the approved Build Canada projects.
Does this give enough incentive for this government to say we can look at a proposed highway transportation office in the Sahtu? Will that give enough to move your thinking to start planning a transportation office that’s needed in the Sahtu? I have asked this question over 100 times and I got 100 different reasons why this government said no to a regional transportation office in the Sahtu. Is this enough? Thank you.
Prior to potential construction of a Mackenzie Valley Highway, we will have probable opportunities to have year-round or an independent region in Norman Wells would be of all of the major access roads. We are talking about the access road and the new proposal that’s taking the access from Good Hope to Jackfish Lake, and the new proposal that would take the next step from Tulita south, and also Canyon Creek. If all of those were funded, there may be a lot of summer work that may be required in conjunction. If that Mackenzie Valley was approved, there would be probably enough work to have a highway section based in Norman Wells that could ultimately become a region on its own.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that’s 100 no’s so far. I want to ask the Minister, given that the lights are going to be closing pretty soon on the 17th Assembly, and this is going to be my third government that I’ve been asking for a regional transportation office – this is the third one now – I want to ask if this is enough, you know that the work that is going to happen in the Sahtu, to put even an interim or a part-time or something to show that maybe the next government will have the might and determination to say yes, we can do this. I want to ask him if that’s something that’s going to go into some report, because after 12 years you still get a no from this government, as much as we could show it will be a while if you follow the Minister’s projection, it will be a while before we get a full-time transportation office in the Sahtu.
I wonder how it would be if we had something like that in Yellowknife where the regional office was in Behchoko or Gameti or Lutselk'e and see how they like it.
It’s more an issue of the volume of work. Right now, all of the airport divisions, the airports in the regions all report to a regional superintendent. One of the solutions that the Member at one time proposed was that perhaps the first step would be to move the airport operations in the Sahtu to report to headquarters here in Yellowknife, and we had looked at that. Right now that would be a bit of hybrid from what we’re doing. What we wanted to do was continue to move forward on the Member’s demand to have basically a highways section, a marine section and an airport section all in a regional office. When we come to that conclusion, the only highway basically is the winter road. So far what’s been happening is by servicing the winter road out of Simpson, and placing people in the Sahtu throughout the whole winter road season seemed to be an effective way to deal with all of the DOT operations in the Sahtu at this time.
As I indicated, if there was more highway, like the Mackenzie Valley Highway, for sure that would become a possibility where there would be enough volume of work in the Sahtu that we could have an office in Norman Wells, but today there just isn’t.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
m Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just in follow-up to my Member’s statement, I have some questions for the Premier. Will the Premier ensure the Department of Education, Culture and Employment meets with the Aklavik District Education Authority and Moose Kerr School to investigate this problem with parking and to find the funds needed?
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a government and the Department of ECE takes the concerns raised by the school representatives very seriously, and of course, our children and our students’ safety is of utmost concern. For that reason, we are working closely with the Aklavik DEA as well as Public Works, and certainly, we will facilitate that work gets done to deal with this issue.
I’d like to thank the Premier. That sounded like a definite yes that this work will be completed. But we’ve had four months to ensure that this work is completed, and in the Mackenzie Delta the ground is starting to freeze. We are running out of time to build this parking lot. We’ll be lucky if we have another week or two before everything starts freezing up, the material. You know, that makes costs go up slightly. I’d like to see this work completed within the next week or two if the Premier can ensure that that happens.
We first became aware of this issue in the summer of 2014 when the hamlet raised concerns with potential public safety issues. When ECE met with the DEA in February of 2015, the hamlet indicated that they would use signage to restrict parking in the area around the school, and they put up appropriate signage to that effect. But to fix the problem longer term, the hamlet has advised that they need to do some drainage improvements, so we see the solution as being part of that, and certainly, we will follow up with them to see if we can get the work done this year.
Just so I’m very clear, will the Premier ensure that that $27,000 is provided to make sure this work is done?
The hamlet advised us that they needed to make some drainage improvements along one of the streets near the school, and they see it as an opportunity to make some further enhancements to allow for some off-street parking. The total cost for the drainage improvements including creating a leveled area for parking is in the order of $32,000. This work will be done by the hamlet, and the hamlet has infrastructure money to do that. Our Public Works and Services will contribute surplus gravel for the angled parking area and they will contribute something in the neighbourhood of $3,000 worth of surplus gravel.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is clearly the government’s property here. We’re putting a lot of burden on the community that have those funds designated for other projects. They have done all the work to the drainage that is needed. This property is Public Works’ property and I feel that these funds should come from this government, from Public Works, because that is their building.
Public Works consulted with ECE and the DEA. We have received confirmation that the hamlet is agreeable to establish some off-street parking in conjunction with the proposed drainage improvements. Now it’s a question of the timing. As the Member indicated, winter is coming, so we will follow up to see and to try to make sure that the work is done on a timely basis.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I spoke about the much needed Fort Simpson replacement health centre. I’d like to ask the Minister of Public Works a few questions on the planning study and, as a result, the capital planning process as well.
I’d just like to ask the Minister, what stage is the planning study at currently?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In February 201, an RFP was issued for phase one of the planning study, including needs assessment, operational plan and a functional program and feasibility analysis. A planning study services was awarded to Western Health Planning and Associates since then.
I’d like to thank the Minister for that answer. I’d just like to know, well, that’s the current stage of the planning study, perhaps the Minister can explain how the planning study affects the capital planning process. The Fort Simpson Health Centre was slated for ’17-18 but it’s, like, five years further down the line. I’d like to ask the Minister, why has that been deferred so far down the line? Thank you.
Thank you. There will be two phases in the planning study. The first phase will be completed in February of 2016. Phase two, which will be complete with schematic design and class C estimate and then used for the peer review committee. The peer review committee will be discussing the need, the capital need for the Fort Simpson Health Centre in comparison to all of the other capital needs put forward by all of the departments. We’re expecting the peer review process as part of phase two, the planning study, will be completed by fall of 2016. Thank you.
Thank you very much. That provides a little bit of clarity about how far they’re progressing with the planning study.
Is it typical for the department to go to the communities to show them the type of floor plans and the layout that they have at these facilities? Thank you.
Yes, it is. Once the planning study is done and the peer review has indicated that this is going to go into a capital plan, then the people that are putting the project together will consult with the community. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the multiple number of reports being tabled in the past four session days, and no doubt right up to the bell later this week, I think Cabinet is hoping that Members will be a little too busy to follow up on all the plethora of paperwork before us. But there is one tabled document, 314-17(5), that was tabled on September 30, 2015, to which I’d like to ask the Minister responsible some questions.
The Minister of Finance tabled the NWT Liquor Licensing Board and Liquor Enforcement Board’s 61st Annual Report, 2014-2015, and within this report it indicates the number of class A to class B liquor licence holders in the NWT. Interestingly, Yellowknife holds 40 percent of these class establishments in the territory. It is plagued with 66 percent of all inspections in the NWT.
Can the Minister indicate why Yellowknife businesses are so unevenly targeted with his Liquor Enforcement Program? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t believe anybody is being unfairly targeted. Thank you.
Again, the numbers don’t lie, and to take this one step further, the report also shows from 2013-14 to the 2014-15 year a decrease in inspections of licenced premises in every community in the Northwest Territories except the Yellowknife community. In fact, inspections are up in our community by 3 percent.
So, can the Minister offer an explanation to this trend? Thank you.
One of the benefits to Yellowknife is they have potentially a full complement of liquor inspectors. I know that in the smaller communities it is much more problematic finding qualified liquor inspectors. Thank you.
The report also indicates that enforcement offers what is called server training and conducts these courses free of charge to all NWT licence holders. This is voluntary, but the Liquor Board can order a business to attend at their discretion. Interestingly, for the past two years of this report, three communities, Fort Simpson, Inuvik and Norman Wells, had zero server training participants, yet once again it appears that in this 2014-15 report, 67 percent of the participants targeted and voluntarily forced to attend were from Yellowknife.
So once again, can the Minister indicate why the perceived unbalance toward Yellowknife businesses? Thank you.
I don’t believe it’s unbalanced. Yellowknife also has just about 20,000 people, the majority of establishments and the majority of people in a high, high influx as a territorial centre where folks come in and out of town. So they have way more volumes than anywhere else as well.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said earlier, Yellowknife has 40 percent of these establishments, not way more that we heard from the Minister.
Finally, it shows in the statement of operations that in 2014-2015 there were three compliance hearings in the NWT for a total compliance penalty collection of $2,800 from NWT businesses. For this measly $2,800, the Liquor Commission spent $25,000 in travel and amassed $34,000 in honouraria.
Again, can the Minister inform the House, does he still feel we’re getting good value for money? Thank you.
There’s a price to be paid for running effective regulatory processes in ensuring compliance, and I would hope and think that people would say if it was a lot worse we would be having a different conversation about why we are spending so much and why are there so many fines. So I think we just have to recognize that there is a cost to doing business as a government that’s not always revenue-based. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Transportation about his statement today.
Can the Minister indicate to me when he expects this meeting to occur on getting all the parties involved in dredging for the Hay River area? Thank you.
