Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Bromley, you can have final comments.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to all my colleagues for their comments. I appreciate that the Minister is very active on this file. I won’t attempt to comment on this voluminous statement. I will look forward to studying that and getting on top of all those things. I speak very slowly, Mr. Speaker.
---Laughter
I do note the Minister is taking this very seriously. I guess the one point I would make is that this was brought to me by the staff. I don’t want to miss out on stressing the vulnerability that patients have to this violence and the need to recognize them in particular.
I think the Minister is keeping our staff aware of what he’s doing. This has been brought forward by the staff at the hospital out of care for themselves as well as the patients.
Again, I appreciate the comments I’ve heard and I know this is an issue throughout the Northwest Territories. Colleagues have raised that and the Minister is on it. This can’t be done at every place and every institution that we have trained staff, as Mrs. Groenewegen has mentioned, but of course, we’re not proposing that. We’re proposing this at the busiest territorial facility in the Northwest Territories by far, where we have repeated incidents being reported.
I know there was a mention of inclusion rooms, and that might be something that each facility could contemplate. I know the Minister has captured that and will look into that.
Again, what we’re talking about here is recognition of respect, as was raised by one of my colleagues, for our workers as well as our patients, maintaining the confidence and trust in the system that our public expects.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Member is seeking a recorded vote. All those in favour, please rise.
Mr. Bromley, Mr. Yakeleya, Mr. Menicoche, Mrs. Groenewegen, Mr. Nadli, Ms. Bisaro, Mr. Moses.
All those opposed, please rise. All those abstaining, please rise.
Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Abernethy, Mr. Miltenberger, Mr. McLeod – Yellowknife South, Mr. Lafferty, Mr. Ramsay, Mr. McLeod – Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Clerk. All those in favour, seven; opposed, zero; abstentions, seven. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 46, Deline Final Self-Government Agreement Act, be read for the first time.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member is seeking a recorded vote. All those in favour, please rise.
Mr. McLeod – Yellowknife South, Mr. Lafferty, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. McLeod – Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mrs. Groenewegen, Mr. Bouchard, Mr. Nadli, Ms. Bisaro, Mr. Moses, Mr. Bromley, Mr. Yakeleya, Mr. Menicoche, Mr. Blake, Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Abernethy, Mr. Miltenberger.
All those opposed, please rise. All those abstaining, please rise. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. All those in favour, 16; all those opposed, zero; abstentions, zero. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Bill 46 has had first reading.
Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bill 38, An Act to Amend the Jury Act; Bill 41, An Act to Amend the Partnership Act; Committee Report 10-17(5), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2013-2014 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories; and Tabled Document 188-17(5), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2015-2016, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.
I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order for today and ask what is the wish of the committee? Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We wish to continue with TD 188-17(5), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2015-2016. We want to continue with the Department of Transportation, then the Department of the Executive and Environment and Natural Resources if we get that far.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Is committee agreed?
Agreed.
We will commence with that after a brief break.
---SHORT RECESS
Minister Beaulieu, for the record, could you please introduce your witnesses?
Thank you, Madam Chair. To my right is Deputy Minister Russell Neudorf, Department of Transportation. To my left is the assistant deputy minister of the Department of Transportation, Daniel Auger; and to my far right, director of corporate services, Jim Martin, Department of Transportation.
Thank you, Minister Beaulieu. I will now go to Members for general comments. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have a few opening comments as I did the other day. I’d just like to express large concern with the Dempster widening. Hopefully, that will happen this summer. I know it is under the Building Canada Fund, which we haven’t gotten to yet, but I’m looking forward to that and the council moving forward.
We have, as I mentioned a while back, the overflow concerns that are happening along the highway. In this day and age there’s technology that’s available that we could put in place that we would not have these minor problems, I mean the huge problems for some people that are affected, like the people near Tsiigehtchic. We need to ensure that our highways are clear of water at all times. A simple little thing like a heat trace line or a generator could really help. We need to make sure that that’s in place.
Also, with the ferry contracts, as I mentioned, the communities in my riding are very interested in taking over the management as it is right in our backyard here. It only makes sense to do that.
The other thing was the bridge to Willow River. We did purchase it last year and I thank the department for their support in that, working with the community. I look forward to actually having that in place within the next couple of months with support from the department as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister Beaulieu.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Just quickly, the plan is, on the first bundle of Building Canada Plan, we’ll first go through a supplementary appropriation. We have earmarked $4.5 million annually in the first bundle. So, it’s the first four years of the plan, although the plan runs nine years.
The overflow situation that we had talked about just recently, the Member thought there were some solutions that were applicable in the Yukon. Maybe the weather might be a little bit different, but possibly if it’s further north on the Dempster and a solution is working, we can look at that. The deputy minister advised last time that it was a solution that worked well in the spring but may not work in the winter. We should, I suppose, find a solution. Previously we thought that between ourselves and the Housing Corporation that we did find a solution by moving the community member to another location, but apparently he’s flooded out of that location also, so it looks like maybe that didn’t work.
We are on the last year of the ferry contract at the Dempster. We’ve had some very preliminary discussions with some people who are involved. Between the leadership of the Gwich’in we are going to determine exactly who it is we are going to be negotiating with. Once that happens, we will talk about the negotiations. There’s also an option of extending that current contract in addition to the option of negotiating the brand new contract.
Of course, on Willow River Bridge, as I indicated previously, the bridge is purchased. Three-quarters of the bridge is in Inuvik, ready to go on the winter road to Aklavik, and the other quarter of the bridge is still down south and has to be hauled all the way to Aklavik as well. Thank you.
On the overflow issue by Tsiigehtchic that we’re talking about, there’s also another thing we can do, but I know it’s all based on cost. The major lake that is the problem is Island Lake. There’s another place where a creek goes down to the Arctic Red River, which is about a mile west. All we needed to do is get the proper permits and get a backhoe in there and trench it out. As I mentioned last year, there’s a huge population of beaver in the areas throughout the Delta especially. That’s an issue. They clog up the creek. For that reason the water builds up and we have those issues along the highway. That’s another solution we can look at. As I mentioned, the most cost-effective one is using the heat trace lines. Thank you.
We’ll look into that alternative solution the Member brings to our attention.
Thank you, Minister Beaulieu. Any further general comments on the Department of Transportation?
Detail.
Detail, okay. If we can start at page 449, then, and we will defer this page until the end of our consideration of the detail. Go to page 450, Transportation, revenue summary, information item. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The Building Canada Fund dollars, are they reflected on this page or is that something we will fill in later?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Beaulieu.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The new Building Canada Plan that we’re launching into now is not reflected on this page.
Just to complete that, when can we expect that to be added in? Do we have a date on that? And, for that matter, do we have an amount on that yet?
This answer requires a little detail and I’ll ask the deputy minister to respond to that.
Deputy Minister Neudorf.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We are just coming forward, hopefully later this session, with a supp request for capital funding, so that would begin spending of the BCP funding. We still need to enter into a formal agreement with the federal government on Building Canada Plan. Once we do that then we will formally enter the revenues and the expenditures in the main estimates.
Thank you, Mr. Neudorf. Anything further, Mr. Bromley?
Thank you, Madam Chair. That’s good. I was just asking when that might be.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Neudorf.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We hope to bring forward the supps in this session. We hope to sign the agreement within the next two months and be in a position to spend the money next summer.
Thank you, Mr. Neudorf. Page 450, Transportation, revenue summary, information item.
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you. Page 451, Transportation, active position summary, information item.
Agreed.
Agreed. Transportation, airports, operations expenditure summary, $27.811 million. Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I just have a quick question here with regards to the Yellowknife Airport. I haven’t heard anything recently, but certainly over the last six to 12 months there have been a couple of comments about making changes at the Yellowknife Airport, making changes in the management, perhaps privatizing it and so on.
Could I get a comment on whether or not there’s anything reflected in the budget around that kind of action and/or what the department has planned, if they have anything planned for the Yellowknife Airport? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Beaulieu.
