Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I stand proudly to second this bill and thank my colleagues from the other side to allow this to happen.
I do want to say, in keeping with the spirit of the Deline Got’ine people, that what they have done is historical. The visions of the people are coming to realization. We don’t know what’s going to happen and it’s because of the elders in their wisdom and the guidance of us young leaders that they tell us how to go about and how to live our life. Sometimes we don’t quite understand from our culture, but our elders have guided this team for over 18 years or longer to this place here. You are setting a government, a model, for all of the other communities to look at. Nobody said it was going to be easy, but you stuck together and you worked as one, one people, one vision, one voice. It is like you’re drumming. Sometimes our songs are not quite the same until you play for a long time together and then it comes to be one song, one drum beat, and that’s what the Deline people have done. They worked hard together. This is for their children now to take these tools and for this government to work.
In life you have to negotiate what you want and you stick strong to your beliefs, strong to your faith. It takes all kinds of people, governments, our government, the federal government. There are people that are no longer with us who are in another world who we think about.
So I want to say to the Deline leadership, to the negotiators, to our negotiators, to the federal government negotiators and to the people of the Northwest Territories that anything worthwhile is not easy. Anything good like this is very, very difficult, very, very hard. Like an elder said, “Whoever said life was easy, come over and tell me that. I want to talk to that person who said life was easy.” Then they talk to that person.
So for the Deline government, you’ve done it, you’ve shown people, you’re the trailblazers, there’s hope for our people. You’ve given us hope. Twenty years ago we never thought this would be possible.
So I want to say again, thank you very much to the Members of the Assembly here for this historical day, going through this process. You have done it, you have set the trail for us, you have set the standards. God bless you. Work hard as you continue to make your government strong, make it strong for your young grandchildren, their children and all your people.
In closing, continue to listen to your elders and to your prophets. It will be a good life. So, mahsi cho. It is a good day today, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the principle of the bill, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of Bill 46 and I’d like to extend my congratulations to the Deline Got’ine First Nations as they see one of the final steps in their self-government negotiations. I do want to say that when I visited there, they’re only building on their prophets and what they want for their people. I wish them every success as they exert their independence and yet they can still exist in this great Northwest Territories of ours. All they’re seeking is to better the lives of their people and control of their future.
Once again, I want to extend my congratulations and mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. To the principle of the bill. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too stand here in support of the Deline Got’ine people.
Back in 2008 as I worked with the Gwich’in on their self-government agreement, I recall the negotiators saying that the Deline people have decided to have a stand-alone agreement. That is the first agreement in this territory, much like the people in the Yukon who have this style of community government. It is working in the Yukon. I see a great opportunity for the Deline people.
I believe that this process that they have set up was the right decision for their community and I look forward to the progress that they make. I’d just like to congratulate them. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. To the principle of the bill, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise, too, in support of the bill. I’d like to congratulate the people from the Sahtu for this long haul. I’ve been in a leadership position and it’s not an easy task. But what’s very inspiring is having your elders there with you along the way and it’s very important that you carry along with you your elders, their involvement, at the same time, their wisdom, their patience, and at the same time showing us the humility in terms of not knowing everything, but trying to learn from them as well. So it’s a very important path that you’ve taken. I congratulate you. It’s a proud moment for the people of the Sahtu, of Deline and I wish you well, and I’ll be in full support of this legislation. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. To the principle of the bill, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it’s really important to express how important this issue is, I guess I’d say it that way. This is really a hard, a long path that has finally come to fruition and I am certainly excited to see it happen for the people of the Sahtu. The Deline Self-Government Agreement has my support and my heartfelt congratulations for the many hours, many days, many years that the people have struggled through to bring this together to where it is today.
Their future is in their hands right where it belongs. They will join other governments such as the Tlicho Government who we have all seen move forward with great success in managing and cutting the trail for their people with their vision on getting things done. They have fought for this respect and they have rightly earned it and they are getting it here today. I congratulate them for this.
The Deline Final Self-Government Agreement Act is one for the history books. I was actually quite touched, believe it or not, to hear when the Premier read it into the record that the MLA for the Sahtu is seconding it. It’s not a usual practice, but it represents not only how important our Assembly is through consensus government but it also marks the moment in time the Sahtu helped play a role in this and this Assembly took special note of that.
I want to finish by saying, as a young boy who has grown up here in the North, I can tell you how deeply important the vision of all elders are from every region. I may have grown up in the Deh Cho, but I know your elders are so important to the vision and provide the strength and the future of the youth. I have no doubt that the Deline Self-Government Agreement will do that.
Again, my heartfelt congratulations and my wholehearted support.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the principle of the bill.
Question has been called. All those in favour, please rise for a recorded vote.
Mr. McLeod – Yellowknife South, Mr. Lafferty, Mr. Ramsay, Mr. McLeod – Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mrs. Groenewegen, Mr. Dolynny, Mr. Bouchard, Mr. Nadli, Mr. Hawkins, 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. Those in favour, 18; opposed, zero; abstentions, zero. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 69(2) and have Bill 46 moved into Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Unanimous consent granted
Bill 46 is moved into Committee of the Whole.
---Applause
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 Tabled Document 188-17(5), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2015-2016. We want to continue with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and, time permitting, Municipal and Community Affairs and the Department of Lands. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Is committee agreed?
Agreed.
We will commence with that after a brief recess.
---SHORT RECESS
I’d like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. We were on Environment and Natural Resources. I’d like to ask the Minister if he has any witnesses he would like to bring in. Mr. Miltenberger.
Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Sergeant-at-Arms, if you could please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.
Minister Miltenberger, if you could be kind enough to introduce your witnesses for the record, please.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Deputy Minister Ernie Campbell and director of finance and admin Susan Craig. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Craig, Mr. Campbell, welcome back to the House. Committee, we are on general comments. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a few comments. I know I did provide some earlier, but as I mentioned, the community of Tsiigehtchic once had a suppression crew and the forest fires are a big concern in the coming year with a possible dry season coming again. I think it’s very important that we go back to the past agreement that we had with the community and the department to re-enter that agreement and make sure that we do have a crew on hand this summer to be prepared to transfer to any region that may need their assistance over the summer.
As we discovered last year, as we rushed around for a number of volunteers throughout the communities, it’s very important that we have all this training on hand early and have our workforce prepared in case of an emergency. I really look forward to that in the coming year. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It’s been since 2007 that there’s been a fire crew there. So yes, we will have our folks and the deputy will arrange to make sure there are discussions with Tsiigehtchic about the upcoming fire season. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Continuing on with general comments, I have Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don’t have a whole lot to add in terms of what other Members had said yesterday, but just a couple of comments.
I’m really glad to see the investment in the traditional economy programs. I know that some of our residents who used to work in some industries that used to be up and running and don’t have that opportunity anymore because the economy is pretty slow have looked at going into the traditional economy, whether it’s harvesting or trapping, and even though the investment is there, I’m not too sure how much of it is new dollars. I won’t get into the detail as we’ll get into that later. But of this $2.3 million, is that new dollars on top of what was allocated last year? Are these new dollars going into that program? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is money that is just being transferred over from ITI that was previously administered through that department and flowed into ENR. So it’s not new money. Thank you.
Thank you. I know I’ve asked questions in the House at one time or another about the need to invest more into our traditional economy and into our harvesters throughout the Northwest Territories, especially up in some of the regions where we did have some development going on and possibly some work that has been going on in terms of having some of the animals migrate in different routes than they used to. In some cases our hunters and trappers have to travel further now to get either fur or to get the animals that they’re hunting. That needs to be addressed.
We do forced growth in a lot of programs and services. I’m not sure this one has seen any increase in that area. I’m just wondering if the Minister has taken that into consideration, considering that our harvesters are travelling a lot more, which means a lot more food and a lot more money for gas. In some cases, chatting with some of the guys back home, they say it costs a lot of money to go out on a day or two hunt, and if you get skunked and get nothing, that’s money that’s lost. Whether or not that’s taken into consideration, and if we can start to see some increases in this area considering that other areas of our economy are not even active the way they used to be in terms of they used to employ some of these local residents. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This is an important part of the economy, as the Member points out, that and the traditional knowledge. We’re committed to carrying on the good work that was done when the funding flowed through ITI. I’ll ask the deputy to just give a bit of a rundown on the various programs we do have that we’ve been administering now for some time both in terms of hunters and trappers assistance, Western Harvesters Fund, community harvester assistance and Take a Kid Trapping and such, with your agreement, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Yes. Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Deputy Minister Campbell, go ahead.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Some of the existing programs that are coming over to Environment and Natural Resources, as the Minister pointed out, are the existing grants and contribution programs, Community Harvesters Assistance Program and local wildlife committee funding. There’s also the Take a Kid Trapping Program and, of course, the revolving fund for the guaranteed payments to trappers.
We’ve been playing a large role in the past, working with ITI on administering these programs. We don’t feel it will be a major impact as we transition. However, internally we are doing a review of where things are at.
We do want to have a strategic approach going forward for this program. We do recognize the challenges with the finances, the fiscal challenges. We want to seize on the opportunity to look at partnerships going forward to increase the funding available for the promotion of the traditional economy. So it’s at the early stages and we really want to see where we can improve the program here come April 1st and beyond. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Mr. Moses.
I appreciate the response. I think that’s something that really seriously needs to be looked at in terms of increasing the incentives and the grants to our harvesters because they are spending a lot of money and I’m not sure what their return on investment is for going out on the land.
I just want to speak to this Energy Efficiency Incentive Program. I know we talked in the House about that Net Metering Program kind of developed about a year ago today I guess. For businesses, the Net Metering Program is limited at five kilowatts and it’s not feasible for some businesses to invest in their own infrastructure and put that back into the grid. I guess the question is it’s not an incentive for our businesses who want to go that route with the Net Metering Program. So I’m just making a suggestion here on whether the department would look at this and change some of their policies under the Energy Efficiency Incentive Program and maybe changing the policy to give that incentive to business owners who want to be more energy efficient, whether it’s solar panels, is one that comes to mind, and whether this policy has been reviewed and whether it needs more funding.
What I’ve been hearing is businesses want to get into that area of cost savings and put what they produce in terms of energy efficiencies back into the grid, but there’s no incentive for them with the limit that we have. If there’s no incentive and the limit is not going to change in net metering, can we provide an incentive under the Energy Efficiency Incentive Program to provide a better, bigger subsidy to these businesses?
In some regions, like my region of Inuvik, is the high cost of heating these buildings because of the LNG when they were running on natural gas before. Now they’re having a hard time just maintaining their, I guess, profits, and they’re not really making a profit in terms of the business that they were doing before, alongside with the economy slowing down. I want to get the Minister’s perspective on it.
Will the program be reviewed, the policy reviewed, and whether or not more funding can go into them and a bigger subsidy for some of our small and even big businesses that want to do this energy efficiency but the net metering isn’t allowing them to do that?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have had a change to that five kilowatt. The Power Corp has gone to the Public Utilities Board to eliminate the standby charge for solar photovoltaic systems over five kilowatts in size, allowing the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation to proceed with up to 75 kilowatts of solar installations in five diesel communities over the next two years.
One of the other things that’s happened, as it was announced earlier in the House, we’ve consolidated our energy functions now into Public Works and Services, and they’re now going to be looking after those types of issues and building on a lot of the skill and expertise that they’ve developed in the installation experience. Those kinds of questions are very legitimate questions. A lot of the systems, we’ve designed them, so if there’s a need to have a discussion about amending or fixing, then we have processes to do that. But there’s nothing in any of these processes that are carved in stone. We want to be as supportive as possible. Public Works and Minister Beaulieu will be coming to the table here, I believe, in the not-too-distant future and have that discussion. But we have heard the concerns about the five kilowatt cap.
Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Continuing on with general comments, I have Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a few general comments for this department. Obviously, I think almost everybody has spoken of the disastrous fire season and we talked about in the past and business plans and stuff like that about the base, and I guess it’s the cost of fire suppression is going to be the cost, I guess. Has there been any consideration in this budget to up that base of fire suppression? We know over a period of time there have been expenditures, and obviously last year was an exceptional year. Obviously, we wouldn’t want to set that as the benchmark, but is the department looking at increasing its base for fire suppression over the next little while? I think we talked about a three or a five or even a 10 year running average of what we did for fire suppression and going from that basis for future years to budgeting suppression so that we actually have a closer to an average amount, obviously, maybe excluding some of the exceptional years like last year. I would like to hear what the department has to say about our base for fire suppression.
I’d like to know what this department’s involvement has been with the fracking regulations and where we are going forward with regulations on fracking. Obviously, I would think this department would be highly involved as far as a baseline study to finding out what areas where we may potentially be doing fracking. Let’s say in the Sahtu area, getting involved in the baseline study. We need to have that baseline to know, going forward, what the effects of any activity would be. We know that some of the oils and stuff like that in the Sahtu are naturally occurring right now, so obviously we’d want to know what the base is before industry gets in there too far and gets too involved, obviously, for comparison.
Like my colleague, obviously, the energy that was there before, I’m not sure if everything has been transferred over to Public Works and Services for energy. Obviously, the funding of the Arctic Energy Alliance has been very effective. I think since we’ve gone to the Energy Charrette, one of the big questions there and discussions was about efficiencies and people taking action to make their homes and their appliances more efficient and trying to alleviate cost of living that way. I’m not sure if everything is transferred over there, going from some history notes that we had at business plans, but some of them may be dated now that we’ve transferred some of that to Public Works and Services. Again, if there’s any of that stuff still in ENR.
Obviously another project of interest is biomass, where we are going forward with biomass. The forest industry, from my understanding, we finally actually have maybe an opportunity to actually have a forestry industry that will require a forest management team there in place. That opportunity is obviously very exciting for the South Slave. I’m looking forward to maybe seeing what the department is doing to linking that opportunity with some of, maybe, the fire suppression as far as smart communities. I know the department is going around to communities right now and talking about how to make your communities fire smart, and maybe there’s an opportunity to do some of that forestation in communities and maybe tie it in with our biomass potential project.
I know we are close to signing some of the transboundary water agreements and if the department could just give me a little bit of an update where we stand. I think we’ve just about dotted all the i’s and crossed the t’s with Alberta. I’m not sure where we’re at with BC and Saskatchewan, so if I could get a little bit of that information, it would be very interesting.
I guess we’re dealing with operations, but the whole budget has capital included in it, and I guess I am concerned that we didn’t evaluate that much more the 802 versus 215 units and even the option of privatizing some of the fire suppression. I’m still getting reports in of some of the assessment of the 802s, concerns with them, incident reports, capabilities for fire suppression in heavy, dense areas. I know we’ve used some of them lately, but I still continue to get some reports from other jurisdictions that they’re finding them to be ineffective in some areas, so obviously a concern in an area of the Northwest Territories especially after the fire suppression system that we just had. I think those are most of my comments.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. We’ll go to Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The fire suppression budget for this year, the base budget remains as it’s laid out in the main estimates. We are looking at next year probably a five-year average approach that would see a change, especially if one of the five years includes the $60 million. We’ll see what this fire season brings. The assurance to the people of the Northwest Territories, of course, is that we will, as a government and as a Legislature, put the resources that we need to to protect the homes, people and the safety and property values that we hold dear in the Northwest Territories. We will put the funds there to make sure that we do the job necessary. We will be doing that again, as we do just about every year, through special warrants when the need arises or as the need arises.
The fracking regulations, ENR worked very, very closely for the last couple of years with ITI. ITI and Minister Ramsay have that file. They are moving forward with the regulatory update and I think we’ll find that as we move forward with that, that the best practices will be clearly evident. We have been and continue to be involved. We work with all the other involved departments, with ITI, along with ENR, and I think, Lands and such, so that we are there at that table.
Energy programs, rebate programs, incentive programs are part of what’s been moved to Public Works and Services. We have a continued role to play on the supply side of the biomass initiative where we’re working with communities on their forest management agreements. We’re playing a role with not only the communities but the proponent for the Aurora Wood Pellets, in this case, trying to navigate through the challenges of starting up a brand new process. We know that there are interested communities, as well, that are watching, and Kakisa and Jean Marie River are too.
As we look at the areas and the forest management agreements and inventory that are there, the Member mentioned the possibility of fire smarting being integrated into this biomass industry. If possible, I think that’s not out of the realm of possibility. I know in Fort Smith, for example, the community and the government worked to make the whole area around the airport right by town a wood harvesting area for regular wood burners and folks that use wood, and it’s been a great boon for everybody. You’re five minutes away from your wood supply and it’s definitely helped fire smarting the community. So I think those kind of options are there to be looked at.
Transboundary updates. We have, for all intents and purposes, concluded the Alberta agreement and we’re working on the logistics, trying to nail down the signing date and time with Alberta. BC, we expect within the next few days to conclude the final discussions on the last i to be dotted and t to be crossed. Saskatchewan, we are confident that, if all goes well in April, before the May/June session we may have an agreement with Saskatchewan, as well. As we sit here today, the folks are over in the Yukon meeting with the Yukon officials in, I believe, Whitehorse, in terms of modernizing, updating the only bilateral agreement that exists, and that’s the one with the Yukon.
In regards to the 802s, the decision was made. We’re moving forward with the purchase of the 802s as we’ve laid out in the plan. We’re in the queue. In the meantime we will continue to use the 215s. One of the big issues, of course, has been affordability, quality, fire protection and the air force that will give us that capacity at a level that is affordable within our fiscal parameters. Anyways, that decision has been made and we’re moving on the purchase of the eight 802s. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. As we continue with general comments, I have Mr. Yakeleya.
