Mr. Speaker, the Member raises a very good point. A lot of the teachers that have gone through the communities in years past have contributed a lot to sporting development in the communities. I think we see it in the different communities around. One community might be good in basketball because they have a basketball coach there. So, they’ve contributed a lot.
We recently had a sport forum with many of our sporting partners, and we plan on having another gathering of our sporting partners. There are always ways through them that all those who are serving the communities can contribute to the process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Part of this discussion that I’m alluding to would be the wellness of these young athletes. I just had a really good discussion up in the Explorer Hotel with a lot of really exciting people putting together some good wellness packages.
I want to ask the Minister also on the health and wellness of this concept. Is that part of the discussion of a business plan on the centre of excellence for young athletes? Are we looking at a comprehensive model such as this one here?
This government contributes a lot to the health and well-being of our young people across the Northwest Territories. I think we have upwards of $3.6 million that we provide to many programs that affect the communities. Again, I haven’t had an opportunity to review the business plan yet. I’m just in that process right now. Once we review that and see if there’s a way moving forward, it will obviously take into account a lot of things if they do have a centre of excellence for sport development, nutrition and health and well-being. But first and foremost, our goal as a government is to contribute to the health and well-being and keep our young people across the Northwest Territories active.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today will be for the Minister of Transportation. I know the Minister, before Christmas, got an opportunity to go on the winter roads. I’m glad that he went early, because from what I’m hearing the roads are in rougher shape now than they were back then.
My first question is does the Department of Transportation have a fixed budget on winter road construction and maintenance?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, we do. At about five-year blocks we tender the winter road construction in several zones. We have seven zones and each zone could be divided up into two zones, or sometimes it’s just one zone. Then we determine right from Wrigley all the way to Colville Lake who would do what and we tender the work. We issue the work based on tender and a schedule that the contractor has to follow.
The next question I have is how does the department know that there’s going to be a set amount? If there are 10 snowstorms versus 15 snowstorms in a year or whether we have no snow in one area or lots of snow, how does the department set that as a fix? Does the department ever come back to the Assembly for additional funds to improve the maintenance on those highways?
We do a best guesstimate we can to determine how many times the passes would be needed by the equipment on the winter road. We also have a lot of historical data, and we use those recognizing that, of course, in the past we’ve also had some support from industry that is no longer there.
I did hear that comment from the Minister in the media a while ago about the lack of industry support this year, but this government has been around for a long time, and I know industry is not there that much this year in the Sahtu especially, so they haven’t been beating up the road as much. But the roads are in terrible shape right now.
Is the Minister looking to put more money and more cycles into the maintenance of the highways?
We are going to take a serious look at the possibility of adding more cycles. Although the industry didn’t support us to the full magnitude that they’ve assisted us in the past, we did get some money from industry. Actually, $140,000 to help us with some of the heavy traffic that they were hoping to bring over the winter roads. We’ve had a lot of complaints about the winter road from industry, people moving some fuel and so on into the communities, and from the general population and from the Sahtu, so we are actually seriously considering requesting some money for the winter road in the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the Minister has been getting these reports. I’ve been getting some of the reports on there. Industry has been keen on letting them know where the maintenance needs to be done. I know in the next little while we’re going to be looking at supplementary expenditures. The roads are melting. The weather is going to be starting to warm up here. We know there is going to be more pressure.
When will the Minister give us some indication that they’re going to increase the cycles and look for money in maintenance?
We don’t anticipate any issues with getting everything that we need into the Sahtu communities with the current state of the winter roads. What we would like to do is, really, use this year where we recognize that we didn’t get industry support as a bit of a prototype year on what happened, what occurred and so on. Then next year look at what we think we need, how we need additional cycles and so on in the Sahtu. By additional cycles I mean the extra grading that’s going to be required on the snowfalls in the Sahtu. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much. Just following up on my Member’s statement I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation about the planned air terminal building that wasn’t completed in the capital plan this year. When will the community of Trout Lake be getting their air terminal building? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We completed this Trout Lake Airport with Building Canada Plan funds. We had $7.2 million to build the road to the new airport and the apron, the airport itself and the new terminal building, but at the end we had expended all the money. We didn’t have enough money left in the budget to complete the $450,000 air terminal building, which is designed and ready to go but we didn’t have the money to do it. Thank you.
Thank you very much. They couldn’t complete it this winter. So the Minister is saying it will be delivered on the winter road in December of 2015 or January of 2016. I didn’t hear a clear answer there. Thank you.
As indicated, the entire project was over budget. Therefore, we do have to go back to get the money through the regular process. Our intention is to include this air terminal building in the next cycle of the capital planning process, which would be ’16-17.
Well, the Minister clarified exactly what process. Where the air terminal building is, there is none. So he’s got to actually request another one and that’s too bad. As well, like I indicated, the capital planning process is upon us and will be starting soon.
What steps will the Minister be taking to ensure that the community of Trout Lake gets a new airport snow blower for the new and larger airport as well? Thank you.
Right now we are using equipment that exists in the community. The hamlet grader actually is doing the work at the airport. We think that is going to be sufficient, but we’re going to evaluate that after this winter and see if there were any issues at all with the current equipment that’s in the community. If we find that the equipment is inadequate and that we’re not able to do the job and that there are any issues whatsoever with the airline companies, medevac, anything in there whatsoever, then we need to take a look at perhaps bringing more equipment in. The problem with the plow truck or snow blower basically is these are expensive pieces of equipment and they’re also very expensive to maintain and repair if something goes wrong. A grader is something we find that’s durable and can do the job, and we’re hoping that the results of our investigation on how the past winter had gone with the airport will be good, the results will be fine and that we wouldn’t need anything else at the airport. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Hopefully they do a proper and thorough investigation, because using the old community grader, they’re doing a much larger surface area than they did with the smaller airport. You have 3,500 feet of runway, you’ve got a large apron, so I just don’t believe the speed is there and the ability to clear the snow quickly. I would like to ask the Minister one more time for proper evaluation. I know there are some communities out there that have a snow blower, but they rarely use it so they also have to evaluate how snow blowers are distributed throughout the Northwest Territories. With that, I will ask the Minister to do a proper evaluation and look at the capital planning process for a snow blower for the community of Trout Lake. Thank you.
We are currently monitoring the situation and we will evaluate once the season is over and see if there are issues at all. As I indicated, if there are issues and we found the grader was inadequate, especially as the Member pointed out with the lighting, some danger with the lighting on this type of plow, we will look at that, and if we think there is no way we can continue with just a grader on the airport, we will look at the capital planning process to put in proper equipment.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today in my Member’s statement I shared my dismay on the way our Department of Justice is handling our corrections services. Ironically, the office of the Auditor General agrees with me.
As set out in our NWT Corrections Act, there are consequences and processes clearly defined for the contravention of the act. My questions today are for the Minister-designate. Without belabouring the long list of contraventions and violations of this act in the wake of the recent Auditor General’s report, can the Premier indicate if the Department of Justice reviewed its legal obligations and responsibilities for the administration of its correctional facilities as per the Corrections Act? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Justice has accepted all of the recommendations of the office of the Auditor General and has made a lot of progress and introduced a lot of changes already. If the audit had been done now, it would have been a very different audit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Clause 49(1) of the NWT Corrections Act states: “The Minister may appoint persons to investigate and inquire into any matter connected or affecting the administration and operation of the corrections service or correctional centre.”
Can the Premier, given the seriousness of the circumstances, indicate to the House when such an investigation will take place? Thank you.
I will take that question and respond very quickly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Clarification, Mr. Premier?
I thank the Member for the question. I will get the information and respond to him as soon as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Section 52 of the act under general offences and punishment reads: “A person other than an inmate who (a) contravenes this act or the regulations, or (b) conducts himself or herself in a manner that is detrimental to the good order and discipline of a correctional centre, is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both.”
Can be Premier indicate to the House, will the Minister of Justice authorize an independent investigation into whether charges should be laid under Section 52 for alleged contraventions of the act and its regulations? Thank you.
We just received the Auditor General report today. It was just tabled yesterday, so I will have to take the question as notice. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. The new Fort Providence Health Centre has been under construction for some time.
Can the Minister confirm the dates of the opening of the Fort Providence Health Centre?
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The original completion date for the contractor was March 31, 2015, and we are still within that date. We were a little bit ahead of schedule through last summer and were hoping to do final construction and interior finishes through January and February. Unfortunately, we had an inspection on the 25th to determine if the building was ready to be opened and there were some deficiencies identified that the contractor is currently working on. We still have until March 31st to complete those final interior finishes. The original plan was to begin moving furniture and equipment in in March with the actual opening in early summer/late spring. That is still the plan and we are still on target. I can’t confirm an official date for the opening, but I will talk to the Dehcho Health and Social Services Authority. In light of this new information, I will get a date for the Member.
Can the Minister give the reason in terms of the delay and the nature of the deficiencies? Mahsi.
I am not aware of the specific deficiencies, but I understand there were some life safety-related issues with respect to the facility. The contractor is working on those and we expect them to be done shortly, well before the March 31st contract close date. But for specific details, it might be better to go to the Minister responsible for Public Works and Services who is responsible for the build of this facility. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Can the Minister confirm whether the cost of the building exceeded the $11 million target? Mahsi.
Thanks to my conversations with the Department of Public Works and Services, it is my understanding at this time that we are on time and on budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister update this House in terms of the discussions with the local community as to the fate of the old health centre? Mahsi.
