Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On October 9, 2015, right after the federal election, Prime Minister Trudeau wrote a letter to our Premier. I would like to ask some questions of the Premier on that letter. In the letter, it indicated that the northern residents tax deduction that was announced and was part of the campaign was going to be something coming into effect and increase in the northern residents tax deduction. I would like to ask the Premier if he knows when that comes into effect. Thank you.
Masi. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I did meet with Prime Minister Trudeau about a week ago, and I raised the matter of the cost of living and he reconfirmed that he had committed to doing something about it, specifically, the northern residents tax deduction. He did not specify a timeframe or timeline, but we all know that Minister the federal Minister of Finance has committed to filing his first budget in March, and we will wait and see if it makes that first budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Also, in that letter, the Prime Minister wrote about Nutrition North Canada and about increasing that program by $40 million. I would like to ask the Premier if we have any indication of which communities in the NWT would be positively impacted by that program. Thank you.
Minister Carolyn Bennett, the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, did come to the Northwest Territories in January. I forget the exact date, but she did travel to Norman Wells to talk specifically about Nutrition North, since Norman Wells is one of the communities that is covered under Indigenous North, and she did consult with the affected people.
There is no indication of when this will come into effect, but she has certainly indicated the government is prepared to move on it fairly quickly, and again, the way governments work, I don't expect there will be any indication one way or the other until the first budget of the Government of Canada is delivered towards the ends of March.
: The Prime Minister wrote about doubling infrastructure investment in the country from $65 billion to $125 billion. That’s over ten years. Do we have any indication at all about how the money is going to be divided, or if we know what our share of the $125 billion infrastructure spending would be?
In his letter, he indicated for the first two years, they would double the infrastructure funding budget that was billed in Canada. That is a question of interest to all the provinces and territories. We have met with Minister Morneau, the federal Finance Minister, where we raised and discussed infrastructure funding. I did talk to the Prime Minister about social infrastructure, green infrastructure, and also the Building Canada Fund. He has indicated that he recognizes the importance of those infrastructure funds. I indicated to him that as a small territory, obviously, our preference is base plus funding as opposed to per capita funding as has been reported in some of the media reports.
He indicated that he understood the situation. The Minister of Finance, when pressed, indicated that they wouldn't be finalizing or rolling out their infrastructure program until June or July. Certainly, as a government, we are working very hard to reconfirm our Building Canada projects that we submitted before the election.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Prime Minister indicated that they would be moving to a faster approval process for Building Canada Fund, as the Premier just mentioned. When will this faster process occur? Because what I am seeing is even from what has been approved by the last government, the bundles that I questioned the transportation minister on before, seems to be slowed down from what the original intent of those bundles were. Does the Premier have any indication of when the faster approval process will occur? Thank you.
We have reached out to the federal government, both through our Minister with lead responsibility for Infrastructure and also Minister of Transportation. We have had some mixed signals, but we are taking steps to reconfirm our bundles. Bundle number two, as the Member knows, was submitted before the federal election. We are reconfirming very soon bundle number two, which is in the neighbourhood of $100 million, but the Prime Minister himself has indicated that there is still $185 million allocated for the Northwest Territories that he has said would be going out.
We have had the Member of Parliament for the Northwest Territories also following up on infrastructure to clear up some of these mixed messages. We have been talking to the federal Minister responsible for infrastructure, so we are taking steps to make sure the money starts flowing as soon as possible, and also to reconfirm what our assets are.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Quyanainni, Mr. Speaker. Earlier, I spoke about residential schools and reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. My question is: have you implemented mandatory training for teachers and Education, Culture, and Employment staff on residential schools?
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture, and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member's statement that the Member brought forward on residential school training. As residential schools have impacted people in every community in the Northwest Territories, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission brought these issues forward to all Canadians, as well as to people of the Northwest Territories. Mandatory training has been brought forward in a variety of ways. We have developed, in partnership with Nunavut, a residential school curriculum through our Northern Studies program. We have also introduced mandatory training to all teachers in the Northwest Territories, kindergarten to grade 12, and our goal is to have every teacher who teaches in the Northwest Territories take that awareness training. We have made this residential school training available to all Education, Culture and Employment, and we have made it mandatory for all Education, Culture and Employment employees to take it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My question is: is there a plan to expand the training to other interested groups?
As I mentioned, with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission bringing forth the recommendations, when we looked at them, we found out we were already doing a lot of this work throughout the Northwest Territories. With that said, we are offering some of this training to other jurisdictions throughout the North and throughout Canada. I myself participated in the training. We had participants from Nunavut, Yukon, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and we are also looking at getting federal ministers who are also interested in taking some of this residential school training. Our goal is to ensure that anybody that does work here in the North is aware of the impact that residential schools had on our people, our families, and our communities.
My question is: could this training be made available to all Members of the Legislative Assembly?
As leaders for the Northwest Territories, leaders in our communities, and Members who make decisions for people throughout the Northwest Territories, you heard earlier of some of the social implications that we see in our small communities. I would be more than happy to work with Members to have all Members participate in this residential school training.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be for the Minister of Finance. My first question is: can the Minister provide a brief update on the status of the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Link? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my understanding is work is progressing along very well and my understanding is that it’s supposed to be lights-on during 2016. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Can the Minister identify the jobs that may be available at the Inuvik Satellite Station Facility and the Western Arctic Geomatics Centre as a result of the completion of the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Link?
Mr. Speaker, because of Inuvik's geographically-gifted location there's a great deal of interest in satellite stations in Inuvik. I had the opportunity to speak to a number of those folks that want to put satellite receiving stations there. It's obviously very high-tech field. I have spoken to the gentleman that was doing the consulting for the GNWT and I had asked him to give us some of the skill sets that may be required for working on the facilities once they're completed, and he was going to get that information back to me, but I see a great opportunity to work with Aurora College to possibly have some of the training available for some of the higher-tech positions. Once I get that list and some of the skill sets that might be needed, I will share it with the Member and with committee.
That answered a part of my next question, but I'll ask this anyway. Has the Minister worked with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to identify training opportunities in connection with the new Geomatics Centre and the Inuvik Satellite Station Facility?
No, I haven't had a conversation with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment yet. But, as I said before, once I get a better understanding of some of the skill sets that might be needed and some of the training courses that we may be able to offer, I will have a conversation with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to see if there's an opportunity for us to consider running some courses that might be beneficial to a number of our students. In my conversations with the folks from DLR in Germany, I had talked to them about the fact that if they can send folks over to Inuvik and train some of our people there, I said, or we can send some of our young people over to Germany to get the proper training there. His comment was, well, if we send people to Inuvik they may not want to come back, and I said, that's precisely the point.
---Laughter
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister commit to discussing training opportunities with for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and other relevant departments, to increase the number of Northerners involved in the research and development that is taking place in our back yard? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Absolutely. I see this as a great opportunity for a knowledge-based economy in Inuvik and I think there's plenty of opportunities there. I will work with all the appropriate departments to see if we can come up with plans and options for our young people, because as we all know, our young people nowadays are very tech savvy and they will be able to contribute a lot, and this might be something that would interest a lot of them. I will commit to working with my colleagues to see what we can advance.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I spoke to earlier today, one of the critical challenges for resource development in the NWT is lack of transportation infrastructure. In recent years climate change impacts are affecting that infrastructure through melting permafrost and shortened winter road seasons. Infrastructure challenges increase cost to families and business, as we know. They also add costs and challenges for the resource sector which compromises economic growth in the territory. I'd like to ask the Minister of Transportation what his department's plan is for addressing the challenges to transportation infrastructure in the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Transportation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Transportation is committed to addressing NWT's infrastructure deficit and improving the level of services provided by the NWT transportation system. The department has recently released a 25-year transportation strategy entitled “Connecting Us,” which will guide the actions, and maintain and improve existing infrastructure, expand the highway system to better connect communities and support economic development, and modernize transportation programs and policies to improve service delivery. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I know that most of us in here are aware, but in the interest of informing NWT residents, has the Department of Transportation identified which new road projects will be priorities for this government?
NWT's transportation strategy identifies three priority transportation corridors which the department is making an effort to advance. The first one is the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the second is the Tlicho all-weather road, and improved access to the Slave Geological Province.
Can the Minister of Transportation tell us why these three corridors were chosen to be priorities?
“Connecting Us,” the department's transportation strategy, identifies the long-term plans for the transportation system, so that the system can support and enable economic development. The strategy identifies three strategic transportation corridors because of the benefits that construction of all-weather roads in these regions will have on NWT residents and long-term economic stability. The Mackenzie Valley Highway will connect several communities to the public highway system, providing transportation efficiencies that will result in a reduced cost of living for residents. The highway will also provide access to a vast wealth of petroleum reserves in the region which could be tapped into to boost and diversify the NWT economy. Replacing the existing winter road would help us adapt to the pressures of climate change, which are reducing the window of access into the Mackenzie Valley.
The Tlicho all-season road would also improve access to communities in the region, resulting in lower cost of living. The road will support future development of the NICO-based mineral project and encourage further investment in the region. Lastly, the Slave Geological Province continues to be a major contributor to the NWT economy. Providing all-weather access into this region would help the NWT reach its full potential by supporting further mine development projects.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Lastly, I would like to know how the Department of Transportation is working to identify funding for these important construction projects. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The department is working closely with the federal government on funding of submissions for the NWT under the New Building Canada Plan to fund new road projects. A detailed business case was submitted to Canada in August 2015, requesting funding to begin construction of the Mackenzie Valley Highway from Wrigley to Norman Wells. We are still awaiting a response from the federal government regarding this request.
In addition, the GNWT submitted a proposal for the Tlicho all-weather road to the P3 Canada Fund for round 7 of funding consideration. We were informed that the project was screened in. At this time, we are working to provide any additional details that our federal counterparts may require as we await final decision on this project. The departments of Transportation and Finance continue to work on P3 business case's assessment to determine optimal routing for increasing access to the Slave Geological Province. Planning work underway includes detailed road analysis and cost estimates, and will provide information so that we can maximize long-term opportunities for Northerners.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When I checked the GNWT phone directory listing on our website, there's no longer a director for the liabilities and financial assurances division, and only two staff: a project assistant and a specialist. It's not clear what is going on with the staffing of the division. Can the Minister of Lands tell us whether people are leaving this division and why, and what are the plans to fill those positions? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Lands is less than two years old and the financial liabilities and financial assurance division was added after the creation of the Department of Lands. Turnover and staff departures and difficulty recruiting these highly-specialized positions are just some of the challenges that the organization has faced since start-up. Despite that, we have moved quickly and the director's position now has been filled on an acting basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
One of the purposes of the liabilities and financial assurance division within the Department of Lands was “lead and coordinate short and longer term policy development concerning the government's management of securities.” Can the Minister of Lands indicate whether any policies and/or guidelines have been completed since the division was created last year, and table such documents in this House?
