I'd like to ask the Minister if he's prepared to champion the possibility of creating jobs for the Canadian Rangers through the other Cabinet colleagues.
I would be glad to champion jobs for the Canadian Rangers across the north. As maybe a number of Members aren't aware, there are approximately 4,000 Rangers across Canada and 3,000 Junior Rangers in the country, so I would gladly take up the cause for that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister if he sees a role for Canadian Rangers in the Protected Areas Strategy. Thank you.
The Protected Areas Strategy is something that's right across the Northwest Territories and region by region. That would be something we'd have to discuss with all of the proponents of these strategies.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I spoke about some changes that the government should undertake that would help small businesses grow, help build our capacity, and keep Northerners working. These are cross-departmental issues, but I will address my questions to the Minister of Finance. As I stated, to bid on government tenders worth over $100,000, bidders must put down a five per cent cash bond or a 10 per cent security bond. Given that this requirement may unduly penalize small businesses that are just doing their best to get ahead or stay afloat in this economy, and given that there's other, more accommodating ways that to protect the government's interest, will the government commit to reviewing this policy and ultimately, increasing that $100,000 threshold to an amount that allows and helps small businesses to compete and grow. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Finance, we will work with our three infrastructure departments -- Transportation, NWT Housing Corporation, and Public Works and Services -- to review the requirement value of the security required on government tender for contracts, recognizing that the regulations for this particular issue are quite old. We will have a review of it and see if there are any changes that can be made. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you for the answer. I will follow up with the Minister on that in the future. According to the Government Contract Regulations, all purchases over $5,000 must go to tender. Given that this is also an antiquated amount and doesn't reflect the reality of doing business in 2016, will the government commit to amending the Government Contract Regulations by increasing this $5,000 threshold.
On February 18, 2016, the Financial Management Board approved increases to the GNWT sole-source limits effective April 1, 2016, and that is concurrent with the implementation of the modernized Financial Administration Act. Specifically, the sole-source limit for goods and non-professional services will increase from $5,000 to $25,000; professional services from $25,000 to under $50,000; and for architectural and engineering professional services, to under $100,000.
The Modern Management Initiative is friendly to northern businesses and also addresses inflationary increases since the GNWT sole-source limits were established 20 years ago. This initiative has broad stakeholder support and is consistent with what is being done with other government jurisdictions in Canada and the province of Ontario. ITI will be seeking approval in March to make the corresponding changes to BIP to increase from $5,000 to $25,000, and the Department of Finance is actually preparing a letter to send to the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning informing them of these changes. But since the question is being asked today, I thought I would respond to that today.
That is very good news. I appreciate that. When awarding contracts for large multi-million-dollar capital projects, do factors such as the ability for local businesses to participate in the contract, the potential for capacity building, the cost savings associated with having locals employed and so on, ever factor into the decision? Or are contracts awarded without consideration of these potential benefits?
For tenders, the Northwest Territories Manufactured Products Policy and the BIP bid adjustments are other factors that are taken into consideration for request for proposals. A number of other factors other than price are taken into consideration when evaluating proposals; criteria may include but are not limited to team experience, methodology, design and construction, project schedule, and BIP adjustment. PWS has developed, in my understanding, has implemented new evaluation criteria for design-build RFPs called community engagement.
As part of this new evaluation criteria, proponents are asked to explain and demonstrate the following: how local labour will be recruited and utilized as part of the project; what plans are in place to provide and maximize on-the-job training opportunities for local residents; understanding the local economy, highlighting how their proposal addressed any economic constraints or challenges; and the approach for communication and collaboration with local government and First Nations organizations. PWS is working with client departments to start using the community engagement criteria for large, multi-year RFP contracts to assist with supporting local labour and businesses.
Lots of good news out of the Minister of Finance today.
---Laughter
That last response answered my next question, so I just want to thank the Minister and let him know that I will be following up with this on the floor of the House and privately.
Masi. More of a comment. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Quanani, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Medical travel is an important part of health care in the NWT, especially in Nunakput where all communities are fly-in communities, so accessing services outside the community requires air travel. This is a necessary but significant expense. Could the Minister tell us what the cost of medical travel is for the NWT, and if you're going to look at ways to reduce that cost? Quanani, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Medical Travel Policy is designed to reduce financial impact on residents who are accessing insured health services. Those benefits are in place mostly to help address the geographical realities and needs that we have in the Northwest Territories for people who are accessing these insured services. There is a significant expenditure. The total budget for the medical travel program in 2015-2016 was $36.9 million, with projected expenditures actually over that, of $38.2 million. The total cost, we are able to recover some of those dollars from other revenues, such as including non-insured health benefits for First Nations and Inuit as well as third-party employer and insurance.
Medical travel has been underfunded for many years. The department is working on a medical travel modernization project to help improve program and patient experiences for those who are accessing medical travel. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister mentioned that the department is working to modernize the medical travel program. Could he please tell us more about the project, and what progress has been made?
The medical travel modernization is an ongoing project. The first step in the work was actually revising the Medical Travel Policy, and that was actually revised and came into effect on April 1, 2015. The policy revisions included moving the program administration detail out of the Cabinet-approved policy into a ministerial policy. These are now subject to periodic reviews, and may be updated so that they can continue to meet the needs of the public and the health system.
Under the revised policy, we have also been able to establish an appeals process, which is new. One of the major elements being looked at is improving guidelines for patient escorts, which is one of the issues that I have heard the most about as I have travelled around the Northwest Territories. We're also streamlining business processes to make it more efficient.
Other projects underway as part of medical travel modernization are focused on improving the patient experience. A medical travel handbook is nearly developed, almost ready to go, and will be made available to all individuals who are going on medical travel, and the staff have been working and have taken additional training to become certified service professionals to improve customer service at the front line.
Medical travel escorts is something I hear a lot of concern about from my constituents, especially for elders. Could the Minister explain how decisions are made about escorts and how the process is being improved? Quyanainni, Mr. Speaker.
As I indicated, I've had the opportunity as Minister to travel to all the communities in the Northwest Territories, and when I've been there one of the things that I hear the most about is medical travel and frustrations that exist around medical travel. The policy on escorts actually sets out that the requirement and criteria for an escort to travel with a medical travel client is known as a “non-medical escort,” and they may be approved if: the patient is under the age of 19; the patient is breastfeeding an infant and requires an escort to assist with the baby; the patient has a mental or physical disability and is not able to travel unassisted; the patient requires an escort for interpretation; or if an escort is needed to learn how to care for the patient after they are discharged.
Escorts are not automatically provided for elders unless they meet one of those criteria. There's been a lot of discussion. I've heard a lot of elders actually talking about this, and I've heard some of them say we don't want an escort because we are an elder. I've heard other people say we should have an escort because we're an elder. I've heard individuals say that the escorts should be a family member, somebody known to them. I've heard other people say that we should have established escorts. There's no one simple solution, and we've pulled all this information together through public consultations and others and we are moving forward with an escort policy, which I'll be discussing with Regular Members as we move forward.
One of the first things that we're doing is getting out the handbook so that when individuals are going medical travel they know the information of where they're going, what they need to do, what information they need to bring with them, and what information they'll need to bring back. I'm happy to share the results of medical travel review as we take steps forward with committee and all Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment some questions regarding Aurora College. As the Minister may know, students with disabilities have plans set in place while they are in school for their success. As well, it helps them prepare when they get on to post-secondary school. Does the Minister know if Aurora College has a plan or a policy in place that deals with students with disabilities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do agree that developing these kind of plans for individuals and students right from K to 12 to post-secondary is very important and we need to look at those kinds of options moving forward. Yes, the college does have a number of policies designed to assist students in post-secondary. We have barrier-free facilities, so all of our campuses include accommodating persons with physical challenges.
We also have inclusive approaches for students when they do get into colleges, but also in terms of making sure that admissions and applications presents fair and equitable considerations for all students, so there are a few programs in place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for his answer. Does the Minister know how each campus implements these plans and policies in place?
I did mention that our three campuses do have these policies in place. I don't have the detailed information, but I can get that information for the Member. We also have 26 community learning centres that also follow these policies, and as mentioned, I can get some more of those details for the Member.
I thank the Minister for his answer. However, I'd like to really get into depth with these students who have learning disabilities, and how the college actually implements their plans. Does the college actually look at down south and how they're implementing these plans? Because I know if we go to Grande Prairie, they actually have a process where they guarantee success of their students.
Yes, when we go through developing our policies we also review the Canadian post-secondary policies and look at what's going on down south. We've got to ensure that any students that are going post-secondary that might need assistance, whether it's financial or whether physical challenges, that they self-identify and let the institutions know what might be some of their challenges to get that education they need. We need all parties to be onboard with this. But yes, in terms of the question, we do look at other policies when we do our review.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. I know from personal experience that I've had individuals who have self-declared their disability. I've had the college say, “Well, we can work with you when it fits into our schedule,” and unfortunately, these individuals do not succeed. However, if they were down south when they do this, there is a policy, there's an action plan in place that actually guarantees these people with disabilities success. Therefore, will the Minister commit that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and the college will review their existing policies and plans and enhance it to reflect the policies of other jurisdictions so we can guarantee success for our people who have disabilities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I do agree that we need to see some successes moving forward with people that are living with disabilities that want to get that post-secondary education. We want to look at ways that we can make it easier for them to access programs, get into post-secondary college, and offer the supports that they do need. I can advise the Member that the college does review these policies on a regular basis and as I mentioned earlier, they look at other jurisdictions and Canadian institutions for the best practices moving forward. I can work with the department and the colleges and learning centres to see how well they're being implemented and how we can better make those policies reflect what is needed with our residents.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
[English translation not provided] Earlier today, we had an interesting public presentation from Dechinta today at the Standing Committee on Social Development. Then last week, as an Assembly, we adopted the Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories, 2016-2019. One point in that document states that we should be refocusing support for post-secondary institutions in the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment tell this House what is meant by “refocusing support for post-secondary institutions in the Northwest Territories?” Merci.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, we just had our mandate done last week. What it really means is we're just looking at post-secondary education and making sure we are providing the programs and that we are doing it right. As Members also know, we have a Skills 4 Success Initiative and next month we'll also be making public the Labour Market Information Report, so we want to reflect our programs to what is needed in the communities. We also want to make sure that we're aligning our post-secondary education with the vision and the priorities of the 18th Legislative Assembly moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the answer from the Minister. We have a number of post-secondary institutions in the Northwest Territories, including Aurora College, Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning and the College nordique francophone. What role does the Minister see for each of these post-secondary institutions in the future?
Right now, I believe that College nordique does offer diploma programs and that our department is working with them to look at possibly how we can work with Aurora College at the same time. I know Dechinta has been mentioned in this house on numerous occasions. They have a partnership with the University of Alberta where their students can possibly transfer to the University of Alberta. Dechinta and College nordique do not require any authority of an act to operate this way, and we do fund some of these institutions. Aside from College Nordique and Dechinta, we also do give some program dollars to other post-secondary institutions in the North.
I thank the Minister for his answer and we all understand that the Education Act allows for the granting of post-secondary education degrees, but can the Minister tell us which institutions in the Northwest Territories have such authority and for what types of degrees?
Under the Education Act, I believe it's section 130 that needs to be reviewed if anything needs to be changed with that. We have the Aurora College Act. That's the only institution I can think of that can give out degrees or diplomas.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, and I want to thank the Minister again for his answer. Earlier today, though, I just spoke about how there are other post-secondary institutions here in the Northwest Territories, including Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning and College nordique francophone. Can the Minister tell this House whether he's prepared to enable these other institutions, Dechinta and College nordique in particular, to grant degrees, and when does he believe such authority will be in place? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
As I mentioned, there do have to be some changes to one of our acts. Like I said, we have the Aurora College Act and then there's also -- I'll just correct myself here, but it is section 150 of the Education Act that provides that a university or degree-granting institute cannot be created or established in the Northwest Territories without the express authority of an Act. If those discussions need to be made right now, we just support them financially, and that's something that would need to be changed within that act if something were to move forward.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
