Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize my constituency assistant Ms. Trisha Landry and welcome her to the Legislative Assembly. Also, at the same time, other constituency assistants that might be in the gallery, plus the members of the public. Mahsi.
Masi. Member for Yellowknife South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize from Yellowknife South, Mr. Jack Bourassa. Thank you.
Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to acknowledge two Pages that will be assisting us this week from Fort Smith: Eleanor McMillan and Hanna Nickerson who have travelled here with their chaperone, Tracy Hutton who I'd also like to acknowledge. Finally, I'd also like to acknowledge my wife Ann who is in the gallery. Thank you.
Masi. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize a couple of residents from the Great Slave riding. They've already been recognized but I'm going to recognize them again: Mr. Stephen Jackson who is the CEO at Avens, Merlyn Williams who is the president of the Yellowknife Seniors' Society, and Ms. Yvonne Quick. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Members, colleagues, I'd like to direct your attention to the presence of visitors in our gallery today. From our Elections NWT office we have Nicole Latour, chief electoral officer, here with us today. Welcome. Also Adrienne Cartwright, communications and research officer, I'd like to welcome you. Also colleagues, I'd like to draw your attention to my former classmate from Sir John Franklin, Akaitcho Hall, Brenda Morrow, that's here with us. Welcome. Masi for being with us. If we have missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber. It's always great to have an audience in the gallery.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Premier, the Honourable Bob McLeod. I'll follow up on the statement I just made regarding Mr. McLeod's progress on promises made during his candidacy speech. Mr. McLeod promised “a more cooperative approach with new mechanism to enable greater input from Regular MLAs, possibly in the form of joint committees, pardon me, on critical issues such as climate change and family violence.” I notice that the Premier has made high profile statements of opposition on carbon tax without the Assembly's sanction on this position, so what is the status of these special joint committees where key climate change policies such as carbon tax could be decided? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I very much appreciate the Member keeping a very close tab on my record. Perhaps she can serve as my campaign manager the next time around. We have accomplished quite a great deal. I'm very glad that she was able to lay out what we have accomplished. I think the Member has to realize that it's not just one person that makes things happen in this Legislative Assembly. It's a consensus government and we all have to work together and for her to pin the tail on the donkey and say I'm the only one that can make it happen I think is being very naive. We all work together to accomplish a lot of these things and certainly we've already made progress on terms of reference for a joint cabinet standing committee on Aboriginal relations. We expect to make further progress on these other joint committees. I did participate at the call of the Prime Minister of Canada in the First Ministers meeting on climate change. They set up a process for the four working groups that will be working over six months, and that they will be reporting in the fall so that they would be able to fulfill their commitments made under the COP21. It is our expectation that we will be involving Members of this House as well as other constituents and stakeholders throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What I'm talking about here is leadership, and the Premier wanted to be our leader and he is, in fact, our leader, so in his position as the leader, for example, he has made a statement opposing carbon tax, which is not something Members on this side of the House have any input into whether through a joint committee or any other committee. What I'm looking for is for the Premier to make good on his inclusive approach that he talked about during his candidacy speech. When can we expect that to start? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not aware of what context she's saying that I made that statement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to pursue this issue, there was a meeting of the northern Premiers in Old Crow, Yukon in which they said that they were against a carbon tax for the North. That's the context. Thank you.
Masi. I didn't hear a question, and I'll allow the Premier to respond if he wishes. Premier?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. She didn't indicate in what context that it was read, but certainly what I said in Vancouver is that we will be updating or coming up with a new greenhouse gas strategy in the Northwest Territories where we will be consulting all of the people in the Northwest Territories in that regard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I'm sorry to be quarrelsome on this point, but the Premier was quoted in the media, along with his colleagues, in saying that he opposed a carbon tax for the NWT. What I'm saying is on what authority is he making that statement? Certainly, not without any consultation with this side of the House, thus sort of diminishing the idea of the consensus within consensus government which he said he wanted to promote when he became the Premier. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like him to respond that point.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd be very pleased to respond to it. What I said was that by adding additional carbon taxes that would increase the cost of fuel and energy, it would be a significant addition to the cost of living. I said that there is other ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through expenditures by the Government of the Northwest Territories. We have already decreased our greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 by close to 30 per cent and, as I said, we'll put it, and through consultation we'll hear from the people if that's what they want is a carbon tax to increase the cost of living and that's how we are a very inclusive government. That's the leadership that we showing. We'll be talking to the people about it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
My question is for the Minister responsible for Seniors. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my Member's statement, June is Senior Citizens’ Month in the Northwest Territories. Some jurisdictions in Canada recognize the importance of the elders in their community by creating the position of an advocate for seniors. An elder advocate is someone who will defend the rights of elders, raise awareness of the challenges they face, and act on their behalf in navigating the complex systems of services and supports for our seniors. Mr. Speaker, my question, in the absence of a seniors' advocate, if an elder resident has an issue or grievance with the government what channels should they follow to find answers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for Seniors.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this point the GNWT does not have a seniors' advocate, but there are many, many avenues for which an individual who has concerns with programs and services delivered by the GNWT can seek additional clarity on those programs as well as information. The government service officers in most of the regions can provide significant guidance to seniors how to navigate the system; in fact, that's one of the reasons that they're created. There are different positions, different appeal mechanisms that are available to all residents including seniors. But, at the same time, Mr. Speaker, there are a number of fantastic seniors' organizations and advocacy groups here in the Northwest Territories who have a wealth of information and can provide information to seniors. As the Minister responsible for Seniors, I have a relationship with those organizations and I meet with them regularly and I'm committed to meeting with them regularly. They can share broader concerns with us and I bring those into the ministries, to the different ministries they may be affecting and share that information and try to help them move those files forward, but there are many mechanisms. We don't have a seniors' advocate, but there are many mechanisms where individuals can bring their concerns forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I certainly appreciate the Minister's response. I'd like to ask the Minister if this government is considering creating the position of an elders’ advocate for the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time we haven't considered creating a seniors' advocate in the Government of the Northwest Territories. We are interested in working very closely with the different seniors' organizations to ensure that residents, seniors, have a streamlined process through using some of the existing mechanisms. We work with the different groups to develop things like the seniors' handbook which clearly outline many of the programs that are available to seniors across the Northwest Territories. As I've indicated, we will continue to work closely with those seniors' organizations to make sure that their voice is heard both within this House but also at the Cabinet level. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks again to the Minister for his response and this will be my final question. Mr. Speaker, the NWT Seniors' Society has adopted a broad action plan that sets goals in four areas: cost of living, eliminating inequalities, improving access to health care, and creating safe communities for elders. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell the Assembly how his department or, as Minister responsible for Seniors, he, is working to support these goals? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the last Assembly, the Government of the Northwest Territories came forward with the Our Elders: Our Communities Framework which was building upon a significant amount of work done within the government but also building upon what I would consider to be a seniors' charter, which were those four pillars that the Member has identified, and those pillars, the work that was done, came to form Our Elders: Our Communities which has seven priorities that include healthy and active aging, home and community care services, integrated and coordinated services across the continuum, caregiver supports, elder responsive communities, accessible and current information available through things like the elders handbook that I talked about earlier, as well as sustainable best practices. This is about ensuring that our residents, our senior residents, have the best services. We also have things like the extended health benefits for seniors which is a program that is not offered in most jurisdictions in this country. We are moving forward on Our Elders: Our Communities in developing the long-term plan for long-term care. We're in the development stage of that and I will be certainly working with committee as we've got more options and ready to have some discussion with the direction we're going to take moving forward. A significant amount of work happening on this file, Mr. Speaker, and we will certainly engage stakeholders and Members as we move forward.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. During our last session on February 19th, 2016, I asked the Minister of DOT questions on the Building Canada Plan and the second bundle that was supposed to be rolled out. I'd like to ask the Minister if the Financial Management Board has approved the second bundle for the Building Canada Plan. Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister of Transportation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Bundle number two the Member is referring to has gone through the process in the government system. We are waiting for approval from the federal government on bundle number two and we're hoping to hear by late June. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my next question was to ask if the federal government had approved it yet, obviously, they haven't. If the Minister is anticipating that the federal government will do approval soon then there was a plan in February to bring a supplementary appropriation forward during the session. Is the Minister still on target to do that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we are in plan to bring that forward through the process.
Mr. Speaker, a big part of bundle number two is to replace some bridges that need replacing; however, my understanding is that those bridges may not be replaced but rather may be retrofitted. I'm wondering if the Minister could give me some indication on which direction the department will be taking with this. Is it going to be a renovation or a replacement of the three bridges?
The Member is correct. The department carried out and had a consultant have an engineering evaluation done on all the bridges. Through that evaluation process, the consultants provided various options for the cycle, the cost analysis on the replacement or rehabilitation of these bridges. The department has decided to go with the rehabilitation option on these bridges and we will be commencing work on them shortly on that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Considering the federal government has yet to approve bundle number two, then the opportunity is still there for the Minister to look at actually replacing the bridges. These are very old bridges that have been in place obviously since the highway was built between Hay River and Pine Point; those two bridges were put in. Those are the two bridges I'm most keenly interested in. Will the Minister consider taking another look at it to replace the bridges, looking maybe at the length of time which a new bridge will be in place and usable as opposed to a rehabilitation of the current bridge? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I said, we took a look at this and we're moving ahead with the rehabilitation process. As far as the funding for the Buffalo River Bridge, that's already been approved by Infrastructure Canada and work planning is already currently underway to proceed with that project. A number of things that we are going to be doing under the rehabilitation process is the truss strengthening, replacement to the half of the deck on some of these bridges, and pier repair and painting as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today you heard my Member’s statement about a huge concern about land use for small communities on settled claim areas. On March 3rd, 2016, my colleague from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh addressed similar issues. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Lands. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Lands please advise this House what the difference is between a regular lease and an equity lease? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a standard residential or recreation lease is the lessee charges a rental 10 per cent of the assessed value of per annum for the life of the lease. An equity lease is under typical residential or recreational equities. The lessee is charged 10 per cent of the assessed value per annum for the first 10 years of the lease and the lessee is usually charged a nominal amount of one dollar for the remaining years on the lease. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Lands please advise this House when the Government of the Northwest Territories stopped offering equity lease in unsettled claim areas?
Equity leases are still an option for clients under the land pricing policy in the unsettled areas.
I'd like to thank the Minister for his answer. I guess it's a little different than what I've heard in the past so I'll have to follow up later on. It is my understanding there has been no sales of lands under the type of equity leases that occur in my riding. Now, I've heard that there is an exception to this comment and that Cassidy Point lands which has happened this past sales of the lands, have happened this past year where there's been a historical commitment to provide fee simple title. Can the Minister explain how Cassidy Point land which is an unsettled area can be sold and the same cannot be done in Fort Simpson?
In 1992 there was a commitment made by then assistant deputy minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. It was a written commitment to the folks out at Cassidy Point that they would have the opportunity after leasing for a while to pay fee simple at the end of the life of the lease. We have to honour a commitment, the written commitment, that was made, so we did that. However, what they pay out there was not the one dollar that the Member may be referring to. It was actually a portion of the assessed value of the land and so there was no one dollar nominal fee charged to the residents out there.
