Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the constituent of the riding Inuvik Boot Lake, Ms. Judy McLeod. Welcome. It is always great to see you here. I would also like to welcome the victim services coordinators. I appreciate all the work that you guys do throughout the Northwest Territories and also like to thank the Stanton Elders’ Council for the work, guidance, and wisdom that you have shown us throughout the Northwest Territories as well. Thank you.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I talked about the work of the Stanton Territorial Hospital Elders’ Council. I wanted to take this opportunity to once again thank the members for their contributions and their dedication to ensuring that our health and social services are culturally appropriate and that service providers are culturally competent for the people that we serve. I would like to recognize a couple of the members of that council that are in the audience today. Gabriel Hardisty, Ernest Pokiak, Mary Teya, as well as Florence Barnaby are with us today. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize Faaizah Joita from the Great Slave riding, who is one of our Pages here today. She is a grade 7 student from William McDonald School and is paging for us this week. I would like to thank all the Pages for the incredible work they do and for being here with us today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. There were a lot of friends and even family in the gallery today. Not so sure if she is still here, she may be sitting behind me, but I did want to recognize my wife, Suzette Montreuil. Merci.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize a well-respected elder in Fort McPherson, Mary Teya. I seen her earlier in the gallery. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize several people from my riding. Chief Lloyd Chicot from the Kakisa First Nation. At the same time, I would like to acknowledge and recognize the National Chief Bill Erasmus from the Dene Nation as well, also some former elders that I had worked with in our community, especially Elder Gabe Hardisty from Wrigley First Nation. I don't know if he is still in the audience, but perhaps other members that might be here from the Elders’ Council including James Christy. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize a resident of Yellowknife North, also a former fellow Yellowknife city councillor and former constituency assistant to former MLA Wendy Bisaro, Ms. Amanda Mallon. Thank you.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to recognize a constituent of Yellowknife South, Gayla Thunstrom. Also three Pages from Yellowknife South: Anika d’Argencourt, Emelia Robertson, and Richard Epelon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, today you heard my Member’s statement about the ferry service in Fort Simpson. Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Transportation did attend a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Fort Simpson regarding this issue on May 12th. I thank him for attending that and speaking on behalf of the government. The next day, on May 13th, I sent the Minister a question and asked has the department done a cost analysis of operating the ferry service for those extra two hours. The response I received today was: “the Department of Transportation acknowledges a question received from the Chamber of Commerce to extend the operation hours of the M.V. Lafferty Ferry. However, due to the current fiscal reality, the department is unable to provide the two-hour extension. The Department of Transportation will continue to work with the community to optimize the ferry hours while recognizing the existing fiscal conditions affecting all of the government, GNWT.” Unfortunately, he did not answer my question. Therefore, can the Minister please tell the House if a cost analysis was done on this request, and if it was, when? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Transportation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for his question on the ferry hours and the opportunity to meet with the Chamber in Fort Simpson. To my knowledge, to date we haven't done a complete cost analysis on the ferry for extending it by two hours for this particular. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for this answer. However, then, how can the Minister come out and say that due to fiscal restraint or fiscal responsibility we can't do anything without a study being done? Thank you. Can you please explain that?
As the Member alluded to, how can we do a cost analysis? We are presently, I believe, undertaking this under his request. We haven't totally finished it to date. But the reality of the fiscal situation we are in, if we were to extend the ferry hours for the M.V. Lafferty in Fort Simpson, we would probably have to look at doing this for all other ferry systems within the Northwest Territories. Any solution that we would come towards with the community of Fort Simpson would have to probably be extended to other communities across the Northwest Territories. I must remind the Member that any solution that we work out with the communities needs to be within the fiscal realities and the regular territory framework of the Government of the Northwest Territories.
I again thank the Minister for his answer. I am a little confused with the responses that I got in my e-mail and today. It is a little bit different. Can the Minister please provide me with a historical cost to operate all the ferries of the NWT for the past three years including any over time?
Yes. We can provide that to the Member.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for his answer. I look forward to getting that information. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister have his department look into the feasibility of moving the ferry landing further up the yard to get away from the low squats at the current location and alternatives such as a floating bridge or causeway using the island further up the river as part of their strategic plan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As the Member knows, we have a 25-year strategic transportation strategy, and we look at all aspects of transportation across the Northwest Territories. I don't believe that this particular request is in there. But we can certainly have a quick study on it. One thing about moving that would be looking at realigning the highway and other things as such to doing that, which would be a great capital cost to the Government of the Northwest Territories, but I can talk to the department about it and get back to the Member.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about elders’ care and I have some questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, my first question: what care facilities and services are currently available to Ulukhaktok elders? Quyanainni, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the health and social services staff in the community health centre provide elders in Ulukhaktok with support and nursing services in accordance to their needs. There is one home support worker in the community, as well as a community health nurse dedicated to providing some home-care services. The authority has a temporary, community social services worker who will be transitioning into the community next week, which I think is fantastic news. The health staff are supported by teams of professionals in the Beaufort Delta as well. The seniors can get services from the health centre if they need acute care services or emergency-type services. Within the community, as far as units or housing facilities, there is a four-plex within the community that is available for seniors through the NWT Housing Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, my second question: what activities does the department take in 2016-17 to support Ulukhaktok elders?
Mr. Speaker, within the community specifically, there are a number of things that are happening. The Department of Health and Social Services is funding the Beaufort Delta Health and Social Services Authority to provide things like the elders’ afternoon tea program for elders so that they have the opportunity to get out of their homes and access resources and avoid social isolation, which many seniors across the North can face. The authority is offering a variety of services in the community of Ulukhaktok to support elders, including assisting elders to complete forms and applications, some advocacy, facilitating referrals to other resources as required for the individual elders. There is some counselling available. Services for elders which we hope to enhance when we get that actual incumbent in the community, which is something we have struggled with in the past. We do have some different Elders’ Day events, like I have already mentioned. There are also activities planned in June to celebrate Elders’ Month. The authority will also be pursuing a joint presentation with the RCMP, the YCFC to co-facilitate a community presentation on elder abuse. There are a number of things that are happening specifically targeting the communities to provide support to the elders who do live there.
I thank the Minister for the response to that question. Mr. Speaker, as indicated earlier, there is a growing need for an elders' home in Ulukhaktok. Does the Department of Health and Social Services plan to build another facility for elders?
Mr. Speaker, as I already indicated there is a four-plex in the community for independent living for seniors in the community already which is supplied by the NWT Housing Corporation. When the Member made his statement, I had an opportunity to check with the Minister of Housing to see if there are any plans to put an independent living unit in the community or any additional independent living units. The Housing Corp is doing a needs survey across the Northwest Territories to determine where some of that need exists, at which point, I am certain they will get feedback from Ulukhaktok to help determine their needs. I would strongly encourage the Member and the community to provide the Housing Corp. with that input. With respect to long-term care facilities, we do have the long-term care report in front of us that demonstrates a shortage of 258 beds across the Northwest Territories. A number of those beds have been identified in the Beaufort Delta, and we are looking at working with the region and the communities to help us figure out how to move forward to put in those long-term care beds. Those long-term care beds right now are targeted for Inuvik as a regional centre. We try to keep people in the communities and in their homes as long as possible. Then they may have to transition to independent living. Then they have to transition to long-term care. That long-term care plan is going to be for the region, but likely located in Inuvik.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to just begin by saying that I misspoke during my statement by saying that there were 20,000 non-resident workers. In fact, the right number is 2,000. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. The Labour Market Forecast and Needs Assessment provides some valuable insights into the nature of the job market to come, but it is weak on the topic of how new workers will be attracted to the territory. The resident work force is forecasted to both age and shrink, so much so, the report says, that the conditions may “limit the territorial government's capacity to deliver public services.” What steps is the government taking to attract new workers to prevent this outcome? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you heard in the budget address that our Minister of Finance had mentioned, we are also reaching out to students who are graduating with the $2,000 forgivable loan if they come up and do some work in the Northwest Territories. That is one area that we are working in. We are also developing an action plan based on the labour market report. We are going to be working with Aboriginal governments, industry, business, and our education and training partners. As much as we want to attract residents to the Northwest Territories to fill in some of these positions, we also got to make it a priority to educate, train, develop skills within our own northern labour workforce as well, so we do have some programs, through our student financial assistance incentive programs, as well as working with some of our partners to ensure that we can get some of the skilled labour workforce from the south into the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for that answer. The labour market forecast says that from 2015 to 2030 the NWT will need to recruit 777 elementary and kindergarten school teachers, as well as 577 secondary school teachers, 448 early childhood educators and assistants, and 382 college and vocational instructors. It is just staggering numbers. How is that going to happen?
This is the first time that the government has done a comprehensive review of the labour market needs, the demands of our jobs, in the Northwest Territories. It is something that we are building on. We have our post-secondary education partners that we are working with to try to develop some of these programs. Aurora College is going to be embarking on a strategic plan this summer and the program will be better aligned with the labour demands that we are seeing through the Labour Market Needs Assessment. All this stuff is brand new. Like I said, this is the first time the Northwest Territories has done a comprehensive report like this. It is setting the stage for the decisions that we have to make as a government moving forward in the areas that are shown and identified in that needs assessment. As we have just seen the needs assessment now, we are going to be developing an action plan that will be hopefully tabled in the House in October that is going to identify how we move forward and address these needs in the years to come.
Thank you to the Minister for that answer. One of the things that seems to be a gap in this labour market forecast is that it looks primarily at the non-renewable resource sector jobs rather than some of those which might be part of diversification. I am wondering why the report did not look at diversification, for example filmmaking, traditional economies, agriculture, manufacturing, and so on, rather than concentrating on the declining sector of our economy.
When the work went out in terms of developing this comprehensive agreement, we got input from all the stakeholders across the Northwest Territories, a lot of it did come from the business side sector. But we also got other programs in place such as the culture and heritage framework and action plan. We also continue to provide funding for arts and culture initiatives. When it was done, we had municipal governments, Aboriginal governments, business, industry, community members, all providing input into this Labour Market Forecast Needs Assessment. I think maybe some areas were just discussed more than others. But we did get a wide range of input from all sectors of the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for his answer. The fact remains that this forecast has gaps when it comes to renewable industry research or employment opportunities. I am wondering if there is a plan to do the same kind of research on them as has been done with the non-renewable resource sector. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As mentioned, we are going to be developing an action plan that hopefully will be tabled in the House in October, and we will be making sure that those areas are discussed as well. We will see what the action plan comes out of. We will be, once again, discussing that with our industry, business, our education, training partners, and Aboriginal and municipal governments.
Masi. Oral questions, Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I have questions for the Minister of Finance. First off, I would like to learn more, and the public deserves to know, how the government has studied and analyzed the impacts of the 58 GNWT job cuts in the budget, including the impacts on the territorial economy as a whole. In planning these cuts, did the government analyze how these job losses would take money out of the economy and our tax and transfer revenues and pursue cuts that were proven to have the least negative impact in these areas? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
