Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Always great to see a successful government program. Mr. Speaker, lastly, could the Minister tell us how the department is actively engaging industry to meaningfully address barriers to development, such as seeking opportunities for funding and partnerships on infrastructure projects? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We have a number of ways that we engage with industry. First and foremost is we have the Chamber of Mines for the Northwest Territories and Nunavut which is a very active association and we interact with them on a regular basis. There's also a number of industry events in the Northwest Territories. We have the NWT Geoscience Forum which is one of the largest events in the Northwest Territories where we usually get about 800 to 900 participants and it is a very important show. We also attend the Cordilleran Roundup in Vancouver and PDAC in Toronto, and that allows us to make very meaningful contacts and to present and advertise the Northwest Territories as a good place to work and invest. We also have the Mineral Industry Advisory Board which provides very good advice. We also meet with participants, the proponents that have projects. We have a number of projects that have been approved or ready to go and the only thing holding them back is the lack of access to capital. When we lead trade missions we also bring a number of industry people along with us to help promote their projects as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned earlier today I have questions for the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations on NWT co-management board vacancies. Two of the boards do not have a quorum and 22 per cent of the positions are currently unfilled. What is the Minister doing to ensure that we have an effective co-management system with fully staffed boards? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have done a number of things. First of all we attempted to have the authority for the boards devolve to the Northwest Territories, which was not accepted by the federal government because of the fact they had a national regulatory improvement process across Canada so they felt it was in their interest to continue to keep the MVRMA boards under their jurisdiction. In the latest election when we wrote to all of the party leaders, the leader of the Liberal Party wrote back that if they were elected they would review the environmental assessment process and we saw that as an opportunity now that we have the Liberal government. We approached them as to the fact that through the devolution process responsibility for the MVRMA was going to be reviewed after a five-year process, and we put forward a case that we didn't have to wait five years, we should start to work so that we could transfer those responsibilities to the Government of the Northwest Territories very quickly. We're still pursuing that process with Minister Bennett. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Department of Executive website has a board appointment section on it, but there's really no easy way to determine which positions are vacant and for how long and when positions may be opening up. Would the Minister commit to improving the website in the interest of getting vacancies filled more quickly and to ensure greater transparency?
I should clarify that on our website it is referring to Northwest Territories boards; those boards that are our responsibility. If the Member is suggesting that we also include federal boards, I'll be meeting with Minister Bennett next week so I can certainly raise that with her as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'll be happy to have a chat with the Minister afterwards and we can chat about that website because I think there must be some misunderstanding here. I think there are some other longer term solutions. The Minister talked about delegation of appointment authority. We might also look at having an independent body that would vet applications to ensure a balance of expertise and experience on these boards. We could also look at perhaps a policy of nominating candidates for sunsetting positions, maybe six months or even a year before appointments are due. Has the Minister considered these sorts of longer term solutions that I've just mentioned?
I believe we're doing that for NWT boards and for those board appointments that fall under our purview.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We may disagree on a number of things here. But this issue of co-management vacancies is obviously a long-standing one when some positions have gone unfulfilled as long as five and a half years. Can the Minister commit to report to this House at least annually on co-management board vacancies and efforts to improve and avoid these sort of lengthy delays and appointments? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We'll be pleased to do that. Where it has been pointed out to us by our Aboriginal government partners, we've made representation to the federal government and generally they respond on a very quick basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I spoke about NTCL and the community fuel delivery, my question is for the Minister of Public Works and Services. Mr. Speaker, my first question is: what is the GNWT doing to ensure that community fuel deliveries will be completed given the recent announcement that NTCL is pursuing creditor protection? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Public Works and Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Public Works and Services has had a long-standing working relationship with NTCL and we recognize that they're going through some difficulties, but we have re-established a different contract with them to make sure that they're going to transport fuel into the communities during the summer of 2016. Based on the renewed contract and the decision within the legal case that they just recently had, we're not anticipating any interruption in fuel provision for this year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for the response. My question is, Mr. Speaker, what impact will this have on the communities?
NTCL has advised Public Works and Services that this summer they intend to sell to all the communities that they typically served in prior years. That includes Sachs Harbour, Paulatuk, Ulukhaktok, Lutselk'e, Tulita, Fort Good Hope, Norman Wells, Tuktoyaktuk, Inuvik, and Aklavik. The fuel services division of Public Works and Services also ensure that there are fuel reserves in each of the communities to offset any unforeseen interruptions. This is a long-standing practice and we continue with that.
Mr. Speaker, my other question is: with the issues with NTCL will this affect the cost of fuel in Nunakput?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's really kind of hard at this point to kind of determine how that will affect it. There's a few things that are impacting the cost of fuel at this stage. I mean, diesel is a little bit lower because of the fluctuating global markets, but there's also an interruption in the supply because of the Fort McMurray fires. It's a little bit too soon to determine what the fuel price changes we'll need to come into to what will affect the cost. If there is a cost differential we know that none of those changes will take place until after the summer season is finished. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister, for that response. Mr. Speaker, my final questions are: what are the next steps for the GNWT? Quyanainni, Mr. Speaker.
On May 25th of this year, the department has issued a new tender for a multi-year fuel supply and delivery contracts to serve the eight marine accessible communities as I stated before. The contract, once approved, will begin in 2017 and it will be a multi-year contract similar to NTCL. Also I want to raise that even though Public Works and Services doesn't transport too much of the dry goods, such as groceries, into the communities we still are concerned about that, so we will be ensuring that the supplier will be taking dry cargo as well to make sure. On a side note, we've also recently entered into a contract with E. Gruben's Transport Limited to store diesel fuel in their bulk tanks in Tuktoyaktuk and that will support the re-supply activities and establish a strategic fuel reserve in that region.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm asking my questions of the Minister of Finance because the policy of favouring road infrastructure over social infrastructure is a matter of financial and political philosophy. Permit applications have been filed for a possible construction of an all-season road to Whati. Given the size of this project, I can only hope the detailed cost-benefit analysis has been created to quantify benefits and returns. Has a cost-benefit analysis been completed and if so, will the Minister table this document for all Members and the public to evaluate? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're doing the preliminary work on the roads that are in our mandate and for us to link them to the possible reductions exercise we're going through I think is unfair. Nowhere in this budget are we debating the investment in the Whati road right now. We are doing the preliminary work and we are looking to try to leverage federal funding for these particular projects. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, my question is whether there is a cost-benefit analysis available on the proposed road to Whati and, if so, if it could be tabled here?
I will have discussion with my counterpart at DOT. They normally do project description reports for these particular types of projects before we even get to an application stage for the funding, and if that is part of the work then it would be in that project description report. But I'm sure if you ask the residents of Whati they would be quite pleased to see a road into Whati which will have twofold benefits. People will be able to work on that road which will require some of our social spending to come down, and there may also be another spinoff effect where there might be some work done to develop a mine up there which would be put more people to work. I think I've said on a number of occasions that the best social program is a good paying job.
Thank you to the Minister for that. I didn't say that the roads were without benefits of their own, but rather what I'm looking for is this business case and so I don't feel like I have that yet. When the Finance Minister considers how funds should be allocated for roads rather than housing, how does Finance determine the greater advantage of one over the other?
Mr. Speaker, we will work with the federal government. I mean, we have three roads that we are looking at. One is the Mackenzie Valley Highway, which we've heard for the last 30 to 40 years is a priority for people up and down the Valley, and it would have huge benefits to everyone down in the Valley. The other is the road to Whati and one is the road to the Slave Geologic Province. We will work with the federal government and we can put applications in there. If they decide that one has more value than the other or one that they're able to fund at this point over the other then we'll start those discussions with them. Then we need to ensure that if they're 25-cent dollars then we need to ensure that we're in a position to come up with our 25-cent dollars. It’s working very closely with the federal government and what they're able to afford to help us finance. Ultimately, at the end of the day, we would like to see all three roads done because they would have huge benefit for people across the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Finance would like us to buy into the need for a $150-million operating surplus to spend on infrastructure. Housing is not listed in that list in yesterday's budget but roads are. What I'm looking for is some justification, some quantification of the benefits of this road, and I'm wondering at what point in this process that that will be produced. Thank you.
As we move forward to finalizing some of the applications for some of the work that goes there, and again, I will check with the department, we'll see what analysis has been done. As the Member said there was some mention, I believe, of housing. I have to say we make it sound like we're not spending any money on housing and then if you look at the budget document that we're about to debate in the coming weeks, we have $146 million invested in housing across the Northwest Territories. I think that's fairly significant and I would put the investment that we make in our housing per capita compare that to anybody else in the country. We try and have balanced investments across the Northwest Territories. Sixty-three per cent of our budget goes to social programs. Again, the best social program is a good-paying job.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I correct myself here earlier on my Member's statement here. My question today is directed to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's common knowledge that we know the high and significant contributions, the economic contributions, the mining industry brings to the growth of the region, the territorial government as well, and the workforce, and to explore and add to the contributing factor of that industry is the reason why I would like to ask the Minister's support in funding a regional conference in one of the Sahtu's communities and discuss with the land claim stakeholders who are going to have a vital part in the approval and support of the conference and the development of that potential. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we know, the Sahtu has been explored historically for oil and gas but it also was one of the earlier regions where mining first occurred and now we see the need to diversify into mining from oil and gas in the Sahtu. We know there's some significant interest in mining and there's also significant potential, and we are looking at developing regional mining strategies in every region in the Northwest Territories, so certainly we'd be prepared to consider a mining conference in the region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'm glad to hear the support is going in that direction to have this conference here to have good heartfelt dialogue with all the speakers and all the stakeholders related to this initiative. Because of the remoteness and the high travel mobilization costs here for leaders to get together not only amongst themselves but with initiatives such as this conference, we'd like to take advantage of this summer's boating season. It takes a few hours to go from one community to the next, so it's an enjoyable trip and a reasonable transportation mode, probably the only one at this time of the year, Mr. Speaker. We'd like to hold a conference here, all said and done, sometime, in an ideal location, here this summer. Would the Minister support the timing of the conference and resources needed to sponsor this initiative this summer?
We would have to look at that. Seeing as this is June already and we would have to take that into consideration and looking into what the Member is proposing.
After listening and reviewing the numbers here yesterday, I think it could be said confidently that there are resources available to hold such an event. I think Kevin would agree there, he's smiling, so I've got his vote. Nevertheless, we'd like to submit a proposal here in the very near future, so would the Minister commit to providing the necessary resources?
One of my rules is don't agree to something you don't know what the value is, so we'll wait for the proposal.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last closing question is thanks for the support and I look forward to concluding this request over the next few hours, meaning the very near future, on a proposed development submission. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. I didn't hear a question there. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
