Debates of February 1, 2017 (day 45)

I am aware that a study that was on mercury and other metals on large-bodied fish was conducted in the Yellowknife region was funded by the Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program and Polar Knowledge Canada. It was initiated in March of 2016. The lakes that they actually sampled were Kam Lake, Grace Lake, Long Lake, and Martin Lake.

Thank you to the Minister; that's clear. Ultimately, who is responsible for the remediation of Kam Lake? The ongoing remediation by Newmont, not Miramar of the Con Mine property, is having an impact on Kam Lake. Who is responsible for the remediation of the lake as it relates to the remediation of the Con Mine project?

We are trying to get the feds to have a look at who would be responsible for the remediation as a lot of this happened before it was turned over to the Northwest Territories. We'll follow up with the federal government to see where they're at with it, and I will share the information with the Member.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister. I appreciate that this may not be, in fact, our responsibility, and that we are trying to find the responsible parties. The remediation process also involved a water license, and I wondered if the department took a position when Newmont applied for that water license for the remediation process. Has the government taken a position, or been involved with the water licensing of Newmont for the Kam Lake remediation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would have to follow up and see about the water license application with Newmont. I'll commit to the Member that I will follow up, and I will share the information with the Members. Thank you.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Premier, the leader of the recent Cabinet staff trip to the Mineral Roundup meeting in Vancouver. Many people have asked me how this kind of expenditure is possible when we heard that there are desperate needs out there, and 65 more positions are about to be cut in the budget. Could the Premier tell us what value there could be, and what indispensable role was played by our Health Minister, our Housing Minister, our Justice Minister, and even our Finance Minister attending such a conference? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to report that our attendance at Mineral Roundup in Vancouver was money very well spent. Our sister territory, Yukon government, was also there in full force with their whole Cabinet and their opposition parties as well promoting mining. The whole government has a stake in the success of mining. A strong mining sector also means revenues for the Government of the Northwest Territories' social programs and other services. Aboriginal government representatives that were there had some very specific questions in the areas of housing, education, and health, and how mining could help deal with those issues.

A lot of work gets done at Roundup. It is a coming together of more than just mining executives. It provides a maximized opportunity to connect with a wide variety of industry and government representatives, so, Mr. Speaker, this money is very well spent, and there will be a substantial return on investment in future years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Premier for that response, but I'm just wondering, on process alone, surely Cabinet must have realized that there would be public backlash when word of the Vancouver trip got out.

In the interest of consensus government, will the Premier commit to produce a report at the beginning of each fiscal year, listing the events, participants, and projected costs of all anticipated Cabinet conference travel, as is done by, for example, Yellowknife City Council, just to try to avoid these kind of surprises in the future?

Roundup has always been a priority for our government, and especially since devolution. Our government has been attending Roundup for probably the past 20 years, so I don't think it's a surprise that we attended this year. The cost for our participation in the Roundup events and the trade show have consistently averaged around $80,000 a year. This year was no exception.

This year's event saw increased travel costs related to the attendance of Cabinet and our support of Aboriginal government participation. This extra investment must be considered in the context of returns to our territory, the urgency that we are facing to renew exploration investment in the Northwest Territories, and the costs of meeting or connecting with many of these parties individually.

I might add that we give notice whenever we're travelling someplace. We have a protocol which requires us to do so. We report on all of our travels on a quarterly basis. It's all posted on the website.

I don't think I really got an answer there from the Premier. I had asked if we could get sort of a listing of anticipated Cabinet travel costs at the beginning of each year. I woke up on Monday morning and found out about all of Cabinet going.

In any event, what I'd like to do is to try to see if the Premier could  you know, there are a lot of other conferences out there. I looked at trying to find out if there's actually anything at the national level in terms of renewable energy, and there doesn't seem to be anything that focuses on the North and our opportunities and challenges and so on, but perhaps we could take the lead on that kind of a conference and keep the money at home, attract conference trade, foster a centre of excellence for renewable energy in the Northwest Territories, renewable energy in the circumpolar world.

So, will the Premier commit to work with his Cabinet colleagues to take, say, $50,000 from the mining conference travel budgets and put it forward to organize a circumpolar renewable energy conference in the interests of diversifying our economy, reducing the costs of living, and so on?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to report that we are already doing that. Inuvik holds a renewable energy technology conference on an annual basis, and it's scheduled for the middle of June. Members are welcome to attend. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Mr. Speaker. I'm very glad to hear that. It used to be a petroleum conference. With the end of petroleum in the Beaufort, maybe it's been refocused. That's great. I'm glad to hear that. We all know that mining is important to our economy, but how can we expect to diversify our economy when most of our attention, if not all of it, is focused on this sector?

The mining industry has extensive influence over what our government is doing and prepared to do in terms of legislation and policy, so what assurance can the Premier give to this House and the public that he will act in the public interest in terms of policy legislation moving forward and not just in the interests of the mining industry? Merci, Mr. Speaker.

As I said in my sessional statement, this government is all about economic diversification. If there are other sectors that create approximately 2,500 jobs in the Northwest Territories and they have conferences, I'll make sure that all of our Cabinet attends those conferences.

Right now, the perception is that the Northwest Territories is not open for business. We need to change that and improve the Northwest Territories' investment climate, and that's why it was important for Cabinet to attend Roundup in Vancouver. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke earlier about junior kindergarten. I just have some questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I'm sorry to spring this on him, but I had to change my topic at the last minute.

I've heard varying numbers about what it's going to cost to implement junior kindergarten. I was wondering what's behind this disparity? There was a press release by the South Slave District Education Council that quoted a significantly higher number than the $2.7 million that Minister McLeod today said would top off funding for junior kindergarten, so I would like to hear from the Minister what is the number and what is the reason for these disparities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before the meetings that we had with all the board chairs and superintendents in December, there was a request for all our education authorities to come back and find money to help implement junior kindergarten. We've made an additional investment that brought the numbers down, so it is the 2.7 that we are looking for, thank you, just for confirmation.

This highlights the problem with this whole junior kindergarten debate. I'll go back to the boards, and they'll come back to me with a different number, and so it's just he said, she said, so it's going to take some digging here. I'm not saying the Minister isn't truthful. I'm just saying I'm getting different answers from different people.

So how will this $2.7 million roll out? Is it going to be $1.5 million the first year, $1.2 million the second year? Is there a plan for that yet?

As you heard in the Budget Address, we have that initial investment of $1.5 million this year, and then we will be rolling out the 2.7 before the end of the 18th Legislative Assembly.

In terms of some funding, that other funding, working with our education authorities, we do fund our education authorities $152 million every year. We've asked our education authorities to look within their budgets to find about 2 per cent to help offset the costs. We believe that the education authorities have the leadership, the fiscal management skills, and the financial flexibility to be able to cover the remaining costs. As I mentioned to the Member and as we sent out letters to community leadership, all our education authorities have an accumulated surplus of over $10 million, and we're also asking them to look within there, as well.

From what I understand from the boards, this surplus is to cover unexpected costs, make sure they have a payroll for, you know, a month or whatever may be, so how are they expected to dip into these rainyday funds to cover the cost of implementing junior kindergarten? It's a contingency fund. It's not an operating fund.

Schools will be making their own decisions regarding the details of the classes, the teachers, and the programs that best meet the needs of their students. As I mentioned, we believe that our education authorities have the leadership and the financial management skills. They do it on a regular annual basis when enrolments are low, that they were able to shift things around, and we believe that our school authorities have the tools to do that.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can tell the Minister has had to answer a lot of these junior kindergarten questions.

Laughter

My final question is: what about the capital costs associated with implementing junior kindergarten? Is that coming out of this $2.7 million, or is there additional money that ECE has that will cover the full capital costs of implementing this? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, we do have additional money specifically for the playbased learning resources as well as infrastructure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Main Estimates, 2017-2018 Government of the Northwest Territories." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move that we report progress. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. There is a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed?

---Carried

I will now rise and report progress.

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 261-18(2). I would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

Masi. Do we have a seconder? Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Motion is on the floor. To the motion. Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?

---Carried

Orders of the day for Thursday, February 2, 2017, at 1:30 p.m.:

Prayer

Ministers’ Statements

Members’ Statements

Returns to Oral Questions

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Acknowledgements

Oral Questions

Written Questions

Returns to Written Questions

Replies to Commissioner’s Opening Address

Replies to Budget Address (Day 2 of 7)

Petitions

Reports of Standing and Special Committees

Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills

Tabling of Documents

Notices of Motion

Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills

Motions

First Reading of Bills

Second Reading of Bills

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Tabled Document 261-18(2), Northwest Territories Main Estimates, 2017-2018

Report of Committee of the Whole

Third Reading of Bills

Orders of the Day

Masi, Mr. Clerk. This House stands adjourned until Thursday, February 2, 2017, at 1:30 p.m.

--- ADJOURNMENT

The House adjourned at 4:25 p.m.