Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate getting that information out. So the Minister says that it won't cause any delays, but does the department actually track the time that the department takes?
It is fine for the Minister to give her word, but I am looking for a little bit more objective information or data. Is the Minister committed to tracking the amount of time that is taken by the department in reviewing these changes and seeing if this reduction actually increases the amount of time the department requires to sign off on those changes? That is the kind of tracking and evidencebased decisionmaking that I would suggest the department put in place. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we can commit to actually starting to track the time that it takes for us to reach out to the communities and actually have their community plans. However, there may be extenuating circumstances. It is not always the responsibility of the person providing support. Sometimes there are community issues that make delays in the planning, but we will track what the reasons are and how long it takes.
Like I said, we are looking at, once we get a little bit of time on our hands, actually looking at the whole department and seeing if there is a restructuring that needs to be done. At that point, then we will be pulling in that information to give us information on whether we need to restructure or not. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that commitment from the Minister. It still seems rather counterintuitive to me that we are asking communities to do more land use planning for themselves, yet we are cutting the capacity within the department to approve the land use plans, the zoning bylaw changes, and so on, that they come up with. It just does not make much sense to me. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, as stated, we are not anticipating that it will cause any delays. We will be conscious of it, though, and watching for it in the future. The planning for the communities isn't done all the time. It is not a constant thing. It is usually done annually. Therefore, we don't see it as being a huge issue, and not all communities are doing it at exactly the same time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don't want to prolong a debate here. I don't think this is a good idea, but I look forward to getting the evidence from the Minister that this is not going to result in delays. I think this is actually being driven by the fiscal reduction targets again. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. I would like to clarify with the Minister. There are two typos in the main estimates here. I would just like to clarify that the activity total remains $2,036,000. Minister.
That is correct, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Anything further? Seeing nothing further, I will call this activity. Municipal and Community Affairs, community governance, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $2,036,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will continue on to the next activity, located on pages 317 to 320, community operations. Do we have comments or questions on this? When you do have comments or questions, please indicate which page you are speaking to. Pages 317 to 320, community operations. Seeing none, I will call this activity. Municipal and Community Affairs, community operations, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $2,043,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Continuing on to the next activity, directorate, found on pages 321 to 324. Comments or questions on this activity, directorate, page 321 to 324? Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I mentioned in the opening comments, and the Minister is well aware that honourable Members have a concern with the pace of legislation that MACA is responsible for, or that she is responsible for as Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Is the policy and planning unit encapsulated by this activity adequately staffed to accommodate that lengthy legislative agenda? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we are adequately staffed to complete the legislation as provided by the deputy minister within the time frames. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart.
How many policy analysts or positions are with the department? I will start with that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So we have a manager of policy, we have a senior policy adviser, we have a junior policy adviser, and we have a legislative adviser position. We also have been provided access to Justice if we need it at any time, as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the Minister. Again, I will make the same comment, that, if the Minister feels that this is adequate, then the burden of meeting this objective falls squarely on her shoulders. I look forward to an expedient delivery of these priorities rolling out over the next two years. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Do we have further comments or questions? Seeing none, I will call this activity. Municipal and Community Affairs, directorate, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $3,837,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Continuing on to the next activity. Public safety, found on pages 325 to 328. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am aware that there are a number of aspects of legislation that the department is working on that are going to stem from this division. One thing, as a representative of Yellowknife North, the Highway No. 4 Ingraham Trail is in my riding. We have had, obviously, some considerable concern over the last couple of years with regard to forest fire seasons and lost assets, but most importantly, there are residents who live out on Ingraham Trail, a significant number of residents who live out there.
I am just wondering if the department has been engaged by residents on the trail as it relates to a communication strategy, and if that is the case, or even if not, is there a communication strategy in case there is an emergency of some nature out on Ingraham Trail that either is going to block people from getting from the city out to their homes, or vice versa, block people getting from their homes into the city where they might find safety in an unsafe incident or emergency situation? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister. When the light comes on, please respond.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, when there are emergencies such as a forest fire, we do have a public alerting protocol that we have in place. We are working with corporate communications as well to develop a more thorough public alerting. We are reviewing our emergency plans as well, so we are in that process currently. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the reply. So in the effort of public alerting, is there a means, or a way in this instance, that we have the ability to have direct correspondence or communication with the residents on Ingraham Trail? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We did public service announcements through the television. We do radio announcements as well. I am not sure if the Member is looking for us to knock on doors. Currently, we do not do that. If the Member is looking at providing feedback from people into our development of the emergency plan, we could probably find some way to implement feedback from the residents on Ingraham Trail when we are developing the emergency plan for Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the instance of Ingraham Trail, would there be any consideration or opportunity for such thing as a direct e-mail alert or possibly even direct calling to the residents who live year-round on Ingraham Trail? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. One thing that I did forget to mention also, besides the radio and television, was the social media that we use as well. I do see it as quite cumbersome, and perhaps not very safe, actually, to be knocking on doors or calling residents individually, but when we develop the emergency plan, we will take that into consideration. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No further questions at this point.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like the Minister just to update us on the whole ground ambulance highway rescue activity. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am just relying off memory. I believe that we met with the Municipality of Hay River in December, was our last meeting, and we will be calling together all of the tax-based communities, the six communities, in April of this year. At that point, we will be looking at the gaps, the areas that they are having difficulties with, and deciding how much funding we will need, what is the best use of resources, and what is the best way to roll out the program for ground ambulance and highway rescue services. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wonder if the Minister could let us know if the discussion will include non-tax-based communities that are placed strategically on the highway with no ground ambulance nearby? For example, maybe Providence, maybe Fort McPherson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this point, no, we are not inviting other communities to the table. We are looking at the communities that have some kind of ground ambulance or rescue services in place to be able to provide those provisions, so only those that have the services that can provide ground ambulance currently are going to be at the table. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
