Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move that committee defer further consideration of estimates for the Department of Justice at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The motion is on the floor and being distributed. The motion is in order and is non-debatable. All those in favour. All those opposed.
---Carried
Committee, the consideration of the Department of Justice has been deferred. I want to thank the Minister and his witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.
Thank you, committee. We have next agreed to consider the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, which begins on page 307. I will turn to the Minister responsible for her opening remarks. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to present the 2017-2018 Main Estimates for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. Overall, the department's estimates propose an increase of $2.56 million from the 2016-2017 Main Estimates, which is a 2.4 per cent increase.
These estimates continue to support the Government of the Northwest Territories' objective of ensuring a strong and sustainable future for the government and its programs by managing expenditures due to limited revenue growth.
The 2017-2018 Main Estimates include an increase of $1.6 million from the 2017-18 business plan reviewed by standing committee in September. This increase is the result of two changes:
Under the Government of the Northwest Territories' obligations in the Deline final self-government agreement, Municipal and Community Affairs has moved $809,000 in capital funding into the regional operations budget. This $809,000 will make up a portion of the block funding grant that will be made to the Deline Got'ine Government this fiscal year. Since this is a transfer between budgets, there is no financial impact on the Government of the Northwest Territories; and
New funding of $616,000 to begin to implement 911 service in the Northwest Territories.
The 2017-2018 Main Estimates reflect:
$606,000 in reductions that the department was able to find without reducing core funding to community governments;
An increase of $1.129 million in funding to community governments to support the increased cost of operations and maintenance and water and sewer delivery at the community government level; and
Initiative funding of $500,000 to provide increased support for the hosting of the 2018 Arctic Winter Games in the South Slave region.
The department's proposed spending in 2017-18 continues to support the priorities of the 18th Legislative Assembly. Specific activities in support of these priorities include:
Within the governance priority area, we are advancing legislative priorities including amendments to the Civil Emergency Measures Act, the Western Canada Lottery Act, and the Fire Prevention Act. We will also engage with community governments and stakeholders on potential amendments to the Cities, Towns and Villages Act to address local improvement levies for energy retrofits.
Within the education, training and youth priority area, we will continue to develop and enhance the online training and certification opportunities available to community government staff and officials through the department's School of Community Government.
We will provide young Northerners from across our territory with once-in-a-lifetime structured volunteer experiences and opportunities to travel the country as youth ambassadors.
Within the cost of living priority area, we will continue to support community governments as they apply for and take advantage of the suite of federal infrastructure funding programs available to them.
The department will support mandate objectives related to accountability through the implementation of our action plan to address the Office of the Auditor General's Performance Audit of Municipal and Community Affairs. That action plan will result in improvements to the department's accountability, as well as community government accountability. Finally, Municipal and Community Affairs will work with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada to improve our relationship and support to Aboriginal governments as they deliver essential services to residents. That concludes my opening remarks. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Do you have witnesses you would like to bring into the Chamber? Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister would you please introduce your witnesses to committee.
On my left I have Eleanor Young. She is the deputy minister for Municipal and Community Affairs. On my right is Gary Schauerte. He is the director of Corporate Affairs.
Thank you, Minister. We will now open the floor to general comments from committee. As usual, committee members will have 10 minutes to make comments, and the Minister will have 10 minutes at the end to respond. First, I have Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In my role as chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, our committee is responsible for reviewing the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs' business plan and proposed initiatives. We have spent time with this department, both in business planning and more recently, and perhaps of higher priority, the recent report of the Auditor General of Canada.
The Standing Committee on Government Operations and the Committee on Priority and Planning are pleased to see the department produce an action plan and put a high degree of priority on that action plan. Furthermore, we are pleased to see the development of a costed implementation plan for 911 service in the Northwest Territories. These things are welcome initiatives that are both important to our residents and important to our priorities as an Assembly.
The standing committee continues to recommend that the elimination of positions within the department be delayed or not implemented at all, to take a stronger look at how we are developing the new lottery fund and potential reductions and impacts to multi-sport game contributions. These are important to the areas of responsibilities that they benefit the regions where these positions are located. Multi-sport games, of course, are crucial for young people in the territory to develop skills for volunteerism amongst community members and to celebrate the culture and athletic achievement of Northerners. We very much would like to see this funding maintained and these programs operating to the best ability that they can.
On a personal note, MACA has a lot on its plate, and that includes a fairly lengthy legislative agenda, especially with new commitments to develop 911 services and to update pieces of legislation stemming from the Auditor General's report. Some of this is in our mandate, including the commitment to review the Cities, Towns and Villages Act.
Unfortunately, myself and other members of the standing committee do feel that the department could be moving more expediently in this manner and is duplicating work that has previously been done. There are many, many consultations that have been proposed and although consultation is always welcome, some of these are uncontroversial and well thought-out amendments and initiatives that have been kicking around our cities, towns, and villages for many, many years. So honourable Members on this side of the House would like to see more decisive leadership from the Minister on these files, especially when there are existing recommendations and resolutions from our municipal partners to make these changes happen.
So I guess I will end on saying that, while we welcome some of the direct actions that have emerged in this budget, there is still a bit of hesitation to move more expediently on other areas that are of crucial importance to the communities that we serve. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all I'm going to talk about some good things that are happening out there. It's great to see that the government is looking at the Western Canada Lottery Act and actually bringing it into the system so we're not losing the million dollars. Now, give credit where credit is due on that. However, when we come to looking at these -- I know, sorry. Shock to the heart. When it comes to the multi-sport games, we see a reduction of $500,000. We're losing $150,000 to the games. These games belong to the Government of the Northwest Territories, and if the government doesn't want to own these games, then please give them to Sport North and Aboriginal Sport Circle, and give them the money to run it. We're cutting money right now, $150,000, to the games, and I don't know where we're going to see this shortfall come from, unless it's coming from lotteries.
If it's coming from lotteries, then we're taking away money from the grassroots. Lotteries are about grassroots development for the five organizations, and it's a Sport and Recreation program that the Minister talked about in her Minister's statement today.
I have to give credit to the department when they talk about 911; it really doesn't have a huge impact in my region, but potentially I'm hoping that it will and then they can work with the companies that have electronics out there helping people out in the bush so they can work with that, so they can actually get this information where people are and emergencies are dealt with in that manner.
Moving on to my concerns about the position that's being deleted from the budget. It belongs in the Nahendeh, but actually the focus is working with designated authorities. We just heard the Auditor General's report about how badly the department is dealing with designated authorities. I'm hearing stuff out there that they say, well, you want self-government, here it is. This is self-government. We're hearing that from the communities I'm dealing with. I don't think the department is saying that, but I'm hearing that from the people. The people are sitting there saying, well, it's great, we're going to have somebody from Yellowknife who doesn't understand what's going on in our region. How is somebody from Fort Smith going to help?
Well, both these people, if it's out of Fort Smith or out of Yellowknife, there is additional cost to it. Unless we're just going to do lip service, which is, we'll give you a phone call. This is capacity. We're talking about capacity and designated authorities. Why do we have problems? Because we're not building the capacity.
Yes, this department does a great job of the school community government, but there are costs to it. Regional staff need to be in the communities, working with the people. If we're not doing that, we're going to have the same situation as we have presently, and that really is disappointing. I have a strong feeling for this department, because I worked for it for 23 years. I understand the importance of it, but it's about capacity, and we're not doing that.
If we want to look at some cost-saving measures, why do we have two offices in the North Slave? When I first started out, North Slave was based out of Rae, which is now Behchoko. Now, we have one in Yellowknife and one in Behchoko. So, again, there is a cost-saving measure that we can look at.
Location of regional offices. We have an office in Fort Smith. If you want to look at efficiency and better service, it should be based in Hay River. Or then you look at the two Deh Cho communities, which are Fort Providence and Kakisa. Maybe they should be serviced out of Fort Simpson, if you're going to keep the office in Fort Smith. So it becomes more efficient. You want to save money? There are two ideas.
We're not going to save money. We're not going to look at that, unfortunately, and it really saddens me because the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, the big concern is capacity and building our communities. The great thing about building capacity is it's ongoing. When you get a good job done and you train people, unfortunately, they move on, but you need to continue working on that until the community becomes self-sufficient. If we're not going to allow that, then we're in trouble; and by cutting that position, we're having a huge detriment to my region.
If you don't want designated authorities and you want to say, well, it's a DIAND issue, or the federal government's issue, then why are you in the business? Realistically, the federal government and the Department of Municipal Affairs have a responsibility for the people in the communities. I know, in my riding, where we're lacking right now, and we have four designated authorities. If we're not going to work with them and you're going to delete positions that have a huge impact on us, then we're still going to be having problems year after year after year. We're going to have to bring people in, and that's unfortunate. That's sad.
I know. My time is up, so I thank the Chair for allowing me to rant on for about an extra minute. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. We were going to take a short recess. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber, and we will reconvene shortly. Thank you to the witnesses; we'll see you soon.
---SHORT RECESS
I will now call Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we were making general comments on the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. Do we have any further general comments? Seeing none, I will give the Minister up to 10 minutes to respond if she wishes. I would like to remind everyone that it is getting late and to keep your comments and answers concise, if at all possible. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In response to the comments that were made by the Members of the Legislative Assembly, I want to talk a little bit about some of them. The Auditor General's report came at an opportune time, actually, because of just accepting the new portfolio and a new deputy minister, it gave us the time to really look at the difficulties that the department was having and gear us towards the new programs and supports that we can actually help people in the communities. It also identified the need to work with Indigenous and Northern Affairs closer.
At no time have I heard any talk and at no time would I expect any talk about leaving the designated authorities on their own; that is not the mandate of the department, nor was it what I picked up from the Auditor General's report. The basic thing that we needed to do was develop stronger partnerships and look at things that we can do to improve so that the communities that are designated that do report to the federal government will actually have the supports and maintain the services that are needed in their communities.
The legislation pieces that we're doing, I've heard the Members saying that they don't want us to review it again with stakeholders, although I am probably the biggest advocate for actually engaging all people who are appropriate to doing any kind of work. So the legislative amendments that were put on the table were passed by the NWT Association of Communities; however, after that was done we did get some feedback from community members who said they didn't really want to just hurt people's feelings and they still have concerns. So in reflecting on that, then, we need to engage those stakeholders and make sure that they do have a voice in it.
Restructuring the department, we're looking at some of the office space. Eleanor is brand new in her position. She's talked about once she can get a handle on what's going on -- because we've been very busy with the mains right now and in session -- she will be looking at the department and seeing if there are other ways that we can save money, that we can restructure to provide better services to communities again and to people who access our sports and recreation programs. So that is something that she's got on her plate. It doesn't mean that anything will happen, but she will be looking at it thoroughly to see if there's a way that we can restructure and provide better services.
Other than that, the lottery funding. Again, lottery funding will be coming into the Government of the Northwest Territories; it's a way to save on taxation. It's also a better way to make sure that the community governments and volunteer organizations are actually getting better support within that. Again, we will be going to the stakeholders, the sports and rec associations, to define if the Sutcliffe Report, if those recommendations should be implemented or not; we will present our findings and see if they're in agreement. We will be looking for service provision gaps and overlaps within the whole sector to see if we need to restructure the whole of our operations when it comes to the sports and youth volunteer positions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. As always, we will defer the consideration of the departmental total until after we look at each activity. The first activity can be found on pages 314 to 316. The activity is community governance. Do I have comments or questions for community governance? Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question for the Minister that relates to this section in her opening remarks. Apparently, there are some LPs coming on the Civil Emergency Measures Act, the Western Canada Lottery, and the Fire Prevention Act and then later on the Cities, Towns and Villages Act. Could the Minister give us some timing around when these pieces of legislation will be introduced? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you. I will let the deputy minister answer that; she knows the timeline in place.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Young.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So for the Civil Emergency Measures Act, we have a legislative proposal in place right now, but we are looking at some of the research that we've done to make sure that it is adequate or whether it needs any changes. We plan to go to drafting instructions for a bill in the spring -- or sorry, to be able to bring forward a bill in the fall. Sorry, I'm just looking at my timelines here. Reviewing of a draft bill in the spring and bringing a bill forward in the fall.
For 911 legislation and regulations, we have started our work on researching this. We intend to have a legislative proposal prepared by April and again looking at a draft bill for early October.
For the Fire Prevention Act, we have a stakeholder engagement process that is under way right now. Folks may have seen a document that was sent out to get feedback. We will be putting a What We Heard document together before we actually develop the legislative proposal. In that case, we are looking at a little-bit-later timeline, with the legislative proposal planned for probably September, and looking at a draft bill introduction in the fall of 2018, if I am not mistaken. I will confirm that one.
Western Canada Lottery Act and Regulations, we actually intend to have a legislative proposal submitted hopefully within the next two weeks. We are hoping that we will be able to actually move that one forward for this spring.
Finally, the amendments to the Cities, Towns and Villages Act, we are going to be engaging with the six cities, towns, and villages over the next month to six weeks. Subject to the results of that engagement, we anticipate a legislative proposal by May and being able to move forward with amendments to the bill by late spring, early summer.
Thank you, Ms. Young. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the deputy for that answer. Can I just confirm that the Cities, Towns and Villages Act LP is coming in May of 2018? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Ms. Young.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can confirm the engagement will happen. We will then develop the draft bill, so May of this year would be too aggressive. Depending on the nature of the changes to be made, we may be able to move very quickly.
Thank you, Ms. Young. Ms. Green.
I have no more questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Anything further to this activity? Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we note that, in the business plan for MACA under the description of core services within community governance division, the community governance unit provides advice on community governance issues and helps with various pieces of municipal legislation. It is noted in here as well that the chief and deputy chief municipal electoral office functions provide advice and support related to community government elections. I am just wondering: can the department describe what kind of support that is? Do we have a chief municipal electoral office, and what role do they play in support of the municipal elections? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Ms. Young.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we do have a chief municipal elections officer as well as two deputies in the department. Their role is to train returning officers at the local level for the administration of the Local Authorities Elections Act. There are some limited areas within the act where, if necessary, the chief municipal elections officer could cancel an election and reschedule it. An example would be what we saw most recently in Fort McPherson, where there were some issues that arose with the original election call. We had to stop that election process and reschedule. That was done under the authority of the chief municipal elections officer.
Thank you, Ms. Young. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the reply. In some of the planned activities that we have for community governments, we indicate in there that, with regard to the support of one of our mandate items, we will create and coordinate a multi-departmental working group to inventory and then transfer GNWT-owned lands and assets within community boundaries to community governments. I am wondering if the department can provide us with an update on if the multi-departmental working group has been established and what is the status of this goal that we are trying to achieve? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Ms. Young.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The land and assets transfer project is a project that results from properties that were developed for communities prior to the implementation of the New Deal in 2007. There were a number of garages, water plants, assets of that nature, that were built, but they were built on Commissioner’s lands or other types of land at the time and not officially transferred legal tenure to the community government. What we are doing is we are currently validating that inventory to make sure that those assets are still on the ground and that they haven't been written off or that transfer hasn't already been effected by the community. We will be taking a look and seeing if there is any survey work that needs to be done and coordinate it with the Department of Lands. We are just trying to figure out the best approach, whether it will be community by community or type of asset by type of asset, to be able to proceed with the transfer initiative. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Young. Mr. Vanthuyne.
I thank the deputy minister for the answer. No further questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Next, Mr. Thompson. My apologies. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am looking at page 315. The line item is community planning. There seems to be a catastrophic drop-off of funding for this line from $421,000 in 2015-16 to $54,000 in the budget next year. Can someone explain to me why there is this ongoing reduction under the community planning function for MACA? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Schauerte.
The Member has identified an actual error in the statement of the main estimates. The community planning area, where it states $54,000, that number should be $162,000. Right above it, the community governance area, where it says $384,000, it should read $274,000. The changes there represent the reduction of two positions within this unit, including a junior governance advisor position and a community planner position. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Schauerte. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that the Members have now been straightened out. I guess I am looking for an explanation as to why there is a reduction, why this reduction is being made. Is there less work to do? I would like an explanation. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. When the department was looking at some restructuring to see if there were ways that we could be more efficient with our resources, we decided that the two positions could be terminated -- they are through headquarters -- and that we would have enough staffing to actually do the extra work that was required. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. So it sounds like this is part of the fiscal reduction targets set for the department. Can we just have a little bit more information about what these individuals do? Do they support community governments? It says "community planning," so I know maybe this isn't the right place, but are these people within MACA who, say, review land use planning bylaw changes, zoning changes that have to go to MACA for approval? Some more detail on what the functions are of the positions that are being cut would be helpful. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
The community planner position was actually responsible for assisting in the development of the community plans, but, with the New Deal, actually we have changed it so that communities actually develop their own plans now and we allow them to hire their own planners within the new funding arrangement that we have. Then, at headquarters, we still have two positions. We have a planner and a technician. Like I say, these two positions that are currently here will take over the overlap, and it is not as indepth anymore. Now that we are not doing actual community plans and we are allowing the communities to develop their own and hire their own planners, the level of work is less. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. I would to remind everyone to just make sure the little light is on before they begin speaking so that we can get it on the record and get it into Hansard. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is getting closer. Are these the people, though, within the department who give advice to the Minister about whether the Minister should be signing off on zoning changes, general plans, those sort of things that require ministerial approval? The reason I ask this question is because, if we have fewer people giving advice to the Minister or we have a diminished capacity here, is this going to delay the ability of communities to carry out the land use planning that the department seems to want them to do? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the positions actually do provide advice and support to the Minister. However, we still have two positions in headquarters -- like I said, the planner and the technician -- who will be able to provide the support. There should be no delays to the communities actually doing their community plans because of these reductions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
