Happy anniversary to both of you, and many more years to come. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, also want to wish Mr. and Mrs. Williams a happy anniversary, and also former NHLers, Hall of Famers, and Stanley Cup champions Bryan Trottier and Tyler Kennedy. I know Mr. Trottier has done a lot of work up in Nunakput region and, every time we get NHLers or individuals who can influence people through television and in person, it means a lot for our territory. Welcome and thank you for all of your dedication and hard work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize Tom and Pam Williams, who are constituents of Range Lake now. Happy anniversary to both of you. On behalf of MACA, Municipal and Community Affairs, our sports and recreation division, I also want to recognize Bryan Trottier and Tyler Kennedy, who are true role models to the youth who are coming up in society. It is really important that we have people like that, and it is an honour to have them here. I want to put a shout out to Tom Williams, who is our deputy minister of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, who will be going with them to play for goalie. Just to let you both know, we have told him to take it easy on you guys so you come back again. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier on, I spoke about the Arctic Renewable Energy Networks Academy. My questions are for the Minister of ITI. Mr. Speaker, my first question to the Minister is: what progress is the department making on climate change, framework, and the energy strategy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
--- through our public engagement sessions that we have talked about quite a bit this week in the House. To date, we have held public engagement sessions in Norman Wells, Fort Smith, Yellowknife, and Fort Simpson. Next week, we are going to be in my home community of Hay River and we are going to be doing a workshop with the community of Behchoko moving forward. We will be collecting this information and we will be using this to develop our energy strategy moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That answered my second question. Mr. Speaker, my final question for the Minister is: how is the Government of the Northwest Territories supporting the Arctic Renewable Energy Networks Academy’s ARENA initiative?
I am happy to say in the House today that we will join this week-long event, and we will be sending Government of the Northwest Territories representatives to attend ARENA. I will welcome delegates on March 24 to Yellowknife. Our Public Works and Services Energy Division will make a presentation later that day to provide an update on our efforts to develop our 10-year energy strategy moving forward as well. To add to that, the Power Corporation has arranged for tours for the hybrid solar and diesel battery storage project in Cobalt Lake. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I provided a line of questions to the Minster responsible for the Power Corporation. I would like to continue along that line of questioning today. I would like to start by asking the Minister: at the time that it became clear that the company Verdi was getting behind schedule on delivering these generators, what steps did the Power Corporation take to hold the company accountable, if certain benchmarks and certain milestones weren’t being met? Is there some form of penalty that was built into the contract? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When it became evident that this contract was going to be delayed, the Power Corporation looked at its various options. As I mentioned yesterday, to compensate for the lack of delivery, it was agreed with the vendor that they would cover any additional costs, including the cost of modular rental units that were brought into Jackfish in the winter of 2017 to ensure reliability. Because this bid was the lowest bidder, it was thought best to stick with this bid as that would be the best, in the long term, for the ratepayers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate that the Minister has indicated that the company would essentially have to cover any costs incurred. It has been 24 hours since I asked this question yesterday, something along the lines of: what costs have been incurred since the delay of receiving these generators? The Minister indicated yesterday that there have been some rental costs for some backup generators of some sort. I am expecting that there are others costs. If this company is expected to pay those costs, has the Minister yet determined what those incurred costs are?
In the brief time since yesterday afternoon, no, I have not ascertained what those costs will be, but I am looking into it.
I would like to ask the Minister: what kind of “validating” does the Power Corporation do? What kind of assessment does it take when it is trying to evaluate suppliers or manufacturers that they use? I ask this question because, clearly, there were two other bidders in this proposal that are on this project that are well-known, larger, reputable Canadian companies. Their bids were very close to each other. I would like to ask the Minister: what kind of criteria do they use to determine what manufacturers they are going to choose to use?
As mentioned previously, Mr. Speaker, the vendor chosen, Virdi, had the lowest bid. It was significantly lower than the next bidder, and it was the best overall score in the evaluations. There was a careful evaluation made of the three admittedly competent bidders. We went with the best bidders. We went with the best bid.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sometimes “significantly lower” will raise a red flag. It has in the past, and that should have been a red flag, quite frankly. Something, Mr. Speaker, that I would like to ask the Minister is: given that there is an obvious delay in getting these generators, given that there appear to be some incurred costs and given that, since there has been significant time that has passed and the Canadian dollar has devalued in that time. Does the Minister believe that it is possible that the all-in cost, once we get these in-house and turnkey, that they will actually end up costing than the next bidder's cost would have been? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, obviously, that is to be determined, but I am not expecting that that would be the case. As mentioned earlier, Virdi, the bidder, the successful bidder, will compensate for the additional costs that I mentioned earlier, so we are still expecting this contract to be well under the other bids.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a week ago, the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation signed an agreement with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation leadership about social housing. I am not questioning the need for the housing dollars, but I have some questions around the details of this arrangement.
I am aware that about a third of the new money will replace units destroyed by fire. Will the rest of the money add to the housing stock in the ISR so that there are more units in total than there are now? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The partnership that we have developed with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation is a partnership in that the Housing Corporation provides the land and will take over the ownership of the units for rental purposes, but the IRC is responsible for building the units and determining where they want to go. The current funding, the $5 million, will be used to replace a six-plex in Inuvik and a four-plex in Tuktoyaktuk that were burned from fire. The $10 million that is coming next, we have not negotiated on. Again, it is not the Housing Corporation's prerogative to be able to tell the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation what to do. It will be up to them to decide. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister. The Minister and the Housing Corporation have been very diligent about not allowing for an increase in the number of units within the Housing Corporation stock because of the increased operations and maintenance costs that come with extra units, so will the Minister accept extra units if that is what the IRC decides to do with its money?
The Member is correct in that, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, we do get funded for 2,400 public housing units. The CMHC funding is going to dissolve in 2038. We are trying to develop a plan to deal with the lack of funding that we will have for operating and maintenance for 2,400 units. So, at this point, we are not looking at increasing our public housing stock, but we are looking at and we're hoping that, with the program renewal, we will be able transfer some of the current units into more home ownership. That way we can actually increase our public housing availability at the same time. No, this will not be all on the shoulders of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.
This money provides for IRC beneficiaries, but I am wondering how the Housing Corporation is planning to meet the needs of the other residents of the Beaufort Delta who are waiting for housing, that is, other beneficiaries and other non-Indigenous people?
The deal with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation to provide them $15 million was not a Government of the Northwest Territories decision. It was a federal decision. We had no input into that. The Government of the Northwest Territories was not consulted in that process, so we can't determine what the federal government did with that or where they are going to move in the future.
However, what I can say is that, for the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, we take care of the needs of all residents within the Northwest Territories. So just because the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation struck a special deal with the federal government, that does not mean that we neglected all of the other communities. We are still providing housing support in all communities, to meet all people's needs.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that response. My final question is about quality control. Since one entity is doing the building and another is providing for the O and M, what kind of quality control will be exercised over this project and by whom? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I want to stress that the agreement for the $15 million is not in consultation with the Government of the Northwest Territories. It was done directly with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. They could determine what they wanted to do with the whole funding. We have developed a partnership. Within that partnership, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation has agreed to make sure that the buildings are done to code. We have agreement that we will be confirming that, as well. The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation does have the capacity. This corporation does have economic development within their organization, and they have been doing buildings. This is not their first project, so I am assuming that their quality of work will remain as it always has been.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. I mentioned in my statement earlier today that the federal government is not living up to the spirit, intent, and letter of the Giant Mine Environmental Agreement by allowing the carryover of unspent funds to build up a research program into a permanent solution to the arsenic. Is the Minister aware of this issue, and what is he doing to address this problem? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am aware of this, and I don't think there is any ill intent on behalf of Canada, I believe, once they realize that they would be contravening a section of the Treasury Board rules to rollover the money. My understanding is they are taking steps to find a solution for this. As we know more, I will share that with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, I am aware that there is provision in the agreement for the federal government to go to the Treasury Board to resolve this on a permanent basis, but there is a way for them to address the issue right now, and that is just simply to increase the contribution agreement for the next year by the amount that was unspent in the previous year. That would allow for, essentially, a carryover. I guess I would like to know from the Minister what he believes are the next steps that he and his staff will take to get implementation of this key feature of the agreement back on track?
The federal government are the funding contributors to this, and, as such, they make the decision. They try to live within the rules. I take the Member's point, and, at the earliest opportunity, I will convey our concerns to the federal government and see if there are ways, solutions, that they can find to allow the carryover of this money.
I appreciate the commitment of the Minister. Our government did sign this agreement, as well, so we do have some obligations, and this is certainly in the best interest of Yellowknifers now and into the future. There is some urgency to getting this issue sorted out. April 1st is coming up quickly, so I am just wondering how confident the Minister is that we can get the federal government to live up to this agreement and to ensure that all the appropriate funds are available to invest in the Northwest Territories.
I am confident that I can reach out to the federal government. At the end of the day, the decision is theirs. I could try to see if I can secure a timeline for them, but I can't speak on their behalf. I can only commit to what we can do as a government, is to reach out to them. I commit to the Member that I will do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate the commitment from the Minister on that. We know April 1st is coming up quickly. There is a provision in the agreement for dispute resolution. I am wondering, would the Minister be prepared to recommend that the Giant Mine Oversight Board invoke the dispute resolution process under the environmental agreement if we can't resolve this quickly? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will follow up on that and see what tools we have at our disposal to help find a solution for the funding. I will commit to following up on that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, my colleague the honourable Member for Kam Lake was talking about the user fees and landing fees being proposed by infrastructure, the new potential infrastructure department. They talk about between $8 and $10 million going to be potential new revenue. In regards to the $10 million or this money being proposed to be collected by the new airport fees, how much is this going to be coming from the GNWT's medical travel and GNWT businesses? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
