As I’ve said, we’ve worked with Transport Canada to leverage the dollars to monitor and assess the performance of this road with the conditions that we’re presently under. Like I said, with climate change, it makes it very difficult to keep up with the maintenance of it, especially with the lack of capital dollars that we have available to us to do this; but we will continue to do our research and monitoring this road and try to come up with new rehabilitative techniques on how we’re going to address this problem moving forward. I can keep Members informed on some of those test results from research moving forward.
Again, I’m going to appreciate the commitment here that the Minister is making with regard to the road and improving the road itself. Let’s skip over for a moment and talk about public safety.
What can the Minister share with us in terms of how we’re going to in the meantime make sure that folks that are travelling up and down this road; a number of them in fact for the first time tourists coming to the North? What are we going to be doing to make sure that their safety is protected in the meantime? By that, I mean will we have improved signage? Will we have maybe potentially reduced speed limits, something of that nature? Can the Minister please explain to us how are we protecting people who use the highway?
The department regularly evaluates the condition of the. We have our maintenance crews that travel up and down the highway daily to gather information daily. They give us feedback on that. We have, as I said, our test sections that are out there, but to get out for safety is the number one priority of the transportation system in the Northwest Territories. We use a number of initiatives to reach out to people in the Northwest Territories and people visiting NWT, as I think and believe the Member talked yesterday in the House about how we’re going to get our message out there, be it Twitter, radio advertising, Facebook, but also on the commercial side of stuff. We have a great working relationship with the transportation companies. I think when something arises, be it around forest fires or those sorts of things, we have direct e-mail with a number of the commercial people as well as being from Hay River, at opportune times when safety is a major concern, we’ve used the electronic sign system on the south lake to warn people of the condition of the road coming north.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Members’ statement here addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. When students are away from their home and not well connected, to hear some of the many opportunities or the developments of potential opportunities, is there information or career readiness sessions that are in-house in the Fort Smith residential unit where they reside in or at the school itself? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I just want to commend the Member from Sahtu, the honourable Member from Sahtu, for actually making that trip to Fort Smith and to the Thebacha campus to check on his constituents who are seeking post-secondary education. In all of our campuses across the NWT, we do have counsellors who are able to help students should they be going through some difficult times or having challenges going to post-secondary education. We also have focused on life skills. This is the first time that some of the students might be away from home and in a different community. We do have counsellors as well as the staff provide supports to these students as they are seeking post-secondary education. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I’m glad to hear that there are supports there. My next question, Mr. Speaker, is: can the Minister provide me with minutes of the sessions if they are in fact going on, we may have some contributing dialogue or input to what we think that the students might want to hear from opportunities back home?
We don't have some of the statistics that the Member is looking for. We can work with the Aurora College senior management and look at what some of the concerns are that might be coming from our students, as well as maybe some statistics on counselling sessions, sessions that are providing opportunities for life skills training for our students. We can reach out to Aurora College to see if those stats are available and share them with the Member.
I welcome the information coming from the Minister's office here. At the time of receiving the material, I will get back to the Minister of further questions. In preparation to do so, is the Minister willing to put together a package of information so I can also share that with the leadership of the region I represent?
Yes, we can work with the Aurora College partners, ask them for what kind of orientation packages that they give to students for support that they need through post-secondary education. We will look at all three campuses to see what they provide and provide it to the Member should his constituents either want to go to Aurora College in Inuvik, Thebacha in Fort Smith, or the Yellowknife campus here in Yellowknife.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Can the Minister highlight what he and his department seek to achieve through a Mineral Resources Act? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department is looking at a number of things under the Mineral Resource Act moving forward: acquiring mineral rights, ministry and royalties, those sorts of things. We have no intention of regulating mining activities under the proposed MRA. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the response from the Minister. I will help him out with what the MVRMA is all about. In my statement, I highlighted several issues that I think should be considered during the drafting of a Mineral Resources Act. I would like to know whether the Minister and his department intend to seek specific exemptions or exceptions for mining activities now regulated under the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act? Are we going to loosen up or weaken our environmental regime to allow mining to go ahead?
The department is actually conducting research right now on how we are going to move forward. I don't think anything is locked down because we are going to have to go through consultation, public engagement. We are going to have to go in front of standing committee. There are a number of things that we are going to have to do that are going to guide this document as we move forward. We are welcome to any suggestions.
I appreciate the response from the Minister. I think the first time he responded he said that there wasn't going to be any specific exceptions. The next time he is a little bit vaguer. There have been several cases of conflicting land uses in the NWT and elsewhere that highlight the problem with the free entry system. Recently, the BC Mines Minister had the ground under his home staked. There have been problems with staking of claims covering the Inuvik gravel supply and so on. The NWT Association of Communities has called for local governments to have the authority to prohibit mineral staking within their boundaries. Is the Minister prepared to work with the NWTAC and communities to give this authority to our local governments?
As I said, this is early days on this. We are going to draft some stuff and have a look at other jurisdictions, how things are conducted around minerals in other jurisdictions in Canada. We will be seeking input, as I have said, from a number of people and stakeholders in the Northwest Territories, and we are open to any suggestions and stuff as we move forward.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Thanks, again to the Minister for repeating the openness of the process that we are about to embark on, but I am looking for some direction. What is this government actually going to do? I am not hearing it. I will keep pushing because I have some ideas. Like the honourable Member from Hay River North, I have some ideas I would like to share, and I want to see the Minister respond to these sorts of ideas.
With the devolution, our government now has the authority over royalties paid by mining companies. I am sure the Minister, along with his Cabinet colleagues, wants to make sure that we retain as many benefits as possible from mining, including royalties. Earlier in the House, I noted that we collect three times as much money from taxes on tobacco and liquor as we get to keep in resource revenues under devolution. What is the Minister going to do to ensure there is a fair and comprehensive review of mining royalties and taxation? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department hasn't taken a determination on this point yet. We are looking out for ideas and stuff. We are currently looking at other jurisdictions, as I have said, across Canada before we roll this out. We will probably be conducting a review and undertaking an analysis on a royalty regime across Canada.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in Committee of the Whole, when we were reviewing the Department of Justice's budget, I asked questions about a fence surrounding the North Slave Correctional Centre. At the time, the Minister of Justice, and I will quote from Hansard, said, "It is turning out this is a more complex and expensive matter than we had anticipated." On further questioning, Mr. Martin Goldney, the deputy minister of the Department of Justice, provided a few more details, noting that specialized and specific engineering studies were completed and that they anticipate things happening as soon as the summer. I would like to just get the Minister, again, on the record to let me know if this work is moving ahead and we can expect to see something moving forward in the summer? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Justice.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. I am glad to advise that work is proceeding ahead. There was, of course, an escape from the facility last summer. A consultant was hired to provide the department with a cost estimate. Pending funding approvals, work may begin this summer. I want to assure the public, however, that until the recommended work has been completed, activities and access to the affected area is fully restricted, so there is no danger of another incident of the type that took place last August. Thank you.
I am sure my constituents and I are comforted to hear that a similar escape can't happen, but I think these improvements really need to happen. I am just wondering when we will see funding asked from the Minister's department, so we can get this work under way. I didn't see any in the supplementary appropriations. Are we going to see a funding ask any time soon?
I would expect that a funding request would be forthcoming in the summer. I can advise, however, that there have been other improvements that will be proceeding. There were two capital projects approved in the 2017-18 capital estimates for the complex, which included a security infrastructure renewal: electronic capacity to a CCTV camera on current fencing; and an improvement of the perimeter fence along the west property line to the main Kam Lake driveway entrance. It is expected that tendered documents on those two projects are currently being prepared for a spring tender and summer construction. Improvements to the facility are already being made dealing specifically with the issue of the escape that took place last August. We will be seeking funding likely in the next few months, in the summer likely.
That is a lot clearer, and I appreciate the Minister providing that information. My honourable friend the Member from Yellowknife raised communication issues around public safety concerns related to another department. I am wondering what protocols the department has in place for escapes such as the one that is required by these infrastructure improvements? Is there a protocol in place to let the residents who live next to the facility know as soon as something happens?
I want to make it clear that the department is opposed to escapes. If, of course, one does take place, as took place last summer, the public will be advised.
It's good to know that the department is opposed to it. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. One of our colleagues is fond of saying that the best form of income assistance is a job, but there are a substantial number of people, 1,700 people in Yellowknife who are working full-time but not earning enough to get themselves out of poverty. My question to the Minister is whether he is aware of the living wage movement and whether it is something he supports? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I am aware of the living wage movement. We were part of the oversight committee in the last government, when the report was brought forth to this House that resulted in looking at the minimum wage throughout the Northwest Territories. I am very glad to say that, in June of 2015, we increased the minimum wage from $10 to $12.50, and we also made a commitment that we will review that minimum wage every two years. So, Mr. Speaker, I understand where the Member is coming from. We do have the second-highest minimum wage in the country, only aside to Nunavut, but I do understand where the Member is going with this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for that. I just want to be clear that I am not talking about the minimum wage. I am talking about a different wage altogether. It's called a living wage, and it is calculated on a community-by-community basis according to the expenses that a family would have in that community, the level of taxation, the kinds of benefits and so on and so forth. So it's different in every place. It's not a minimum wage.
There are several ways that the government could support the living wage, such as providing funds to calculate the living wage in communities outside of Yellowknife. What is the living wage in Colville Lake? It would very interesting to know. Their food costs are much higher, but their accommodation costs are lower, so it would useful to have some funds to calculate the living wage in communities outside of Yellowknife and also to promote paying the living wage among employers because, after all, this is a systemic fix to poverty. Can the Minister commit to this action?
I understand that the group that brought forward the reports and the study that was done in 2015 did receive funding from the Anti-Poverty Fund to conduct that research. It is up to the employers, though, if they want to put forth paying their employees on a living wage or the minimum wage. Some of the employers that do decide to pay a living wage do it for many reasons. One of them is possibly to keep employees for long periods of time rather than spending more money on training and recruitment, so it is up to the employers on what they want to do. They do have to pay a minimum wage, which is $12.50, which we are currently going through a review.
Any families, whether they are families or individuals, that feel that they are not making enough money to meet their requirements for a living wage, we do also have a lot of programs within Housing, within Health and Social Services, within my department, the ECE, to help offset some of the costs.
The Minister is right. The initial amount of money to get this project going did come from the Anti-Poverty Fund. I want to stress again that this is a systemic solution to poverty that is fronted by businesses, not by government. Of course, government provides a lot of supports to people in poverty, but, if businesses could be persuaded of the benefits of paying a living wage, then people wouldn't need those social supports that are provided by the Minister's department. I am wondering if the Minister can see the relevance of investing in the living wage in order to help people get out of poverty for good?
We do understand that the high costs of living here in the Northwest Territories is very problematic, especially in some of our rural and remote communities. We did do a review of the minimum wage. I understand that the Member is referring to a report that talks about the living wage that was done in 2015. We are committed to reviewing the minimum wage. We also made an investment during this budget to work with industry and businesses to help work on our small community employment support program to help create jobs as well as to help subsidize wages for some of our residents that are looking for work. We are committed to looking at the minimum wage again. As I mentioned, we do have a lot of good social programs here within government to help offset some of those costs that the Member is referring to.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am drowning in the rising tide of the minimum wage, so let me finally ask the Minister: when will the minimum wage be reviewed again? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have a Minimum Wage Committee. I believe they met towards the end of 2016. They have met twice already in 2017. They have a couple of more meetings coming up. They are going to be looking at the data and the impact of what we did, increasing that minimum wage in June of 2015, and doing a review. Then they will be bringing recommendations to me, as Minister, and we will look at those recommendations. We will share it with committee and move on from there. So, right now, it's being conducted.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Transportation this time. In the January 9th issue of the Hay River Hub, there was a story about Hay River resident Wayne Bennett. He and his wife, Lenie, landed in the Yellowknife airport in the early morning hours on December 28th. They had planned to stay at the airport for the four hours until their flight left for Hay River. However, apparently the airport closes after the last flight of the night and re-opens two hours before the first flight departs. Mr. Bennett called around, but there were no hotel rooms available, which can happen in Yellowknife if there is a conference or an event. So my first question to the Minister is: what hours is Yellowknife Airport open? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Transportation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At present, the Yellowknife terminal is actually closed for 90 minutes each night, approximately from 2:00 to 3:30 a.m. in the morning, if there are no scheduled flights arriving late or anything departing too early. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
