Masi. The motion is on the floor. All those in favour. All those opposed. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive rule 100(4) to have Committee Report 10-18(2): Report of the Standing Committee on Social Development on the Review of Bill 16: An Act to Amend the Education Act, moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Member is seeking unanimous consent to waive Rule 100(4) to have Committee Report 10-18(2) moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today.
---Unanimous consent granted
The Committee Report 10-18(2) is now moved into Committee of the Whole for further consideration.
Masi. Reports of Standing and Special Committees. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Your Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures is pleased to provide its Report on the Review of Standing Committee on Public Engagement and Transparency.
The Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures was tasked on February 25, 2016, by Motion 10-18(2), with recommending a process for standing committee public engagement and transparency, taking into account public input and a review of other jurisdictions. Much of this work was described in the committee's interim report, presented on November 1, 2016, and is not repeated in this final report. The committee's work on this matter is paralleled by a similar effort by Cabinet to increase the openness of government.
The goal of measures taken to date and of those now recommended is to promote greater public understanding of committees' work and enable greater participation in the democratic process, with increased transparency and opportunities for public engagement. This is particularly important in our Legislative Assembly, where standing committees play a critical role in our unique consensus system of governance.
Members of the 18th Assembly recognize the need for greater transparency and accountability. We are committed to providing the public with more information about our decision-making process and better opportunities to take part. As noted in the committee's interim report, "The ultimate goal is to promote a culture of openness in which citizens provide input, monitor progress, and see that their participation is valued by decision-makers."
The Legislative Assembly and its committees regularly use a variety of tools to engage the public and provide information, including our website, news releases, social media, in-house television broadcasting system, radio and television rebroadcasts of proceedings, publication of Hansard (which is also used unofficially and free of charge by OpenNWT), town halls, public meetings, and public requests for comments on specific reports and legislation. Of course, the Assembly's public gallery is open during session, and the Legislative Library will assist anyone in finding information. Recommendations in this report are intended to improve and expand upon these activities, particularly to benefit public interaction with standing committees.
Soon after the committee began its work on public engagement and transparency, Members of the 18th Assembly amended their Guiding Principles and Process Conventions to state that "the business of consensus government should be carried out in public, unless there are compelling reasons to meet in private. Public meetings should be the rule and not the exception." This convention has been successfully implemented.
In its interim report, the committee recommended that, working with Legislative Assembly staff, each standing committee should:
Improve the ease-of-use and access to committee web pages and add the following information to what is currently provided:
known schedule, and public matters being considered; and
meeting notices, agendas, witnesses' submissions, and presentation materials.
Specific requests for public input and contact information for the committee should be prominently displayed and readily accessible.
Identify, in advance, whether a meeting or a portion of a meeting may be held in camera, and how this will be reflected in the agenda. A committee may decide to hold an in camera meeting or portions of a meeting in camera to:
deal with administrative and personnel matters;
consider correspondence or a draft report, including the committee's own reports;
receive a background briefing;
deal with subject matters requiring confidentiality, such as budget items or bills that have not yet been introduced in the Assembly;
do strategic planning, including sessional meetings of the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning, which focus on preparing for business in the House; or
any other matter that would or would likely entail private or privileged information.
Ensure that consideration is given to the use of plain language and summaries where appropriate in public communications and reports.
These measures have been enacted or are in the process of being implemented. Committee web pages are being much expanded, with a prominent access link on the Assembly's main page. The committee provided guidance to Legislative Assembly staff on committee website content, navigation, and public schedules. The new committee pages are undergoing pre-launch testing. Additions to the committee pages include a meeting calendar, information about public participation, committee business, agendas and materials for public meetings, committee reports, and news releases. Committees have heard that meeting notices and supporting material should be posted earlier, but notice is not always received well in advance. All committees and Cabinet should try to improve public notice of meetings.
Standing committees also experimented with Facebook Live to air public briefings. Since January 2017, the Legislative Assembly provided live video of public committee meetings to viewers on social media. As of May 15th, 17 public committee meetings were streamed live on Facebook, with an average of 400 views per video. The most-viewed was the first, featuring the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning's press conference about the 2017-2018 budget. In light of the success of the pilot project, live-streaming of public standing committee meetings and other events is now our practice. The Legislative Assembly's Facebook page has more than 700 followers.
Since the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures' interim report, we sought additional feedback from the public and Members of the Assembly. Submissions were solicited on the committee's web page, on Facebook, and by other means, but none were received. As part of the process, the Chair met with a transparency advocate.
The committee also received a presentation from the Minister of Transparency and Public Engagement on the Open Government initiative, which may produce findings relevant to standing committee procedures.
As a result of this additional engagement, the committee considered several other issues:
Providing Members' attendance information in a spreadsheet format that can be easily analysed: this information is already publicly available, but not in spreadsheet format because no such software is used to compile the data.
Publishing standing committees' travel expenses: committee travel expenses have been available on request. The Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures recommends that these expenses be regularly posted on each committee's web page.
Digitization of Hansard transcripts of proceedings prior to the 14th Assembly: Hansard transcripts are searchable on the Assembly's website back to the 14th Assembly. Hansard was first produced digitally during the 12th Assembly, but the document formatting is inconsistent with current requirements. Digitizing Hansard prior to the 12th Assembly is an even larger endeavour. The committee notes that this topic is outside the scope of its mandate, but agrees that adding earlier Hansard transcripts to the Assembly's searchable website is desirable if it can be done cost-effectively. All Hansard transcripts are currently available to the public by request to the Legislative Assembly Library.
Indexing of Hansard: It was suggested to the committee during its consultations that indexing of Hansard, suspended several years ago as a cost-saving measure, be restored to improve searchability. Assembly staff informed us that this is a goal of the new Hansard production team. Again, this topic is outside the scope of the committee's mandate, but we recommend completion of this project.
Producing and publishing records of decision by standing committees or summaries of committee business: audio/video recordings of public committee meetings are available on the Legislative Assembly's YouTube site and by specific request. The committee suggests that the Standing Committee on Government Operations produce summaries of its work or records of decision on a pilot basis. Should this prove successful, it could be adopted by other standing committees.
Publishing committee correspondence: Submissions to standing committees respecting public hearings on legislation and other matters will be published on committee web pages; previously, they were available on request. Other correspondence may be published at committees' discretion, subject to the provisions for in-camera matters described earlier.
Consistency of processes for public engagement and transparency: the committee suggests that chairs of the standing committees discuss each of these processes twice annually, with a view to potential improvements. Each standing committee should also review its public engagement and transparency at least annually, against a common checklist of questions such as those developed by the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures to solicit input for this final report.
I would now like to turn the report to my colleague, the MLA for Frame Lake.
Masi. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President.
Conclusion
Public engagement and transparency of standing committees is being improved on an ongoing basis. New methods and technology will arise over time; change is the only constant. Standing committees must adapt to their current circumstances and provide timely, useful information to the public in convenient ways. The Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures is confident that the work done in this area over the past year represents a significant improvement on what was previously available, and establishes a sound foundation for future evolution.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that Committee Report 11-18(2): Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures' Report on the Review of Standing Committee Public Engagement and Transparency, be received by the Assembly and moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The motion is on the floor. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion carried.
---Carried
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize Paul Crookall, executive director of Excellence Canada, and his wife, Kate. Paul and Kate are accompanied by Penny Ballantyne, recently retired from the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize, of course, all of our fantastic recipients of the Order of the NWT, but in particular Mr. Paul Andrew, who originally from the Sahtu is now a resident of Yellowknife North, and I want to congratulate him on his award. I also want to acknowledge now world traveller, former secretary to Cabinet, and a Yellowknife North resident, Penny Ballantyne. Welcome. Thank you.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Mr. Fraser Oliver, president of the NWT Teachers' Association and Kam Lake resident. He just will not go away, and I am really pleased about that. Keep it up. Thank you.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge Mr. Jeffery Philipp, who is a recipient of the 2017 Order of the NWT. I am very proud of Jeff today. Jeff was born and raised in Fort Providence and now lives in Yellowknife with his family. Jeff built the North's premier broadband technology company, SSI Micro. Jeff and his company have helped many organizations throughout the NWT and Nunavut, such as a computer lab for the Deh Gah School and contributions to Northern Youth Abroad. Jeff is also a strong advocate for consumers' rights. Congratulations, Jeff. Mahsi.
Masi. Congratulations go out to all Order of the NWT recipients today. Masi. Colleagues, before we continue with oral questions, I am going to request a short recess. Masi.
---SHORT RECESS
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during my visit back home, I had the opportunity to talk to a number of residents, and they had some concerns. Mr. Speaker, as more and more housing situations occur, I have been more perplexed on why things happen with the Housing Corporation. Just recently, I was informed the contractors have the first right of refusal to the extra material for housing contracts. This does not seem right, since the clients have to pay some sort of cost for these projects. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation please advise this House if this practice is something in a written policy or something the corporation just implements? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The allocation of the materials that are left over from units is a decision that is based on how we contract, so, if it is a design build and the contractor takes on the project, the contractor has first right to that material because he is charging for that material. If it is a maintenance, then often the local housing organization will hold that material. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for her answer. Mr. Speaker, is this something that is explained to the clients before they sign the necessary contracts, so are they well aware of this process?
I am making the assumption, then, that the Member is speaking about home maintenance repairs. In that case, then often they might not be knowledgeable of it. I would be leery about a change in the policy to allow them to have the extra materials because they, too, get charged for that stuff. Some of our smaller communities, it is very, very expensive to get maintenance done, so if we give a repair program for $10,000 and we spend all the money just getting the contractor into the community and giving them extra materials, then I worry about what work is actually getting done. I am seeing that there are a lot of expenses already just getting contractors to communities, so I am leery of any kind of policy that would put more expense on people in housing.
I thank the Minister for her answer, and I understand her concerns. However, we are talking about people in their own homes, who need these potential materials to help them with other stuff or fixing up later on, renovations. Can the Minister advise this House if this issue was brought up during the survey that was just recently done?
The issue has been brought up, not only in the survey. It has been brought up in a couple of other areas that I have heard but, when I do let people know that if we were to leave the materials there would be a cost incurred by the client, then people have not been as eager to take advantage of it.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for her answer. I guess I am a little concerned, though, that it is not information that is shared with all clients. I know in my riding a number of the clients have asked, looking for a small part, you know, a small portion of material like tiles and that. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister be willing to look at or engage her department in looking at this as an opportunity to discuss this with clients and maybe in the future that they have that option available to them? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is looking at doing a full review of every policy and every program. When the policy comes up onto home repair, we will take the Member's comments into consideration and see if there is some way that we can either communicate better or provide tenants with the option to be able to purchase leftover materials if they so wish.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The benefits of visitors' centres to a local economy are indisputable. They increase tourism spending on average by 10 per cent. In Yellowknife, that means $10 million; as much as $10 million is infused into our local economy. Can the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment explain what efforts have been made to date in order to preserve that vital service for our community? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As this House is well aware, the Northern Frontier Visitors' Centre had to be shut down due to structural issues with their building. We have met with them, along with the City of Yellowknife, to have discussions. A short-term fix to this situation, agreed upon by all parties, is to move into the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, which is going to be taking place today and tomorrow. The visitors' centre will be open on June 1st of this month. That is a short-term solution. Moving forward in the long term, we will be sitting down with the City of Yellowknife and the Northern Frontier Visitors' Centre to figure out a long-term solution that is viable for everybody in this situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The current agreement for the museum arrangement, the short-term solution, is very short-term. It expires October 1st. That is my understanding. What is the Minister doing to prepare the visitor information services post-October 1st? Can we guarantee we are going to have some sort of brick-and-mortar location for visitors who are here in the Northwest Territories?
The intent is to definitely keep the visitors' centre in operation going forward. This is a file that involves not just the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and the Northern Frontier Visitors' Centre; it also involves the City of Yellowknife, who plays a big part and who is the biggest beneficiary of the centre. As I have said, we were going to sit down and work with them. Hopefully, the Northern Frontier Visitors' Centre can work with us and identify a delivery model that meets the needs of visitors over the long term for the City of Yellowknife and residents of the Northwest Territories.
I want to ensure that we have something for our aurora season, which is perhaps the highlight of our tourism year, although, as I said earlier, there is plenty to do in this town any time of the year. When it comes to government funding of visitors' centres across the territory, we have seen different models. The ones that work best seems to be the ones where the building is owned by the government and the staff is provided on a contracted basis. These are efficient models that seem to work very well. Is the department considering that in addition to their talks with the NFVA?
As I have said, we want to identify a model that meets the needs of the visitors over the long term, for the residents of Yellowknife and the tourism sector that comes to the Northwest Territories. We are open to all ideas and considerations moving forward, and we will look at anything that is proposed to us.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate that the Minister is keeping an open mind about this. Back to the initial people who provided the service, the Northern Frontier Visitors Association. They are still on the hook for remediating that site, and there is still a very large cost to demolishing the building, remediating the site, and making sure it can be handed back to the government. There has been no commitment made from the government to support those needs. The honourable Members representing Yellowknife constituencies have made that appeal to the government and asked them to provide that. Is the Minister in a position to comment on that? Will he provide financial relief to this organization that for decades has been providing a vital service that our government has not been in the business of doing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member has pointed out, yes, the Northern Frontier Visitors' Centre is responsible for the lease. When they signed that lease a number of years ago, that was with a totally different government, the federal government. Now that we have taken over through devolution, it is in the realm of what we look after. The Department of Lands is responsible for this lease now moving forward. The Department of ITI and Department of Lands, and hopefully the Northern Frontier Visitors' Centre, will sit down together and figure out a best way forward of how we are going to help them meet their lease requirements and what we can make available to help and assist them.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I made a statement on behalf of students from the Chief Sunrise Education Centre on the Hay River Reserve. They made the remark and noted the devastating impacts that alcohol and drugs have had throughout the NWT society. So my questions are to the Minister of Health and Social Services: could the Minister update the House in terms of just what it is that this government is doing, along with the First Nations, in terms of determining the future needs of the old treatment centre that has been situated on the reserve, and would it serve a purpose? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the reserve has actually submitted a proposal on the use of that particular building on the reserve. Their design includes turning that into more of a wellness centre to provide different types of programming for residents of the Northwest Territories, in particular the South Slave. We have received that proposal. We have reviewed it, and we are working with the band now to turn the building over to them, so that they can move forward with the plan that they have put forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
How is this government addressing the crisis of alcohol and drug addictions in the NWT? It is quite clear we do not have a treatment centre that is made in the North for the North.
As I have said many times, in the last Assembly, the Minister of Health and Social Services conducted a working group of stakeholders to go around the Northwest Territories and talk to people about what they foresee or what they would like to see with respect to supporting individuals with addictions. What was clear is that facility-based treatment centres is not the only option that we needed to consider. We heard loudly and clearly from residents that they want options, not one program that is going to be appropriate for everybody. One of the key things that was identified was more on-the-land programming.
In the Northwest Territories, we support on-the-land programming as an option. We have a mobile treatment option that can go around and use existing facilities, which is an option. We have medical detox available in a number of our hospitals and health centres in the Northwest Territories, and we are looking at seeing how we can expand that over time. We do have counsellors in place in all regions and most communities in the Northwest Territories. We have great partners outside government who are providing different types of programming. We have contracts with treatment facilities in the South that can provide a range of programming that we have never been able to provide in the Northwest Territories due to economies of scale.
We are currently looking at implementing a sobering centre here in Yellowknife. That would be a great transition for individuals who are struggling with addictions today who need a safe place to sleep, but can also start to receive counselling and supports that can lead them to taking up some of the other options, whether it is on-the-land programming or some of our facilities in the South. If that program works here in Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker, there are certainly options to looking at expanding that to the South Slave and to the Beaufort Delta, as examples. There is a lot happening, Mr. Speaker. There are more programs today than there have ever been before. The Member is right; we need to continue to do more, but there is a lot happening.
