This is, of course, an internal policy of the government, but I would like to point out again that it was reviewed thoroughly by committee, and they had certain suggestions. Now, I will say that of course, ultimately this government is guided by section 35 of the Constitution. I do not think we are contemplating another review of the policy. It was reviewed by Cabinet, reviewed by committee, and so the policy is now in place. Of course, if there can be improvements to it, we would always be open to hearing about those types of suggestions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I spoke about the new federal tax regime on small business, and so my questions today are for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, Premiers from around the country are starting to voice their concerns to Ottawa about the proposed changes, and so I would like to ask the Premier: has our government had the opportunity yet to review the 65page proposed changes, the consultation paper? If so, what is our government's position, or what are our views and thoughts on that consultation paper? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to advise that our Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Finance has reviewed the federal consultation paper, and we continue to monitor the national discussion. I can clarify that the Premier of Nova Scotia has been very careful about his comments on these tax changes; the Government of BC has expressed concern about the level of consultation; the Governments of Manitoba and Newfoundland have been critical of the federal government.
We as a government, the Government of the Northwest Territories, support small businesses. We recognize small businesses are a very important part of our economy and our population, and we want to ensure that a fair tax system continues across the country, including the Northwest Territories.
I appreciate the reply from the Premier. Mr. Speaker, the federal government is calling these "loopholes," and small business in fact are calling them laws, which in fact they are, that allow them to exist as businesses. Going forward, businesses are sharing a fear that these new laws will kind of tax them out of existence, or certainly not incentivize anyone to start a new business. My question for the Premier is: how has our government been communicating so far with small business on this issue? We just returned not long ago from Opportunities North. There were plenty of small businesses there sharing their opinion, so what are we doing to show small business that we support them and that we "have their back?"
I want to reiterate that what we are talking about are federal tax changes, and the federal government has been consulting with Canada's business community. The federal government is not prone to sharing a lot of information with us on these national initiatives, but certainly as consultation is under way by the Government of Canada, we have not communicated with the business community at this time.
Well, I guess that supports, maybe, the case of my next question. Some governments, some provincial governments, are calling on Ottawa to not rush through this and to extend the consultative period. I am wondering, because we have not had the opportunity to reach out to small business here to date, can our government at least send a message to Ottawa, write a letter to the Prime Minister saying that we have put in some good work up here in the North; we are stimulating small business; we certainly do not want to see our efforts inhibited; and will they extend the consultative period and allow the federal government and the territorial government to collect some input from small business so that they can have their voice be heard on this matter?
As the Member indicated, many of us were at Opportunities North in Edmonton. I was very pleased to see excellent representation from the North at that forum. We all heard the federal parliamentary secretary, who had just returned from federal Caucus meetings to say to all of those people that were there that they would be making changes, although, at the national stage, the Prime Minister had indicated they were not prepared to make changes. However, I can say that the Government of Canada has committed to share the outcomes of their consultations with provinces and territories.
All Premiers will be attending a First Ministers’ Conference in the very near future, and several have indicated they would raise this issue because of the fact that there will be some discussions in that regard. Once we have the information and a clear understanding of where the federal government is going in tax reform, we will develop an appropriate response, including writing a letter. Certainly, when we talk about the economy, we have concerns as a government. We recognize small business is very important. We have stayed away from increasing a tax on small business, and we are quite prepared to work on behalf of small businesses in the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Premier for indicating that he will be raising the issue at upcoming First Ministers’ Conferences. Certainly, any time that Ministers are meeting with their federal counterparts, I am going to certainly encourage them to raise this issue on behalf of small business in the North. Again, I appreciate that the Premier is inclusive of writing a letter to show and state our position of support for small business in the North.
However, if all fails and these laws come into enactment, what will our government be prepared to do? If we find that these laws are going to somehow have detrimental effects on the small business community in the North, as a government, what next steps are we prepared to do to maybe mitigate some of those impacts? We certainly do not want to see our small business community start to decline. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Once we determine the impact of the new federal tax, recognizing that a federal election is coming in 2019 so I expect there will be something in 2018, once we know what the effect of this new federal tax will be on small businesses, the Government of the Northwest Territories can look at what appropriate actions we can take.
As everybody knows, as a government, we already support small businesses through a number of economic development programs. We will continue to do so. If there are negative impacts, we will certainly prepare to look at them to see how we can continue to have small business flourish in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement today I talked about the layoff of GNWT staff. I would like to ask the Minister of Finance a couple of questions. In this current year of 2017-2018, have the departments of the GNWT been directed to lay off staff for reduction purposes? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in 2018, the budget included 65 position reductions. Thirty-three employees received their layoff notice. Of the 33, five employees have elected to retire; one employee remains eligible to retire; 15 employees have been redeployed; three employees remain on affected status; and nine employees are on a layoff notice period. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The GNWT has policies to retain a priority status when they are recruiting employees to the GNWT. Does that same set of policies apply when there are layoffs being contemplated by the GNWT in I guess sort of in a reverse sense? Would the GNWT look at the Affirmative Action Policy to lay individuals off?
We have a staff retention policy that applies to affected employees, and we take every opportunity to try and find other positions within the Government of Northwest Territories for these employees. The preference would be their home department, but if that is not the case, then we do work to try to find other positions for the employees.
I am familiar with the staff retention policy. In fact, I mentioned one of the retention policies in my Member's statement; giving somebody 80 per cent of their salary for one year to go to school. My question is more: would the Affirmative Action Policy apply the same way when we hire individuals? We use a priority; priority one, priority two, and people who do not have a priority. I am wondering if that policy would apply when you are contemplating layoffs.
For staffing of positions, we do apply the Affirmative Action Policy for the layoff of employees. We have the Staff Retention Policy. It is just the layoffs; so it does not matter -- that is not the right way to put it. The affirmative action would not apply to layoffs as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is something that does not make me happy, but it is what it is, and I will move on to my next question. I would like to ask the Minister if the Minister can commit to doing a socioeconomic analysis of staff members when they are laid off. In my Member's statement, I talked about the loss of actual people to the Northwest Territories. If we lay someone off and they take their family and four of them go down south, we lose transfer payments, which could be potentially higher than the salary that we are saving by reducing that position. Again, my question is: would the Minister commit to applying socioeconomic analysis when they lay individuals off regardless of their status? Thank you.
I am not willing to commit to something until I know more about it. We have 5,000 employees within the government system. We have had a number of people the last few years who have been affected. I am not sure where the Member is going with this, if they want us to apply what effect it might have on the family or whether we may lose people or not. I do not think that it's something that we currently do, and it is not something that I am willing to commit to do until I know more about it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Earlier, in my statement, I made an attempt to try to outline the progress of the housing issue on the Hay River reserve. A term that I use to describe the sense of despair that the constituents feel, in my language what it means is that there is a sense of futility, the acceptance that nothing will be done in regards to housing. That is how some people feel on the reserve. My question is today, Northwest Territories Housing Corporation Minister: would the Minister advise the House on the progress that has been made on the 10 units on the Hay River reserve? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, the 10 units on the Hay River reserve were negotiated with the Hay River reserve and the federal government to get the units and the land leases that were held by the federal government. During this fiscal year, we actually will be doing renovations to the building, to some of the units. It will take some time. We currently have one person in those units who was in that unit when we took it over from the K'atlodeeche First Nation band. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to thank the Minister for providing that update. The Minister had stated that there is one occupant one of several houses that had been focused on in terms of getting them ready for people to access them, and they are being renovated. Can the Minister advise what progress has been made on the remaining six homes? I understand there are six other homes as well.
The process to actually get the 10 units under the Housing Corporation has taken a few years, actually. It was a huge process trying to negotiate with the federal government to get the land turned over to the Housing Corporation, so we are still in the process of trying to get the other six units secured from the federal government. I cannot give a timeline. All I do know is it took quite a bit of time to get the initial 10 units, but we are working diligently with the federal government to try to get this done as soon as possible.
On the reserve, too, aside from the 10 houses that have been the focal point of this government and the federal government to try to get them to a point where they could be accessible and liveable by people from the reserve, there are other units on the reserve that are abandoned and unoccupied. At the same time, their existence is to the point where they are derelict. What is the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation's plans for those houses?
Derelict buildings throughout the Northwest Territories are an issue for the Housing Corporation. Once they reach the stage of being derelict, they are no longer transferable to people. It is not appropriate to give them to people for home ownership, and the cost to renovate them is more substantial than actually to build new units. We are working very actively to address the derelict buildings within the communities. I believe we have over 33 in this fiscal year that we have taken off. We will, every year, be looking at demolishing the derelict buildings, but it is important to note that, every year when we do the housing assessment, more derelict buildings may be identified. It will be an ongoing issue, but hopefully not to the extent that it is now.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on the reserve, and like the whole of the NWT, there is a shortage of housing. How is the department working to address people who are waiting for housing? I understand, in some communities, the waiting list is pretty long. How is the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation addressing people who are seeking to get into housing off the waiting lists? Mahsi.
Earlier in today's session, the honourable MLA spoke about wanting to be able to reach a time that he would no longer have to say that housing on the Hay River Reserve was an issue. I would also like to reach a time that I can say housing within the Northwest Territories will never be an issue; however, I am not so sure that that will come during my term, but I can say that we are working diligently to address the issue of the wait list.
Housing is a major component of peoples' wellbeing. It's critical that people have a house. With the program renewal that we are currently in, there's a number of strategies that we will be implementing. I did speak earlier in this session about having a Minister's statement at the end of the last week of session, but if I keep getting the questions I might not get to do much of a statement. Some of the things that we are doing that we will be talking about is a lease-to-own program for people who are higher-income but still fall within the core needs, so that their units can actually be moved into home ownership, which will free up more space for public housing units. We have the Community Housing Support Program that we're working with Indigenous and/or municipal governments to see if we can work in partnership to address housing needs. We're looking at a brand new home design, which will accommodate larger families and also accommodate people with disabilities or seniors. In the market communities, we're looking at a different model of a rent supplement program that will be available to individuals, both through the government, the Housing Corporation, or else through non-government organizations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Justice. During the last Capital Estimates, Members approved funds for an enhanced perimeter fence and security upgrades for the North Slave Correctional Centre. I'd like to know whether the work on this fence has been completed. Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, really there are two fences that we're talking about. There are the improvements that are needed as a result of the critical incident of August 2016, and a budget was approved for this work, but the bids came in a lot more than expected.
With respect to the perimeter fence, the tenders closed on August 29, 2017. I'm not sure whether the contract has been formally awarded yet, but I can find that information out and provide that to the Member opposite. Thank you
I appreciate the Minister providing that information at his convenience. It's my understanding from a constituent who is at the jail often as a volunteer that the inmates aren't using the bigger fenced yard where the cultural program is available. Is that because of this fencing issue?
Yes, it is a result of the incident that took place last year. Clearly, enhanced security was required and, as I say, a budget was approved, but the bids came in at far higher than expected. We are now going to a revised approach that hopefully will lead to an enhanced security so that the inmates will be able to use that area again, and hopefully this can be accomplished at a reasonable cost.
I wonder if the Minister could tell us when these improvements that were part of the RFP will be completed, when the inmates will be able to use that larger yard again.
I'm hoping, Mr. Speaker, that a tender can go out shortly. Again, I will provide information as I receive it.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and my thanks to the Minister. Are we looking at spending more money than we approved in the last Capital Estimates in order to upgrade this perimeter fence? Mahsi.
I would hope not, and that exactly was the problem, is that -- hope springs eternal -- the problem was, frankly, that the bids came in at far, far higher than we had expected. As I said last year, good fences make good neighbours, but we have to keep costs in mind. We're hoping with respect to the critical incident response by improving the security in that area that a more modest yet appropriate security system can be set up so that the inmates can again use this area of the facility.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
