Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have more questions for the Minister of Education on small community employment rates. Mr. Speaker, the $3 million that the Minister spoke of earlier has the potential of decreasing or increasing employment rates in small communities by a certain percentage; it is maybe 5 or 6 per cent. Is the Minister aware of what the potential is for the $3 million? If it is spent in the small communities, what will it do for the employment rates in small communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, one of the mandates of this government is to increase employment rates, close the skill gaps throughout the Northwest Territories, and obviously $3 million in employment in small communities would be significant. We would see a lot of businesses that would train locals, as well as a focus on skill development, and create employment. As you go back through the history, the Small Community Employment Program with the funding that we had in previous years was not fully utilized. With the increase influx that we have gotten, I think we will continue to support the small communities, but, looking at enhancements, we want to make sure that the communities that did take a hit with the economy also got supports.
Mr. Speaker, I was wondering if the Minister is aware that the employment rates in the NWT run 6 to 10 per cent higher than the rest of Canada.
Yes. Employment rates go up as the communities get smaller and, in some regions, we have seen where employment was thriving at one point and now it is, I will not say diminished, but slowed down by a lot. We want to make sure that we allow our residents, our Northerners, the opportunity to get the training, get employment, as well as increase skill development.
Mr. Speaker, I was wondering if the Minister is aware that the small communities are represented by about 90 per cent Indigenous people.
Yes, I am well aware of that. We also have to understand that this program itself is applicationbased, so we work with our partners to ensure that they can put in an application and get that funding through the application process.
Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was wondering if the Minister is aware that the employment rate for Indigenous people is 54 per cent in the Northwest Territories and 80 per cent for nonIndigenous people.
Yes, I am well aware of that. That is why we are making some of the initiatives, strategies, investments, to address those issues. The Small Community Employment Support Program is one way we are doing that. Our enhanced Student Financial Assistance so people can get the training that they need to so that they can enter the workforce, our labour market contracts that we have with the federal government to address some of those labour market needs, as well, there are many areas that we are doing to try to address these concerns. We are working as a government to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today the Minister for Infrastructure made a Minister's statement about federal infrastructure programs. Folks on this side of the House, we often do not really know what our Cabinet colleagues are doing with regard to these programs, so it was a helpful update. I am just wondering, he mentioned in his statement that there is an initial proposal that has been submitted to the Low Carbon Economy Fund. Can the Minister just shed a little bit of light about what is in that proposal so that we have a better understanding? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Low Carbon Economy Fund is something that came up in short order with the federal government. They gave us a very short timeline to respond to what we think we could deliver on what their criteria was around this. It is still an ongoing bilateral agreement with the federal government. There were a number of initiatives that we have put forward. I am not so sure I can discuss them in the House right now, as the negotiations are still going back and forth with the federal government.
Thanks to the Minister for that. I understand it might be the subject of negotiations. Is the Minister willing to share that draft proposal with the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment on a confidential basis?
Yes, we can do that.
Thanks to the Minister for that commitment. Would the Minister be prepared to do that with other federal infrastructure programs? I am not asking to be deluged with initial proposes, but, on this side of the House, we just do not know what is going on a lot of times with what our Cabinet colleagues are doing in terms of submitting proposals. Is the Minister prepared to make that commitment on other federal funding programs, big infrastructure ones? I do not need everything.
I can take that under advisement and then let the Member know.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a number of Ministers have made the comment that the economy is in a downturn, and I am wondering what this government is doing to correct that problem. We have heard some ideas around small community employment. We have a budget before us that is under consideration. I would like to ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs how she is working at closing the infrastructure gap that is delivered to our communities. Local infrastructure projects are the best way to provide shortterm gain to our economy, to create jobs and growth. What is the Minister's strategy to get that money flowing to our communities and grow our economy? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of things we are doing. We are actually working on a strategy to address the funding gap that I talked about in Committee of the Whole yesterday, that we would be providing to the Members in the fall, coming up. We are working with the federal government to leverage their infrastructure money. Ultimately, it is the communities' responsibility to define what they want to do for capital projects and infrastructure building, so we actually provide supports to the communities to define their capital planning process.
Not to pre-empt this plan, but is this going to be a costed plan that actually has numbers attached to it, or is it an aspirational plan that talks about "support" and "working with" and "capturing" opportunities? Is it a costed plan that is going to actually deliver funds into our communities and get our economy back on track?
The plan is still under development. I suspect that there will be some work towards goals that are talked about in it and also some financial issues that we will need to address. Will it be actually costed and say: this is what we will provide each year? That, I cannot guarantee.
Mr. Speaker, of the current contribution we make to communitylevel infrastructure, does that money get spent? Does 100 per cent of that money get spent year on year?
It took me a moment to clarify what the question was. The money that we give to communities is actually their monies. They use their monies as they see fit. Some communities have surpluses with that, and some have deficits, and so we try to work with the communities that have deficits to try to address those by a deficit recovery plan.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that is part of the issue here, is we need to make sure that that money is going into local projects. Can the Minister commit to working with communities to make sure they are maximizing this investment, I know that that is part of leveraging federal funding, but with our own dollars, and taking a look at those surpluses and seeing if they can be invested in projects for today rather than continuing our economic woes, so to speak?
This kind of infrastructure spending creates growth. It is creating record growth in Canada, as part of increased federal infrastructure investment. It is time this government took that approach, and local communitylevel spending of infrastructure dollars is the best way to do it. Will the Minister work on getting that money out to the communities? Thank you.
As I said earlier, we provide the funding to the communities. They determine what they are using the money for. Some communities are building up surpluses so they can build bigger infrastructure items. No, I will not commit to going in and using an iron fist with communities. I believe that that is a step backwards. We are working towards selfgovernment, selfdetermination, and I as a Minister will adhere to that within my term. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. The government recently announced a 48bed longterm care facility, pending approval of this capital budget, would be built in Hay River. There is no detail in the capital plan other than a completion date of 2021, so I'd like to know: when can we expect this project to break ground? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is still a lot of planning to do and a lot of work that needs to be done. I'll have to confirm with the department when we think we might actually be able to break ground. Before we break ground, a significant amount of work does have to happen. We have to find potential partners; we have to find potential builders. We're looking at the H.H. Williams site. That building will likely have to come down before we get there. I will get more information for the Member to get as close to a potential break ground date, recognizing that a lot of work has to happen between now and then.
I was also going to ask potentially where this could be located, but he did mention the site of the old hospital, so I assume that's what they're looking at. Will this be operated by the GNWT or will this be under the authority of the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority?
Mr. Speaker, there's still a discussion ongoing around that. There are some potential partners who have indicated they would like to follow an Avens-type model in Hay River, so it could be something like Avens, but we haven't made that final conclusion or decision.
It could be the Hay River Authority; it may not be. I think there's a lot of interest in the community on doing things a little different, being a little creative about how we actually provide those services to the residents of the community as well as South Slave, and we're open to all possibilities at this point in time.
A very intriguing answer. The big question is: how many positions can we expect at this new facility? How many jobs are we looking at?
Mr. Speaker, it's a little early to give concrete, definitive numbers, but I can give some rough numbers that we're looking at today. The most efficient way to build long-term care beds in the Northwest Territories is 24-bed pods. We find that we're going to get the best value for money and be able to provide the greatest degree of safe services for residents.
Based on a 48-bed facility, which is basically two pods, what we're looking at is about 60 positions. That would include direct care staff, which is RNs, LPNs, resident care aides, and for a 48-bed facility that's about 38.5 positions, including relief, because we need to be able to ensure that we're providing 24/7 care. People do go on holidays, people do call in sick, so we need relief to cover that.
Those aren't the only staff who would be in this type of facility, Mr. Speaker. We would need managers, supervisors, admin, housekeeping, laundry, cooks, activity aides, coordinators. We're anticipating that based on existing models and modifying for 24-bed facilities that's about 17.5 positions, not including relief. We're hovering around 60 positions, and that would be true both for Hay River as well as Inuvik, because we're looking at 48-bed facilities in both those communities.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now, this represents a lot of skilled positions. Considering there's a facility planned for Inuvik, as well, that's a lot more positions. How is the government preparing our labour force for this future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we're still a few days away from actually opening these facilities, so we have some time to do some training. When it comes to one of our more recent facilities, the facility in Norman Wells, we worked with local partners as well as Aurora College to provide some training for resident care aides. We can certainly explore that model. I think there's great training out there where we can train local people for local work, and at the end of the day that's what we would like to do: local people, local work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment has reviewed Bill 27, An Act to Amend the Environmental Protection Act, and wishes to report that Bill 27 is now ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole as amended and reprinted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled "Continuing Care Services Action Plan 2017-2018 to 2021-2022," as well as the "2017-2018 Health and Social Services Authority Budgets." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
