Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Mr. William Lines. He is the Giant Mine coordinator for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and I very much appreciate his work on that important issue. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today in my Member's statement I talked about summer employment and the program that the government offers and is doing a better job. I have to give credit where credit is due. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Finance please tell us what the department is doing for potential employment for smaller communities in regards to the Summer Employment Program? Thank you.
Masi. The Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member pointed out before that the government has hired 349 summer students this year. That is the highest number we have had in the last five years. We have challenged our departments actually to try and find more, including in a lot of the small communities, because I would like to see a summer student hired in every community, but if you look at the number of summer students who are hired by maybe the local housing authorities or the municipal government organizations that are funded by the government, I think those numbers would go up. I have been trying to put those numbers together. We are getting a better number of the number of students that are working across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi cho to the Minister for his answer. I greatly appreciate that and understand the importance of that, but again some of my smaller communities don't have LHOs and don't have these opportunities. Some of them don't even have students who are going on to university. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister get back to us or tell us if he is able to work with his department to look at hiring some students that are in high school that go back into these smaller communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, summer students hired by the GNWT are typically post-secondary students. We try to get as many out as we can. The ones who are going to university, so I am not sure if we wanted to bump them, but we can work, and as I said before, we are working to trying to increase it. Every community in the Northwest Territories has some funding come in directly or indirectly from the territorial governments, so I would like to put those numbers together and see the true number of summer students who are working, because I know with a lot of the smaller communities, they use a lot of their school students to do some of the summer work. I will commit to try and get some of those numbers put together. We will share them with committee so we can have a true indication of the number of students that are working.
I thank the Minister for his answer. I look forward to seeing those numbers. I greatly appreciate the commitment from the Minister to hear that. Will the Minister, and I have asked this before, will the Minister look at working with his colleagues to develop a budget line in the business plan for summer students so that we can actually promote it? I know we were looking at 400 as a number in the past, and we got close to it. Will the Minister commit to working to doing that?
I will work with my colleagues, but as far as the budget line goes, I don't think that is in the plans right now. The work for summer students is based on an operation basis, so as there needed to do some work, they are hired or to work on special projects. The operation requirements vary between the departments, but as I have pointed out before, we have seen an increase in the numbers. All of the Cabinet Ministers have encouraged their departments to try and bring on more summer students.
I am going to use this as an opportunity to point out the three departments within the government that had the most summer students in the past year. Number one was Infrastructure, but that is really not fair because we combined two departments, so that is why the numbers were higher. Health and Social Service was second, and the Department of ENR was third. I will bring attention to that, so our departments know that we are paying attention and we would like to encourage them to continue higher summer students as operational requirements permit.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that answer. That is very encouraging. I would really love to see ENR being number one. ENR has a real impact in my riding. I would encourage the Minister to do that. Can the Minister, if they are not going to put a budget line in there, work on developing a plan to encourage the departments and work with us as Regular MLAs as an opportunity so we can find these opportunities for our summer students? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I think we just heard from one of the Members before speaking during the Member's statement talking about plans and strategies and action plans. I don't think we need to put a plan together. We know what we have to do and we just have to do it. If that means working with and we have the opportunity going through the business planning process and the budget process to get feedback from committees. We are not going to plan to do. We are just going to do it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just like the Member for Nahendeh asked questions about summer students every sitting, I have to ask questions about commercial fishing. I have some questions for the Minister of ITI. Earlier this year, the federal government commissioned a study on the future of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. I know that those people conducting the study came to the Northwest Territories. They spoke with the department and they spoke with the fishermen. Because the NWT is the last territory or province legally obliged to deal with the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation, I have a feeling that our input played quite a big role in this. I was told that this report would be ready by the fall. I would like to ask the Minister if we can get some details about what that report said. Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have had ongoing discussions on this issue with the department. As of today, we still have not received a report, but my understanding is we will have it in the coming days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That is an important report moving forward. We just approved a million four for the fish plants in Hay River. Is the Minister going to make that report public so that we can see what is in it?
My understanding in talking with the federal government on this report coming forward is that there is some sensitive information there that we might not be able to share publicly, but I believe, whatever we can share publicly, we will be able to do that.
Moving on to another fishing issue. Like I said, this House has been debating the supplementary estimates. We recently discussed $1.4 million for a fish plant in Hay River. I have a bunch of questions about this. I will just ask the Minister: what is going on with the fish plant in Hay River?
That is a very large question. It depends on which part I want to answer you, but first of all, we had 1.4 that we had in the budget and it is moving forward. The department in our conversations with the freshwater or the local fishing guys in Hay River, we decided that the Government of the Northwest Territories will proceed with this building.
Some of those reasons was the lack of access to capital and long stability for the industry. We believe that it is in the best interest of the fishing federation or for the fishermen in Hay River that we move forward with the plan. The Department of Infrastructure has actually taken a lead of this plant now in the last week or so. We have identified land within the community of Hay River that we want to do and it is in program and design phase right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is going to be a GNWT-owned facility where the fishing strategy called for a contribution to the fishermen's federation and they would own this plant. I would like to know: what is the extent of partnerships with other organizations going forward, organizations such as the Fishermen's Federation in terms of the ownership and operation of this plant? Thank you.
As I have said, we work very closely with the Fishermen's Federation on this. Moving forward, it is agreed by both parties that the Government of the Northwest Territories would own the facility. They figure this is the best direction for the development of the industry and we will continue to work with the Fishing Federation on moving this initiative forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Infrastructure. I had spoken earlier today about highway safety out on the Ingraham Trail, also known as Highway No. 4. Sadly, we have learned today of another accident out on that road, and it happens to be on the same stretch of road where we had another accident happen there this summer. I personally am very familiar with this stretch of road. I was involved in an accident there myself.
Can the Minister advise, as we enter this busy season, this winter season, it is going to be dark, slippery roads. How is the department managing its highway patrols and maintenance during this time of the year? Ploughing, sanding, and the like? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have talked about this section of road quite a bit in this House. This is one of the busier sections of road in the Northwest Territories, particularly during the resupply of the mines. A number of residents live out that way. We will continue to what we normally do, doing our regular patrols, going forward. I suspect that I would have to get the exact details, but I imagine it is a daily patrol that is done by our department to check on the conditions of this section of highway, as well as maintenance which will be on an as- and when-needed basis. As I have said, this is a very important section of highway and well-travelled in the winter, and we take safety as a number one priority.
Thank you to the Minister. I do commend him and the department for the work that they have done on Ingram Trail in recent years. It is much improved and the best I have seen it, quite frankly, but this particular section of Ingram Trail is repeatedly having accidents. It is a very busy section because there is a boat launch there. On both sides of the boat launch is a steep road with sharp corners.
Will the Minister make a commitment to doing some type of evaluation or assessment of this particular section of the road to see if there is an opportunity to maybe reengineer or maybe realign the road? We are going to do significant work on the boat launch. Maybe this is an opportunity to re-evaluate this whole section of road. Can the Minister make a commitment to doing such an evaluation?
As of this morning, I am not even sure if this is exactly where the highway accident has taken place, but this has been an issue for the Member in the last two or three sittings that we have talked about this section of highway. I can reassure the Member and all residents of the Northwest Territories that the Highway Improvement Safety Plan that the Department of Infrastructure has is guided by the Transportation Association of Canada, and we build all of our highways in the Northwest Territories to this standard. We do routine patrols, like I have said. We get input from residents in the Northwest Territories about concerns, and particularly from the Member on this situation, and we will review all accidents and take them very seriously to see if there is some type of improvement we can do.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can confirm from reports from a constituent, as well as a media source who attended the accident, that the accident was, in fact, on the stretch of road nearby the Prosperous boat launch. I can confirm that.
Again, I am going to strongly encourage that the Minister does take an opportunity to fully evaluate this particular stretch of road, but in the meantime, can the Minister inform the House as to what capital commitments and resources the department is going to put to this stretch of road? What do they have currently in the capital plan to improve this stretch of road? Are guard rails being considered on these two sharp corners in the capital plan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We have committed $8 million through Bundle 1 of Building Canada Plan on this section of highway, and we continue to spend that. The Member has asked previously in a different sitting about guard rails, and I believe that this particular section of highway is actually getting some guard rails installed in the capital plan. I would have to double-check to verify that because we have so many different projects on the go, but I am almost certain that there are guard rails going in on this section.
As I have said, the department regularly reviews accidents that have happened on the highway, no matter where it is in the NWT, to determine if there are any improvements that will be required, and we will certainly have another look at this section of highway. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in our mandate, Commitment 1.4.6 says that this government will support net metering through clear policy direction to the Public Utilities Board to provide certainty to allow customers to recover their investments in renewable energy. This is a responsibility of the Premier, and I would like to ask the Premier today if he can advise if, in fact, clear policy direction has been provided to the Public Utilities Board and what the nature of this policy direction has been. Thank you.
Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will answer the first question. Yes, clear policy direction has been provided to the Public Utilities Board. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to the visitors in the gallery. We have with us Chief Ernest Betsina of Ndilo. Masi for joining us today. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you. It is always nice to work together with the Honourable Premier. I just want to lay out how confusing this picture is to Members on this side of the House. The Premier is responsible for this mandate commitment. The Minister of Health is responsible for the Public Utilities Board. The Minister of Justice is responsible for the Power Corporation. The Minister of Infrastructure is the chair of the Ministerial Energy and Climate Change Committee of Cabinet and is responsible for the government's 2030 Energy Strategy. Finally, the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources is responsible for the Climate Change Strategic Framework. With all of these cooks in the kitchen, who is leading the overall coordination of energy policy-making for this government?
It is very clear to me. The Public Utilities Board is an independent regulator, but the Public Utilities Board funding is voted on by the Legislative Assembly, through the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs' main estimates. The commitment that the Member is referring to, Commitment 1.4.6 on net metering, falls to the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs.
With regards to who is leading the overall coordination of energy policy-making for the Government of the Northwest Territories, this is a corporate responsibility led by Cabinet with input from Regular Members, Aboriginal government communities, stakeholders, interest groups, and the general public.
The Premier has laid that out clear. I know for a fact that subsection 14 of the Public Utilities Act gives this government the authority to issue direction to the Public Utilities Board. It is not just a funding issue. There is direct policy that can be made, and I sit on the Standing Committee of Economic Development and Environment, and we do not know what is going into these policy decisions. In fact, the last one was dropped on us with little notice.
If policy direction and development is not being shared with Regular Members, and we have to deal with five separate Ministers on various aspects of energy in the Northwest Territories, how is the Premier planning to work with us effectively to guide the Energy Strategy and allow us to have full input to make sure this works for Northerners?
All Members of this House should have input into the development of public policy. We have procedures and process conventions to ensure that all policy direction issued to the PUB has been shared with committees and has been made public, as well as any future policy direction to the PUB, including the draft Energy Strategy.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to again remind the Premier that, over the life of this government in the last two years, any policy direction to the Public Utilities Board has been shared with standing committees after the fact. We have not been allowed to provide input into these policy decisions. Will the Premier commit to this side of the House today to ensure that the voices of the standing committees and the Regular Members are included before policy direction is given to the Public Utilities Board? Thank you.
Cabinet has directed the Public Utilities Board to consider the following principles when assessing net metering rates: costs should be transparent; costs should be borne by the customers; government customers should not be eligible for net metering; implementation criteria should provide certainty of benefits; and the capacity for individual systems taking part in net metering should be no greater than 15 kilowatts to ensure all residents and businesses should be ensured an opportunity to participate in the program. We will follow convention as per the protocol agreement to make sure that all Members are made aware. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
