Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time there is no plan to open a treatment facility in the Northwest Territories. I can say that K'atlodeeche have been working closely with the Department of Health and Social Services on utilizing the old Nats’ejee K’eh facility as a traditional wellness centre to focus on healing and other supportive activities for Indigenous people in the Northwest Territories. I can also say that the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation is looking at providing wellness-type centre services here in the Northwest Territories located in Yellowknife. We have made space available for them on the Stanton campus, where they are currently working on an interim measure, some tents and other things, so that they can begin some of their wellness-type programming. Although there is no treatment centre or treatment facility, there is progress being made on different wellness centre options available in the Northwest Territories. Thank you. Mr. Speaker.
I would like to ask the Minister if any of that work is going towards trying to create mobile treatment possibilities or mobile treatment programs, whether it be out of Stanton or Nats’ejee K’eh or anywhere, just something that is mobile where counsellors can go into communities as opposed to the community members going into a treatment centre.
Mobile treatment is one of the options that we have pursued and continue to pursue here in the Northwest Territories. It hasn't made the type of progress that I or any of my colleagues would like to see. We did run a pilot in Fort Resolution a year and a half ago. We haven't delivered as a government since that time, but we are continuing to monitor it and look at options to deliver.
I can say that we should really applaud some of our partners like Salt River First Nation and Chief Martselos, who actually stood up and met with southern partners and provided a local mobile treatment option in Fort Smith, certainly an option for many of our partners to explore. I know that there, a partner has reached out to some of the other Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories to see if they are delivered. We want to continue to be very supportive of that work. Things are happening, not quite as much as I think any of us like to see, but we are continuing to try to make more progress in that area.
Something that appears to go well with mobile treatment is on-the-land treatment. I would like to ask the Minister if there are opportunities or if there are some initiatives where the departments working with the communities provide on-the-land treatment near the communities or just outside of some of the communities that we have where there are cultural camps and so on near the communities?
This government makes $1.2 million available through the Department of Health and Social Services to support on-the-land programming that is led by different Aboriginal governments across the Northwest Territories. That money flows every year. I can say that there are a number of on-the-land programs that are available. They are all different. Every one of the Indigenous governments has indicated their own way of doing things. They have some specific things they are trying to accomplish at the regional level.
We have said we would make our clinical staff available to them. Some of them have taken us up on that. Others have not. We have also been pursuing an on-the-land collaborative with organizations outside of the Government of the Northwest Territories like Tides Canada to support more options. One of the things we have done with our Indigenous partners is we have started to work on the development of evaluation criteria for on-the-land programming. It has never been done before. We have worked closely with different governments like the Tlicho government and others to develop those. We are making progress in that area, as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the Minister of Finance's budget speech, he mentioned there will be child and youth counsellors in the communities. I think that is an excellent initiative. I would like to ask the Minister of Health if those counsellors will be versed in addiction treatment. Thank you.
These youth community counsellors will be fully trained counsellors here in the Northwest Territories. They will be part of an integrated team. They will certainly have access to all of the programs and services that are available for youth. They will be able to provide supports to our youth, but also referrals, as well. It is a holistic approach to providing those services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Question 86-18(3):
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to thank the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs for clarifying that the department is moving forward with amendments on the CTV Act. I have a follow-up question: will the Minister coordinate the introduction of the CTV Act amendments with municipal governments, including the City of Yellowknife, to allow municipalities time to establish their own authorities to effectively implement the changes? Thank you. Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am a bit confused with the question, however, because none of the municipalities have actually approached me as the Minister and asked me to help coordinate their work. If the municipalities do approach me, my job is to support the municipalities. If the municipalities approach me and ask for support, we will do whatever we can to support them. Thank you. Mr. Speaker.
Will the Minister approach the municipalities herself instead of waiting reactively for them to approach her? Will she approach the municipalities and coordinate these amendments?
To deal with each municipality, for me to reach out to each individual community government and ask them if they need my help would be very cumbersome, and I regret that I might forget one. There are 32 communities that we actually support. However, we work closely with the NWT Association of Communities. We are actually going down there, I believe, this weekend coming up. I am assuming, if they have issues, then that is where I am. They know me; they will come and approach me if they need help. My office is open. Municipal and Community Affairs is always willing to work with them.
I will move off this, Mr. Speaker. In the case of the City of Yellowknife, if the City of Yellowknife is unable to establish the appropriate authorities in time to fund tourism and visitor services, will the Minister commit to providing additional funding to the City of Yellowknife so that they will not be faced with a budget shortfall while these amendments take time to get started?
I do worry a little bit about the Municipality of Yellowknife being able to access the hotel tax levy, although I must state that they have never had it before. My understanding in working with the Minister of Infrastructure is that there was funding last year provided for tourism through the Northern Frontier Visitors Association. That funding actually expires at the end of this year, but those are normal contracting procedures, that funding expires at the end of a year or two years or three years, and they rewrite it.
My understanding at this point is that that money that was provided to the Northern Frontier Visitors Association will be provided to the City of Yellowknife because they provide the visitor services. I am not sure if there is extra money that the Member is talking about, but that money, from my understanding, is set to roll out.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister reach out to the City of Yellowknife, canvass with them on any potential funding shortfalls, and commit to working with them to resolve those shortfalls, either with additional funding or with legislative change by the end of this session? Thank you.
As stated before, the City of Yellowknife has not approached me as the Minister to intervene on their behalf. As the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, I am open to any municipality or any of our funded bodies that need our assistance.
With the City of Yellowknife, I will be seeing them on the weekend, I believe, coming up here at the NWT Association of Communities AGM. If they have any concerns for me as the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, I am more than interested to listen to their concerns and see how I can assist them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Four months ago, I rose in this House and I asked questions about the review of the day program for elders available here in Yellowknife. I was told the review was done. Subsequently, the report was tabled, and as we stand here today there still is no day program for seniors in Yellowknife. I would appreciate an update from the Minister on when his department plans to resume this service. Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on conversations with the Member and committee, we have agreed to move forward with the development of a seniors' day program here in Yellowknife.
The RFP was supposed to be out shortly before Christmas. Unfortunately, we ran into some difficulties with some of the content. We want to make sure we get it right. It is my understanding that the department has almost finalized that work, and we are hoping that the RFP goes out very shortly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am very familiar with the "we don't want to rush; we want to get it right" answer here, but we are talking about almost a year-and-a-half delay in providing any kind of day programming for seniors in Yellowknife. I would like to think that this is highest priority the Minister has, in order to ensure that our seniors are well looked after during the day. Can he please give us some more specifics about not only when the RFP will come out, but when the service provision is anticipated to start?
As I indicated, the RFP is almost done. As far as the drafting, we are hoping that that RFP will come out in the next couple of weeks. It will follow its normal process to make sure that we are getting solid applications. They will all be assessed and evaluated against the criteria that is established in the RFP.
I am hoping that we can get this contract out as quickly as possible, hopefully before the end of this fiscal year. Granted that we really only have about a month and a half before that time ends; I cannot guarantee it will happen before the end of the fiscal year, but that is my desire at this point.
Thank you to the Minister for that response. Can the Minister confirm that the RFP will serve people with cognitive disabilities on some days of the week and people who are frail on other days of the week? In other words, will the RFP accommodate different needs by seniors in the day programming?
I will commit to sharing a copy of the RFP with the Member once it is released.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister reveal for us whether this contract is going to be retendered every year or whether this will be a multiyear offering? Mahsi.
Some of that depends on the types of proposals that we get in. We would obviously like to see something that lasts beyond the upcoming fiscal year, but it really depends on the nature of the proposals that are submitted. I would like to see some consistency and some continuity on this particular approach, but we have not seen proposals that have come in at this point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister responsible for Public Engagement and Transparency on his lengthy statement earlier today. He had to reach back in time to 20152016 and quote some figures from the main estimates, but can he tell me what is in the current main estimates of 20182019 in terms of royalties from minerals, oil, and gas extraction here in the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for Public Engagement and Transparency.
Mr. Speaker, I do not have the main estimates in front of me. I do know, however, that there is likely to be a significant decline in these revenues. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for that. I can help him with his memory there. It is $13.46 million. It is found on page B14 of the budget address, and I am sure he is going to have the main estimates in front of him shortly. Tobacco taxes are $16 million. In the interest of transparency, can the Minister tell us who actually calculates and predicts these royalties?
I am not exactly sure how those revenue and royalty rates are set, but I will take the question as notice.
Masi. The question has been taken as notice. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment made a Minister's statement, and I will quote from it: "Royalties directly impact the profitability and viability of resource development projects in the NWT" and that, "further, we will not be reviewing our resource royalty regime as part of the work on the proposed act."
One of the stated public goals of the act is to create a cuttingedge mineral resources regime in the Northwest Territories. If royalties affect our competitiveness so much, why is the Minister indicating that we are not going to address that? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated before in this House around the Mineral Resource Act, there are a number of complex issues that we are moving forward working with intergovernmental council on these issues. The question about resource revenue coming into the GNWT was asked yesterday. This is a very complex issue, as I've stated in this House, and it needs a whole-government approach, and along with intergovernmental council, we have decided to defer that to a later date. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
When is that later date?
If I had a crystal ball, I would let the Member know the exact date, but I suspect it will be in the next Assembly.
I'm just going to remind the Minister that the GNWT is in a revenue crisis right now, a massive shortfall that is unpredicted at this time around. It seems like now is the time to do it. Will the Minister reconsider that in light of a significant shortfall in revenues?
I take a little offence to the Member's comments. We are in support of the mining industry in the Northwest Territories. This is our biggest revenue generator. It employs probably the largest number of people outside the bureaucracy. As I stated yesterday in this House, this is a very complex issue. People focus in on the resource royalties. There's much more than that, that these mines contribute to the Northwest Territories, social economic agreements, land taxes, IBAs, gas taxes, employment. This is a whole-government approach, and it has to be something that's taken seriously, and we will look at in due course in time.
Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, support the mining industry. I don't think my question was insulting. I think what's troubling is that the Minister won't present those significant contributions to our government's revenues and our economy in a transparent annual mining report. Will the Minister commit to putting those facts on the table in an annual report so we can stop having this debate and properly acknowledge the contributions of the mining sector to our economy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
