Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the department confirm that this budget consists of a review of the Fire Prevention Act? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, that is correct. The Fire Prevention Act is being reviewed, and we are expecting that there will be changes within this Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister just maybe explain to us what is the review consisting of? Are we doing a jurisdictional review of other provinces and territories, and is there stakeholder engagement, stakeholder consultation that will be taking place as part of the review? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Ms. Young.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the Member is correct. As is typical with a legislation process, we have already undertaken an interjurisdictional review, and we've completed phase 1 of our stakeholder engagement already. We are preparing to go out with phase 2 of our stakeholder engagement this coming summer, which is basically taking what we've heard so far and trying to identify some options to address the problems that have been identified and seek input on those. So that is the next round of engagement that we are planning for this year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Young. No further questions? Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I just have a question that relates to 911. Could the Minister remind me about the fees? At what point will the fees cover the costs of 911, or will they not do that at all? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As per the recommendation of standing committee, we have agreed with standing committee, and the fees will cover the total cost of 911, except for, of course, the initial implementation that we are currently doing, but after it's on the ground and operating, the fees to the consumers will actually cover the cost for the provision of service. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Cochrane. Ms. Green.
Thank you for the answer. Nothing further.
Thank you. Next, we have Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I just wanted to get a little bit of an explanation on which direction the ground ambulance highway rescue is going. I know that we've received explanations that it was three different departments and maybe even the various municipalities, that is on page 358, and the various municipalities were also involved in some key communities, like Providence, maybe, McPherson, Smith, and maybe Hay River. I'm just trying to sort out how that has evolved. I know that I see some money. It is probably not enough for all of those communities. I think Fort Simpson is also one of the communities that provides highway access. It kind of falls in the hands of the municipalities, for the most part, but I don't know what jurisdictions and so on are around all of the whole ground ambulance. I'd ask the Minister if she could explain where that's headed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Ms. Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So we're still in the process of actually defining all of the resources that will be needed to implement a proper ground ambulance highway rescue service. We have hired a consultant, so that process is going on right at this moment. We're hoping that that will be finished within the next couple of months. We have currently $185,000 that is for the communities that are providing the highway rescue service at this time. Previously, there were strict requirements on it, that they had to use it for defined services, defined by MACA. That was raised as an issue, I'm not sure if it was in the House or by standing committee, and we also heard that. So we've expanded that, and we took the money and we divided it up to the communities that are providing that service right now. They are allowed to use it for what they see that they feel that they need towards providing highway rescue. Then, once the report is finished, we'll be looking at whether we need to increase it, what resources will be needed, and how we'll distribute that funding, recognizing that we do have one new highway to Tuktoyaktuk and that the road to Whati might need to be considered as well. So, those are the things we're looking at. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'd like to ask the Minister if she has, not the exact amount but approximately, how many highway rescues with ground ambulance actually occur annually? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We don't have that information at this time. That is one of the things we are looking at. Some of the communities actually provide that information more because they feel that they're not collecting on the fees. Other communities, for example the City of Yellowknife, actually are doing really well collecting on their fees. So we haven't been collecting them before that, and we don't even know if they've been reporting them all. So that is one of the pieces that we are looking at, how many actually will be needed, how many currently, and what's the projection of what will be needed in the future. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Minister indicated she doesn't have that information at her fingertips, and I understand that, no problem. I was wondering if maybe the Minister could look at the feasibility of using helicopters to do all the ground ambulance coverage. I figure the coverage would be quicker and, also, for the number of times that we'd need it, it would be just on an as-needed basis. I'm wondering if that department or DOT or Health has ever looked at that type of analysis in order to determine which is the most economical way of doing highway rescue? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have asked the consultant to actually look at all options. Air rescue might be an option if it's quite a ways away, but, if it's only a kilometer or two from a centre then, of course, that wouldn't make sense; it wouldn't be as cost-effective. So we've asked for all options, and we are looking forward to that report when it's finished. I would like to say that I'm just thinking that you can't determine where an accident is going to happen, so I think it would be having to look at all of the different methods instead of just one versus the other. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have nothing further in this section.
Thank you. Any further questions, committee? If not, I will call the page. Municipal and Community Affairs, public safety, operations expenditure summary, $2,132,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. That brings us to page 351. Regional operations, operations expenditure summary, $88,999,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you. Next, we have School of Community Government, operations expenditure summary, $2,860,000. Does committee agree? Mr. Beaulieu.
Mr. Chairman, I apologize. I had one question on the previous section.
Okay. Just give us a second. We may need a motion to go back. Mr. Beaulieu.
Mr. Chairman, perhaps I could ask the question at the last section as a general comment and then we could proceed.
Okay. Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Okay, that brings us back to page 356, School of Community Government, operations expenditure summary, $2,860,000. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am not sure this is the right place, but, obviously, our government is going to have to respond to cannabis legalization and make sure that, community governments, there is a commitment to ensure that they have the authority to add on additional restrictions. They are also going to need some support in deciding how they might like to exercise that authority and have available information to them. Is this the sort of place where that support would be provided is through something like the School of Community Government, or where would it occur within the MACA budget? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It does not really fit in here, but I am okay answering it. We are working closely with the departments, across departments, the Department of Justice, Health and Social Services, Workers' Safety Compensation Commission, and Municipal and Community Affairs. Our governance team is actually on this. We are also working with the Northwest Territories Association of Communities because there may be some bylaws that will have to be developed for communities, especially if they are looking at prohibiting marijuana in their communities. So we are on top of it. We are doing our best to make sure that communities get the support that they need. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that, and, of course, our side of the House is going to be very interested to know what those costs are going to be and how they are rolled up across all of the departments, not just yours. So that is just a heads-up to say that there are maybe some revenue implications from cannabis legalization, but there are also going to be some costs to our government and that that implementation and roll-out is going to be really essential when it comes time to look at the bill and understand how that process is going to roll out. So I encourage your department to engage with the others and develop that implementation plan and that it is costed and so on. I do not need a response, but that is the heads-up. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is all about providing support and services to the communities, so we are aware that there may be some difficulties with communities. One of them may be cost factors, so we are looking at that, and we are trying to make sure that we provide the proper support -- it is not an option -- so that communities can actually implement this in the most comprehensive way possible. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Any further questions on School of Community Government? Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I seek unanimous consent to return to the regional operations section on page 352.
---Unanimous consent granted
Go ahead, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. After all this, I hope I have come back to the right section. Mr. Chairman, earlier in our deliberations with the Department of Lands, I had asked questions about taxation of cabins. The Minister had indicated that the Lands officers did the enforcement; MACA does the taxing. I would like to ask basically a similar question, is that: is there any difference between the taxing of cabins between the treaty people, the Metis, and the non-Aboriginal people who have cabins in the bush for harvesting? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will start, and then, if the chair allows, then I will let Mr. Schauerte expand on it. Municipal and Community Affairs does the assessments in the communities and on Commissioner's land, but Finance deals with the mill rates and the collection of taxes and things. I will let Mr. Schauerte actually expand on that if the chair permits. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Schauerte.
