Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and, again, I thank the Minister for that information. My last question: when the government looks at an alternative energy source, does the government have a backup fund in place in case something goes wrong with the future energy costs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The main purpose for installing renewables and alternative energy is to stabilize the cost of power, reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that we are all working towards, and protect residents from future fluctuations of commodity prices of diesel fuel. Even with that, it has to be noted that we need to have diesel backup in these communities, and the government is committed to converting these plants as much as possible with the backup system in place. We are also committed to covering the mental costs of doing this in the communities so that the emerging and renewable power projects moving forward do not go onto the backs of ratepayers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance on maximizing public revenue. I have mentioned the expert report that highlights weaknesses of our royalty collection regime. Are the Minister and his staff familiar with these reports, and what action have they taken to evaluate and consider the content of them with respect to tax policy formulation? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are familiar with the reports and we are just going through them and looking at their contents and doing analysis. Thank you.
I am pleased to hear the Minister is familiar with the reports. What action does he plan to take on their contents?
That depends on the content. I mean, the way we do business in the Northwest Territories, of course, we listen to and we follow all comments out there, but at the end of the day we will evaluate their contents and see if it's one that would apply or work for the benefit of the people of the Northwest Territories whom we 19 Members were all elected to represent.
I want to emphasize again, this report was not written by my Mom. These people are world-wide experts in revenue generation through resource royalties. So I am very interested to know how the Minister is going to evaluate the contents of these reports and bring the results to bear for discussion in the House?
We have experts of our own within the government system who are well versed in these types of correspondence so we will review it. I commit to the Member we will review the contents of the reports that were done and see how it fits into how we do business in the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that commitment. As I said in my statement, I am not asking the Minister to raise taxes. What I am asking for is for him to work with the Standing Committee on Government Operations to set the terms of referenced for an evaluation of NWT tax policy and to provide the public with an opportunity to comment on that so that we can generate some discussion about revenue prior to the end of the Assembly. Can the Minister make that commitment? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, absolutely. I mean, I would be more than happy to sit down with the committee. We've had some discussions with committee on own-source revenue in the Northwest Territories. We've had some feedback on committee on own-source revenue in the Northwest Territories, and I would be more than happy to sit down with committee, as I always am, to get their feedback as to how we can move forward. Because at the end of the day all the decisions that are made should be decisions that are made by this Assembly, and we should have some common ground and see what we can do to mitigate any impact it might have on people in the Northwest Territories. So I have made that commitment in kind of a long way, but I just had to add something in there. I did not want to just say yes.
---Laughter
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Member's statement, supporting for the small communities. As a new Member to this Assembly I have come to realize the physical challenges of government, and more importantly the positive contributions made through program delivery, in particular the Small Community Employment Support Program. My first question to the Minister of ECE is: can the Minister highlight some positive points created by this Small Community Employment Support Program? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate the work that the rural and remote community has been doing since it got together and started working with the Regular Members and Ministers of Cabinet. As well as the increase of the $3 million in the 2017-2018 operations budget, I can let the Member know, and I did make a statement earlier in the session that, from April 1, 2017, to December 31, 2017, we had created over 400 jobs in every region in the Northwest Territories. I have not got the updated stats from this year, from January 1st to present, but I am sure that it has increased as well in terms of creating employment, creating jobs, creating projects in the communities. Once that report is finalized at the end of this fiscal year, I will be more than happy to share it with Members. Also coming from that is we are creating a small community employment support strategy, the first of its kind for this government, that is going to be focusing on increasing training as well as employment in our smallest communities. So there are a few highlights, and I think it's just the beginning. As we move forward into the next fiscal year, we are going to see an increase. The information is out there. We have organizations. We have committees that do know that there is an increase in the small community fund and that they can access it, so I think we'll start seeing more improvements to our small communities in the next fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister for that information. I am glad to hear that it's moving in the direction that it's intended for. My next question: will the Minister confirm if there are other accessible resources available to increase the Small Community Employment Program, a consolidation of various programs moving toward that same direction?
One other thing that I want to highlight is that, out of that $4.2 million that we budgeted in the last budget, up to the present we have almost spent all of that money, and I am confident that we will have all of that funding in the Small Community Employment Fund spent by the end of this fiscal year. Of course, we want to look at other ways that we can partner with whether it's another organization, possibly through a wage subsidy or partnering in share costs for projects, as well as looking at some of the other programs that are in other departments on how we can work together so that we can access other department funding for projects while utilizing the Small Community Employment Fund to increase training as well as increase employment in our small communities. So that will be all highlighted and discussed as we develop this Small Community Employment Strategy, which we are hoping to release later this spring.
My next question: are there federal sources of funding available to match dollar for dollar for this program?
As I mentioned, once this report comes out we'll see how some of our dollars have been spent and whether or not we've had organizations or communities that have accessed federal dollar spending. We do have unique ways of how we partner within our departments, but that is something we'll have to take a look at. I know, because there was such an influx of the $3 million on top of the $1.2, we want to make sure those funds were spent, that we did create employment, that we created jobs in the communities, developed projects in the communities, and I want to see how that report looks. Moving forward, that is something we can use to possibly leverage other funding, whether it's territorially or federally.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question: as I look forward, it seems that we are depleting our resources here for our territorial physical position here. That's why I mention in there the federal sources. In the report coming this spring, will the Minister include qualifying federal sources in the report? Mahsi.
As I have mentioned to Members, as we are going through our main estimates, we also have the labour market development agreements that we do have with the Government of Canada. There are funds in that agreement that we do have with the federal government that will also help with employment, so there are some dollars that we are accessing on a bilateral basis, as well, and we are just looking at hopefully signing that agreement soon. We'll get all that information to the Member and to Members as we move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's statement I have questions for the Minister of Infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, in my statement I mentioned the overflow at Kilometre 140, which is also known as Georgetown, but I also have three other areas along the Dempster in my riding that have this problem with overflow. One area is kilometre 135, roughly; kilometre 115; and kilometre 198. I would like to ask the Minister: what do inspectors from the Department of Infrastructure have to say about the safety of the ice patches on the Dempster Highway caused by overflow? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This issue came up last year, particularly around the Georgetown area, and we are continually monitoring this area with overflow issues on the Dempster in a number of places, as the Member has spoken about.
In particular, right now, at kilometre 213, we have an issue. The department built a couple of berms there to hold back water, but, due to climate change this year and the warming temperatures in that region, a lot of water is coming up from underground, and we had an issue on the highway. A contractor has been out there. He has ice-plated that section to make it rough and improve traction for vehicles, but we have also put up additional signage in that area.
At Georgetown itself, at 140, there is no ice on the highway. These culverts were steamed earlier this year, and overflow is flowing properly there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As the Minister mentioned, there have been backhoes out there and also steamers, which the department has been doing over the last nine years or so. That adds to a lot of costs. What other options has the department developed to solve these problems?
In the department, we have our permafrost experts and our engineers monitoring these areas, particularly kilometre 213, to come up with a longterm solution.
Last year, the Member asked me about the Yukon using heat traces, and I am glad to say that, at these four sites at kilometre 213, we will be purchasing heat traces to install at that location. Our contractors are out there diligently trying to keep the road safe for everybody, and, like I said, they have steamed these culverts. Everything is flowing as they should be, and we will continue to monitor the situation.
The Minister answered a part of my next question. The Minister did mention they will put a heat trace line at kilometre 213, but how about kilometre 140 and the other areas, Mr. Speaker? If the department is not going to solve the drainage issue another way, will heat trace lines be installed in all of these overflow areas?
As I have said, at kilometre 140, everything seems to be working fine. The department will continue to monitor the other culverts moving forward. We will be installing these four heat traces in the springtime at 213, and we will monitor things going forward. If this becomes something that we need to do at other sections of the highway, we will have a look at it.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the Minister needs to update his information because everything is not fine at kilometre 140. It is actually flowing alongside the road there, which is flooding out the camp alongside the road. It is pretty clear that it is needed at kilometre 140. Will the Minister ensure that a heat trace line will be put at 140; if not, for a pilot project? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am not going to get into a debate about 140 in Georgetown again. We had that conversation last year. The resident that is there, his father was moved previous to that situation. Someone else moved back into a location that has a troubled area, particularly with climate change flowing in that area, but we will continue to monitor 140. If it becomes an issue with safety, being a priority on our highway system, we will have a look at it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier today, I spoke about the cost of living and the many factors that are affecting the cost of living here, in the North. Our government is partially to blame as it relates to the challenges that we are having internally with our own government revenue. My questions today are to the Minister of Finance. I want to talk first about the territorial financing formula. I want to know: can the Minister maybe explain to us what the formula consists of?
It seems to me that this is a punitive arrangement, one where it disincentivizes us from generating our own revenue. It might be time that we have to renegotiate this. Can the Minister give us a little bit of background on how we got into this arrangement to begin with? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Territorial Formula Financing is one we have been operating under for a length of time now. They do recognize the cost of doing business up in the Northwest Territories, and I think they funded us accordingly. Governments past have been successful in keeping the territorial formula funding as it is right now.
We get just over $1.2 billion from the federal government for 44,000 people, and that allows us to help lower the cost of living, because I believe we spend close to $190 million to try to lower the cost of living. We could have discussions with the federal government on renegotiating. I know the current one expires in April, I believe, in 2019, and there will be an opportunity to have a discussion with them. I know they are of the opinion that, if we were to use the Canadian average, our grant from the federal government would be quite low. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for his reply. I recognize and we all recognize that the North is unique in this situation. Yes, we are 44,000 people, but we are on a land mass that is about the size of western Canada, and we lack the infrastructure that western Canada has. I mean, $1.2 billion is wellappreciated, most certainly, but it's a drop in the hat as it relates to recognizing the challenges that we have here.
Is there anything further that the Minister can inform us on as it relates to the opportunity to revisit the financing formula arrangement?
Can we bring the Feds to the table and have a serious discussion about re-evaluating and potentially fixing this formula so that we are not penalized when we generate our own revenues?
In my discussions with my colleagues from across the country when we have our FTPs, I always say, if you want to allocate money based on land, we will go for that, because, at 1.3 million square kilometres, we'll be in pretty good shape. I think they recognize some of the challenges we face. That is why our average per capita in Territorial Formula Financing is way higher than the rest of the country.
As I said, the deal will expire in 2019. The legislation that is governing this, the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Acts and Territorial Formula Financing, expires in April of 2019, and then we will have an opportunity to have discussions with them. Any time we can use that opportunity to try to get more money for the Northwest Territories, obviously, we will take advantage of that.
I am pleased to hear that the Minister of Finance is having these discussions and that there might be potential to revisit this in 2019. In the meantime, one thing that we are undertaking right now is the federal government is in the midst of undergoing their Arctic Policy Framework. We are going to be making a contribution to that. Right now, it's the Pan-Territorial Vision for Sustainable and Economic Development. This includes our sister territories.
Does the Minister see an opportunity at those discussions and in building that framework where we can maybe promote all three territories to have some sort of special economic zone that would consist of certain tax reliefs and commitment to infrastructure dollars that would benefit us before we sit back down to discuss finance formula?
As Members are aware, at the beginning of the 18th Legislative Assembly, I think even before we sat in this Chamber, the first news we got was our formula financing grant from Canada was cut by $34 million, so we were behind the 8-ball right off the bat. We will take every opportunity, as I have said before, to work with the federal government to see about accessing more funds for the Northwest Territories. They do recognize the cost of doing business up here is higher than the rest of the country. They've made significant infrastructure investments into the Northwest Territories, which in turn has put a lot of people to work, which in turn has allowed them to pay payroll tax, purchase goods, pay all the other taxes that we put on residents who are working. So there has been a side benefit from that, but they do recognize that we are challenged up here, and through a lot of the infrastructure money we welcome that investment and we'll continue to seek more.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we know is coming is a carbon tax, again imposed by the federal government. We are doing what we can to, I guess, develop our made-in-the-North version, because it's going to be imposed on us. So, Mr. Speaker, the Minister has referenced a few times that there are ongoing discussion with the federal government, that we are somehow going to get special consideration as it relates to the carbon tax. Can the Minister inform us, update us as to what those special considerations might be, and when will we know exactly how the federal government is going to treat us with regard to carbon tax? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
