Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, the issue of prompt payment is certainly one that is on our procurement table across the country. We are certainly working very closely with the other jurisdictions in Canada to see how this is moving forward. We are doing some more work, as well, with our procurement procedures committee to see what the requirements are for a prompt payment system here. Federal government has recently rolled out some legislation to require prompt payment on federal government projects, and we are looking at what they are doing and how that rolls out and how that works, as well. Really, the concept of prompt payment is to make sure that subcontractors, suppliers, and other consultants who are part of projects' subcontractors get paid by the prime contractor after they have gotten paid, so this is not an attempt to deal with disputes around payment or any other of those types of issues that we have in normal contract and procurement.
That work is ongoing and we're working through the procurement procedures. Committee, again, it's very early days across Canada and in other jurisdictions. A lot of the work is being built off of what's happening at the federal government, but we are looking at options to bring that forward for consideration. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Further, Mr. Testart?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wouldn't necessarily characterize, although much of this legislation is in early development, it is in the legislative cycle and the province of Ontario has actually already moved ahead with some of these modifications to their construction legislation that governs the construction and industry government procurement, so I would advise the department not to remain tied to the Senate bill, which is working its way through the Parliament of Canada, but to also look at the province of Ontario and what they have accomplished in their short time.
In addition to prompt payment, which is one particular issue that the committee raised, committee was also concerned about how procurement policies are affecting small businesses and impacting competition amongst private industry in the Northwest Territories. How does the department's budget plan to address those concerns? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have talked about this in the House a number of times. I believe that the procurement policies that we have in place and along with our trade agreements, along with the BIP Incentive Policy Program, that our procurement policies and principles that we have followed in the Government of the Northwest Territories are here to benefit the residents of the Northwest Territories. We will continue to use them in that manner moving forward.
I have said a number of times in this House that I'm not willing to have a look at a review of doing anything on this policy at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the concerns also raised by committee was the nature of engagement on procurement policies that it is to educate private sector actors on how to engage with the government's policies rather than to get feedback on procurement, I understand, if there are any concerns or complaints. Is the department investing additional resources to improve its engagement efforts with contractors who are benefiting from procurement or perhaps frustrated with how procurement is working? I'll put it this way, Mr. Chair: if the policies are not the issue, then the engagement must be. How is the department proposing in this budget to enhance its engagement efforts and clearly communicate the nature of its policies and the effectiveness of its policies to my constituents and Northerners? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This same question did come up in the House and I have talked about it and how we do business with the GNWT workshops. We have delivered them in a number of communities right across the Northwest Territories. We will continue to build on that in this fiscal year. This is something that we feel is important that people in the Northwest Territories know how to do business within the government system, how to fill out the BIP Incentive paperwork and stuff, and we have also had questions around contracts concerning purchases under $25,000 to the Minister of Finance. We continue to look at these things going forward. We will continue to hold our workshops to engage the business community in the NWT to make sure they know what we're doing moving forward. We will continue to work with all Members and try to make sure that everyone has fair access to procurement in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Thank you. Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for that response. I did hear any enhancements, so I will assume that the preparations are remaining consistent for those activities.
Finally, the Manufacturing Strategy has been undertaken by not this department, but depending on the outcomes of it, it may affect procurement policies. Is there any money or any budget or any budgetary activities in this department that would change procurement policies based on the findings and the ultimate resolution of the Manufacturing Strategy? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I haven't even tabled the "what we heard" report for the Manufacturing Strategy yet. When we table that and have a look at it and run that through committee and start moving this thing forward, then we will have a look at what the concerns are, and if there is something that we need to have a serious look at as a government to possibly changing things around the procurement on that side of things, then we'll take those into consideration at the time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So at this time, there is no appropriation set aside to deal with the Manufacturing Strategy in this department or any of the other departments under the Minister's ministry? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, there's no money set aside for hypothetically what's coming down the pipe for the Manufacturing Strategy. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Further, Mr. Testart?
I thank the Minister for clarifying, but I am concerned about the status quo approach to procurement, as I'm sure he's well aware, and other Members of this House are concerned, and the Standing Committees on Economic Development and Environment are concerned. I hope that, as we develop strategies and documents like the Manufacturing Strategy, we are better positioned as an Assembly to address these public concerns and make progress on them one way or another. Either amend the policies or provide additional resources in the form of subsidies or enhance existing engagement programs or procurement policy programs.
I don't have much more to say other than I don't think the status quo is working. I know the Minister disagrees on that, but I want to be clear for the record that we have more work to do on this as an Assembly until we are all satisfied that we have a procurement system that works for Northerners, and that doesn't only work for government. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Infrastructure. Total department. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just had a general question for the department. Does it have any policies with regard to our infrastructure projects whereby there are quotas or targets set for northern apprentices or trades, or is it just left to the free market to determine? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Overall, there are no specific quotas or targets. Of course, we encourage the use of apprentices. We encourage the use of developmental positions in our big projects and in any of our projects and in any of our contracts. A lot of that is evaluated through the application of the Business Incentive Policy. For example, local and northern content, we look at things like that as well.
Some of the larger projects where there is a prescribed training component, we do look to see where those quotas are, targets are. Things like the ITH Project, for example; there would be specific training requirements in there. We do have it on some of the larger projects, but there is no policy in the department itself. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Let the record show that that was Mr. Guy speaking. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. The reason why I'm raising this is that some of us have had an opportunity to meet with the Northern Territories Federation of Labour on this specific issue of how other jurisdictions actually use their large infrastructure projects for training, well, to build capacity for doing training and trades and apprenticeships, and so on. If we don't really have a policy around that, I'm a bit concerned.
Mr. Guy talked about how some of this was done on the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway. Can the department provide us with a little bit more information, then, about how these matters were handled on the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway? I don't need it for tomorrow, but it would be helpful information, I think, to have. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We'll certainly pull that together, and the requirements that were put together for that project and share that with the Member at some point. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that commitment from the Minister. He is waving his hand, because I am sure he is going to clarify by what is meant by "at some point." Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
"In time." No. That information should be readily available, and I think we will maybe even try to pull together some of the other projects so that we can get an example of what has been done in the department.
One thing I can say about it is that, when we are working on these projects, we try to put as much in the RFP as we possibly can to make sure Northerners benefit from these things, and training is a big part of it. We work closely with the Minister of ECE. He has his Skills 4 Success. These things are important to all Northerners. We have to make sure that we try to benefit the most we can out of them. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I appreciate the commitment from the Minister on that one. I am actually going to be going to a public meeting tonight on the Giant Mine remediation, and that is one of the questions I have there, because that is going to be the single largest government project that has ever been undertaken in Yellowknife. It is over $1 billion.
From what I understand, there really is no northern training. I don't know. I have questions around that, but is this something that the Department of Infrastructure is involved with in any way, and have there been any discussions about ensuring that Northerners are actually going to benefit from training, building capacity, apprenticeships, and so on in relation to that project that the department is aware of? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, our department for sure doesn't have anything to do with Giant Mine, but one thing I can tell the Member is that a number of us are down there talking to the federal Ministers, and we can certainly raise the issue of the opportunities that arise here.
I know the last time we were down there, I was talking to the federal Procurement Minister about some of the issues that we have in the Northwest Territories around some of their public tender processes. This is something that I can certainly talk to my Cabinet colleagues and make sure it is on everyone's radar with federal procurement and the Northwest Territories that we try to get the best out of it we can. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Yes, thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the commitment from the Minister on that. I will be happy to give him a little bit of an update from what happens at the meeting that I am going to go to tonight, because we want to make sure that we have a real meaningful way to benefit from those opportunities. I think those are going to be transferrable skills when it comes to dealing with Norman Wells and the other 700 sites that are part of the devolution agreement that are going to require some remediation. Because we have Giant Mine happening in our backyard, this is a real opportunity for us to develop some of that capacity.
Nothing further. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Infrastructure, total department. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have a question about procurement and NGOs. Has the department looked into this further and seen if NGOs need to be BIP registered? Thank you. I will just leave it at that first, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I have mentioned in the House, NGOs can't be BIP'ed unless they have a corporate entity on their side. I have answered this question in the House already. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you. I guess the question that comes back, though, is: does the policy follow the Societies Act that we presently have? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Are you referring to the Business Incentive Policy? The Business Incentive Policy is housed in ITI, but I will let the Minister respond.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Now, I think I have said this in the House, too. NGOs can bid on stuff. It is just that the BIP proponent doesn't apply to them. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
No, I will find other avenues to deal with this matter. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Anything further, Mr. Thompson? Nothing further from Mr. Thompson. Infrastructure, total department, $239,941,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Does committee agree that this concludes our consideration of the Department of Infrastructure?
