The assessment of the properties is done by the value of the land and any assets that are located on the land as the MLA has stated that he has seen taxes go up without any improvements done. There are two types of property assessments. There is one that is done on an annual basis. That captures changes to the existing property, such as if there are renovations, additions, et cetera. Then there is a general assessment that is completed at least once every 10 years. That updates the value of the land and improvements from the date of the last general assessment.
Like I said, there are two different assessment processes. Some communities just happen to get in that position where the general tax assessment is increased. The City of Yellowknife went through that a couple years ago, I believe.
Just from hearing that answer and hearing the Minister of Lands in previous sittings here, do improvements on the land help or increase the value of the land that is presently there?
Yes, the assessment to land is taking into consideration not only the land, but all infrastructure that is on the land. I will use Yellowknife. If you buy a lot in Yellowknife, you might be looking at a couple of hundred thousand, but once you put a trailer onto that or a unit onto that, it does increase the market value of that property. That is taken into consideration.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you very much to the Minister for that answer. I guess my next question is: in regard to Commissioner's land and territorial lands within municipal boundaries, are they taxed with the assessment value? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
All lands are taxed, except there are some exemptions. So for a complete listing of the properties that are exempt, you would have to go into the PATA, but things such as land claims agreements would impact that, as well. So, there are exemptions to taxable properties, usually by land agreements, Aboriginal government agreements. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment about, you guessed it, procurement. Obviously, businesses continue to come forward, business owners continue to come forward. How is the department using procurement policies to level the playing field with southern companies that are doing business in the Northwest Territories, to give a competitive edge to northern businesses? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Premier said in the House previously, BIP was probably the best policy ever created by the Government of the Northwest Territories. BIP allows northern businesses and northern registered businesses that opportunity to give them that extra advantage on southern procurement of companies that are not BIP, and it is a significant amount that gives us leverage as the Northwest Territories to protect northern businesses.
It is interesting that the Minister is so confident in BIP's success because all the concerns I hear are about BIP. I already know he is not willing to reform BIP, to do a review of BIP to take action on these concerns. So, given the high-profile nature of several procurement issues -- I am talking about the Housing Corporation modular project in Hay River that the failure of the procurement policy resulted in the loss of 40 full-time jobs, a Minister's riding, by the way, Mr. Speaker, and, of course, the NTPC power generators ongoing affair, which is at least half a million dollars of government funding that has gone to that -- do these high-profile issues convince the Minister that we need to take a look at how we procure things so that we can save some money and save some jobs?
The Member throws a lot of comments out there. There are a lot of issues around both of these procurement issues, and I am not going to talk about it in this House because that is privy information. He is throwing stuff out there that is not realistic to the rest of the policy that helps northern businesses under the BIP policy. Our preference is to continue with the way we do business, and I have said it in this House a number of times: we are going to continue to the way we do business and follow our policies.
One of the issues with BIP is that it only applies to the first $500,000 on procurement contracts. Is the Minister willing to be flexible with that amount so that businesses that are looking to take on larger projects, who are northern-owned and operated, can receive greater benefits from procurement?
I have said in this House before: I came from private business. I was there my whole life. I have done procurement with the Government of the Northwest Territories my whole life. I have bid on projects for various amounts from $1 to over $1 million. The BIP procurement policy protects northern businesses to a significant amount, but at the same time we are here to protect the public purse, and we will continue to do that. As a businessperson previous to being in this House, I believe the policy is there in a meaningful way to help protect us and give us a leg up, and I believe it is significant, and I will stick to that.
Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the Minister's clarity of purpose on this. There are a number of companies that are grandfathered in or are meeting a 50 per cent requirement that are still either owned in part or owned entirely by southern companies that can benefit from southern supply chains, so we are giving those companies a 20 per cent markup through their northern preference, even though they can double dip, so to speak, and benefit from southern markets. Is the Minister willing to look at those requirements and the list of grandfathered companies that are benefitting from southern supply chains and take that into account when looking at potential reform for this policy? Thank you.
We continue to review all of the our policies and make sure they are doing the support to business in the Northwest Territories. The Member has brought up an issue that I have not heard about. No one has come to me saying there is a disadvantage, being these companies that are grandfathered in. This is something that is new to me and, if he is glad to come down to my office and have a discussion about that, I would be willing to sit down with him. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. In the last session, you may recall a number of my colleagues and I talked about modular homes, specifically about the contractor's failure to deliver all of the units by last summer, as the contract specified. Last we heard, the Minister was making alternative arrangements to complete and deliver these units. Can she please provide an update, and I will break this down into pieces, first on the three units that were partially complete when they were delivered to Ulukhaktok? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, the original plan was to have 19 buildings from the Concept Energy. At this point, we are proceeding with the completion of 14 of those units. I do not know if all of them have been tendered out yet. I do know that five of the projects have been deferred because, there were two communities, one community was we had worked with the MLA and private market-holders who had expressed interest in building in that community, and so we try not to disturb the market within communities. Another one, we worked with the MLA because, I believe, they would be market units, and it was determined that those units were not necessary in that community at that time. So we are working with them all. The three units that were started, those were the easier ones, so I believe they have been tendered out, and they will be completed.
Thank you for that response, to the Minister. I would just like to get a little more detail. So, of these 14 units that have or will be tendered out, what are the completion times on that?
Some of the units are in process now. The majority are being conducted right away. Northern communities have a little bit more of a struggle because of the winter, because of the weather. A lot of them will be started with the warming of the weather. All units will be completed by the end of this annual year.
Mr. Speaker, now that the Minister has had some time to reflect on how this contract kind of went awry, what are the lessons that she is taking away from this experience?
So, the allocating of these 19 units was at the beginning of my term a couple of years ago, and I do appreciate the Member saying: what lessons did I derive from that experience. It's important to look on the things that we do and to reflect and to make sure that we make better decisions in the future. I believe in northern houses for northern people, done by northern contractors, so my initial goal was to actually have those units as a manufacturing strategy. There are a lot of modular units that come from the south, especially in our community of Yellowknife, that are sold and the money is not staying here; it's going south. So the initial idea was to be able to build that industry within the Northwest Territories. It would bring jobs to communities. It would keep the money in our community. It would be spread throughout. It would bring apprenticeships and lots of opportunities.
The idea, though, was not a failure in the process. It was a business failure, Mr. Speaker. I learned from it that, if we are going to be start doing manufacturing, we need to start small so we don't set people up to fail. We need to provide better supervision of the units, but I haven't discounted it. I will still look for ways to ensure that we can promote manufacturing in the territories and promote jobs and keep our money in the north.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister's answer. One of the debates we had at the time that contract was going to go out was the relative advantages of module homes versus stick-built homes. Given what she has learned from this contract, does the Minister now have a preference for one kind of housing over the over? Thank you.
That was another lesson that was learned actually. We still need to have diversity in our options for housing. There is still a cost savings for residents to be able to access module units versus stick-built units. There's a substantial savings with that.
We had some difficulty actually getting those units, completed or half-completed ones, onto the barges. So we did learn, and the expense was more than we expected because of the barging and the cost with that. What we have learned through that is that module units are easily done within the southern communities where we don't have to barge them and where we don't have to deal with the transportation. We need to re-look at that within communities that aren't accessible by road, although I do want to state that Inuvik still has some buildings that are looking at module. I know that IRC might be looking at modules. It's not something that we're writing out of the northern communities. It's just we have to look at accessibility into those communities and the cost factors to getting them and then apply that to a cost analysis, module units versus stick-built. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a follow-up to my Member's statement. I have a couple of questions for the Minister responsible for Housing. I would like to ask the Minister, it actually came up in my constituency meeting. We had leaders in the community, the chief and mayor and also the president of the Designated Gwich'in Organization who brought up the issue that they would like to see a housing authority in Tsiigehtchic board actually set up in the community with members from the community to make decisions that are needed in the community.
I would like to ask the Minister: will the Minister ensure the community of Tsiigehtchic will have a housing authority board in the community? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct. The best solutions for communities are actually to have the services within the community. It's not the best service to be outside. Those in the community know the situations. They know the strengths and the challenges of community members, so I would like to see a board in Tsiigehtchic as well.
We do have a local housing organization in Tsiigehtchic with a manager. The difficulty has been the board. In 2013, actually, we met with the community and we talked about a board. Out of those people in attendance, only one person actually stated that they wanted a board at that time.
We also put out a call for board members and we didn't get enough interest. That's not okay, though. I mean, that was four years ago, almost five years ago, so it's time to do another one. We actually are going into Tsiigehtchic on March 27 and at that point, again, we will be discussing the board, finding out if the residents want the board. I'm hearing the MLAs saying they want the board, and trying to gain interest from member communities to sit on that board. That seems to be a little bit of a harder challenge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'm sure there are no problems finding people to sit on the board. I think what we need to do is make the community aware. You know, when a department is coming into the community, it's always important that it's outside in the community, whether it's on the CBC, the afternoon radio show that everyone listens to. We have to make sure that there are people out there who are aware of this meeting that's taking place. Will the Minister ensure that there is proper community communication and also put it on CBC Radio?
Again, the Member is right. We need to communicate better and we need to communicate with the communities when we are going into their communities. I know that there are some communities that listen adamantly to the question period within the House. I'm hoping that those who hear will spread the word that we are coming on March 27. I'm hoping that the MLA, when he returns to the community, will spread the word that we are coming on March 27. I do state that we will make sure that we have adequate communications going into the community to make sure that as many community members as possible know that we are coming in on March 27.
Masi. March 27, it is. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, once again I will have to do the communications for the department. I seem to be having to do this for a lot of the departments, whether it's Infrastructure or other departments that are having these community meetings. I know it's a shame that we don't use whether it's Facebook or, you know, everybody's on Facebook. I know you do it. Some of the departments use Twitter, but not everybody is on Twitter. You know, especially road conditions and other things like this. You know, people really appreciate that. Will the Minister make sure that they use social media to actually get out and let people know when they are coming to the communities? Not only for Tsiigehtchic but Fort McPherson, Aklavik, and other communities throughout the Mackenzie Delta. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I don't know how many times I'm going to say today that the Member is right. Communications is an issue. Communications is something we need to work on. We recognize that within the Housing Corporation.
We have a lot of changes to the programs, and the public still isn't aware. We have sent out letters to the municipalities and to the Aboriginal governments. I went into the community of Fort Simpson the other day, and I looked on the bulletin board at the band office, I believe, and it wasn't there. I did give direction as soon as I got back. I said, "Send out more notices," like let people know that. We are looking at a total communications strategy, whether that uses newspapers. I don't use Twitter, either, although I hear I have a Twitter account; Facebook; I'm not so sure everyone accesses the NWT Housing Association's website, but we're working on improving it anyway.
We are looking at a total communications plan to let people know. It's no sense having programs that people don't understand what's out there and the changes. So, yes, I will make sure in the meantime that the March 27 date is posted on my personal Facebook and I will ask the MLA if he would consider posting it on his personal Facebook, as well. I promise I will get him the messaging. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are also on spending money on housing, but they are not for my friend the Minister of Finance or for the Minister of Housing Corporation. They're for the Minister of Infrastructure, because he helped announce $570 million in federal infrastructure funding earlier this week.
In our Committee of the Whole review of the NWT Housing Corporation, I asked questions of the Housing Corporation on what proportion of the new funds will be applied to the $67 million cost of taking our housing out of core need. I looked at the funding announcements. Some of those pots of money could certainly be used for housing. I am asking the Minister of Infrastructure whether he can confirm what proportion of the federal Infrastructure funds he announced earlier this week will be applied to addressing housing core needs, and if no funds, why not? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct. There is no funding for housing under the bilateral that we signed earlier this week with the federal Minister, but the federal government is going to be announcing other streams under the Investing in Canada plan that will provide funding for housing for the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister for that. I look forward to these other announcements. I sort of anticipated that he would say that the $36 million over 10 years under the National Housing Strategy would cover off our housing needs, but, of course, that small amount really can't help us with our core housing needs, which have been calculated at $67 million. Where are the funds going to come from, and why can't we use some of the federal infrastructure funding that the Minister announced earlier this week?
Can the Minister explain whether there are any legal or funding guideline requirements that prevent us from applying for and using these new federal infrastructure funds for housing, or is this a political decision, one that Cabinet has already made?
The $180 billion in infrastructure funding provided by the Investing in Canada plan is being delivered under a series of different funds, but there are a bunch of different criteria and eligibility requirements around this for federal outcomes for project eligibility, and the agreement that we signed, unfortunately, does not provide any opportunity for investment in housing.
I would like to thank the Minister for that. If there is some way that he could share the funding guidelines or more information about that with me, I would appreciate that very much. Can the Minister tell us whether any of the newly announced federal infrastructure funding will be allocated to or delivered through the Arctic Energy Alliance, and if so, how much and over what period of time?
In total, with the $760 million that we are going to be leveraging with our portion and the federal portion, a significant amount of this is eligible for energy projects through the Northwest Territories, and we will be going through those specific details once we start getting into more detail of our applications around this money. There are also going to be other pots of money available for these sorts of things under the Pan-Canadian Framework for Clean Growth, and there will be an opportunity for energy projects in there.
As I stated, I think, earlier this week in the House, around the Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund and our application that we have put in, there is going to be additional support for Arctic Energy Alliance, and hopefully we are going to hear back on that in the coming weeks.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
