A letter was sent to standing committee in August of 2016, indicating that we were thinking about changing these fees that had been in effect for a very long period of time. The changes were proposed in the 2016-2017 business plans, and discussed with committee, and also discussed during the Lands mains estimates in February 2017, in accordance with our established protocols. In July 2017 we informed SCOPP that the consultation period had closed, and that we were proceeding with amending regulations, and that the pre-gazette period was about to start. The period was for 90 days, and ended on October 1st. This was the official period when interested stakeholders could make representations to the Minister to change course. On March 17, 2018, I sent an email to all Members providing information on the fee increases. So these increased should not have come as a surprise to the public, or the Members opposite.
I thank the Minister for the long answer, and well-detailed, and I appreciate that. I guess I might have missed that email, but again, I guess I love way we say, well, we sent a letter, and that's consulting people. How did we engage the residents of the Northwest Territories who were impacted by this decision? Because NWT Lands has a huge impact on, not only in the small communities that I represent, but their cabins. So how did you engage the people of the Northwest Territories?
As I mentioned earlier, there was a consultation period that closed on October 1st, 2017, and, of course, this matter was before the public. As I mentioned, it was in the media, it was discussed in the House, so people were certainly aware of these changes that were coming. So I think there was sufficient consultation with the public on this issue. We certainly did hear from Members opposite, and I'm sure Members opposite will recall that we did make amendments to certain of the proposed amendments, in the sense that we lowered from 10 to 5 per cent of the assessed value of certain residential properties, which was a concern of the Members opposite, particularly the Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I must apologize to the House because maybe I'm not getting my question across properly. I'm not talking about Commissioner's land. We understand that. I actually proposed a 3 per cent reduction. He came back and, you know, he was actually saying it was good at 10 per cent, and then he came back to 5 per cent. You know, I'm still baffled by this, so will the Minister look at this again and actually consult and engage people properly? Not letters, not using the public, and not using us, but getting out there and talking to the people who are impacted by this decision? Thank you, Mr. Speaker
Masi. Minister of Lands.
While I may have said that the 10 per cent rate was good, the 5 per cent was even better. We certainly did listen to the Members opposite as they raised concerns. I think there was an extensive period of consultation. As I say, this issue was certainly before the public in the sense that it had been reported in the House and raised many times, quite properly, by the Members opposite, so I think the proper consultation was done and that the changes we have made were and are reasonable. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today my questions are for the Minister of Finance. I spoke earlier today in my Member's statement sharing some concerns about the cost of living and, Mr. Speaker, some reports are actually suggesting that the NWT's best years are in fact behind us, and that is concerning. Real GDP will fall by 2.9 per cent this year and is projected to fall by a rate of 1.1 per cent for the next 20 years. The Minister of Finance certainly has to be aware of these figures. I would like to ask the Minister: what does the Department of Finance make of these projections, and what kind of plan, if there is a plan, does the Minister and the department have to reverse these trends, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our best years are behind us, not the NWT's.
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I would have to disagree with any report that suggests that the best years are behind us. We are aware of these projections and other scenarios. That is why we were working hard to manage our fiscal resources. As Members of this Assembly may recall, right at the beginning of the 18th Assembly, we were challenged with a $34 million decrease in our territorial-formula financing, and then, just last year with our corporate taxes, there was a further decrease, so I think we have done well in trying to manage our fiscal resources to ensure that we meet some of these challenges that are coming before us. We are working on developing a number of opportunities, like commercial fishing and agriculture and the manufacturing sectors, to continue to support economic diversification in the Northwest Territories.
I am happy to hear that the Minister has a degree of optimism and a degree of confidence. That is good to hear. We want to hear that from the Minister of Finance. Mr. Speaker, the number of seniors in the NWT is set to triple by the year 2040. This aging population will lead to rapidly increased healthcare costs. I would like to ask the Minister: if our economy is not on the upward trend and continues to show signs of being flat and we cannot seem to find ways to increase our own-sourced revenues through royalties or otherwise, how will the Minister expect to cover these increased costs as a government?
We were elected by the people of the Northwest Territories to make decisions, and sometimes hard decisions have to be made. We have to remain optimistic in all that we do, even with challenges before us, because, if they see 19 Members of the Legislative Assembly going around saying, "Oh, woe is me," and head for the border, then that does not send a very good message. Our opportunity here is to send a message that, as the Member said before, or one of the Members said, "let residents of the Northwest Territories know that we have their backs." I am trying to send that message, and we will do anything we can, with the support of this Assembly, to ensure that we are in a position to continue to invest.
We know we are being challenged with an aging population. A lot of our money comes from the territorial formula financing, and so we have to ensure we continue to work with the federal government to make sure our needs are met. At the same time, I have said before, we want to diversify our economy because we do not want to become a welfare state. We want to be able to generate our own revenue.
Thank you to the Minister once again. I appreciate that he is sending a positive message. He knows that, on occasion, I try to do that, but I do not put lipstick on the message. I happen to be a realist and, when people write me , constituents write me to tell me that they are leaving the territory because the cost are increasing, are going up and up, and we the government happen to be one of the major impactors of the costs of living in the territory, that is troubling, so I am just trying to get a better understanding of where our future is.
Mr. Speaker, the government set a goal of attracting a couple of thousand people to the NWT in the last Assembly. New reports are indicating that, with the decline in the GDP, out-migration will cause the labour force to shrink. I would like to ask the Minister: is the original plan for population growth still valid and feasible, or do we require a new strategy?
Some of the early numbers show that our population has actually increased a bit the last couple of years; very small, but it has increased. Yes, there are going to be people who leave. If there are no economic opportunities for them, people will leave and go to where the jobs are, as they should.
Our challenge here is to promote the NWT as a positive place to invest and spend your money, and the rest of it will take care of itself. I do not think we need a strategy to tell us what we already know. I think we just have to ensure that we continue to promote the Northwest Territories as a place to invest and live and prosper. Our ITI Minister and our Premier have been out promoting the Northwest Territories for a number of years, and will continue to do that.
I think, as far as the out-migration goes, if people are going to start making investments in the territories, if it's feasible, then they will come back to the Northwest Territories. So we continue to work on that, and we promote the Northwest Territories as a place to invest. We have world-class resources here, and we have people trying to mine those resources or take advantage of the resources, and we will continue to promote that and have people move back to the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I want to remain confident that the Minister's words are actually something that we can take as being put to action and be hopeful about, because a number of committee members or a number of Members from this side have spent the last few weeks travelling to a number of communities up and down the Northwest Territories, and there is still a lot of concern about out-migration. I am not just talking about the NWT. I am also talking about small communities that lose people to bigger regions and bigger centres in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister has stated that we need to use the first two years of this Assembly to get our fiscal house in order, and I appreciate that, and that we could make investments in the latter two years of this Assembly. We only have 16 months left in this term. Is the Minister confident that this government is in a position to make meaningful investments in the remainder of the life of this Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It was made clear in the budget we have experienced some unanticipated revenue decline. To the Member's point, though, I am confident. I have to be. If your Finance Minister is not confident in the fiscal future of the Northwest Territories, he may as well fold up his iPad and go home, so I remain confident.
We are challenged. We are in a position, as the Member has said, as I pointed out our declining revenues over the last couple of years, because of the decisions we made in the Legislative Assembly, I think we were able to manage our way through that. Going forward, it was just recently announced a $570 million investment in infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. That is just the federal government's investment. We have put ourselves in a position where we were able to come up with our 25 cents on the dollar of an initial $142 million, so that gives us $712.5 million just in infrastructure investment, not counting all of the other programs that the federal government has invested in in the Northwest Territories.
Again, government should not be the industry. Government should be promoting industry to invest in the North, not just industry, everyone to invest in the Northwest Territories as a place to work and live, and the rest will take care of itself. I am confident. I have to be, and I think the decisions we have made, as tough as some of them were, I think we will manage to work our way through the challenges that come before us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure, who also chairs the Cabinet Committee on Energy and Climate Change. In my Member's statement, I noted how Cabinet's approach to meeting our climate change obligations under the Pan-Canadian Framework has little or no hope for success. Can the Minister provide any justification for how the expansion of the Taltson system will lead to the predicted 44 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, when there is no funding for the project and no buyers for that power? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The 227-kilotonne reduction anticipated from the Taltson expansion is the premise of hydro generation and transmission lines to displace any diesel power generation in the Northwest Territories. The Government of the Northwest Territories identified this priority as part of our response to the federal government's Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, along with other energy and transportation priorities. Some of the work that we plan to do includes defining the potential market, capital costs, transmission line routing, and finalizing a business case that would connect sufficient anchor customers to absorb the green hydro power from the Taltson project. The electricity generated by this project can be used to support future industrial growth and a renewable energy to offset diesel power generation and emissions. We are looking to the federal government to support this preconstruction work going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for that. I don't feel that much more confident that that is actually going to result in greenhouse gas reductions. In my Member's statement, I also referred to the fact that the specific target of greenhouse gas reductions for the industrial sector of 17 per cent was removed from the final version of the Climate Change Strategic Framework, no explanation, no rationale provided. I have raised in this House the need for a multi-stakeholder climate change roundtable with Ministerial leadership to secure industry buy-in. Can the Minister explain why there is no target for industrial greenhouse gas emissions and how we can possibly meet the pan-Canadian framework reductions without such a target?
In terms of industrial targets, the specific emission reduction target of 89 kilotonnes for industry is identified in the graphic shown, actually, on page 32 of the Climate Change Strategic Framework. This target for industry is part of the overall 517-kilotonne reduction target for the NWT to be achieved by 2030 through the strategic objectives and actions outlined in the 2030 Energy Strategy.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is working on a Climate Change Strategic Framework Action Plan, which they expect to finalize later this year.
I would like to thank the Minister for that and the information about how that figure is hidden in a graphic rather than set out clearly in the strategy itself.
I have raised the issue of poor communications around climate change planning and the surprise addition of the specific and large reductions to greenhouse gas emissions attributed to Taltson expansion. We don't even know what the carbon pricing system is going to be, or how that fits into our climate change initiatives either. Can the Minister tell the public and Regular MLAs whether the Energy Strategy and Climate Change Strategic Framework, or some compilation of these documents, has been submitted to the federal government for consideration in meeting our Pan-Canadian Framework obligations on greenhouse gas reductions and what the response has been from the federal government?
As all Members are well aware, we announced all three of these together. The 2030 Climate Change Strategic Framework, the 2030 Energy Strategy, and the Petroleum Strategy, as they are all linked together, were publicly released here in the Assembly on May 1, 2018.
Various federal officials have already been made aware of it. To date, the GNWT has not received any formal feedback from any federal Ministers at this point, but the response that we have had from federal people so far has been very positive, and they are pleased that we are doing our part to meet the Pan-Canadian Framework targets.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Minister for that, and I look forward if he could share some of that information with this side of the House in the future in a regular update.
The Auditor General noted the failure of our government to provide adequate leadership through appropriate authority and procedures to ensure we meet climate change targets. I have noted the need for a Climate Change Act, Financial Management Board consideration of climate change implications in its decisions, and how infrastructure projects should be prioritized in terms of their greenhouse gas reductions. It is not clear when Cabinet is going to get serious about providing the appropriate authority and procedures to implement our climate change efforts.
I would like to ask the Minister: what specific changes to authorities and procedures is Cabinet going to make to ensure climate change success, and when will this happen? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
The government is working on the development of a 2019-2023 Action Plan to guide the implementation of the 2030 Climate Change Strategic Framework, and this document will address the Auditor General's recommendations not already incorporated into the framework. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated in my statement, I was very honoured and proud to attend the special graduation on the Hay River Reserve. This was celebrating a moment with mature students who decided to go back to school and upgrade their education and at least meet requirements to graduate from high school.
It is common that, throughout the NWT, our young people are facing challenges. My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment: why are high school graduation rates low in some small communities, and what is the Minister's plan of action to address them? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To actually pinpoint why graduation rates are low is difficult. There can be a lot of extenuating situations that make people leave school. It can be a lack of support. It can be family dynamics. It can be poverty. It could be "I met a new boyfriend, and I just want to hit the road." There are a whole host of reasons why students leave school, but what we are noticing is that we do need to do something about it. It is not okay. We are looking at things that we can control within education and things that we can actually do to support students to make positive choices.
Currently, we have a Pathways program that actually works with students. We are going to strengthen that. We need to actually look at getting more career counsellors into the schools, to actually working with them from younger grades, from grade 9, and talking about, "What do you want to do? Do you want to be a truck driver? Do you want to be a doctor? Do you want to work at Wal-Mart?" and not limiting their options. Working with the students to define what their options are, what they would need once they choose an option, and what school services and supports and curriculum that they would need to actually be successful in obtaining their goals in life.
Like I say, Mr. Speaker, we can do what we can from an education aspect, but a lot of reasons that children decide to drop out of school are not as simple as the education system itself. There are a lot of reasons. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In small communities, we are challenged, of course. Most jobs and a lot of the benefits of industrial-type projects go to where the action is and usually to larger centres. Small communities struggle, but we are seeing some trends in terms of out-migration of small communities, with people moving to larger centres.
At the same time, there was a recent study that pointed to an alarming trend that there are gaps between the education levels of larger centres like the City of Yellowknife and smaller communities. If a student from a small community graduated grade 12, compared to a student who graduated grade 12 in Yellowknife, both go down south, they are challenged, and they have to upgrade.
What are some strategies that the Minister is possibly considering to lead her department to address those very challenges?
I would like to remind Members that, with questions and answers, the preambles should be shortened, and answering questions also should be shortened, because we only have 15 minutes and we still have four individual MLAs in line to ask questions. I would just like to remind Members. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the effect of urbanization is affecting not only the Northwest Territories; it's small communities throughout Canada; internationally, actually. It is happening that people are moving from smaller communities into the regional or larger community centres because there are more opportunities there. So we have to work on it.
Pathways, like I talked about, making people look at their options earlier is one way. One new thing that we're actually doing as well, and I have to thank the MLA who brought it up in the community of Ulukhaktok, having three graduates who did the distance education program with supports, not on their own, it's not like home studies, shows that it's working. That was a pilot. We need to expand on that.
We have the small communities one that we're working with, and actually, we're working closely with MLAs in our small community committee to look at how we can actually put more economy, more opportunities, within the communities to support them. So we will do what we can to make sure we provide as much supports not only to children, but adults within small communities.
We also have a freedom of mobility within a constitutional right that, even though we'll do whatever we can, people have the right to be mobile and to move. It might not be ideal. So we will provide what we can to support and to sustain small communities, but we will not limit people from being able to migrate as they want.
Community learning centres exist in small communities, and so my question is to the Minister: what role can they continue playing in terms of trying to work with mature students who decide to go back to school to upgrade and qualify for high school equivalencies?
Our community learning centres are critical, especially to the smaller communities that the MLA has spoken about, because they actually are working on the ground with people. They're actually looking at people who perhaps have dropped out and need to have adult education programs. They can provide the access program to give people the prerequisites and support so that they can get into college or university, if that's where they need to go. They can do specialized programs in different areas. The problem is, though, that we need to make sure that community learning centres, that education from junior kindergarten to post-secondary, are providing quality services. So one of the things that I really want to work on is making sure that all of our education supports are accountable, have measurable outcomes, and that we are regularly evaluated.
Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the life of the 18th Assembly is coming down. Our term is coming up, and similarly, the Minister has a new portfolio. So besides addressing the rates of low graduation levels in small communities, and the NWT for that matter, what are the Minister's priorities in the remaining term of the 18th Assembly? Mahsi.
People who know me know I'm a hard worker. Staff who have worked with me in other departments know that I'm a hard Minister. I don't plan on letting either of those go. My priority within this, the remainder of the time, is to actually make sure, as I stated just before, that all of our education supports are based on best practices, that they are accountable, that we have measurable outcomes, that we evaluate them regularly. That is often called accreditation. I'm not asking people to get to the point of accreditation, but I think we need to work towards that. So it's about quality programming is my focus for the remainder of the time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I stated my priorities for housing in Yellowknife Centre, with its long waiting lists for families and senior housing and also unaffordable private market rentals. I'd now like to hear from the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation and Homelessness what his priorities are. Thank you.
Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in answering some of the core housing needs with a previous Member, we want to continue focusing and supporting those programs, supporting our LHOs, working with our stakeholders, our community governments, our Indigenous governments, to address the core housing needs across not only just here in Yellowknife, but right across the Northwest Territories. We do have high waiting lists for people trying to get into housing. We do have a lot of housing units that need to be retrofitted, upgraded; some of them are ending their years of life. We also need to focus and work with our federal government in making sure that we work on rectifying some of the shortages that we had with the Northern Housing Strategy. So there are a few priorities in there. I'm willing to work with Members, work with our Indigenous governments, our community governments, to address the core housing need. We have about a year and a half left in this government, and we have to focus on making sure that our residents have safe and affordable housing units. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It's said that, if everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. What I'm hearing here is that the list is just unmanageable in terms of actually getting anything done, so I'm going to zero in on a couple of specific things. What is the Minister's plan to reduce invisible homelessness among families by extending the territorial government's Housing First funding to them?
