Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, visitors centre-related activities here in the City of Yellowknife have been handled by the municipal government, and they have done a great job. They have even gone so far as to reach out to Behchoko and to the Yellowknives Dene to develop a shared tourism product. They are already finding ways not just to offer opportunities here but throughout the Northwest Territories. What they lack is a visitors centre.
I would like to ask the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment how the department is working with the City of Yellowknife to deliver a tourism visitors centre here in the capital? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can update this House that the Department of ITI and NWT Tourism has provided financial support to the City of Yellowknife, and what they are using that money for is to hire a consultant team to determine a long-term model that will work for delivery of tourism visitor information services in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister. That is good news. What is the long-term plan for this project? Is it ongoing contribution to support operations until that study is done, or is this the extent of the support this government is providing for tourism services in Yellowknife?
As I have stated in this House many times, we are continuing to give the ongoing support that we gave to the tourism centre that previously operated, $161,000 annually. That is going on, as far as I know, as long as I am here. What we are waiting to do is hear back from the City of Yellowknife with their consultants what their long-term view of this is.
Thank you to the Minister. I'm glad that that contribution is remaining and is consistent on that. The former visitors centre is still in its previous location on our otherwise pristine capital grounds here. Can the Minister advise on what the plan for the old building is? Are we tearing it down, are we going to salvage the structure, and who is going to pay for it at the end of the day?
Contractors recently have just been out there welding and levelling the facility to get it stabilized. The Department of Infrastructure is having a look at the engineering requirements around what it is going to take to either replace that, cut off the back half of it, use the front of it, or demolish it.
After that has been completed, we will be reaching out probably within the government departments to see if there is a need for it. If there is no need within the government departments, we will probably be going out to a public call to see if there is a need for it and then have a look at the capability of such people paying for doing the improvements going forward.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for that update. Finally, as it relates to supporting tourism in the capital or, indeed, throughout the Northwest Territories, the Minister said that the resources are very limited and the demand is outpacing them. Given the needs in Yellowknife and given the needs across the territory, is the Minister willing to bring forward additional financial resources or adjust the budget so we can properly seize on the opportunities presented by tourism? As I said in my statement, Mr. Speaker, they are limitless, but we certainly need to invest in them. Thank you.
As the Member is well aware, we have a process that we follow. We have forced growth. We have new initiatives. We have the budget process. The department recognizes the needs and the pressure on the system and the fiscal capacity that we have to deliver what we can deliver with what we have. I will be bringing something forward for more funding around a whole bunch of initiatives. In due time, we will have those brought to the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment in regards to aviation pilot training. I am very encouraged by the two northern companies merging together to initiate a partnership to address the shortage of aviation pilots in our territory. On May 9th, Northwestern Air Lease announced on its Facebook page in partnering with North-Wright Airways of the Sahtu and Aurora College to create an aviation school in Fort Smith by 2019. My first question, Mr. Speaker, is: will the Minister be sharing the flying school program details with stakeholders and community leaders? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have no problem sharing things, but at this point, we have nothing to share. There was an initial meeting with Aurora College. No commitments were made. At that meeting, Aurora College had asked for a proposal, a business plan, and intensive study, for example, where they are getting funding, et cetera. To date, we have not received any of that information. I can share what I have, which is nothing at this point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This is kind of like where I am going, Mr. Speaker. It is all part of the development of the preamble to the program. Once the preliminary startup details cost, dates of the project or program, will that information be shared? At this point in time, if any, what point in time if we are to meet that 2019 deadline?
At this point, like I had said, we have asked them for a proposal, Aurora College did. Nothing has been received. I would have to check in and make sure. I am not sure if things of that nature are actually shared. I could probably share it with standing committee. I am not sure if I would table that document, because it is a private enterprise looking to partner with us.
Also, as I had mentioned earlier, the two partners with Aurora College to the flying school, one is North-Wright Airways. North-Wright Airways is 50 per cent owned by two of the largest land corporations in Fort Good Hope and Deline. Where I am going with this next question is to see if part of the program would be to transfer the schooling in one of the Sahtu airports, particularly Norman Wells, if that could be viewed as part of some of the discussions. Can the Minister commit to having, say, a revolving school to include Norman Wells training at the airport site there?
I am conscious that, when the Aurora College was reviewed, a lot of people had been saying for many years that Aurora College tries to do too much. I think we have to step back and kind of look at what we are doing now. I am interested in seeing a proposal. However, Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that, over the last five years, only 23 students have applied for student financial assistance for aviation. That averages just under five a year, which might be a pretty costly course. Mr. Speaker, I would hate to see things go bad. I would like to see the proposal before I make any decisions.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If I can remember correctly some of my previous discussions in this sector of training pilots, it costs us training fees in the neighbourhood of $40,000, $50,000. If it is going to cost that much for the individual to access their commercial pilot's license, it is a significant amount, not to mention the ground schooling and operating of the aircraft.
All that put together, if a budgetary amount could be developed and possibly even shared with our land corporations during the preliminary stakeholder consultation, some of the land corporations in our Northwest Territories may have a vested interest at that point in time. I just share that with the Minister, to include that in some of the preliminary planning of the flying school. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That is a long general comment. I will take it as a comment. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have some precise status questions for the Infrastructure Minister. The Minister told us the road was completed, the grand opening in November, but we also know the depth of the road embankment fill was reduced to cut costs and bring the project in on budget. Can the Minister then tell us why he announced the project was complete when clearly it wasn't? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I spoke about the Tuktoyaktuk to Inuvik highway last week, we said the road was under substantial completion when we decided to open it in November. I don't have the exact percentage, but I believe it was probably roughly 95 to 96 per cent complete. Based on that and having a look at the situation, as I have stated in this House, about opening the ice road, we took advantage of the situation for the winter months to open this highway. We have had 60 to 70 visitors per day, as I have said in this House, with no issues. The communities of Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik had an extra 45 days based on us opening that road. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The government news release said that this was an all-weather road that was complete and would link Canada from coast to coast to coast. There was no hedging around of "it would be open some of the time" or that it was mostly complete. I would like the Minister to tell us what he thinks the impact of the current status of the road is having on tourist interest, the community grand opening planned for July, and the new business that we created to promote tourism.
I don't think it is going to have an impact on tourism whatsoever. As the ferry situation is not even open yet, it has not impacted access to that road right now from southern Canada. The impact of the road closure right now is between the residents in Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk. They have been very receptive and understanding of the situation that we need to complete this road. The contractors are out there diligently doing their work along with our engineering people. We look forward to the road opening to the general public as soon as it is safe to do so.
My concern is that the inadequacy of the construction will now be labelled "maintenance" or "repair." Will the Minister tell us the amount of projected maintenance costs in this first season, and commit to reporting on the actual costs at freeze-up?
I can see if we can pull those numbers together. As all Members know, we are updating all Members on this tomorrow after the rise of the House, and I will see if I can pull together the numbers around those questions at the time.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
I appreciate the Minister's commitment to do that. As I have said in my statement, our record of bringing these big construction projects in on time and on budget hasn't been great. Deh Cho bridge, fibre optic line, and now the Tuk road. My more general question is: what evaluation of the project planning, budgeting, execution, and performance is taking place in the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway, and how are we carrying these lessons forward to the other road projects now under consideration? Mahsi.
As with any of these large projects taking place in the Northwest Territories, be it our own projects or P3 projects, there is something always to be learned. There is something to be learned on everyday-to-day life, and these projects are no different. The one thing I suspect going forward on this, to make it quite clear, I suspect because this was a federally funded project by a significant amount, there is going to be some type of federal audit around this project, and we will gladly participate in that, and we will gladly share that with Members of the House if it is done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's statement, I have a few questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, just last week, as I travelled here from Tsiigehtchic, our health centre was still taped off like a crime scene because our workers and residents can't access the building because it is shut down. Mr. Speaker, luckily we have the Aurora College, which let the health centre staff operate for the spring here. With break-up happening, who is to say what would happen if that building wasn't available? I would like to ask the Minister: can the Minister provide an estimate of when the health centre will be open again? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe the Member did bring this to my attention literally minutes after the issue occurred, and they did move the staff and the equipment to the college, so I would really like to thank the college for standing up and helping us out with this. I did get an update from the Department of Infrastructure, and they did have an engineer go in this month to do an assessment, and they have indicated that the building is structurally sound and that it is being levelled right now. It is structurally sound, and the life is going to continue. We are hoping to be in there shortly. I was under the impression that they were going to be starting to move in this month, and hopefully everything will be all right.
I doubt it will be within this month because, as I have said, the ferry is not open. The contract, as I checked on Friday, still wasn't out. There is a lot of work to be done to the interior. They have to do mudding, painting, repairs to the floor, from what I understand. The stairs need to be redone. Mr. Speaker, the list goes on. With so much funding going toward fixing the dated building, has the Minister considered building a new health centre in Tsiigehtchic?
I understand that the levelling and other work was already done, so we are just waiting for some of the other things to be done. I will confer with the Department of Infrastructure to find out when they think it will be appropriate for us to move back into that building. As I said when the Member raised this last time, the building is on a 20-year capital plan. There are a number of health projects that are in front of this project. They have to compete with all other projects, but for the time being, as I have said, a structural assessment was completed this month by a structural engineer, at which time the building was indicated to not have any major structural concerns, and that the life of the building is still there, and that we can provide quality services out of that building until such a time as we can get it in the capital plan, recognizing that it is competing against a large number of capital projects, not just in Health and Social Services, but across the government.
It leads me to my next question. As we haven't seen the red flag list here for quite some time, what is the plan for the health centre in the next five years for Tsiigehtchic?
As I have indicated, we have a large number of assets in the Department of Health and Social Services that are in the 20-year needs assessment. We try to move forward on those facilities based on the need and the demand and the safety and whether or not we can provide safe services out of the existing buildings. Based on our assessment, we are comfortable that we can provide safe services under the facility in Tsiigehtchic. It is on the 20-year plan, but it's not within, I'm going to have to verify when it actually falls in. I think it is 20 something, so it is in the 20s.
Masi. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister just mentioned that the building is sound and safe. As I just mentioned, it is taped off as we speak. Nobody is allowed in the building, Mr. Speaker. It is taped off like a crime scene, as I mentioned. Nobody is allowed in or out. I mean, in. Even staff can't go in the building without being with somebody, so that is how safe it is as we speak. Mr. Speaker, we need to make sure that our buildings are all up-to-date, and, when we are in a crisis as we are right now, that we act as soon as possible here, Mr. Speaker. As we move forward, I will be getting the Minister to give updates, hopefully by the end of this week if we have further questions. Will the Minister ensure that this building is safe within the next month? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We want the same thing. We want to be able to provide services in the community, and we want to do it in a safe building. As I have indicated, the Department of Infrastructure has had engineers go in and do an assessment of that building, and they are confident that the building is structurally sound. We are doing some repairs to it as a result of the foundation work that was done that resulted in us having to leave the building, but we are confident of the work of the engineers with the infrastructure. As soon as we can move back in, we will be moving back in. I will continue having discussions with the Minister of Infrastructure and find out when that final work is going to happen so that we know when we can move back into that building, and I will certainly keep the Member in the loop. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Last week I tabled a news release from the Tlicho government expressing concern over recent moves by Dominion Diamond to lay off 150 unionized employees at the Ekati Mine and replace them with contract miners. I'm not aware of any public statements or positions taken by our government to retain these jobs. My question is for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment: has our government received any official notice or communications from Dominion Diamond about these layoffs at Ekati of the unionized employees; and if so, can the Minister provide details on timing, alleged attendance issues, or any other details? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
No, I have not received any official notice from the Dominion Diamond Mines about this situation. What I can update this House, I did have a conversation with Dominion Diamonds at one point a number of months ago around the concern of high absentee of employees at the site. He said that, at that point, it was something of a concern of theirs, and when I'd seen it in the paper, that is the first time I have actually seen it in writing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
