Thank you to the Minister for that answer. Let me ask the Minister if he has any current information about how many intoxicated people are being turned away from the sobering centre, or how often that happens?
As I indicated, any restrictions are sort of a last resort, and they try to work with the clients to resolve issues that may exist. We do know that 317 people have accessed the sobering centre, and that about 33 per cent of those clients use the centre on a regular basis, on a reoccurring basis. To date, there have been 30 people who have had restrictions applied to them. Restrictions, as I have indicated previously, are usually about three hours to a maximum of a week. They can go longer if situations don't improve.
As a note, Mr. Speaker, there have been 73 referrals to Stanton Hospital ER by ambulance for further assessment and/or treatment, so some of the individuals who do show up at the sobering centre aren't granted access because they have some other issues that need to be dealt with. Most of these referrals are for things like mental health issues, acute psychosis, suicidal ideations. We had a few with cardiac-related issues, so we wouldn't consider those a restriction, but a referral. Some people do end up going to Stanton. The majority of admissions in the centre, just as a note, occur between about 7:00 p.m. to about 9:00 p.m.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there was some good information in that answer. Of course, I am not talking about people who are referred to the hospital. That's not the situation I am talking about. I am talking about people the staff are sending away because their behaviour is deemed unacceptable. Finally, my question is whether the Minister feels that the sobering centre operations are meeting his expectations and providing value for money? Thank you.
The sobering centre's goal is to provide a safe place for non-violent intoxicated individuals to sleep off the effects of the drugs or alcohol. It is also to provide better care to persons with addiction through clinical assessment and intervention to improve health outcomes. It is also to assist clients with system navigation by linking them with appropriate social service agencies. It is also intended to decrease the inappropriate ambulance trips to emergency department for homeless alcohol-dependent individuals, and to decrease the number of inappropriate emergency room visits from homeless people who are suffering from alcohol.
I am pleased to share that, with the establishment of the sobering centre, there has been reduced strain on other organizations such as the RCMP, who have reported a 12 per cent decrease in calls for service for social disorder, and there has also been a decreased number of visits to the emergency room.
Having said that, obviously, we must continue to learn and evolve as time goes on. If the Member and committee have thoughts or suggestions for improvement, I am obviously open to suggestion. When it comes to individuals who are restricted, there are guidelines. They are posted at the sobering centre and the day shelter. If the Member or any other Member is aware of individuals who they feel are being restricted outside the guidelines, please let me know so that we can look into those with our contract provider and the authority. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Industry, ITI. My first question is: I noted with interest that the statement from Minister Schumann yesterday indicated that $180 million in funding is being invested in the energy infrastructure as part of the three-year rolling energy action plan that is expected to be released during this session. What is the GNWT doing to support the Sahtu region to benefit from this windfall? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let's talk about what we have done just lately in the Sahtu region. We have installed a biomass heating installation, as well as complete energy retrofits in the Chief Albert Wright School in Tulita and the Chief T'Selehye School in Fort Good Hope, as well, and we have installed a 400 kilowatt boiler in the new health centre that is going to be opening in Norman Wells shortly. The federal government is also going to be helping us with a program where we are going to do a wind monitoring tower in Norman Wells to re-examine the wind energy in the region and the resource there, near the community. We have funding available from the federal government to support the Tulita Land Corporation for the new 45 kilowatt solar array that is going to be installed in Tulita, and, as part of the new energy action plan, we have new funding included that will help replace the existing power plant and add a megawatt-scale wind generation in Norman Wells.
That puts a smile on my face. Thanks for the response. My second question: the Mackenzie Valley Highway has been a long-held priority of residents of the Sahtu and is identified in the mandate of the 18th Legislative Assembly, yet the project still has not commenced construction. What is the Department of Infrastructure doing to advance this priority?
As I said in my Minister's statement today updating on all the corridors, the Mackenzie Valley Highway application is in the National Trade Corridors Fund application. We have not heard anything on that submission, but we expect something in the coming weeks on that. Hopefully, we will be able to secure funding on some portions of that highway, and we will be able to move on to the next planning stages of that and the environmental studies for the project as we prepare for whatever key phases are approved through that funding process, be it the Bear River bridge or sections of the highway.
Thanks to the Minister for that progress response. That is great news to hear. My next question: how is the GNWT working with Sahtu residents to ensure they are able to be equal partners in the economy?
As the House is well aware, with our application for the Mackenzie Valley Highway, that is not only going to open up the region for communities and transportation of goods; it's going to be able to open up an area that has a vast wealth of natural resources, be it bitumen petroleum reserves or the mineral potential that is unexplored in the area. So we are working hard to advance that along with the Sahtu secretary, who has been a great partner in us trying to advocate the federal government to put some federal dollars into this.
We are also finishing up the Canyon Creek road, which a number of Members, I believe, had an opportunity to tour when they were up there this year. This is something similar to the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway, where there was great local participation and training opportunities for people in the area and the Northwest Territories. The numbers that I have around that are very similar to what happened in the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk situation. Roughly 84 per cent of it was local and northern employment, and, at peak employment in March, there were roughly 81 people being employed on the project, 28 of whom were from the Sahtu, and 36 were from the North.
So we are doing our part to help improve the economy in the Sahtu region. Hopefully, with a positive announcement coming out of the federal government, we will be able to continue to move on some of these priorities.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister. My last question: will the Minister, sometime during this summer, support a Sahtu energy strategy conference?
After session, I am actually going up to Inuvik, here, right away, for the Arctic Energy Conference, which is in its second inaugural year, which we will participate in. If he wants to have a discussion with the Member as a sidebar of what kind of opportunities we can have around having a conference in Norman Wells, I would gladly sit down and have those discussions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Question 329-18(3):
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Finance on the issue of carbon pricing. I would like to start with something simple. The federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada wrote to all her provincial and territorial counterparts on December 20, 2017. She requested a response by March 30, 2018 on whether each jurisdiction would implement its own carbon pricing scheme or rely on the federal government. Last time I asked the Minister of Finance, in April, we still had not responded, so can the Minister tell us and the general public if he has written a response, and, if so, can he table it in this House without delay? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we did send a letter to ECCC with our planned approach to carbon pricing, and we also told them that we do not intend to use their backstop. So we will be having discussions going forward, and, when we are in a position to, we will release the results of our findings.
I would like to thank the Minister for that information. He did not answer the last part of my question, whether he was willing to table that letter in the House without delay, so I would like to repeat that question.
I will be making it available to the public, including tabling. I can table the letter, but what I need to do before that, out of respect for a consensus system, is share. We have a briefing with committee, and I want to give committee an update before I am in a position to release anything publicly.
I look forward to the briefing and getting the letter tabled so that we can tell the public what is going on. Our government apparently participated with federal government experts to prepare some sort of a study on the impacts of carbon pricing on the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister tell us whether that study has been completed and, if so, when it will be publicly released?
Mr. Speaker, there was a lot of work that went on on carbon pricing since the federal government came up with the initiative to implement carbon pricing, whether it was welcome or not. Our challenge was to do a lot of work, a lot of background work, to see what the effect would be on the people of the Northwest Territories and try to mitigate the effect on the people of the Northwest Territories. I think we have come up with a fairly good proposal in doing that. That is why we told the federal government that we will not be using their backstop. We did some numbers using their backstop, and it was going to add on to, significantly, the cost of living in the Northwest Territories. We have a product that is made in the North, by Northerners, and I think it will be well received by Northerners. Because the carbon pricing was going to be implemented with or without our participation, our challenge was to mitigate the impact it was going to have on Northerners.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to thank the Minister for that response, but he did not answer the question, again. This study that was done in collaboration with federal government experts on the impacts on the Northwest Territories of carbon pricing, is it done, and, if so, can he share it publicly?
I will share anything publicly, but, out of respect for the consensus system, I need to share the information with committee first, because we have seen what happens if we somehow release some information to the public before we get it to committee. So, once we have the discussion with committee and we have our discussion with Ottawa, I will be more than happy to release anything publicly so people out there can realize and know what a great job that the officials within the Government of the Northwest Territories did mitigating the impacts of carbon pricing on the people of Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, about two years ago, the Auditor General of Canada tabled his report entitled "Support for Communities for Municipal Services in the Northwest Territories." That report was basically highlighting 13 recommendations. The critical piece of the report was that MACA did not adequately help communities. In the case in Fort Providence, where we have a community volunteer fire department, what role does MACA have in supporting and establishing and maintaining a local fire department? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Coming out of that report, there were some highlights, and MACA will continue to work with the key partners as well as our hamlets to develop and maintain the fire protection services for Northwest Territories communities. With that said, I just want to say that, as the Member made congratulations to his volunteer firefighters in his community, I want to thank all the volunteers across the Northwest Territories for their commitment to keeping our communities safe.
We have also done a creative assessment tool across the Northwest Territories. Currently, we have 19 community fire department assessments that have been completed to date. It addresses what is working, what challenges there are, any inadequacies. With that, we are able to come up with a fire protection plan that identifies short- and long-term goals for the community. We will continue to put those assessment tools in place with all communities across the Northwest Territories and are willing to work with our hamlets and municipalities on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister stated that they will continue to work with hamlets. Of course, this is the Government of the Northwest Territories and this is the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. Who is responsible for fire protection services? Is it this government through MACA, or is it the local governments?
Right now, it is just the local governments that are responsible. We provide the support. We provide the training, as the Member alluded to in his Member's statement. From May 25th to May 27th, we had a Part I defensive-level firefighter course that took place. I believe there is going to be a follow-up coming in June. We continue to work with all our municipal governments to ensure that fire protection plans are in place for the community, and we do provide the supports.
We also have a community fire protection video as well as a presentation, which we have done in 18 community government presentations that have been conducted to date. As I mentioned, this is a responsibility of the local governments. We are here to provide the support to ensure that they are operating at a high standard and with the right training available to make sure that our communities are protected and kept safe.
In some communities, the fire departments have been rendered non-response departments. They have been put on hold, and there are no fire protection services available to the community. He has stated very clearly that his department is providing support. How is his department providing support to local governments to ensure their level of fire protection services is available for all residents of the NWT?
If the community or the hamlet has a fire chief, we will work with them to help them develop a volunteer fire team where volunteer firefighters will provide the training and the support for those volunteer firefighters to get the proper training that they need. We will also work with the SAOs of the hamlets in terms of working to get these fire protection plans in place, but also get the right training for the volunteer firefighters.
As I mentioned, we have developed a fire department assessment tool that helps us to identify any, like I said, inadequacies or any challenges that need to be taken into account to help develop that fire protection plan for the community. We are willing to work with all the communities across the Northwest Territories to ensure that each community has a fire department, has a fire protection plan in place should something happen in that community.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for his replies, as well. Could the Minister outline to the House in terms of a target or a specific timeline that his department has of ensuring that all 33 communities, at least, have local fire departments and fire protection measures in place? Mahsi.
Right now, we can't really set a timeline based on the resources that some of these communities have. As I mentioned, we have a fire protection action planning tool, as well, that was developed in 2017. It identifies priority activities, monitors progress, works toward a safe, effective, sustainable fire service. We have 13 community action plans under that planning tool.
We will continue to work with the NWTAC LGANT as well as the NWT Fire Association. We will be meeting with them at their upcoming general meeting 2018 to give them an update and see how we can work together collaboratively to address some of these communities that don't have either a fire protection plan or an adequate fire service. 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 am hoping the Minister heard parts of it. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier in my statement, we had a large fire in my riding last year. We are fortunate there was no damage to any infrastructure in the community or the water plant in Fort McPherson. I would like to ask the Minister: what is ENR's plans for fire prevention in the Mackenzie Delta this year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I apologize for missing the Member's fantastic statement. I hear the Member's point, and I have seen pictures of the fire that they had. Let us hope that we don't have those types of situations again this year. We try to work with the communities in fire smarting their communities.
I believe there was a local FireSmart representative workshop that was held in Yellowknife recently in March. I am not quite sure who the participants were. I understand there were 24 attendees from Communities, Lands, and a few other departments. I will work with the department to find out the outcomes of that workshop, and I would be glad to share it with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am glad the Minister mentioned the fire smarting. That leads me to my next question: can the Minister commit to fire smarting communities in the Mackenzie Delta this year so that the communities can use their capital funds for other critical infrastructure needs?
I want to be diplomatic, Mr. Speaker, but I am just going to say no. The responsibility of a lot of that work in the community was devolved to the communities a number of years ago. Most communities have done really well with it. There are other programs, I am sure, that they can access to help with some of the work that needs to go on.
Through the Small Community Employment strategy through the Small Community Employment Committee, or Small Community Committee, I think there were dollars that were given to every community in the Northwest Territories. Part of that could be used for programs such as this. The goal of that thing is to put people to work.
The fund that the Minister is talking about is in the neighbourhood of $30,000 per community. There is not very much fire smarting you could do for that amount. Maybe a couple of weeks of work or a month at the most, but Mr. Speaker, I will just leave that there and find another route to that. I will ask the Minister a different question. Are there plans to encourage people to pick mushrooms in my riding where we had a large fire last year, like they did here in Yellowknife? They did a lot of promotion in this area for mushroom pickers. Will that be done in my riding as well?
I am not sure about the plans, but a lot of those folks out there who are in that type of industry, they know where some of the fires were, so there is an opportunity for them to go into the riding. We would hope that members of the constituency would be the first ones to try and go take advantage of the harvest, but I am sure that those who are in that industry, those who pick them, do know where the fires are, and if there is an opportunity, they would go there and pick them.
As far as promoting it, I would have to check with my colleague at ITI to see if there is anything in the works on promoting this type of industry.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
