Masi. I will take that as more of a comment to the Minister for consideration. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I brought this issue up a few months back. This question is to the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, a few months back, in the winter session, I brought up the concerns from Aklavik that, you know, the transition house, if you will, the four-unit building that was supposed to be put up in the community, was after some more planning supposed to go to a four-bedroom unit, which I don't feel is adequate, so I would like to ask our new Minister here: what are the plans for the four-unit transition home for Aklavik? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday you heard me make a Minister's statement in the House about the Northern Pathways to Housing pilot program. I mentioned four communities, Fort Simpson, Behchoko, Aklavik, as well as, just recently, Fort Good Hope, working with the K'asho Got'ine Housing Society to develop these units. Now, recently, I know the Member mentioned that there was a unit that we were going to fix up to address the transition house, but the current update on that is we met with the Aklavik Indian Band, and I believe that we are going to get materials there this summer and build new construction for a new building in the community of Aklavik. It should be done, hopefully completed, by December of this year.
That is great news. I know that community was disappointed when I made them aware that the building was going to be renovated, so that is great. Hopefully, we will have some work in the community. Will the Minister ensure that the contract is either negotiated -- I know the community does actually have a working group to try to get as much work in the community as possible.
As the Member knows, the NWT Housing Corporation has been working with the Aklavik Indian Band for a couple of years now in terms of the planning, looking for a lot, looking for where we can put either a new construction or where we can upgrade a current housing unit. As I mentioned, it is a new construction. We will get the materials there this summer. The building, the northern housing unit, should be complete by December of 2018. We will update the Member on a regular basis. We will also make sure that the Aklavik Indian Band does know this. In terms of the contract, I do believe the contract is already awarded, so the work can get started as soon as the material gets over to Aklavik. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is doing some good work as it relates to our responsibility in lowering our emissions and working towards energy efficiency. I think Northerners are doing a good job at the same thing, finding ways in which to lower their energy costs, but businesses, commercial enterprises, they want the same opportunity, Mr. Speaker. They are some of our biggest emitters, after all, and so solar is an enticing opportunity for them, but, right now, when they crunch the numbers, it just does not seem to work out. I would just like to start by asking the Minister: can the Minister maybe explain the rationale for the policy that seems to be limiting alternative-energy projects to 15 kilowatt hours? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the previous Assembly, the Minister responsible for the PUB and Cabinet of the day provided some direction to the PUB to develop some principles when assessing net metering here in the Northwest Territories. Part of that direction included a capacity of 15 kilowatts, as the Member has identified. Those instructions are available online at the PUB's website. In this Assembly, with respect to Mandate 1.4.6, this Assembly agreed that we will support net metering through clear policy direction to the PUB to provide clarity to allow customers to recover their investments in renewable energy.
Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons 15 kilowatts was identified is recognizing that savings realized by residents and business participating in net metering are eventually passed along to residents and businesses who do not have the financial wherewithal to actually invest in privately owned energy alternatives, so we needed to make sure that there was not too much cost going on all the residents who could not afford to necessarily move forward with green technology.
I appreciate where the Minister is coming from, but one of the things that has been identified recently is the Northwest Territories Chamber of Commerce has done some work as it relates to a significant recent reduction in small to medium business enterprises, and part of the reason, we have learned, as to why --
Member for Yellowknife North, we only have six more minutes and we have another Member, so, if you can, get to the question. Also, shorten the answers, as well. Masi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will do my best. So I guess we are seeing a downturn in small businesses, and one of the arguments is that it's due to energy costs, so it seems to me that changing a policy to allow businesses to become more efficient would be the right thing to do. Will the Minister maybe consider directing the board to increase the 15 kilowatt hour to 50 kilowatt hour to make it more economical for businesses to consider alternative energy?
In response to the mandate, Cabinet committed to addressing that meeting through a public review of the GNWT's draft energy strategy, and to either amend or reconfirm the previous Cabinet's policy direction around that meeting as required. The public review on the energy strategy is now complete. It is my understanding that no issues were identified which required any revisions to our strategy. We're open to have additional discussion on this, but I will remind the Member that one of the main reasons we supported net metering is to help green, to provide more green energy and get off carbon. I am curious whether the Member is talking about providing net metering to businesses in hydro zones or thermal zones?
I appreciate the answer. I'm talking about thermal or hydro. I mean, arguably, Yellowknife is a mix of both. We have spent $30 million in fuel subsidizing our hydro system in recent years. I asked this question during budget deliberations, and the answer that I got was that because we need to preserve NTPC's infrastructure costs. Somehow, we can't allow big generators of power to come online, or else that would interrupt how we operate as it relates to the power corporation. Mr. Speaker, it would seem to me that we would be wanting ---
Member Yellowknife North, what's your question?
The question is: why would we invite other big providers of power to come online and help the Power Corporation to reduce its costs so that we can all get a little bit more affordable power?
One of the reasons we do net metering, as I've indicated, is to support getting off carbon and utilizing green technologies. In a hydro zone, the cost of providing power is set based on the equipment and machinery we have in place. By bringing in more hydro or solar power, we are actually increasing the cost of those individuals who don't have the wherewithal, financial wherewithal, to actually invest.
If the Member is talking about thermal zones, I am totally open to having the discussion about providing greater kilowatt hour for businesses, but in a hydro zone, it is going to drive up the cost for the net users, which includes everybody who can't afford to put in hydro. For thermal zones, I am available for the conversation.
Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Infrastructure. I want to thank the Minister for attending a constituency tour on May 8th, when we met people in Kakisa, and then we raised the concerns about the dock in their community and its condition. I was very encouraged by the recent announcement by the Ministers of Transportation and Infrastructure in the NWT, particularly the air transportation. My question is to the Minister of Infrastructure: what kind of plan of action does he intend to undertake to follow up from the meeting of May 8th in terms of addressing the concerns of the people of Kakisa? Thank you.
Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am glad to inform the Member we have already directed our superintendent to reach out to the community, which they have. They are in discussions. We were going to provide assistance with the community on how to prepare their CAP proposal for this project through the Department of Infrastructure, and we will be working with them closely, and I will be following this project closely.
I wanted the initiative that's available to communities, the Community Access Program, which has a target of working with docks and wharfs in small communities, and it is application-based. Could the Minister detail out how his officials may work with the community at Kakisa?
I guess I should clarify: the regional superintendent was the superintendent of Infrastructure, and we are going to be looking at using the Community Access Program for this project. We are going to work closely with them to help them prepare their proposal. Part of the criteria around the CAP program is we provide contributions to the communities, but when it goes through that process, there are requirements that we need to consider; the level of community involvement in the process, the benefit to the community, and the cost. That's what we will be working with them once we get the application filled out and have a look at it.
I just wanted to thank the Minister for his answers, and I don't have any furthers questions. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to present its Report on the Review of the 2016-2017 Public Accounts of the Government of the Northwest Territories. The review took place in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, from April 18-19, 2018.
The committee notes that the Consolidated 2016-2017 Public Accounts of the Government of the Northwest Territories received a clean audit opinion from the Auditor General and commends the Government of the Northwest Territories for this achievement.
Members of the standing committee would also like to take the opportunity to thank Assistant Auditor General Mr. Terry DeJong, Mr. David Irving, principal, and Ms. Michelle Smith, director, from the Office of the Auditor General (OAG), who traveled from Ottawa and Edmonton to assist the standing committee with its review.
The standing committee also wishes to thank Mr. Jamie Koe, Comptroller General, and officials from the Office of the Comptroller General in the GNWT's Department of Finance for their appearance before the committee.
As a result of this year's review of the 2016-2017 public accounts, the Standing Committee on Government Operations made recommendations in the following subject areas:
Timeliness of the Public Accounts
In 2016-2017, there were 22 entities consolidated in the public accounts. Seven entities failed to meet their original deadlines and failed to seek extensions as required by the Financial Administration Act, FAA. The committee discussed with the Comptroller General the possibility that smaller boards and agencies might benefit from a more formalized arrangement of support from the Office of the Comptroller General, such as a memorandum of understanding or service agreement. The Comptroller General expressed a willingness to consider this proposal if recommended to do so by the committee.
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Office of the Comptroller General in the Department of Finance consider, and report back to the standing committee on, the utility of entering into service agreements or memoranda of understanding with GNWT boards, agencies, or other entities requiring support or assistance to complete their year-end financial reporting as required under the FAA.
Accounting Treatment of Public Private Partnerships
The standing committee acknowledges the improvements the GNWT is making to the manner in which it reports on P3 projects in the public accounts, given that the Public Sector Accounting Board standards have yet to be finalized.
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories consider bringing together all of its information about P3 projects under one note in the consolidated public accounts, until such time as the new Canadian Public Sector Accounting Board Standards on the accounting treatment of P3 projects are put in place.
Public Reporting on the GNWT's Inventory of Contaminated Sites
With respect to the GNWT's environmental liabilities, the standing committee believes that the GNWT should be doing more to report publicly on its contaminated site inventory.
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories make GNWT's inventory of contaminated sites available online, modeled upon, and with a level of disclosure comparable to, the Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory maintained by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.
Compliance with the GNWT's Fiscal Responsibility Policy
The standing committee acknowledges the improvements that the GNWT has made to its reporting on the government's compliance with its Fiscal Responsibility Policy, but believes that there is room for improvement, to improve government accountability and transparency.
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories, giving consideration to the observations made in this committee report, strive to improve upon the information in the Financial Statement Discussion and Analysis section of the public accounts that indicates how the GNWT has met the Fiscal Responsibility Policy provisions related to debt servicing and infrastructure financing.
Balancing the Protection of Privacy and the Disclosure of Information
The standing committee continues to have concerns with the way that the GNWT reports student loan remissions in Schedule 9 of the non-consolidated financial statements. To address the optics of including student loan remissions, which is a positive indication of a northern resident student's completion of higher education, with bad debt write-offs and forgiveness, the standing committee makes the following recommendation.
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Finance give consideration to reporting student loan remissions in another schedule in the public accounts, separate from the schedule reporting bad debt write-offs and forgiveness.
Even with this change, the standing committee is still of the view that the degree of disclosure of information regarding student loan remission in the public accounts constitutes a potential invasion of privacy. Therefore:
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Finance, upon completion of a privacy impact assessment in 2018-2019 by the Information and Privacy Commissioner and having considered the committee's suggestions contained in this report, reconsider amending the Non-consolidated Schedule of Bad Debt Write-offs, Forgiveness and Student Loan Remissions to better protect the privacy of individuals.
Improving Accountability and Transparency
The standing committee was advised by the Office of the Auditor General that the GNWT is in the process of ensuring that annual reports of the government's boards and Crown corporations be translated into French.
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Finance continue its efforts to ensure that all annual reports required under the GNWT's Planning and Accountability Framework be translated into French and made available to the public in a timely manner.
Conclusion
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this report within 120 days.
Mr. Speaker, I now move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that Committee Report 8-18(3) be deemed read and printed in Hansard in its entirety. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?
Masi. Reports of standing and special committees. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that Committee Report 8-18(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2016-2017 Public Accounts, be received by the Assembly and moved into Committee of the Whole for further consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I now seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 100(4) and to have Committee Report 8-18(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2016-2017 Public Accounts, be received by the Assembly and moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "2017 Annual Report - Office of the Fire Marshal." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled "NWT On the Land Collaborative 2018 Report." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
