The fact, as I see it in this document, is that, when an employee would start at $60,000, in five years they would be making $72,000. Again, that is not a $30,000 increase. Why is this information on the government website when it is hard to understand, paints a picture of an overly generous benefit from what is being presented to the public, and prevents the public from clearly understanding what is on offer?
In a recent briefing, we gave committee a copy of the said document and we had our officials explain as to the steps of the document. I would be glad to sit down with the Member, go through the document with him, and explain it a little clearer, but I believe that the document is an accurate document and it gives people an opportunity to see where they might get once they get into the specific steps of their employment.
I think it would be clearer if the government created an apples-to-apples comparison of what someone is making in one year under the previous collective agreement to what someone is making in a given year under the GNWT's proposal. Can the Minister commit to creating a document like that, which provides a straight apples-to-apples comparison year-to-year of what an employee would currently make versus what one would make under the offer? Can the Minister commit to producing that?
As I said, I will commit to working with the Member. Again, I am not sure if this is going to interfere with the process that we are going through right now with UNW. I will confirm that, but I will work with the Member to try to give a clearer understanding, and I will see if we are in a position, without going against our negotiation with UNW, to provide this information.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's offer, and I don't want to appear ungenerous, but I am not raising this because I am having trouble understanding. I am raising this because the public looking at this is having trouble understanding, and they don't have the benefit of being able to sit down with the Minister and his department to parse this out. Can the Minister commit to, again, providing clearer information or a clear cost accounting of how they came to this figure, which, again, represents a 50 percent increase from base pay, which I think is hard for a lot of our residents to understand as a viable pay increase, even under the new offer? Thank you.
We will try to provide a document that is as clear as possible. Again, we are in the process of having discussions with the union. We are hoping to go to mediation by the end of the week, and I am hoping that this doesn't interfere with that, but we will try to provide a clearer document.
If the public is having trouble understanding it, they need to contact our folks over at Finance or contact myself. I have not heard from anyone. I have had a briefing with members of committee, gave them an explanation as to the steps and how the document works, but again, I would be pleased to sit down with the Member. If there is an opportunity to clarify it out in the public realm, we would be willing to do that as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's statement, I have questions for the Minister responsible for Education, and I am sure she may need assistance from the Infrastructure Minister, because it is between those two departments.
Mr. Speaker, I have heard from the community that Moose Kerr School has been closed due to the building issues more than once this winter. How does the department monitor these kinds of issues, and when does the department step in? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right. There have been quite a few schools, actually, this winter that have actually closed, mostly because of cold weather. That, I can't monitor. I mean, we all can look outside. That, I can't have any say over, unfortunately. Cold weather is good for other things, though.
When there are smaller issues in the schools that come up, for example, if there are problems with boilers or problems with Internet and stuff, usually what happens is the principal is notified. The principal then notifies the superintendent, who notifies the school authority. We do give every school board's authorities, school bodies, we give them operating and maintenance monies. That is to take care of general maintenance in their buildings.
If they are bigger than that, they actually are brought to the attention of Education, Culture and Employment. At that time, we go in. We work closely with ITI to go in and do an assessment of the needs within the building. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I understand that the GNWT provided some small capital funding for the removal of hazardous portables and the creation of a play space at Moose Kerr School. What is the status of this work?
We did find, when we assessed the portables, that there were hazardous materials, so we were going to take them out of there. We thought that it would be completed in August. However, the bids were not successful and so the procurement process did delay the project, but we are on it now. We are expecting that the demolition will take place coming up this March, and then the playground will be completed. The playground will start in the spring, but the demolition should be completed by summer of this coming year.
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment also planned to engage with the community to address safety concerns for children walking to school and using the parking area. What is the status of this work, and how has the department worked with the community over the past year?
I want to meet with the Member after session, because I am little bit confused as to whether he is talking about now or a previous meeting with the parents. Normally, whenever we do any major construction we meet with the community and with parents to get them aware and to address any concerns that they may have. When we are looking at the demolition of the portables, we will do that process, as well.
If the Member is speaking about something different, which I figure he might be, then if you could please let me know, and then I can address those issues, as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we were planning all of this work that was going to take place, like the parking area, the department said that they will meet with the hamlet and the community and speak with them to see what they would like to see done for the safety issues. Going into the 2019-2020 year, what is the department's current plan for Moose Kerr School? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Like I stated earlier, currently the future plan for the school is that we will be doing the demolition project. We will be doing the playground. I would love to say that we were giving them a new school. I know that they have wanted that for many years. I would love to have new schools in every community. The reality, though, is that we don't have the funding, so we have to look at schools based on the age of them, the condition, and the utilization rate. Unfortunately, the age is old; the condition rate is good; and the utilization rate, I think, is 36 percent or something really low, so it does get bumped down in the process.
As for the parking, again, if there was a commitment made that we would go in and talk to them about the general parking at the school, then I will make sure that that commitment is fulfilled, and so I will make that a priority. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to return to my line of questioning for the Premier. The Premier is aware that the mandate belongs to all of us, as do the results of the mandate for the 18th Assembly. I would like to again ask the Premier if he can make a more robust effort to include Regular Members by creating a forum, such as using Caucus, for discussing outstanding commitments and prioritizing the completion of those that are possible in the next seven months. Mahsi.
Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't see why we need to create another forum. The information is updated on a regular basis. We meet at Caucus once a week when we are in session. I think the process is already in place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Is the Premier prepared to come to Caucus to discuss prioritizing the remaining commitments in the mandate?
If the Members want to take commitments off, that is always welcome.
I don't think of the Premier as a funny man, but he is apparently turning a new leaf. Can the Premier tell us why there are so many commitments still unfulfilled three years into our mandate?
In my mind, I don't believe that all of the Members took into account whether all of these commitments were doable in four years. Some of the commitments were very, very specific, and as such they are difficult to fulfill. Others are ongoing commitments that were there before; we have been doing a lot of work on it. Moving into the next Assembly, they will continue.
It is not an easy process, to just say, "Okay, we've done this," and move on to the next one, and that is why we are tracking all of the commitments that were made.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the mandate and all of the commitments are something that all 18 of us came up with, and I am sure that, if we had our lives to live over again, we may not have chosen as many as we did, but the fact is that this is what we set out to do in this Assembly and we have a big chunk of work that remains undone that we need to address.
One possibility is that there are too many commitments, but another is that our agenda has really been hijacked by the money offered by Ottawa, meaning that, although the investment is welcome, we have ended up funding Ottawa's priorities rather than our own. Can the Premier say whether he agrees with that statement? Mahsi.
I don't agree with that statement. I believe that, at the time, if we had said no, we aren't going to do climate change, or we are not going to implement cannabis and we will just live with the backstop, the federal government was going to do it anyway. I didn't hear people saying, "Yes, let's just live with the backstop and just focus on our commitments," so I don't agree with that statement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I am very mindful of the words that you offered at the beginning of this sitting about being careful how we are choosing our questions, and I do believe in collective bargaining, but there has been an event this afternoon that I need to ask some questions of the other side about. There was a news release put out earlier this afternoon about a strike notice being issued by the Union of Northern Workers, and I would like to ask which bargaining units have provided strike notice to our government. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Sorry, Mr. Speaker. I meant to ask that question of the Minister, and I just want, for information purposes, whether our government has actually received strike notice from which units from Union of Northern Workers. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister of Finance.
Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we received a strike notice from the UNW, which represents government employees. Thank you.
I would like to then ask the Minister of Finance whether we have received strike notice from UNW on behalf of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation workers and the workers with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority.
We have not received anything from NTPC, the workers at NTPC, and my understanding is that the Hay River Health and Social Services were having their vote. They may have had it yesterday, and we are just waiting for the results of that vote.
I would like to thank the Minister for that. Can the Minister tell us whether there are essential services agreements in place for the three bargaining units that I mentioned earlier?
Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to know from the Minister of Finance what the next steps are in terms of negotiations with the unions representing our employees and what sort of assurance he can give us that we are going to reach an agreement. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
As I said earlier, I think, responding to questions earlier, we have mediation coming up with the UNW on Friday. We are hoping to reach an agreement with them, and we will see what happens after that. As far as the other tables go, again, we are waiting to hear from Hay River Health and Social Services, and we are also looking to continue our talks with NTPC.
A strike is not something that anybody wants, and it is not something that the people of the Northwest Territories want, especially the employees. We feel that we have been very fair in our discussions with UNW. Again, that remains to be seen. We will have a better idea after the mediation this weekend to see what type of position that we are in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier.
Cabinet and GNWT staff travelled to Vancouver during the week of January 28 to 31, 2019, to attend the Association for Mineral Exploration Roundup. Can the Premier provide a list of all NWT Ministers and staff who travelled to Vancouver for the meetings, and:
Total cost of travel, including transportation (showing air travel by executive versus economy class), accommodations, expenses, and associated allowances;
Any related contract costs for the trip, particularly costs of conference registration, exhibitor staffing, any fees for consulting services outside those provided by public servants, and any funding by the GNWT Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment of the costs of other NWT representatives attending;
A description of hospitality events, including catering, speaker, and other costs, and numbers of persons attending; and
What analysis, if any, has taken place of the value for money of the GNWT participation at this event.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I have a return to written question asked by the Member for Kam Lake on October 24, 2018, to the Minister of Finance regarding the performance of the Northwest Territories Liquor and Cannabis Commission.
The Department of Finance has gathered the requested information, and later today, at the appropriate time, I will table the spreadsheets that detail the information that the Member requested.
The spreadsheets that I will be tabling in the House identify:
The total amount of sales for cannabis by vendor and product provided by the NWT Liquor and Cannabis Commission for the period of October 17, 2018, to December 31, 2018.
The total sales of each individual cannabis product by vendor for the period of October 17, 2018, to December 31, 2018.
The total sales of cannabis products purchased through the NWT Liquor and Cannabis Commission online store for the period of October 17, 2018, to December 31, 2018.
The Member also requested the quantity and type of cannabis products distributed to each cannabis vendor by the NWT Liquor and Cannabis Commission, but at the time of this report, the inventory on hand for all cannabis product is minimal. This is a direct result of cannabis product shortage across Canada.
