Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. As I mentioned in my statement, my hope and expectation is that the next Anti-Poverty Action Plan will include well-defined goals for which there is required funding for implementation, along with robust evaluation. Can the Minister tell me whether this is a realistic expectation? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, we heard clearly from the participants of the roundtable and also from individuals who submitted a number of written submissions afterwards, often encouraged by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre. There is a lot of input. A lot of suggestions have come in. We are trying to incorporate those. We can't accept them all just on face value. Some of them, we need to do a little bit more digging to see if they can be incorporated.
Our plan right now, Mr. Speaker, is to finalize the drafting here in the next couple of weeks and take it through Cabinet to get their endorsement to send it to committee. Committee, I hope that we have some good to-and-fro on that document to make sure that we are getting it as strong as can be, incorporating the types of discussions that the Member has identified here, so that we can release the document in the spring. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the detail that the Minister provided in his answer. I want to go into the specifics a little bit. Food security was a high-profile issue at the most recent anti-poverty roundtable. In addition to funding food banks and soup kitchens, does the Minister have a plan to develop a long-term systemic solution to help the one in three children who experience hunger in the NWT?
I know that the Member is aware of this, because she has been involved in this file for a very long time, and I appreciate the work that she has brought to this particular issue, but this isn't just a Health and Social Services issue; this is a territorial issue. This is the responsibility of all people in the Northwest Territories, and there are multiple partners on that.
ITI is doing work around community gardens. Education, Culture and Employment is doing work around food programs for school-aged children. There is money through the anti-poverty fund. We are trying to make as much progress in this area as we can. The money might flow from different initiatives, but it is all addressing poverty here in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to go at that question in a different way. Food security is just the example, but the real point I am trying to get to is funding short-term solutions and funding long-term solutions and whether there is any intention by the government to look at a set of long-term solutions to issues like food security, which would provide solutions that don't have to be constantly updated but would be in place for all residents of the GNWT over the long term.
Mr. Speaker, when it comes to food security, I think ITI is doing an awful lot of work for getting community gardens and other mechanisms in our communities. I think the commercial fish work that we are doing goes a long way to food security. One of the things that Health and Social Services do, and it is building upon the work that is being done by ITI, is we are modifying legislation to allow people to sell produce that they are growing in their own gardens. The next step will be finding ways through regulation policy to allow people to sell more complicated food like meats and other things. These are things that will last for extended periods of time, but we have to do it right. We have to make sure that we are doing it, to ensure that people are eating safe foods if it is being sold. Those are the types of things. Those aren't the only things. This is certainly an area that we need to keep having more and more discussion as better technology and more information comes to the table, but we are trying to make improvements in this area. We will be working with our partners, including federal governments, territorial governments, communities, and NGOs.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Finally, my last question is: at the workshop, the Minister talked about securing business and charitable partners to leverage additional funding for anti-poverty initiatives; I am wondering if the Minister can tell us what progress he has made and what the plan is for that?
Mr. Speaker, we have reached out, but at this point in time we haven't managed to increase a level of funding through partners, but you don't stop after asking once. You ask multiple times. We will keep pushing some of these organizations to see if they are willing to step up to the plate. Some may, some may not, but we will keep trying. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. This will be my last reply to the budget addressed for the 18th Assembly, and I look forward to thunderous applause from my colleagues across the way. I have organized my reply in the following manner, with some general comments that review the process revenues and departmental highlights. I conclude with some advice to future assemblies.
Cabinet's cuts to programs and services appear to have come to an end except for one department, and that's Environment and Natural Resources, and I will have more to say on that issue a little later. We continue to run up a debt as a result of large infrastructure projects. The debt is now $1.1 billion, only $200 million away from the debt wall. A large infrastructure project for 2019-2020 will be the Tlicho All-Season Road at $46.8 million.
We have a Cabinet that is adrift in a maze of mandate commitments that it cannot possibly hope to complete. A lot of funding is finally flowing from the federal government, but this is now shaping our direction and investments. This is not necessarily a bad thing. This Cabinet is stuck in the roads-to-resources paradigm, and the federal funding has at least forced us to look beyond this approach. It is a sad comment that we have to look to the federal government for improved action on housing for our citizens or applying carbon pricing to combat climate change.
For the fourth year in a row, no public consultation was carried out with regard to the budget. I contrast this with the last several finance ministers who would carry out pre and post budget meetings. In addition to the lack of public consultation and despite my previous recommendations, there was no consultation with Regular MLAs to help set priorities and develop the business plans. Again, the quality and inconsistency of the departmental budgets or business plans varied widely. Some contained very little detail on activities for 2019-2020. We are using output-based performance indicators rather than tracking outcomes, and there are questionable risk profiles. As I said last year, Cabinet Ministers need to pay much more close attention to their business plans, appropriate to the investment of $1.9 million in public funds. We are still waiting for responses from Cabinet on the very modest budget requests from Regular MLAs, which will come to light as the process rolls out through the House.
Cabinet dropped in very significant changes from the business plans to the Main Estimates, in the order of more than $20 million, with no explanation. We had to ferret out these changes and seek information. Some of the responses are yet to arrive.
We will raise almost as much money from tobacco taxes, $15 million, and liquor revenues, $25 million, as we get from resource royalties, at $47 million. Very little, if anything, has been accomplished in terms of increasing or even stabilizing own-source revenues. Reviews of resource royalties have been pushed off to the 19th Assembly with no guarantee this will be public, while literally tens of millions of dollars of potential revenues flow out of the Northwest Territories, as shown by ITI's own consultants. Changes to the territorial formula arrangement would also be helpful in ensuring that we get to keep more of our own-source revenues, but little progress, if any, has been made by our Cabinet on this matter.
One Member in this House referred to the consultation process underway on the sugar-sweetened beverage tax as a cynical effort to check off a box. I would liken it to a lead zeppelin that was never intended to get off the ground.
I have already described in this House how the carbon pricing system developed by Cabinet is not fair and that it is doubtful whether it will really help us achieve our climate-change commitments. While $16.2 million will be raised, large emitters will get all of the money back that they pay, and only $3.7 million will be re-invested. It will be individuals, families, and small businesses that are subsidizing the limited re-investment in renewables, not industry. There has been no income tax reform during this Assembly. Cabinet refuses to add a high-earner tax bracket, unlike the federal government and other jurisdictions.
Lastly, despite my continuing to raise these issues year after year, there does not appear to be any progress on indexing the northern resident tax deduction or setting a publicly available rate for travel to southern locations to avoid the plethora of audits that plague Northerners.
There has been no visible progress on reviewing the Heritage Fund Act as laid out in the mandate. The fund continues to lose money against inflation, has no defined revenue stream, and no role for the public in its management. A very large information systems shared services unit of 71 staff is being created with many transfers from other departments. From what I can tell, the purpose is not to deliver improved service to the public but to centralize power within the Department of Finance. We can expect to hear more about the unfair carbon tax developed by Cabinet, but I will say that the federal backstop is looking a lot better.
There are definitely some good initiatives here from one of the few departments and Ministers who is not afraid to go and get additional resources. I want to commend the Minister for that. This includes over $3.3 million for child and family services, a territorial midwifery program, I am still waiting to see the plan, and increased resources for autism. Some of the money for the new initiatives are being taken from some other programs, and we have yet to get an adequate explanation. Most troubling is the $600,000 cut to homecare services to fund child and family services improvements.
Co-payments of medical travel are set to increase by $240,000, but the process and way of increasing revenues has not been explained. I have asked the Minister several times for a clear plan with timeline for the old Stanton Hospital services, and I am still waiting.
Audiology wait times are clearly unacceptable, and it is not clear whether this budget will improve this situation. Benchmarking and public reporting of wait times is needed for a variety of medical and allied health services. It is hard to tell whether we are making any progress on pharmacare, recovering Metis benefits payments from the federal government, and improving the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program.
Lastly, there is no overall plan for dealing with family violence, from our government. Health and Social Services can and should play a central role in this initiative, but it is not clear what is happening.
Macro-economic analysis does not appear to play any role in how funding is invested. Diversification takes a back seat to the department's promotion of non-renewable resource development. It is good to see some limited new funding for development of a knowledge economy strategy and development of wind power in Inuvik.
There is a need for an agricultural pathfinder, just as there is such a function for the mining sector within ITI. No reasonable rationale has been provided for an additional deputy mining recorder, as the workload is steady or even declining.
Lastly, there does not appear to be any additional funds for new investments in the Yellowknife tourism sector that is still without a proper visitor centre.
Expenditures at the corporation will be over $100 million for 2019-2020, which includes some new federal funding. The corporation should report on how this spending will work towards reducing core need and how it will work with other agencies, such as the co-investment fund in the National Housing Strategy. Client-centred performance measures would also help.
I have encouraged improvements to the corporation's website for some time, to make its programs and services more accessible, especially in light of the refocused initiatives within the corporation.
The corporation also needs to get very creative and get more of the federal infrastructure funding that requires Cabinet to let it get to the table. For example, Nunavut is using $12 million for housing retrofits under the Low Carbon Economy Fund where we are only using $4 million from that fund for housing improvements.
This is the only department that is continuing to take cuts in 2019-2020 by another $1.675 million. During the term of this Assembly, funding for the department has been slashed by about 10 percent. If there was ever any doubt that the environment is not a priority with Cabinet or the Minister, this is the evidence.
Very significant delays have been experienced in getting mandate and other commitments completed. This is not because of a lack of dedication by the hard-working staff, but a lack of resources and leadership. While responsibilities have increased (for example, the climate change audit, Pan-Canadian Framework tracking and reporting, the caribou crisis, new legislation developed without additional resources), funds continue to shrink for this department. The ENR Minister has not been able to protect this department or secure additional resources, despite his twin, the Minister of Finance.
I was very disappointed to see that there is no new funding to address the caribou crisis. There are legal requirements for recovery strategies for both boreal and barren-ground caribou, as these are now classified as species at risk. There is also no new funding for the Bathurst Caribou Range Plan with its specific habitat protection recommendations.
Earlier I mentioned the lack of a government-wide approach or initiatives on family violence. Justice needs to play a central role with Health and Social Services in these efforts.
I am thankful for a commitment by the Minister to review Victims Services. I look forward to the release of that report as soon as possible and to additional resources to serve this important function offered by our government.
There has been some small progress on increasing community government funding by $1.8 million in 2019-2020, but we still need the plan to close the gap in the 2015 Municipal Funding Review. Back then, it was a $33-million shortfall so this needs to be updated based on our current needs. 911 is still proceeding, and that is a good thing. However, there is a need for much better communications if implementation is to be achieved by July 1, 2019.
Regular MLAs have urged increased investment in the NGO Stabilization Fund, so it is good to see that it is going to be doubled in 2019-2020. The fund should still be moved over to the Executive.
The department still has a very large legislative backlog, including consumer protection, municipal government, and more. It would be helpful to have a sense of priorities and to pass this on to the next Assembly.
The department has huge carryovers, sometimes almost 50 percent of its capital projects. The cause is not clear, and it is not being tracked. It may be related to the lack of capacity to get contracts out due to staff cuts in previous budgets, contractor capacity, federal funding delays, or because of payment schedules and cutoffs. At the same time, projects contracted through the department by other government agencies should not be penalized as a result of delays that are within the control of the Department of Infrastructure. Tracking and reporting on carryovers is required.
There does not appear to be any systematic way of evaluating projects for submission to federal infrastructure programs or criteria for doing so, such as the number of jobs created, contribution towards greenhouse gas reductions, and so on. This analysis needs to take place, and in consultation with Regular MLAs.
Given the large infrastructure projects managed by this department, poor planning often causes forced growth or actions in other departments. For example, another $381,000 is required in 2019-2020 for ENR for additional monitoring of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway. Reporting and proactive disclosure of Marine Transportation Services is needed in light of the failure to ship goods to coastal communities.
There is still no plan for having government service officers in all of our communities. The Minister has resisted calls for such services in regional centres and Yellowknife despite collaborative opportunities with Service Canada.
Good work has been done to achieve gender balance with GNWT board appointments, and I want to commend the Minister for that.
There is a significant increase in Ministerial travel in the Executive, of $153,000 or about 30 percent.
A Northwest Territories Economic Development Summit has been established. Unfortunately, it appears to be a parallel system of priority setting with Regular MLAs kept on the outside. Even its agendas are confidential.
Little to no progress on land rights negotiations has taken place during the 18th Assembly. The only completion has been the Agreement-in-Principle for Norman Wells Self-Government. I will be watching closely to see whether Cabinet has implemented the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the forthcoming resource management legislation. The recent NICO Socio-Economic Agreement is clearly at odds with the stated approach from the Executive.
It is not clear whether any additional resources are needed or have been secured for offshore petroleum negotiations. The role for Regular MLAs has not been clarified.
Regular MLAs have traditionally had very little oversight of this body. With this Assembly, we have started to include the corporation as part of our budget process, but it is on a different fiscal year. We still need to watch it very carefully, especially with Cabinet going down a billion-dollar road of Taltson expansion. The corporation's renewable energy projects appear to be funded through the federal government and by individuals, families and small businesses once the carbon tax is put in place.
Large changes in staffing levels in the district education authorities are due to declines in enrollment. I am disappointed that it looks like there is no new funding for post-secondary education renewal. I am pleased to note the increased funding to family violence shelters.
Further staffing cuts at the NWT Archives appear in this budget.
Income support and income assistance changes are good, but we need to find a way to index these programs against inflation. The same applies for childcare supports. We cannot continue to assume the lowest income families can get by on the same amount of funding despite higher cost of living.
Land use planning is what brought me to the Northwest Territories in 1985, and I continue to support it. However, MLAs are being asked to approve $753,000 for land use planning in the Wek'eezhii management area without any details or overall strategy, which should include federal funding. We have been asking for this information for months.
As important as land use planning is, the Minister has decided to cut land use planning contribution funding to make up for the department's share of its transfers to Finance for the ISSS. This cut of $60,000 should simply be absorbed by Finance, or Lands should find somewhere else to cut.
Little to no progress on contaminated sites management and prevention of public liabilities has occurred, and that was a mandate requirement. Most of that work should be done by Lands. Some sort of tracking system has yet to be completed, and a manual on contaminated sites management has been in preparation for what seems like years. There are no policy changes, regulations, or legislative change to ensure that we reduce the risk of taking on new public liabilities.
I look forward to the lessons learned from the Tlicho All-Season Road environmental assessment, where the Project Assessment Policy was applied. It seems to have failed. Lands did not do very well with its coordination of GNWT participation as a result of that Policy. Departments were not allowed to freely participate in that environmental assessment.
I have offered some thoughts on how to improve the budget process, including early and meaningful consultation with Regular MLAs and the public. I have also recommended a more balanced approach that includes more revenues and a stronger focus on diversifying our economy.
The federal government has new and different priorities for infrastructure to build a cleaner economy, a more inclusive society, a low-carbon economy, and transformative change. Our government has finally started to get on board but keeps the old blinders of infrastructure to facilitate more non-renewable resource development rather than building sustainable, energy self-sufficient communities. Transformative change can come through the emerging knowledge economy and opportunities such as the conservation economy with Thaidene Nene.
As I said last year, we need plans and strategies for adequate housing and universal childcare so our residents can engage in the economy. We need to get our housing out of core need while creating local jobs, provide stronger support for the arts, tourism, agriculture and the fishing industry, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower the cost of living, and develop a real post-secondary education system. These sectors also create more local jobs than non-renewable resource development per dollar of investment. This is the kind of leadership I still hope for in our budgets.
There are some exciting initiatives in this budget and I sincerely thank my Cabinet colleagues and their staff and my Committee colleagues for much hard work in getting us to this point. I look forward to the debate as we move forward in our review of the 2019-2020 budget. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, my reply to the budget will be a bit different than the one I did last year. We are still working behind the scenes to get us closer to a final agreement on the budget. It has been a long process, from closely reviewing the business plans to finding common ground, and finally getting closer to a budget that we can agree to pass. Unfortunately, since we started the process, a number of issues have come to my attention and need to be addressed. I realize some of these concerns are not in the budget, but, if we work together, they can be added via supplementary appropriation later in this session. This being the last O and M budget of the 18th Assembly, I think we are getting better at listening to one another. For a $1.87-billion budget, I believe we are only a few million dollars apart. Don’t get me wrong, we still have work to do.
Even so, Mr. Speaker, this year’s business plans were a bit challenging, especially when you consider we will spend more than $1.873 billion in public funds. Some departments’ plans still lacked details. There were some inconsistencies, typographical errors, and wholesale repetition of sections from previous business plans. I would like to have the departments provide more detailed descriptions of all planned activities, as identified by Members from this side. We need to be better informed so we can make better decisions.
Mr. Speaker, the Finance Minister said the 2019-2020 budget proposes operating expenditures of about $1.8713 billion. As we worked through the business plans, we came up with small additional requests. Some were increases in funding, others were reinstatement of planned cuts, and others were re-investments. I have to say we are getting closer each year.
As the Minister said in his budget address, the projected operating surplus of $60 million is going directly to the 2019-2020 infrastructure budget. However, we still need a realistic plan for how the GNWT intends to proceed with major projects within its existing borrowing capacity, and what circumstances might trigger the GNWT to seek an increase to its current federally imposed borrowing limit.
I am happy to see the government is investing $70 million for new initiatives and $17 million to enhance or maintain existing programs. However, some of these new allocations may not get spent, and this saddens me. As a government, we have to do better to deliver the services we promise and budget for.
Mr. Speaker, I realize that most of the regions face hardships, and I empathize with them. In the Nahendeh riding, we have been experiencing this for a long period of time. All you need to do is visit the six communities, especially the small ones, to realize the hardships residents face. We have communities that have to do job sharing so people can survive. This is hugely disappointing.
Mr. Speaker, like I said last year, we need to continue to diversify our economy. I believe tourism can play an important role in our economy, especially in the Nahendeh riding. We see a number of tourists coming into our region during the summer months, but few or none during the winter. In our ridings, we can see the investments that the government is making and hope to increase the number of visitors coming to our region. This will lead to future employment and business opportunities.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to see the budget sets aside for the establishment of the Office of the Ombudsperson, but I want to remind the Finance Minister that he or she is now called the "Ombud," not the Ombudsman.
The Ombud is like a "commissioner for fairness." He or she will be available to take complaints and to help people who feel that they have been unfairly treated by the government. I think this is a very good thing.
I think it will also be good for government because sometimes the Ombud will investigate a complaint and find out the government did do the right thing. In that case, the Ombud will be able to help explain to the public how the government properly follows the process.
I know that some MLAs have said that the Northwest Territories does not need an Ombud because that is what we are here for, but the Ombud will have powers to investigate matters in a way that the MLAs cannot. I look forward to hearing the update in this House about when we can expect the Office of the Ombud to be open.
Mr. Speaker, I am again asking the government to work on setting up a budget line for summer student jobs. I firmly believe that these positions are very important in all our regions and particularly in Nahendeh. I would like to see a concrete plan for hiring summer students, and to see a budget for it.
Mr. Speaker, I realize that the government didn’t have any choice about implementing a carbon tax. If the GNWT didn’t come up with its own, it would have been stuck with the federal backstop.
With that said, however, I don’t think the GNWT is going about it the right way. In this case, I don’t feel that the Department of Finance is doing a very good job listening to input from the Regular Members. I understand that the government intends to implement the carbon tax by making changes to the Petroleum Products Tax Act and the Income Tax Act. I look forward to the introduction of that legislation and its debate in this House.
One of the good things the government has done is to hire government service officers, or GSOs, in many communities to help residents in their dealings with the government. This program is working, and Regular Members have pushed hard to expand the GSO network. I am pleased to point out that this coming year there are four GSO positions in Nahendeh, plus one in Fort Providence. On the other hand, there are still communities left out.
Again and again, Regular Members have urged the government to complete the GSO network and expand it to all communities. The government has resisted, especially to create positions in the larger centres. I will not rest until all Nahendeh communities have a GSO and the territorial network is complete.
Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to see the additional $3.3 million to add 21 new positions. I agree with the GNWT that this investment will improve our services to children and family. However, I still see a number of vacancies in my riding. This makes me worry that we will not see the boots hit the ground with this new investment. I hope that we can find ways to get these positions filled.
Mr. Speaker, I am happy to see the Department of Health and Social Services provide a $1.9 million to continue the implementation of the Child and Youth Care Counsellors program in Beaufort Delta and Sahtu. Unfortunately, I still see vacancies in Fort Liard and the regional office. Now we may not see those positions filled for a long time. Again, this is a big loss for our youth and adds more stress on the staff that have to cover. We need to do a better job in getting these positions filled.
I am happy to see the Department of Health and Social Services provide $400,000 for the land-based mobile addictions treatment and aftercare, increased contribution funding, an investment of $1 million to continue implementation of the Mental Health Act. This is a very positive step forward in these two areas.
Mr. Speaker, in the 2018-2019 Business Plan, $653,000 was invested in new positions for the Beaufort Delta rehabilitation team as follows. One occupational therapist, one speech and language pathologist, one audiologist, and one program assistant were added to meet the need for audiology services so that children and adults will have access to the services closer to home.
In 2019-2020, the business plan proposes $485,000 for additional positions to the Stanton Rehabilitation Team: one occupational therapist, one speech and language pathologist, one speech and language pathologist program assistant, and one administrative support position.
Unfortunately, this does not help the Nahendeh or Deh Cho communities. I have heard from many parents and leaders that we need our own speech and language pathologist and occupational therapist in the Deh Cho. It is my understanding that, in Nahendeh alone, there are over 70 people waiting service from the speech and language pathologist and over 50 waiting for the occupational therapist. The frustrating thing is that this has to be done in 11 service days. If there is one day of bad weather, the assessment gets cancelled for another six months. This tells me that the services are lacking for our youth in the Nahendeh and Deh Cho region. This also explains why some of our Early Child Development (EDI) scores are bad. I will be adding this issue further during this session.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is responsible for administering an application-based program known as the Non-Governmental Organization or NGO Stabilization Fund. This fund provides special funding to help NGOs stabilize to develop their capacity to manage programs and services.
According to the government's own policy, NGOs deliver critical programs or service funded by the GNWT. The policy recognizes that if the NGO wasn't available to deliver these programs or services, the government would either have to do the work itself or hire a third party to do it.
The NGOs are often staffed or assisted by hard-working, dedicated volunteers who give their time and energy, putting in long hours to help others in the communities. They do everything from providing services and support to the most vulnerable members of our communities to advocate for literacy, sober driving, sports and recreation activities, and countless other activities that enhance the lives of our people.
In the first year, 2009-2010, $247,000 was allocated for NGO Stabilization Fund. It was increased to $350,000 the following year and has not been increased since, despite the fact that there are always far more requests than there is funding available.
This year, in his budget address, the Finance Minister announced the government's intent to double the funding made available through the NGO Stabilization Fund. I know that every penny of this money will be put to good use, and I want to thank my Cabinet colleagues for this important contribution.
Mr. Speaker, this year we are seeing a third year of cuts to funding for multi-sport games. This is totally unacceptable. Two years ago, the government cut $150,000. Last year, they cut $250,000, and like I said last year, they were going to cut another $250,000 from the budget. True to form, this happened. It is very frustrating because these games are government responsibility. It has either Sport North or the Aboriginal Sports Circle of the NWT looking after them.
Presently, the shortfall is coming from within the department, which really means it is being taking from other programs that may lapse funding. This is not a reliable source of funding, and it is not transparent budgeting. We have heard worst-case scenarios. The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs could use the lotteries to fund multi-sport games. In my opinion, these games belong to the government, and they need to be a budget line within the department's budget. To see cuts in this area is very sad, to say the least.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to see the budget identified funding for the implementation of 911 emergency services in the Northwest Territories, which is supposed to go live this summer. I believe that the 911 to the North is a positive thing. 911 is a simple number, so easy to remember that even a small child could dial it and potentially save someone's life.
911 will help those of us who travel frequently in the North and who may see an emergency unfolding in another community without immediately knowing which prefix to use for the current, seven-digit emergency number in that community. It will also help visitors to the North to quickly access emergency dispatch if they need it.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance pointed out the budget proposes a $1.3-million investment for the rollout of 911 in the upcoming year. What he neglected to point out, however, is that the government intends to implement a user fee for 911, meaning that the $1.3 million is intended to be paid by every phone subscriber in the Northwest Territories.
Some of my Regular Member colleagues are currently reviewing Bill 31, which is the legislation the government needs to put in place in order to change the 911 user fee. I will have more to say about this when the legislation is debated in the House. For now, I just want to point out that the funding for 911 will be paid by the people of the Northwest Territories, not the GNWT.
I would urge the GNWT, as part of the 911 implementation, to match the funding raised through user fees and use the funding to ensure that the NWT has 100 percent cellular coverage. As the government works harder to bring more roads and highways to the Northwest Territories, ensuring full cellular coverage will undoubtedly save lives of countless motor vehicle drivers who drive those new highways in the future.
Mr. Speaker, for me, one of the biggest oversights in the budget is the lack of new funding to close the municipal gap.
In 2014-2015, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs knew that it had problems with the way it was providing funding to the municipal governments, so the department undertook a review of their funding approach. This review found that the funding formulas were overly complicated and based on outdated information. It also found that they didn't respond to needs and didn't result in fair distribution of funding.
Governments providing municipal services in the Northwest Territories rely on funding from the GNWT to pay for capital investments, operations, maintenance, and environmental services, including water and service functions. Failure to provide funding to community governments appropriately can have serious consequences for all communities in the Northwest Territories. It can result in premature failure of community infrastructure and the need for earlier replacement. As conditions worsen over time, it can result in loss of program functionality. This, in turn, can lead to public health-and-safety risks and environmental liabilities.
When the study was done, MACA indicated an operation and maintenance funding shortfall of $7.7 million, a water and sewer funding shortfall of $8.3 million, and a capital shortfall of $23.4 million, for a total shortfall of $39.4 million. In 2017-2018, the department reported in its annual MACA update that the gap had been reduced to $32.5 million: $5 million in operation and maintenance, $4.8 million in water and sewer, and $22.4 million in capital funding. This represents a reduction in the funding gap of $6.5 million since 2014. This year, I understand that MACA proposes to increase operation and maintenance funding by $750,000 and water and sewer funding by $650,000. While this is good news, there remains a great deal of work to be done. MACA appears to be making progress on O and M and water and sewer funding but not so much on capital.
The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has promised a strategy to close this funding gap, and we have yet to see it. In response to an oral question I posed in this House at the end of October 2018, the Minister advised that MACA will be in a position to table the municipal funding strategy by the end of this sitting. I look forward to this work with a great deal of anticipation. I question why it has taken so long to put this strategy in place. As well, I have concerns about how funding needs may have grown since the initial data was collected in 2014-2015, and I am worried that failure to account for the growth may mean that the actual funding gap is greater than what is being reported. I will have questions for the Minister when we review the department's budget. I would urge the Minister to do his best to table the municipal funding strategy early in the sitting so that we can consider it at the same time that we consider the department's budget.
With the rising cost of post-secondary education, an increase to course reimbursement will make programs more accessible and affordable for NWT students, thus encouraging NWT students to advance their education.
Mr. Speaker, I was happy to see the changes to the Small Community Employment Program last year. The Government of the Northwest Territories, especially the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and ordinary MLAs, was able to make some positive changes to it. However, we still need to do more in this area.
As I stated last year, the small communities of Nahendeh need more employment opportunities. People want to work, and unfortunately, the lack of jobs in our smallest communities is a persistent, high-impact problem. The changes last year to this program resulted in a bit more work in the communities. However, I believe the government needs to increase the funds available to small communities by $1.2 million.
Mr. Speaker, I believe the continuation and enhancement of this fund and its policies are necessary to support its mandate for job creation in small communities. This funding should be specifically for direct use in small communities and not regional centres.
Mr. Speaker, I noticed that the Divisional Education Board Office has two fewer staff supporting the schools than in the Sahtu region. In the Deh Cho proper, eight communities, we have two support staff for nine schools, whereas the Sahtu has four support staff for five schools. It is also my understanding that the Sahtu board has two information technology support staff, while the Deh Cho has one. This doesn't seem right. We need to address this, or we are going to see more vulnerable children and ongoing decline in the developmental test results for the Deh Cho.
This supports my position that funding based strictly on the number of students does not work. I would like to suggest a new basic formula that guarantees a minimum staffing, regardless of the number of students. This would be based on the understanding that it does not matter how many students you have in a school; you still need a part-time custodian, principal, secretary, program support teacher, and teachers. Later on in this session, I will be speaking about this issue further, and I hope to see much needed changes.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I have to say that we still have some challenges facing us, and we only have a six months left in our term to address them. Let's do it right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled "Northwest Territories Tourism Pursuing Spectacular Potential 2019-20 Marketing Plan," and "Northwest Territories Business Development and Investment Corporation 2019-20 Corporate Plan." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Follow-up to Oral Question 480-18(3): Airplane Crash Medevac." Thank you, Mr. Speaker."
Masi. Tabling of documents. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to table the following five documents: "Marketplace Sensitivity Analysis, June 21, 2018; "Survey of Exploration Agreements," undated; "Survey of Impact Benefit Agreements," undated; "Benefits Agreements in Legislation," May 25, 2018; and lastly, "Saskatchewan's Mine Surface Lease Agreement and Human Resources Development Agreement Regime Review," undated. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents.
Pursuant to section 99 of the Legislative Assembly Executive Council Act, I hereby table the "Northwest Territories Conflict of Interest Commissioner Annual Report to the Legislative Assembly for 2018."
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Wednesday, February 13, 2019, I will move that Bill 35, Supply Chain Management Professional Designation Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 34, Mineral Resources Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. There is a motion. The motion is in order.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
Bill 34 has had its first reading.
I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the chair rise and report progress. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion to report progress. The motion is in order. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
I will rise and report progress.
Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Minister's Statement 131-18(3), Sessional Statement; and Tabled Document 322-18(3), Main Estimates, 2019-2020, and would like to report progress, and Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.
Masi. Do we have a seconder? Member for Yellowknife North. The motion is in order. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
