Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that new information, and I would really urge that he share that with the public and potential interests who are looking for oil and gas up here. I am not aware of it ever being made public. Mr. Speaker, there are now 91 significant discovery licences that cover about 4,650 square kilometres, or 82 percent of the size of Prince Edward Island, onshore in the Northwest Territories. Another option open to the Minister is to issue a drilling order whereby rights holders would have to conduct a drilling operation under the terms and conditions set by the Minister. Can the Minister tell us when he intends to issue drilling orders for any of the significant discovery licences, to ensure that people of the Northwest Territories accrue some benefits from these resources that are now tied up forever? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I have no current plan to issue a drilling order on any SDLs in the Northwest Territories. It costs tens of millions of dollars to drill a well in the Northwest Territories, as many Members in this House know. There is no compelling reason to do it at this point. There is no way to even get this stuff to market. There are certain challenges around that, and we want to maintain a good relationship with industry moving forward. We want to be able to keep that leverage when we need it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am overjoyed to have a renewed call from this side of the House to lower small business taxes. This is an issue that I have raised, holding the government accountable to its mandate commitment to do exactly that, each and every sitting. I would like to ask the Minister of Finance today: I didn't notice a decrease to small business taxes in the budget; when does he intend to fulfill that mandate commitment? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
I knew that it was coming, Mr. Speaker. At the moment, we are not planning on decreasing the small business tax. Thank you.
Why is there no plan? The mandate clearly says, "This government will reduce taxes on small businesses." Why?
The mandate also has 234 other items besides this one particular one. We have made progress on a number of those items, and we will continue to do so. However, this is not one of the ones that we have treated as a priority at the moment. I have said before, and I will say in the House again, that our plan is not to decrease the corporate tax.
The Minister knows, as do all Members of this House, that the mandate is a shared responsibility on both sides of the House. The Minister has an obligation to listen to this side of the House. Will he reconsider the political position that he has taken and make this a priority?
I have been a Member of this Legislative Assembly for 14 years, and I think that that is because I have demonstrated an ability to listen to people, take people's advice, and bring their issues forward. We have 235 items on the mandate, a little too big, in my opinion, and I think that part of the advice that we should provide to the next Assembly coming in is to lower the number of mandate items and get to one that is workable. We have done that in the past. It has been successful. That doesn't mean that we are not doing our job in fulfilling a lot of the mandate commitments. We continue to work on them as the everyday business of the Government of the Northwest Territories. This is one of those items that, although it was in brochures and it will continue to be in pamphlet brochures come October 1st, it is not one that we are looking at lowering right now.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps it's not that the mandate is too big, it's that the Minister doesn't have the time to dedicate to all of the commitments under his responsibility. Maybe he should get some help. I am willing to help him. Other Members on this side are willing to help him. We can put forward this legislation. If this commitment isn't needed, the Minister said before that we provide plenty of support, what new support is coming to small businesses in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
I think that one of the reasons that I have lasted so long as a Member in this Legislative Assembly is my ability to work with all of the Members of the Legislative Assembly. I think that is clearly demonstrated. I do listen to the advice of Members, and there are times where somebody actually has to make a decision. We have made the decision that we are not looking at lowering the corporate tax at this particular time. Thank you.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My statement today was about responding to family violence, but my questions are for the Minister of Justice about preventing it. In her most recent report, the chief coroner recommended that there be a long-term sustained public awareness program on family and domestic violence available in all communities. I would like to ask the Minister: what action has been taken on the coroner's recommendation? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have looked at the coroner's report from several years ago and certainly noticed that there were recommendations with respect to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. As Members will know, the RCMP enter into agreements with local communities. I haven't reviewed those of late, but I know that those are important concerns, and it certainly is a concern of this government as we move ahead. That is certainly in our minds. I know that it is a priority for the RCMP, of course, the reduction of all kinds of violence, and that is also a priority for this Assembly. Thank you.
Just to clarify, the coroner's report that I am speaking about is the most recent one, dated 2017. These recommendations come from investigations into two domestic homicides that happened in the reporting period. The coroner's report stresses that public education is needed to raise awareness about the signs of abuse in communities so that people who are close to those who are at risk or who are abusive can intervene. My question again is: what action has been taken on this recommendation?
As I mentioned earlier, I have looked at and in fact have in front of me the coroner's report from 2017. It is a priority, of course, addressing this issue of family violence. It is a priority of the 18th Assembly, and we are developing a comprehensive approach to addressing family violence. The goal is to identify best practices, align existing GNWT work, and identify priority areas for investment over the coming decade. We have contracted Aurora Research Institute to identify best practices to prevent and reduce family violence. They will finish their work early in the 2019-2020 fiscal year.
Thank you to the Minister for that answer. There were some things there that I had not heard before. When can we expect, then, a more concerted effort to take those findings and make them into a more comprehensive public awareness campaign?
As I mentioned previously, we have contracted Aurora Research to identify best practices. That is the first phase of this work. The second phase will be a strategic stakeholder consultation on the results of the research, to have meaningful guidance to balanced, research-based evidence with front-line voices and lived experience of Northerners. As I say, we have contracted Aurora Research to assist us. That is only the first step. The second step is action.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Thanks again to the Minister for that. Mr. Speaker, there is no increase in the Justice budget for the next fiscal year in the line " Protection Against Family Violence." I am wondering at what point this initiative the Minister has spoken of will be operationalized in terms of assigning spending to it. Thank you.
As I mentioned, we expect the researchers will finish their work early in the 2019-2020 fiscal year. At that point, we should be able to give a better estimate as to when we can move forward to the second stage. Thank you.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If you have been following the news, you may have read about a resident of Hay River, Mrs. Dawn Loutit, who late last week underwent a double lung transplant in Edmonton. She had been waiting for this for about 10 years. By all accounts, things went well, and she is recovering. I wish her all the best, as I am sure all of the Members do. I also want to thank the donor for the gift of life, essentially, that they gave her.
This has raised some questions coming out of Hay River about organ donation. I know that, for many years now, there has been talk about being able to donate organs and the process surrounding that and what we are going to do moving forward. I have some questions for the Minister of Health. I would like to start off with asking: what is the current process if someone wants to become an organ donor in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Residents of the Northwest Territories, they can donate their organs and tissues as long as they are in a hospital with access to transplant services at the time of death. Due to clinical capacity, that doesn't exist in the Northwest Territories, so all organs and tissues that want to be donated by NWT residents has to be done in a different location. Often for us, that is Alberta. We did pass legislation in 2014, which still hasn't gone live yet.
Regardless of that legislation passing, NWT residents still can donate. Usually, it is a long process. It requires an NWT or an Alberta clinician believing that a patient, first off, is an appropriate donor. Then, they would have to seek consent and support from family members. Then, that person, if they are in the Northwest Territories, would have to be transported south to have those organs and/or tissues donated. It is a bit of a round-about way, and it requires family consent. Until that legislation we passed goes live, you can't actually pre-identify somebody who wants to be a donor in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you for that explanation. There is a lot going on at that time. When someone is being considered as an organ donor, it means they are close to passing away or they have passed away. It is not a time you want to have to make these kinds of decisions. My understanding is the registry would allow people to register as an organ donor prior to passing away, even when they are in good health. I am glad to hear that the work is going on. I would like to know: what is the status of this work, and when can we expect it to go live?
This is a file that has been important to me for a large number of years. Unfortunately, it has taken way longer to make progress on it than I or anybody had hoped. We had hoped actually to be live early in the life of this government, but there had been a change in the government in Alberta. They are a key partner in making this happen because we want to be able to have our residents register on their Alberta Organ and Tissue Donation Registry.
I am happy to say that we have made significant progress. Negotiations have basically been concluded. We are now basically dotting some i's and crossing some t's on an agreement. It is my understanding that we are going to be able to go live with our component, our ability to have NWT residents register this summer.
That is great news. I know it has been a long time coming. I am happy to hear that. To make this program successful, I think there needs to be a public education campaign. Can the Minister detail whether or not there is such a campaign in the works and maybe give us some information about it?
Absolutely. The Member is absolutely correct. We can do this. It can be available, but if people don't know about it, they are not going to register. We are planning a significant public launch where we will have an opportunity to explain process, get information out. I will certainly be working with MLAs, hoping that they can help share the information with their constituents. We are in the process of developing a comprehensive communications plan to get this information out. I look forward to working with the Members to get that information out.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, I was asking questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services in regards to speech and language pathologists and OT positions and the issues around that. I would like to follow up on some questions here today. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please explain how we are going to be able to provide the necessary assessments for children from the smaller communities, especially if there are challenges to see them in person? Yesterday, the Minister said there may be opportunities for positions to go in to the communities, but I just want to clarify that with the Minister here today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you. Two parts to the question, my first answer is based on the second part. Yesterday, when I was talking about going in to the communities, I was talking about OT and speech-language professionals. They don't currently travel to some of the smaller communities in the Deh Cho. I have provided direction to the department that I would like to see more engagement in smaller communities. It still depends on caseload. If there is only one person, it may not be appropriate or financially reasonable to do that, but if there is a larger caseload, we want our professionals to go into the communities.
With respect to the first part of the question, we are working on an improvement project in the Deh Cho region. It includes a number of things: using electronic medical records to track and improve Deh Cho region performance on screening and referring children who need rehab services. The improvement project is basically tracking a number of things: the number of children by community who should be assessed; the number of children who received the Well Child Assessment, which is an important part of the assessment process; and the number of children requiring an assessment or referral to speech-language pathology and occupational therapy but also referral to a paediatrician through the Well Child Assessment process.
The goal that we are working to was to identify the need earlier and ensure that there is earlier referral to these services. We are screening more children as a result of what we have already started as more children are attending the Well Child Clinics in the Deh Cho communities. We believe and feel comfortable that this is going to lead to more referrals for rehab services, which the team in Yellowknife is going to be able to provide once we actually create those positions and hire those people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I have heard that, in the Deh Cho region, they have a team that has been engaged in improving initiatives over the past year to improve rates of early childhood development screening of children to improve their early detection and earlier referral to rehabilitation services, which the Minister has talked about. Can the Minister explain some of the new improvements that I have heard about that he can share with us here today?
In my previous answer, I actually talked about some of the work that we are doing in this exact area to increase the number of referrals. In addition to that, in this current fiscal year, the one that we are in and is about to end, we did create some new rehab therapy-type positions in the Beaufort-Delta. Those services used to be provided by Yellowknife with the existing teams. That meant that there were about five or so clinical travel days up in the Beaufort-Delta. Those travel days are now going to be reallocated to the southern portion of this territory, which means that the number of days available to Fort Smith, Hay River, and the Deh Cho are up.
In addition, with the new team that we are creating as a result of this budget that is before us today, should it be approved, we are creating more positions in Yellowknife, with a focus on providing services to youth across the territory. The primary focus is on the southern part of the territory, as we have the team up in the Beaufort-Delta. That will also increase the number of days and supports available to all residents, including residents who live in the smaller communities and south of Great Slave Lake. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Can the Minister explain: how does the system help teachers support students who have rehabilitation needs in the system right now?
During regularly scheduled trips to communities, the OT and speech language pathologists spend time in the schools. They actually go into the schools, observing classrooms, assessing and providing treatment to children meeting with different educators. This includes teachers, Mr. Speaker, program support teachers, education assistants, and inclusive schooling coordinators, to provide suggested global and specific strategies on intervention, things that they can do to help support development in these areas.
Mr. Speaker, additionally, services are provided remotely through video conferencing, telespeech, with students and education assistants. I know that Education, Culture and Employment also supports educators in this area and is in the early stages of establishing a territorial base support team of specialized consultants who will be available to support school staff and parents in implementing supports for their children. It is about working together. This team is being incrementally built over the next two years, starting in 2019-2020. Really, if you want details on that, I would suggest talking to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I will say that this team will support the work of health professionals who are already working within the schools and provide complementary support, such as planning, implementation, and resource development.
Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is that we don't feel that we can do this without the support of the schools and the teachers. We are working together. As we continue to roll this out, there will be likely be growing pains. We will work together to overcome these growing pains to make sure that we are providing the supports to those kids who need it when they need it.
Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, again, thank the Minister for all of these answers and clarifications on some of these things. If I am looking to get more information for the Deh Cho and the NWT authorities to help me to better understand what programs, services, and supports are available for the region in Stanton for children requiring rehab services, can the Minister please advise what positions and whom I should be able to talk to so that I can get better informed in this area? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
There are kind of two different answers here. If the Member is looking for information for himself, we do have protocols that have been established as far as how MLAs engage with departments. I would be happy to set up meetings or appointments between the Member and local staff, like the COO in the Deh Cho. I would also suggest possibly meeting with the territorial manager of [4:42] Health Services here in Yellowknife, who is with the NWT HSSA. It might be valuable for the Member to help educate him. I am happy to arrange those, following our protocols.
If he is asking the question as a citizen, as somebody who lives in the riding, my recommendation would be to talk to the professionals, talk to the COO, talk to individuals in the Health and Social Services system that are located in the community. They will be able to provide residents with the information that they need and/or how to seek a referral.
If you have a child, zero to five, I strongly encourage you to attend the Well Baby Clinics as regular as needed to ensure that your children are meeting their important milestones and, if they are not, are getting referrals as quickly as possible.
Masi. Oral questions. Item 8, written questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to return to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.
---Unanimous consent granted.
