Thank you to the Minister for that. That is good information. Next, the OAG recommended that the requirements of the Child and Family Services Act be met in responding to child protection concerns, and the department agreed. The department agreed, in fact, to put key standards in place by the end of the month. Is that work on track?
There are 80 items in the action plan. Those action plan items come from the OAG, from committee, and from work that we have done on our own audits. I can't actually, off the top of my head, remember if that is one of the items that has been finalized, but I have made a commitment to the Member and committee that I will get them an update of where we are on the action items, and I will do so.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Finally, we have heard lots about the Quality Improvement Plan, but it is not yet a public document. When will the Minister table this plan in the House? Mahsi.
I would like to table this document as soon as I can, but I have made a commitment to work with the Indigenous governments. The Member's first line of questioning actually asked those specific questions. We will meet with our Indigenous partners. We will get their feedback and their input. If it results in changes to the Quality Improvement Plan, we will make those changes, and then we will release the document and make it public. Hopefully we will do that before next session, at which point I would be willing to table it next session. If the work that we need to do with the Indigenous governments take a little bit longer, I am going to take the time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. In responding to my Committee of the Whole questions, the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs agreed that there is a significant line-up of new legislation needed within his department. I think that there is some sort of transition process in place to prioritize that work. Can the Minister give us more details on how a recommended roadmap for new MACA legislation is being developed for transition to the next Assembly and how committees, or even the public, can influence that shopping list? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. MACA has made a commitment to help identify legislative priorities, like any other department, and bring them to the next Assembly on a community perspective. Part of the rationale for this effort is to bring forward legislative amendments that have the largest and most positive impact for our community governments. The key for MACA is to understand what the issues are with our legislation, of course, and get that information.
Most recently, we just had a meeting with the NWT Association of Communities. Obviously, we also want to hear from the Local Government and Public Administration Committee. They can play a role in this. Really, any Member of the Legislative Assembly can bring forward what they think needs to be done, especially going through this transition into the next government. I think that a really good example is Bill 31, with the changes that we have made in just developing the 911 Act and the collaborative effort that we had from municipalities, as well as committee, in working on that bill. Those are our stakeholders to give us the input, but a community perspective on the legislation moving forward into the next government is what we are focusing on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for that. If it is not a secret, I think that consumer protection should be on that shopping list. I appreciate that we are not going to be able to start drafting new laws before the end of this Assembly, but some preparatory work can begin now. I gave the Minister a heads-up here. Is the Minister aware of the Charter of Consumer Rights that the Consumers Council of Canada have developed and how that work might guide the department's work on consumer protection in future legislative change?
Yes, and I appreciate the Member for sharing some of this information with me previously. The department is familiar with the Consumer Bill of Rights, and so am I, with the information that has been posted.
However, it is my understanding that it has not been an integral part of our ongoing provincial-territorial-federal dialogue concerning consumer affairs matters. Its principles, however, certainly offer a very good foundation for most consumer protection regimes throughout Canada. I will commit to the Member, as I have done at federal-provincial-territorial meetings, that I will share this with my jurisdictional colleagues in terms of consumer rights, either by an email or at the very next meeting.
I want to thank the Minister for that. I appreciate that he is going to raise this at the next federal-provincial-territorial meeting on consumer affairs with his colleagues that he works with. I think that is a good step. In my statement today I spoke about cross-jurisdictional issues that can sometimes frustrate consumers, and those include things like air carriers, flight complaints, and those sort of things. Can the Minister explain how he works with his federal counterparts in terms of consumer rights and protection?
As you heard in the earlier question, I will be making that commitment. However, MACA does engage on an ongoing basis with federal consumer protection agencies through the federal-provincial-territorial Consumer Measures Committee, and this body does serve as a valuable information source and policy development mechanism for issues of common interest, such as developing harmonized legislation for consumer protection and the sharing of education materials for consumers. As I have said in the previous question that the Member asked, I will be making a commitment to ensure that the Consumer Bill of Rights is something that we will be bringing to consideration when we are looking at this, as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. While I'm on a roll, here, and I do appreciate the commitment of the Minister, one of the areas that NWT residents to participate increasingly in is online purchasing. Has our Consumer Protection Branch seen an upswing in complaints in this area, and has the branch developed any advice or guidelines for online shopping to ensure that NWT consumers have the tools to avoid scams? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I can't give the Member the exact number of complaints that we have seen, but that's something that we can take a look at and see if there has been an increase over the years. Also, the department has not developed education materials directly related to online shopping, but it is something that does need to be addressed, as a lot of things are happening online these days. However, within the last six months the department has released consumer information bulletins on gift cards and payday loans, and some of those relate to airline travel complaints, gasoline prices, and we will continue to look at where else we can make that information available to the consumers throughout the Northwest Territories. I will commit to that. I can also commit that we will look at how many complaints we have seen over the last couple of years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame lake.
That's four.
You were on a roll, so I figured I'd let you go on.
---Laughter
Oral questions, Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Infrastructure. I see that an RFP for architectural and engineering services has just gone out for the long-term care facility in Hay River; however, there is still a building standing in the lot where that building is supposed to go. We need to move the employees working in that building out to another building, and so I'd like an update on how that's going. Can the Minister update the House on whether or not an RFP has been issued or awarded for office space to move the current employees from H.H. Williams out into another space? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. An RFP has not been issued at this time yet. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Could the Minister update the House as to when he expects it to be issued and, if he's willing, even when he expects it to be awarded?
An RFP will be posted on March 19th, next week, on this, and it will remain open until May 17th. Within this RFP, there will be a request for 750 square metres of combined office and clinical space within the town of Hay River, and local landlords who are proposing to bid on this can use a new facility or an existing facility.
I know there are developers who have expressed interest in pursuing this opportunity, so does the Minister know if we can expect a new build, or can we expect renovations?
In January we actually put out a request for expressions of interest on this to see what was out there to test the commercial space market in Hay River, and there were a number of people who submitted, who provided capacity to be able to do this in both new space and existing space. So it will be interesting to see what we come back with this RFP.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I expect, if it's new space, it's going to be a little later that the move is going to happen, and if it's just a renovation, it might be sooner. Does the Minister know, in either scenario, when we can expect the employees to be moved out of H.H. Williams into the new office space? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I said, we expect to be able to award this RFP in May of this year, and we expect the proponent to have this new build or existing build with the renovations completed by the fall of 2019. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier during this question and answer period I had questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding the boarding home. I've been advised that the ratio for beds to washrooms is 6:1 in the boarding home. Is this ratio to code? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you Mr. Speaker. The boarding home is up to code with the Fire Marshall and environmental health officers.
I keep hearing concerns about this ratio of 6:1, and some of the concerns they have is people who, you know, take medication and they have to be close to the washroom, and they don't seem to have washrooms available. Does the boarding home take this into account when they assign patients' beds?
As much as possible, the answer is yes. They do attempt to triage patients as best they can; however, they're not always aware of all the information, or all the preferences, or all the needs of our clients and/or our patients. We strongly encourage our residents to let the boarding home what some of their limitations are as much in advance as possible, so that they can be properly triaged and properly placed.
Just as a note, there are some public washrooms available in the facility if one of the ones that are in the area they're staying in is occupied. So there are options, but they do try to triage these residents.
Some of the other concerns I heard were regarding the food. Does the department inspect the food on a regular basis?
The menus that are provided by the Vital Abel are actually approved by a dietician. The boarding home also maintains compliance under the Food Establishment Safety Regulations under the Public Health Act, so they are inspected from time to time. I think the important note here is that the menus are approved by dieticians.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Minister for these answers. So a dietician is in place. I'm assuming, and I don't want to assume, so I'm going to ask the question here again with the Minister: can the Minister advise how the department works with the boarding home to ensure that the Canada's Food Guide is actually followed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The menus are reviewed by a dietician, and the contract that we do have with the boarding home has provisions requiring the contractor to be compliant with the Canada's Food Guide, so dietician and contract. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few questions for the Minister of Infrastructure. I brought this issue up a while back but, you know, it tends to take the government a while to act on things. The issue that I'd like to bring up, I'm sure the Minister has had his share of questions on washrooms this week, but I'll do mine anyway. During the summer at ferry landings on the Mackenzie and the Peel, at times we have the ferry closing due to weather. As the Minister recalls, we've had people who were stranded on the south side of the Peel River for up to two to three days, and a lot of those people are there with no outhouses or no washrooms in place. I'd like to ask the Minister: will the Minister work with the communities of Fort MacPherson and Tsiigehtchic to provide portable washrooms at the ferry landings on the Mackenzie and the Peel for the people who are travelling during the summer months? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I think the first thing I am going to have to do, if the Member says he has asked the government to have a look at this before, I will have to go back and get the previous information and see what was corresponded and make a decision based on that.
I will save the Minister some trouble. His response is basically no. You know, you have to be compassionate in situations like this, if people are stranded for two to three days, most times with limited food. We are very fortunate the people of Fort McPherson actually went there and had a cook-out for people who were stranded, but I think the department has a little responsibility here to provide outhouses, a place where people could use washrooms, especially during the summer. So will the Minister make sure they budget it? It wouldn't cost a lot, Mr. Speaker. We shouldn't be thinking cost in situations like this. Think of our tourists, our residents of the Northwest Territories who are travelling during the summer. Will the Minister ensure that they work with the communities to provide this service at our ferry landings?
As I said, I will go back to the department and have a discussion and see what information I can bring forward and have a discussion with the Member.
