Historically, the rivers are at a 10-year low right now from the last time I got an update from our staff. The one thing that MTS did this year was factor in the possibility of that. The way we operated this year is we adjusted our loads for shallower draft. The low-water levels on the Mackenzie River haven't hampered our schedule. The other nice thing was, I have talked about it in this House, with the Steam River bridge that was on fire and the fuel company picked up the slack and delivered the fuel to Hay River by truck. It actually got there earlier than anticipated, so that helped assist with the schedule.
Thanks to the Minister for the fuel information there. Our public infrastructure depends on that fuel resupply. My next question is on the training provided on the Marine Training Centre in Hay River. Can the Minister elaborate or brief us on the training plan and student outcomes and how progress is being made from that institution?
The Marine Training Centre doesn't follow under the Government of the Northwest Territories, but they are leasing space from us in our facility in Hay River. The Member from the Sahtu and myself actually had a chance. I took him there and gave him a little tour of the facility, met a number of students who are there.
I have said earlier in my Minister's statement around Marine Transportation Services they have delivered hundreds of courses through there. A number of people have been picked up by MTS for employment this year, as well as Canadian Coast Guard that also picked up some people. As I said, I think, yesterday, some of them are actually going to be going up to the Arctic coast with the Coast Guard on ice-breaking facilities.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On Tuesday I asked questions of the Minister of Infrastructure and asked him to explain how the Business Incentive Policy worked and how certain levels have increased percentage points. The Minister gave me a whole bunch of information. I would like to follow up to the questions with the Minister here today. Can the Minister please clarify what amount the contract needs to be in order to maximize the incentive of $500,000? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to the Member's question the other day, he did ask me, and this will clarify it a little bit more. Assuming that the full bid is 100 percent Northwest Territories and local content, the contractor would need approximately $16 million to max out the $500,000 bid adjustment. On the majority of contracts, there are a number that are under $1 million. Those contractors can receive a bid adjustment up to $200,000, which represents about 20 percent of the bid adjustment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
When the Minister talked on Tuesday, as well, he talked about there being 46 big projects and 1,501 projects. Can the Minister tell us what the total value of the 46 projects were together and what the total was for the 1,501 projects?
This information is all publicly available on the Department of Finance's website, but if the Member will give me the questions, if he sends me an email with the questions, I will commit to getting him all of that information back by the end of the session.
I will follow up with the Minister on that question so that I can get that information. My next question is: can the Minister advise this House how many of these big projects ended up being awarded to southern contractors?
As to my previous answer, same thing. If the Member wants me to get him that information, we can compile that information for him before the end of session.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, and I look forward to providing those questions to the Minister. I will put them in writing and look forward to the answers. I am probably going to get the same answer for the last question I am going to ask, but I am going to ask it anyway. With all these big contracts happening, he talked about the 46, can the Minister advise this House if there were any of the big contracts that were negotiated contracts? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Member is absolutely right. I don't have that level of detail here, but we can gather that once he sends me an email and get back to him by the end of session. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I am following up my statement with questions to the Minister of Lands in terms of the level the certainty for lands in communities. I think that everyone has the dream about the idea of buying and owning their homes. What is at issue at this point is that the certainty of land ownership is not clear. My question is to the Minister of Lands: how does the Department of Lands work with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs with respect to the provision of land for municipal purposes and interaction with community governments? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The two departments do, of course, work together. For example, the Department of Lands provides guidance to MACA and community governments when developing and implementing community development plans. Now, the department utilizes the community plans of the municipal governments to ensure that the applications are consistent with the use identified in the plans. MACA has the responsibility for ensuring that community plans are in place, so the two departments do work together in this important area. Thank you.
Once in a while you come across a policy that is seventies-era. That's when Ottawa made all of the decisions for people of the NWT, and times have changed. My question is: what concerns or obstacles would stand in the way of the GNWT converting all public land within municipal boundaries to fee simple title for transfer to municipal governments or current leaseholders?
Of course, Lands is bound by the law in this area. With respect to that, there is the Commissioner's land regulations that, among other things, in dealing with an application, the deputy minister has to be satisfied that the land is no larger in area than is reasonable for the purpose for which the land is required.
There is no overall policy to turn all land over to the municipalities. In fact, the GNWT may have its own future needs for infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals, and so on. These future needs have to be considered if contemplating the turning over of lands to community governments. Also, in unsettled land claim areas, the Land Lease-Only Policy applies, which requires extra steps to transfer land to the communities in fee simple. There are processes that we have to go through. We do realize, of course, that the municipalities do have bona fide reasons to acquire lands, but they have to make application, and a certain procedure has to be followed.
As the Minister, what improvements does he think the Department of Lands could make to its processes to address the issues with land administration being raised by municipal governments?
Lands is working with the communities to clarify processes for the transfer of land and fee simple, as well as the responsibilities that go along with the administration of land within the communities. I understand also that Lands and MACA staff are currently working on a strategy or finalizing a strategy on the process for the transfer of land and assets specifically to community governments. We do realize that there is an issue here, and we are taking steps to improve the process.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to ask my question that I wanted to understand this policy here. The Minister had indicated that communities have community plans. I would think that those community plans are community land use planning zones. There are lands identified as residential, commercial, and industrial lands, and there are future lands that would be zoned in. I wonder if the Minister could clarify that and whether most communities have those community plans in place in the NWT? Mahsi.
I am not certain whether all communities do have community plans in place, but I know that MACA can work with communities, and Lands can also assist in developing a community plan, which is important for the progress and future of the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. My statement recounted the disappointed arts community leaders who report that they have long appealed for the collection of hard data on the value of extended productivity of their sector. They say that this kind of data should have driven consultations around the development of an action plan for the NWT Arts Strategy. I would like to ask the Minister: why has the detailed data collection, through a survey of artists, producers, and presenters, not been done? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is quite disheartening to hear these comments today, in all honesty. I had a conversation with the MLA the other day about one organization representing the interests of all of the people who would be covered within that. This is an example of how, sometimes, it doesn't work really well.
We started out with the Arts Strategy, and between November 2018 and March 2019, we have done 16 key stakeholder engagements, we have 277 general public members who responded to an online survey, and then we realized that we hadn't engaged with the Arts Council, the NWT Arts Council, who are the leaders, who are supposed to represent the people who are artists. So I spoke to my colleague Minister, because we both have an interest in this, the Minister for ITI, and he agreed with me.
We stopped the process, we called the NWT Arts Council, and we got together. My department worked with them on input into the strategy. I did a personal meeting with the NWT Arts Council. I spent three or four hours with them in an evening and told them how important it was that we work together. This strategy would not be good if we did not work together; it's all of us.
To stand here and hear that the leaders in the arts community felt that we didn't hear them is really disheartening, because I did my best, Mr. Speaker. At no time when I was meeting with the NWT Arts Council did any of this data thing come even to fruition, so I am kind of not feeling really good about this, Mr. Speaker. I am open to feedback on how I can reach out to leaders. If the Arts Council is not the leaders, then I need to know who I should be dealing with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I just love the passion of the Minister. I am not criticizing the engagement process that was gone through in terms of developing the Arts Strategy. I am talking about the action plan. These are the specific actions we need to undertake to support the Arts Strategy, and at the core of that is knowing where we are, the kind of information data that will drive how we can improve, and give us the direction of where we need to go. That is what I heard from the leaders who I have been talking to. How is the Minister going to ensure that the new action plan under the Arts Strategy is coordinated across the three departments that she just mentioned?
We just finished the consultation pieces on the action plan, people from throughout the Northwest Territories on what their ideas are. We are just compiling that information right now, and we will developing a "what we heard" report, just like we always say. The reality is, after that report is done, actually, we need to meet together, all departments that are involved in this action plan and in the identified actions, because I do not even know what they are going to say yet, and any department that has some kind of action that will be required, we will be working together to make sure that those happen. I also want to expand on that and say that, with my meeting with the NWT Art Societies, I also emphasized again that this plan is about them, this is their stuff, so we have made a commitment that we will work closely with them on the development of the action plan. The strategy was the beginning. The plan is going to expand on that. My commitment, the other Ministers' commitment, was that we were all engaged in this together. We have made a commitment to work as closely as possible.
I just love the passion of the Minister, again, and I am sure she can encourage her fellow Ministers to be as collaborative on all fronts with this side of the House. I would like to know, though: how is the Minister going to ensure that the new action plan under the Arts Strategy is put together in a way that it ensures our support programs are designed to take advantage of matching funding in other complementary programs?
Any good program needs money. We all know that. I don't think I am going to get any argument on that one. Part of the action plan, an action plan is supposed to be comprehensive. The strategy says: this is what we want. The plan says: how do we get to that strategy? If we are not looking at how we are getting funding, then that would be a detriment to the plan going forward, so we will be open to accessing outside funding sources. I also want to say that we are already doing some of that. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment regularly accesses outside funding sources, such as those available through Canadian Heritage. I am also pleased to say that I am also meeting next week with the executive director for the Canadian Council for the Arts, so, although it's not mandated or anything, we regularly do look for outside funding sources to help any of the programs. That is what we do as Ministers.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Just sometimes it's actually easier for those outside of government to access federal money, but I am sure the Minister knows that. However, it's never too late to put in place a proper data collection system to help us build the case and rationale for further investment in the arts and cultural sector, so will the Minister ensure that the relevant departments working on the action plan under the Arts Strategy make data collection a priority?
Again, it was just today that I realized that this was an issue, at all. I started out here four years ago. When I did a speech in the House about getting in to become a Minister, I talked about my experience in accreditation, not knowing anything about politics, only about best practices. Best practices in accreditation talks about evaluation, it talks about data, it talks about measurable outcomes, so I have carried that right through my whole four years. I did that with the polytech education act about quality education based on best practices. It would be foolish for me to stand here at the end of my term and say I am throwing out what I believe in, so, yes, I will definitely make that commitment, that data is important for any program evaluations. Measurable outcomes are important, and we need to make sure that we have those in place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. It must be the end of our session. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to ask the Minister of Infrastructure some questions regarding his statement earlier today. He noted that there are going to be specific requirements established for hiring and training local residents with regard to the Tlicho All-Season Road. This is something I have advocated for a long time, that we actually have specific targets and commitments and requirements built into large infrastructure projects. Can the Minister provide us some details of what these specific requirements are actually going to be? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have that level of detail, of course, at my fingertips here on something like that, but this is something that the department took as an initiative under this P3 project, that we want to be able to capitalize as much as we can for northern opportunities for businesses and people in the region. I think our staff did a great job in implementing that, but I can certainly get all of the details and supply that to this House.
That is great to hear, that he is going to give it to the House, and I commend him for doing that. It's something I have advocated for a long time, and it could and should have happened with Stanton, as well. Is this a new policy, or is this a one-off?
That is something I think that we are going to have a look at and evaluate as this project goes forward because this is a very unique project because the Tlicho government worked side by side with us to bring this project to fruition, and they were a big supporter of what we were doing. The federal government obviously supported the process that we are doing under the P3 concept that they had, that is now rolled up. However, we want to try this out, make the best benefits we can for the Tlicho residents and their businesses and see the opportunities and see how this works out, but that is not something I do not think is off the table for anything else.
I think we might have more discussion about whether this should be part of our policy coming forward. Later in the Minister's statement he sings the praises of P3s, and I would like to know: he talks about how the Mackenzie Valley fibre link is an effective way of delivering large strategic infrastructure projects that are essential for the NWT, so is there some sort of an evaluation framework or criteria for success for the Mackenzie Valley fibre link?
The Mackenzie Valley fibre link is the very first one the Government of the Northwest Territories took on, and I think that, when you look at it and the challenges that were around that whole project, and I think the Finance Minister will concur with me, it definitely buffers the Government of the Northwest Territories. P3s are on the back of industry going forward, and they face the challenges, and they take the risks, and they do this, and it gives us some assurance to the Government of the Northwest Territories that, when we enter into these contracts, we are going to get what we paid for.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks to the Minister for the talk about buffering. Let's talk about buffering of Internet services for the small communities where various Ministers promised that there was going to be enhanced internet services for small communities. It just has not happened, so can the Minister tell me: what are the specific arrangements for internet service improvement in the small communities that were promised as part of the Mackenzie Valley fibre link, and who's going to provide those services?
