Thank you, Mr. Speaker. According to my calculations, no, it has not been utilized. Will the Minister commit to ensuring that her department does more training with managers and supervisors about this program, focusing especially in the regions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate that this shows people are listening to a Minister's statement. I acknowledge certainly, and I believe the department acknowledges, that we can and should, must, do a better job of getting word out on the programs that we have. There are good programs in the GNWT to support the development of our staffing and the development of a representative workforce. This is a good program, and it is one that the Member has pointed out rightfully is perhaps being underutilized. There is more space to utilize it. So, as I have said earlier today, we are committing to improving our communications. We are improving getting the word out, and I can certainly ensure that I get back and respond more fulsomely to the House or to the Member with respect to what is being done at a management level to ensure that our managers are aware of these programs, as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. Private business is very important to the North, and it is very important that we support this sector. The question I have for the Minister of housing is: why would your department not provide the private sector an opportunity to provide the units for use by the RCMP, and would you reconsider reviewing this decision? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Member, for your question. All new units required by the RCMP are to be constructed in accordance with the GNWT public recruitment policies that will ensure that the northern proponent will have the opportunity to express their interest in understanding the construction of these units. In terms of maintenance and administration of the units, the RCMP have chosen the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation to carry that over. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is no secret that there exists a long waiting list with individuals and families waiting to access public housing. How, then, do you explain demolishing existing stock and using the land for units that are not for public-housing use? It will be lands that are lost for this use.
Thank you, Member, for your comment. The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation capital planning process includes the disposal of NWT Housing Corporation-owned units that are beyond economic repair or to free up the land for future construction. The disposal of the surplus housing units supports community-based planning to help make the land available for construction of the housing units to support community governments in dealing with properties in the community. The Housing Corporation continues to explore opportunities to support projects that hire local people to gain employment and training while demolishing the public buildings.
I am not certain of the condition those units are in. I did drive by, and they appear pretty fine to me, probably better than what I am living in. Was there ever any consideration to make these existing units available to housing clients who would be in a financial position to purchase them for a nominal fee?
Thank you, Member, for your comments. I want to answer this clearly. We do have units that we are demolishing. It frees up the land either for the community or for the members or for our clients, and just going forward, we do look at the surplus that we do have. If we do have some units that we are able to repair, then we do consult with the community members first and if communities have interest, if they would be interested in taking over the units. If the conditions are beyond repair, we end up demolishing the properties, and we do end up rebuilding either under the home-ownership program or else the public-housing units. Thank you, Member.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the construction of these units, as I said before, our northern local contractors need work, our residents need work, and our northern suppliers need work. Will the Minister of Housing assure us that these units will be built in the North by northern contractors with northern employees and not be supplied by southern contractors? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member, for your statement. Ninety-five percent of the northern contracts that are distributed through the Housing Corporation are northern contractors here in the Northwest Territories. I wanted to just express that we have six units that are going up in Fort Smith, RCMP units; three in Norman Wells; 17 in Inuvik; seven in Fort Simpson; and two in Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today, I reviewed the history of our government's acquisition and management of the Mactung property. We accepted it as financial security against the shaky Cantung Mine and have spent money cleaning up the site and compiling reports in the hope of finally selling it. Can the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment tell us, after five years of owning the Mactung property, whether we have sold it, and if not, why? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Mactung property has not been sold yet, as we are currently in the middle of a sales process. Our goal is to find a private-sector owner for both the Mactung property and the Cantung Mine as soon as possible. Our strategy is to market Cantung and Mactung together with the Government of Canada, and we believe this is the right approach. We will continue moving forward with this strategy during 2020. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for that. It is not clear to me why these two properties are being marketed together. They are 140 kilometres apart; that is by air. If you try to drive from one site to the other, it is 700 kilometres. Can the Minister explain why we are marketing these properties together?
Selling the Mactung deposit together with the Cantung Mine allows prospective buyers to evaluate and propose a more comprehensive tungsten business plan that could possibly include economically feasible mining operations, remediation, as well as exploration. This approach is more attractive to responsible developers and increases the potential viability of renewed tungsten mining operations in the Northwest Territories. Our priority is to identify and establish an experienced proponent whose proposed business model will maximize benefits to Northwest Territories residents and businesses.
I am happy to update the Member that we have completed a request for qualifications process to shortlist suitable proponents, and we are now defining the terms for the request for proposals to send to the shortlisted candidates. We are actively engaging with Indigenous governments and organizations in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories throughout this process.
I want to thank the Minister for that. This property has been on sale for at least six months and nothing has really happened. I want to ask the Minister about the terms of sale for it because they are certainly not very clear. Can the Minister tell us what, if any, liabilities does a purchaser assume and what liabilities, if any, stay with this government?
One of the key goals when designing the request for proposals and negotiating with the preferred proponent will be minimizing the liabilities retained by the federal and territorial governments. The way that it is structured will be defined in the request for proposals. I will be happy, like I said, to update the Members when it is developed. I can only speak to Mactung as the Government of the Northwest Territories will be seeking a proponent that will assume all the current authorizations and the Mactung site in its entirety.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that and her words about minimizing liabilities. In fact, that is what this government should be doing all along, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It remains to be seen whether we can actually ever sell the Mactung property and recover our costs. I would like the Minister, though, to explain what lessons, if any, this government has learned from the Mactung property acquisition and possible sale. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I would agree with the Member that this government should be looking for efficiencies wherever possible. I would like to say that we have affirmed that there remains interest in our Northwest Territories tungsten resources in today's minerals industry. I would like to say that we have demonstrated that, through partnership, we can turn a tough situation around and set the stage for development with a responsible, collaborative, and local benefits-focused approach.
Mactung is a world-class tungsten deposit. Our involvement ensures that its development potential is recognized and remains secure. Our active involvement in the sales process helps to ensure that the right buyer will be found and that the potential of this property to create benefits for Northerners is realized. We also recognize that there is international attention on critical and strategic metals sourcing that strengthens the interests in our Northwest Territories tungsten assets. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There still seem to be many questions on the minds of Northerners, including my constituents and the students of Aurora College. Would the Premier please clarify how she was able to dismiss the president of Aurora College without having a statutory authority to do so laid out in the Aurora College Act? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a difference between the appointing of statutory appointments and employment contracts; totally different. There are actually a number of statutory appointments across the Government of the Northwest Territories. The appointment process appoints the individual to a position in the public service; statutory appointments are made by the Minister and assigns responsibility under the legislation. In some cases, a position may have more than one statutory appointment. For example, the territory executive director, who is not hired by the Minister, for Child and Family Services, in addition to their employment contract, is conferred through appointment by the Minister of Health and Social Services. The statutory appointment of director, Child and Family Services, is under the Child and Family Services Act and the director of adoptions under the Adoptions Act, so that Minister appoints the statutory positions but is not responsible for hiring.
While the associate deputy minister may be statutory-appointed to the position of a president under the Aurora College Act, the employment relationship of deputy ministers and associate deputy ministers is clearly with me as the Premier, and it remains in my sole purview to terminate the employment of an associate deputy minister across departments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Can the Premier clarify if proper written notice has been provided to the former ADM under the Aurora College Act?
I need clarification. Was the appropriate notice given to the associate deputy minister? Is that the question?
Sorry, can the Premier please repeat her question?
---Laughter
Oral questions. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does that mean I am open to ask the MLA questions?
What I was asking for was clarification. My understanding, correct me if I am wrong, was that the question was: did the Premier give appropriate notice for termination to the associate deputy minister? If that is the question, then appropriate notice depends on situations, and that is in various acts. If somebody is giving you, for example, termination that I am going to leave my employment, it is customary to give two weeks' notice. If somebody is terminated from a position, the custom is you don't have to give notice within that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the housing Minister today. The federal monies for those new units across the territory, for the 17 units in Inuvik, is that federal monies, or are they taken out of our housing authority funding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Member, for your question. Yes, that will be federal money that will be spent on the RCMP units. Thank you.
The federal government, I guess they are really lucky to have that kind of funding to put 17 new units in one community. I support the RCMP 150 percent. I know that their units in Inuvik are in bad shape. For local businesses in Inuvik that are providing that service, for plumbing, all the necessities to fix the unit, now under the local housing authority are they going to be taking over their jobs and putting more out there to give them more units to watch over, those extra 17 units? Are they going to keep the local contractors, the plumbers, and everybody at work? Because if you are taking 17 units, that is a lot of money that could be in local businesses and not into the government coffers.
Thank you, Member, for your comment. The federal government was interested in working with the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation in order to deliver their units. In looking at the maintenance, as well, we will be going forward and looking at the amount of workload that this is going to burden the local housing authorities and looking at opportunities going forward. Thank you, Member, for your question.
I guess that wouldn't affect our local housing stock in our communities? For Inuvik, are they going to be taking down 17 units in the community, or is that just federal monies and they will have new units?
Thank you, Member, for your question. This will not burden our current budget that we are forecasting going forward. The units are federally funded units, and they are not funded by the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Member.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is not what I asked, but okay. Today, I would like to say in my riding I have 30-year-old Webber units. You see people taking pictures in their units of snow coming in in the doors and the windows and stuff like that and just outdated. We need new funding to repair those units, to local LHOs. I think that next time she is meeting with the housing Minister, I guess, Mr. Speaker, she needs to bring up local communities that are affected up North. If they are so quick to give money, the federal government, they should be giving us more money to fix our units in the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member, for your comments. I am mindful that there are drastic housing scenarios within your region, and I am committed to going into your region in the summer. I do want to look at these units. However, going forward, there are housing programs that we have to offer to the clients who are living in these conditions. I am willing to work with them going forward and also contacting our local housing authorities, working with our district offices to make sure that they outreach to the clients who are in need of home repair. Thank you, Member, and thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
