As I stated earlier in my Member's statement, I drive the road on a frequent basis and I see different vehicles that go to the site. One of them happens to be a water and sewer truck and the van, of course, I talked about, the cargo van. I understand the service contracts for water and sewage and for shuttling workers back and forth to Yellowknife were awarded to an outside firm. Can the Minister explain why the water and sewer contract was not awarded to the Behchoko community government?
I cannot speak to why negotiations happened prior to myself being involved with them. I'm not sure why those services would not have been included in the contract and made to go to local businesses. However, I can assure the Member that the Tlicho government is a partner in this project, one of the P3s, and we negotiated our quotas and our requirements for the contract with them in mind and that we are meeting those targets.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. This is a mega project, and it's right in the heart of the Tlicho, the Monfwi Gogha De Nihtl'e area. My citizens, my Tlicho citizens, have every right to know why the contract wasn't awarded to the community of Behchoko. We do provide those services, and instead of going all the way from Yellowknife, just imagine the cost of delivering that service. If I can ask the Minister to further look into this matter, because it is an important matter that has been addressed to me by my constituents, even the workers at the site. On this particular water and sewer contract, why it wasn't part of their agreement, I would like to know, Mr. Speaker. Masi.
Yes, I will commit to providing the Member with a synopsis or summary of why this contract was not included. It may just be a matter of it wasn't asked for, and therefore it didn't come up; I'm not quite sure. However, I would like to assure the Member that this contract, as well as every contract that we are going to be looking at going forward, will be looked at with the lens of the priorities of our mandate and of the 19th Assembly, which includes increasing contract opportunities for northern and Indigenous businesses and retaining our money in the north. I can assure the Member that all of his concerns are noted by me and that I will be using them going forward as I work on our procurement system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Finance in regard to the Affirmative Action Policy. My understanding is the Affirmative Action Policy last went through an official review in 1994. I am wondering what the findings of that review were and if any changes were made to the policy as a result. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This policy has been subject to two reviews over the past 20-some years, and what I would suggest and commit to do is to engage with the appropriate committee in a technical briefing on this, so that we can start to have a dialogue on the work that has been done on the policy and on its contents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate that offer from the Minister. My second question would be: does the Minister feel that the Affirmative Action Policy, as it currently stands, is meeting its objectives, given the relatively stagnant Indigenous hiring statistics over the course of the policy's lifetime?
I think the Member has perhaps answered her own question ultimately on this particular matter. I understand that that is maybe rhetorical and directed at me for other reasons. I acknowledge that we are continuing to face challenges to have a workforce that is truly representative of the people of the Northwest Territories. That remains the goal of human resources. That remains my goal as Minister, and I believe it's reflected in the mandates that we were given here to increase employment opportunities across the Northwest Territories.
I would note that the Affirmative Action Policy is only one tool that the human resources department uses. There are a number of programs that I have spoken about in the House previously that we are also rolling out. In addition, there are efforts under way right now to work with some of the Indigenous governments so that human resources can better support the growth and development of the human resources capacities and some of the Indigenous governments across the Northwest Territories. Work continues, and hopefully, by engaging the committee in that technical review, we can advance this forward over the next few years.
I appreciate the Minister's words. Earlier today, she delivered a Minister's statement in regard to prompt payment, and that's the subject that the Minister and I have been discussing at length over the course of our term. I have absolutely no doubt that the Minister is on this and will carry through, as she has already shown to me.
My next question for the Minister is: would she be able to explain some of the constitutional challenge, vulnerabilities of the policy to us today? Because I know that has been a concern of the GNWT for many years. I'm just wondering how the department feels that maybe some of these can be addressed, or if the Minister can speak to that.
The constitutional landscape of Canada is ever-shifting. It has been described as a living tree. Obviously, we have to fit our tools and our policies and our rules within that tree, and do our best to ensure that everything within the GNWT is constitutional. That is always our effort. That is always our goal. To the extent that there are technical issues or concerns around that, I will ensure that that's an element or an aspect of the briefing that I propose to engage with the committee, so as to ensure that we are doing the best, both to serve the people of the Northwest Territories and having a representative workforce, and doing so within a way that is reflective of the constitutional landscape of the country.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. In my statement earlier today, I mentioned the often-strained relations between our government and the NWT francophone community over education. Can the Minister tell me how many applications for admissions by non-rights holders have been reviewed in total under the 2016 directive, and how many have been approved? I did give the questions to my friend across the aisle earlier today. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member doesn't want me to say, "I don't know." Well, I do know. There have been 29 individual student applications. Twenty-three of those student applications under the 2016 directive have been approved, which means that those children, as well as, for the most part, most of their siblings, are now eligible to attend. Thank you.
I want to thank the Minister for that information. Given that our government has ended up in court at least four times regarding francophone first-language education rights, can the Minister give us an estimate of how much money has been spent on these court proceedings by our government?
The money spent on court proceedings pursuant to the 2016 directive is $220,000.
I want to thank the Minister for that response. I can think of lots of other ways to spend that $220,000. The NWT is the only place in Canada where admissions to francophone first- language schools is still directly controlled by a Minister; at least, that's my understanding. Does the Minister agree that it is time to review the ministerial directive from 2016?
If the directive is winding us up in court or is putting us into court proceedings, obviously, it can be improved upon, and I'm very live to this issue. I'm from Hay River, where we have a French first-language school, and I've been looking closely at this file. I'm not looking at a formal review right now, but I am personally reviewing it. I am having conversations. I had a conversation this morning, or rather yesterday morning, about this, and I'm having further conversations.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I understand it's not a formal review, but I appreciate his interest in the file. He sat in the House last year, or in the last Assembly. He's from a community that has Ecole Boreale, so I'm glad to hear he's started work on this. Our government needs a better approach to collaboration with the francophone community over implementation of education rights. I'm wondering: how will the Minister ensure this relationship changes as we begin the 19th Assembly? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I'm trying to build the best relationships I can with all the education leaders in the territory. To that end, I phoned the chair of every DEC or regional authority in the territory when I first took office. I've had conversations with all but one of the members of the board of the French schools. Again, yesterday, I reached out to the chair and I'm setting up a meeting so that we can have a discussion, myself and the board, with no one else in the room, no one from the department, no employees of the board, just the elected officials, to figure out how, as reasonable people, we can come to a reasonable solution, because my conversations with everyone on the board have been great. Everyone wants the same thing. Everyone wants quality education for the students, and I'm sure we can come to a solution. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today, my Members' statement was on the building standards act. In our mandate, we are committed to implementing the 2030 Energy Strategy, something that I am very excited about, Mr. Speaker. Object 5 of the 2030 Energy Strategy is to increase residential, commercial, and government buildings' energy efficiency, by 15 percent. My question is for the Minister of Infrastructure: will the implementation of the action plan for the 2030 Energy Strategy include developing a building standards act such that we can ensure that those buildings meet that 15-percent target?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Meeting this target does not require the development of a building act, so the target will be met through grants and rebates that we are provided under the 2030 Energy Strategy. These will include the support for larger-scale building energy efficiency using the greenhouse gas grant program for building with industry, with almost $8 million in grants available over the four years. We are going to support community-building energy efficiency through the greenhouse gas grant program for governments, with over $7 million in grants available. We're going to support residents, businesses, and communities through Arctic Energy Alliance, and we have more than doubled their budget over the past two years. The Government of the Northwest Territories, the Housing Corporation, we all support the achievement of this target by ensuring that all new government buildings exceed the national energy code for buildings. In addition, we have $3.8 million per year for energy retrofits in the existing government buildings. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That is a great list of programs, and I'm happy we're going to meet that target regardless of whether we have a building standards act. I am very happy to see our GNWT best building practices followed. They are great practices. The reality on the ground is, if you are in a community, you can build whatever you want because no one comes and inspects it and no one enforces any of the building codes. Given this reality on the ground, is the Minister of Infrastructure willing to work with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and begin the work to develop a building standards act?
I commit to the Member that I would definitely look into whether or not a building act is needed here. I do want to remind the Member that, at times, Northerners and northern engineers and geoscientists are involved with creating the federal standards. There have recently been four building standards that were released. There is the guideline for foundations, geotechnical investigations and foundations and permafrost-rich soils. There is a land farm one that has come out recently. I do want to state that the national codes or standards do have northern input.
I recognize what the Member is saying, that the enforcement and inspection aspects of living in the North don't seem to be adequately addressed. I definitely commit to the Member to looking into that. We can definitely continue to start talking about this, but I don't want to commit that the government will be actually developing this act going forward.
I recognize, perhaps, the Minister can't commit to developing a piece of legislation right now, but to pretend like this hasn't been happening for years; I've read a statement today from my predecessor's predecessor in 2011 requesting this. The department has the information. This involves the Housing Corporation. It involves the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, and the expertise lies in Infrastructure. What I am looking for from the Minister of Infrastructure is to reach out to all the relevant parties, all the professionals, and get back to the committee with a plan on how we are going to get this done.
I don't think I pretended anything, but we can have a conversation about that outside of this. One of the things we've been hearing a lot is, A, we have no money; and, B, we need to reduce the red tape. Should we go forward with the buildings act, we would then have another layer of regulation that we would need to adhere to, when we already would still be forced to adhere to Canada codes. As well, there is a cost that would come with developing this act that we potentially don't have the funds for. I do commit to the Member to start the discussion with the departments that he's mentioned and see where this can go, and I would also then include the architects' association, as well as the engineering and geoscience associations, and other interested stakeholders for their input on whether or not that an act would definitely be required. I do acknowledge, though, again, that there are issues with building inspection and whether or not things are being built to code.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that the Minister acknowledges that there are problems with the building inspection. However, I think the argument that this would create further red tape, when there is simply no enforcement or inspection occurring, is not a valid argument, Mr. Speaker. It's a free-for-all right now, as soon as you leave Yellowknife, in regard to building standards. We have a number of codes and guidelines, some are enforceable, some are not, but at the end of the day, there is no one there to enforce this at a territorial level. Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister of Infrastructure is: in implementing the energy strategy, and working with those departments, can we leave here at the end of four years enforcing those standards?
As an engineer, a professional engineer, I take an oath to protect public safety. That may be something that's not as out there as the doctors, who take their oath to protect people, but, yes, I am very concerned to hear that buildings are being built to a substandard level, and I will commit to the Member to doing the best that I can do in the next four years. As we've all been saying, this a very, very large ship to change course on, so I'm not sure exactly how much I will be able to change. However, I commit to doing everything in my department as safely as a I can, and I will carry your concerns forward to my department. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Hopefully, the Minister of Infrastructure is not all tuckered out yet.
---Laughter
My questions are related to my Member's statement on the trucking industry and the safety on our highways. Can the Minister tell me how the department regulates the trucking industry? Specifically, when they are on our highways, keeping in mind the safety of the travelling public? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a Motor Vehicles Act that would be enforceable on our highways, so I'm assuming that would be one of the ways in which we do enforce the safety. Currently, as well, though, I did want to let the Member know that the Government of the Northwest Territories is working with our federal, provincial, and territorial colleagues to develop a common minimum training standard for commercial truck drivers across the country, so we are providing input and feedback to the federal government and our counterparts on where we see that there needs to be improvements. We've also been taking on a number of highway upgrades and will continue to do so. I know there's an area of concern on the highways with chipseal not being very good, or the quality of the roads not being very good, which also impacts driver safety. We're going to continue to apply for and receive federal funding to upgrade our roads. There's a lot of work being planned in the next four years on Highway No. 1 and Highway No. 3.
We're also going to be looking to do an implementation of the Intelligent Transportation Systems. This is an application of communication, computer, and system technologies, to make the transportation in the territory safer. There will be many benefits for this. It should increase the traveller information that we're collecting as a department; it will give us real-time data; it should be helping us to become better informed to make decisions. We have a budget of approximately $3.5 million over the next five years for this system, and we're currently on the work of putting out a request for proposals to complete the various components of the system. This is going to occur over the next several years as we roll it out.
I thank the Minister for all that information. I'm not sure if they are specific to the trucking industry; that's the industry that I'm discussing today. I mentioned the dangers of flying mud, rocks, and snow coming out of the trucks when you pass them. I've driven on the highway for quite a number of years, since 2008, when I had to work out of Hay River, going back and forth to Fort Providence. I've experienced a lot of that. Now, my time coming up to Yellowknife for the sittings. There's lots of, you know, flying mud, rocks; the mud covers your windshield totally. The snow is very, very bad. It's scary to get out there. Can the department engage the trucking industry to come up with new technology for the tire mud flaps so nothing flies out to oncoming traffic, which is posing serious risk to the travelling public?
I'm not sure if my department would be engaged to provide feedback to the trucking industry. However, we could definitely look into some ways and see if there is an opportunity, or a forum that maybe we need to become a member of, in order to be providing that. I did want to say, with respect to the mud and the rocks, and such, we are trying to implement, as much as we can, chipseal programs on roads that are not currently paved. Chipseal is basically a type of asphalt or pavement. We are looking to reduce the number of gravel roads that we have; however, again, very expensive. We also have a lot of issues to do with melting permafrost that makes having paved roads a lot more difficult to maintain and keep in an adequate manner. I commit to the Member that perhaps we need to do some education, as well, ensuring that trucking companies are ensuring that their truckers do have the appropriate flaps, et cetera.
I just wanted to ask, just to clarify the point before: you had referenced the fact that this wasn't about the trucking industry specifically. The mandatory commercial truck driver training that we're working on nationally is for the trucking industry.
Like I mentioned in my Member's statement, we're seeing an increase in truck traffic. You know, when I was coming up here last weekend, on the Sunday, I met up with six trucks on the road, and they were following very close to each other. It's a good thing it wasn't snowing; I probably would have hit one of them. That's what's happening. It's just a big increase with truck traffic on the highways, and we're not really regulating them. We don't see highway patrols out there. They're just running down the highway, you know, wanting to splash mud all over you in the summers, and whatnot. It still happens with the chipseal stuff. I'm just wondering if the department can meet with the suppliers, businesses, and mining executives to determine their needs and stockpiles in trying to decrease the amount of truck traffic on our highways?
I would like to point out that, if we were to advance the Taltson hydro expansion project, we won't have as many diesel trucks on the road, and that would maybe solve some of the trucking issues that we have. I take into note the Member's concerns, and yes, I will commit that as part of our development of our strategies going forward for highways. We will most assuredly, and I believe we already do, engage the trucking industry and get their feedback. As we've been speaking again, as a larger group, we do want to improve our systems and process as a government by ensuring we are listening to the people who are using our products and services. I commit to all of the Members right now that, every single thing I'm doing, I am collecting end-user feedback as best I can and will continue to do so.
Thank you for Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We received notice yesterday that the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation was meeting with the Yellowknife Women's Society yesterday to talk about the Arnica Inn application. I wonder if the Minister could provide us with an update on that meeting? Thank you.
