Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have a significant date right now. I will have to get back to the Member. For the Consumer Protection Act, just to clarify with the Member? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes, it is the Consumer Protection Act that I was asking about. Is it on the legislative initiatives priority list for this department? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. My apologies. That hasn't been identified. We are looking at the Fire Prevention Act and the seniors and disability taxation and property assessment act. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I made probably about three or four statements in the last Assembly about this legislation. It's not very strong. I don't think it really reflects best practice or is comparable to what other Canadian jurisdictions do. There was an instance of someone selling fish from Kazakhstan as locally produced fish. I think there have been some issues around aurora tourism here; that might be more of an issue for ITI. We need to protect the value of our products, and if we don't have stronger consumer protection legislation, I'm worried about that. If this is not on their list right now, how is the Minister going to look into this issue about whether it can or should be reviewed? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to make a review of this act in our term, and I would like to look at areas that we would have to enhance and we would have to change in order to fit the needs of the Northwest Territories. Going forward, I would like to review what has been done so far and the concerns that were brought forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Can the Minister make a commitment to come back to the standing committee within six months with a report with her findings on that? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I will commit to reviewing the situations and looking at the Consumer Protection Act and providing the information that I found to standing committee. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. All right. We'll move on to Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I struggle with this because I see the 13 positions in the directorate, and there are only a few in policy and planning. I recognize how hard those people work, but MACA has a legislative backlog that really needs to get done. I've mentioned multiple times the hope of a building standards act, the hope of a Consumer Protection Act, a city charter. I know we're finally getting to the Fire Prevention Act, which is going to be a lot of work. We're also getting the Property Assessment and Taxation Act, which I'm very excited about. I've asked the Minister to look into permanent residents voting, the possibility of online voting. I have recommendations for the Cities, Towns and Villages Act. I know we're not going to see all those pieces of legislation in the next four years, and that's a wish list I have for MACA's legislation. My question for the Minister is: considering the demand for MACA to update a number of legislative initiatives, are there plans to expand some of the policy people or plans to come back with a supplemental to at least make sure we get the Property Assessment and Taxation Act and a couple of these projects done in the next four years?
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will take into consideration the list that the Member has provided, and I would like to educate myself a little further on what has been done and the improvements that need to be made. I do understand and I do see that the legislation that we do have, going forward, and the acts, that they are outdated. I would like to take a look at them and review them, as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I'll be a little more blunt here. I really don't think that MACA currently is being funded properly to get all of its legislation in line, and I would really encourage the Minister to champion this. Let's make MACA one of the most productive legislative departments there is. To do that, you're going to have to fight at the financial management board and fight in this House to bring forward and get the policy work and really push to get this legislative agenda moving. I think everyone who works at MACA knows that there have been requests to get the Property Assessment and Taxation Act going for years and years, so I guess I would just like to hear the Minister, whether she is willing to make that fight. Let's get some more Municipal and Community Affairs legislation done in the next four years.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I know that changing legislation, reviewing legislation requires a lot of manpower, a lot of consultation, involving the stakeholders that these would involve, and that they would be of effect. Going forward, I would have to look at it strategically because it is a lot of work and looking at engaging with our stakeholders, as well, throughout the territory and the effects and the changes that we are looking to update. Going forward, I would like to say that I would like to review what has been done and look at the acts that we currently have within my department. We have already identified four of them, four of them all together. It seems like it's a little at a time, but we're making progress. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Are there any further questions under the directorate? Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to the Office of the Fire Marshal, how many staff is there that actually does plan review? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Would that be under public safety? That's the next section. You're ahead of us. Did you have questions under the directorate? Yes? No? Okay. Are there any further questions under the directorate? If there are no further questions under the directorate, turn to page 329, Municipal and Community Affairs, directorate, operations expenditure summary, 2020-2021 Main Estimates, $3,942,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. We are now moving to the first activity starting on page 332, with information pages up to 335. Questions? Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The question was: how many staff does the Office of the Fire Marshal have who do plan review? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Presently, we have one staff. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. There is always a concern about timing, that from the time you file the plans to receiving a response doesn't fit in with some of the projects. It takes a little too long. Is there any appetite to increase the number of staff there? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Presently, the Fire Prevention Act is under review, so once that review is done, we'd be able to determine the amount of staff to support the Fire Prevention Act. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I've got some concern is that there are modular units that come into the Northwest Territories, whether they're camps or whether they're residential trailers. I know that we operate under Part 9 of the National Building Code. If you've got a modular unit coming out of Alberta, it's under the Alberta Part 10. There's a little bit of a difference there. I'm just wondering, with one staff in that office, and I understand there's regional staff as well, assistant fire marshals, I'm wondering if that's sufficient staff to monitor those types of buildings coming into the territories. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This concern has been brought up quite a bit throughout, looking at the infrastructure that we are building within the communities and in respect to modular homes, as well. Once the Fire Prevention Act is passed and we've determined and it's finalized, I would like to look at the staffing for that position. Knowing that we do have assistant fire marshals within the district offices, I would also like to really emphasize on the support that we would have at headquarters. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to plan review, what aspects of the plans does the Office of the Fire Marshall look at? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Looking at the aspects for what the Fire Marshall would hold, I was going to refer this question over to Mr. Schauerte, just so he can elaborate on it because I know we don't have a building act, and I don't want to get those two confused. I want to be very clear. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Schauerte.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Under the Fire Prevention Act, we adopt the component of the National Building Code that deals with the threat of fire, fire and the threat of fire. It really is that component of the National Building Code that the plan review office reviews for compliance with respect to the architectural drawings and the building plans that come before the plan review office. The complexity of some of the buildings that come forward and some of the drawings that we get contribute to the plan review process. Largely, the better the plan review documents that come before us, the easier it is for the plan review officer to review them and approve them and approve the project.
As the Minister has pointed out, the Fire Prevention Act is a priority for the department for the review during the 19th Assembly and, of course, the plan review function is a critical component to that. There's been considerable interest, not only within this House, but with community governments and the NWT Association of Communities to look at building standards, which is a view to expand a little bit the role of what plan review would look like. Really, as part of our legislative agenda, to review the Fire Prevention Act, this gives us, the department, the opportunity to look at all these functions to determine how best serving the building industry relative to the National Building Code and improving projects.
A lot of the questions that are being asked around building standards are really tied back to that discussion around the Fire Prevention Act and the work that we can do there. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Schauerte. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Under infrastructure, I think it is, we have gas. We have the gas inspections, and we have the boilers. Is your department looking at maybe bringing those together with the gas inspections and possibly even plumbing?. Right now, we have no plumbing inspections required in the NWT except for Yellowknife, I think. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We did speak about the building code and looking back to the Northwest Territories, and having the functions under one act. I'm going to have Ms. Eleanor Young elaborate on that a little bit further. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Young.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The issue the Member is raising are issues that have been raised as part of phase one of the Fire Prevention Act work through engagement with stakeholders. The fact that we've got regulatory function sitting in two or three departments with regard to construction industry in the North. We had started down the path of getting ready for a phase two engagement specific to that latter part of the Fire Prevention Act around building plan review and building inspections. Unfortunately, the 911 legislation sidetracked some of that work for a year or two. We're now getting back to it. In the interest of much of the conversation around a broader building act, what we intend to do is do a discussion paper to finish the work on the Fire Prevention Act, but also gather information on whether the Fire Prevention Act is the right tool to fix many of these issues or whether it is broader building legislation or whether it's some sort of harmonization of the processes we currently have.
We expect that that process will lead us to a recommendation in terms of the legislative fix. Whether it's under Fire Prevention Act or whether we take on a second act with a building standards act. We hope to have that decision, I think our goal is within this year so that we can finish whatever the work is in the remainder of this Assembly. Many of these issues are why we stopped and slowed down that work on the Fire Prevention Act because we realized there were much bigger discussions and decisions that had to be made about where we go in terms of all of these different regulatory authorities. Where they get housed would fall out of that final decision about legislation. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Young. Member for Hay River South.
