Yes, I commit to keeping the Member informed, and I am sure the Member will let me know if I am not. Thank you.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, the COVID-19 global pandemic has created a lot of uncertainty and delays for much of our daily life. My question is: does the Department of Infrastructure still consider this project as a priority for the 19th Assembly, the Taltson expansion? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Taltson energy expansion project does remain a priority of not only Infrastructure but of the 19th Legislative Assembly as decided upon by all of us in October last year. The GNWT has been successful in obtaining $18 million in grant funding from Canada and continues to pursue the advancement of the project in terms of examining options for the commercial structure, defining our Indigenous partnerships, and completing technical design and environmental baseline work in order to prepare for a regulatory application.
Given the economic fallout that the COVID-19 has created for our economy, this type of project is more important than ever to help spur economic growth. Can the Minister tell us whether any aspect of this project has been changed or has been delayed since the start of the 19th Legislative Assembly?
All work on this important project does continue. The COVID-19 situation may impact the nature of engagement around the project, and that is something that we are going to have to figure out as a government as a whole: how do we do engagement at a time when we cannot necessarily meet in person and, if not, we would be in violation of the CPHO? We are just currently working on establishing the appropriate safety protocols and measures so that we can continue with the Indigenous engagement and the stakeholder engagement that we have promised to do. I just wanted to reiterate that I will be creating a unit within the Department of Infrastructure to take on the engagement process better.
Can the Minister explain what the current stage that the Taltson hydro expansion is in and what comes next?
Currently, we are in the feasibility stage of the project, so our focus remains on examining the potential commercial structures, signing an MOU with our Indigenous partners, and working closely with the Canadian infrastructure bank to build a preliminary business case for this project. Technical work is focused on transmission-line routing options and costs. Strong Indigenous partnerships are imperative to the success of this project. I recently met with the YKDFN leadership to hear their thoughts on how they would like to be involved in this project. I look forward to meeting with other Indigenous partners who will be involved in this project. I have heard not directly from the band but that Lutselk'e is also very concerned about engagement on this project, so I commit to doing that better. I am also currently working with, like I said before, my deputy minister on the establishment of an Indigenous engagement community relations unit within the Department of Infrastructure to ensure that we do have strong relationships with our partners going forward, so that we have the right people around the table when we're talking about Taltson.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister provide a timeline for when the people of the NWT can expect this project to be built and operational? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This is a long-term project with many steps ahead of us. Our current focus is to establish the partnership relationships and agreements, finalize the preferred route for the project, and then prepare the regulatory applications. We have the federal funding in support of all of that work. Regulatory applications could be ready as early as next year, pending a complete field season this summer, so there potentially could be some impacts there if we can't get the engagement part done before the summer work starts. Following completion of an environmental assessment and regulatory permitting process, construction of the project will take about four or five years. We do think that operations at the facility could start as early at 2030. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of ITI. I have asked the Minister previously, and again I ask, if she has read the report from the ministerial advisory panel which examined alternate governance and ownership models for the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do have a copy of the advisory panel documents, the report, and I will review. It is an exciting time, especially if this does evolve into being a harvester-led-and-owned entity. We are very excited for this project to move forward, and there is no anticipation that we would not; we're just trying to figure out how that's going to go. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
One important recommendation from the panel is the inclusion of fishers' participation in FFMC by drawing board members from fishers and fisher organizations. This government appointed a bureaucrat to the board. I ask the Minister if she will commit to reviewing this appointment and consider appointing a northern fisher to the board.
Thank you to the Member for the question. The department of fisheries and oceans is reviewing the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation and how harvesters will have more of an equity stake. The role of FFMC is critical to the Northwest Territories and how this transition to a federated cooperative will impact fishers across Great Slave Lake. It is quite possible that the FFMC becomes a cooperative entity and that the current board would dissolve. The new federated cooperative entity would be represented by fishers; however, in the meantime, until that happens, I do commit to the Member at looking at this appointment.
I appreciate that answer. The next one is: what is the Minister's department doing to financially assist the NWT fishers, beyond the current programs, who are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic?
For the 2020 fiscal year, the department will provide additional freight payments for the remote locations to support the strategic goals outlined in the strategy for revitalizing the Great Slave Lake commercial fishery of 10 cents per pound for zones 2 and 3 and 20 cents per pound for zones 4 and 5, which, in turn, will increase cash liquidity to fishers for seasonal start-up activities. The regional office has been having conference calls with the fishers every two weeks. Discussions have been held to provide updates on the status of FFMC, the status of ITI programs, and new safety programs. We haven't received any concerns about the lack of funding support, but I ask staff to confirm on the next call on Thursday with the fishers that that's the case. If not, I commit to coming back to the Member and having a discussion with him about those concerns.
I also want to say that I've recently, myself, met with a local fisher, so I have also been taking some time to at least continue to hear and engage with that industry so that I know what's going on, so that when we are moving forward with the fish plant, I am more informed.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now, for the $9 million question: what is the status of the proposed fishing plant for Hay River, and will the Minister commit to providing me with a briefing on this project? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The department is finalizing a processing footprint for the proposed new plant to bring it within budget. Proposed processing volumes have been reduced, and plant size reduced to approximately 10,000 square feet. As the Member will remember, the proposals received were well over the budget of money allocated. The region is working with Infrastructure on this project, and it is hoped that Infrastructure will be finalizing a tender delivery process this summer with an award this fall. I do commit to having a more fulsome discussion and briefing with the Member and anyone else that he would like to bring from his business community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Finance, where the human resources department falls under. Can the Minister confirm or explain if term contracts cannot be extended up to 48 months any longer, where this could ensure a longer commitment from some of our healthcare professionals? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, the new collective agreement now has 24 months as the benchmark and no longer 48 months. Thank you.
Knowing, within my past experience, looking through the collective agreement, when somebody is here for up to 48 months, they get 100 percent removal. If they choose to stay on past that and sign on as an indeterminate, then there is a removal, and this is what staff look at: the years that you stay within the government, you get so much percentage of removal. When it used to be up to 48 months, if they decided they loved the place that they're living, they would comfortably move into an indeterminate. Can the Minister explain to me why this change was made?
I will say I listened quite intently, and I am well familiar that the Member has a lot of experience in terms of hiring in an area that is under a lot of stress, in terms of hiring healthcare workers. I'm not in a position right now to explain the details of how the collective agreement was negotiated on this particular point, but I certainly intend to inform myself on it. I will reach out to the Member and to a relevant committee if they're interested. The Member is probably still aware, and the House is likely still aware, that, earlier, I had made a commitment that the Department of Finance and human resources is going to be working and is working with Health and Social Services to improve recruitment and retention of healthcare workers. It certainly sounds like there is some interesting experience and very relevant experience that I would like to draw from the Member on.
As the Minister alluded to, one of our priorities of this government is to increase resident healthcare staff by 20 percent. I would like to know if there is some sort of plan that is in place in human resources to fix the system to make it more appealing to indeterminate employees rather than locums and terms, especially in our highly-needed healthcare profession.
I certainly can confirm that human resources has already begun working with Health and Social Services, that they are already underway in terms of developing their plan. I'll correct myself later if I'm wrong, but I believe there was an intention to move forward this summer. Again, now, with COVID-19, that may have changed somewhat, but the Department of Finance and human resources has been quite actively involved in the fact that we've had to staff up in the Health and Social Services Department. I will certainly commit to getting the details on those plans back to the Member and back to this House as quickly as possible.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Premier because I believe that the kind of response required by the GNWT to support small business will take a Cabinet collaboration. Mr. Speaker, can I have the Premier's commitment that she will instruct her Cabinet Ministers to bring forward innovative suggestions on how more funding and support can be made available to NWT businesses as a result of COVID-19? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely. We are already taking some movement in that way. It is one of the primary reasons that Minister Nokleby actually proposed the business advisory council. The important thing, though, Mr. Speaker, is that we have to make sure that our compensations for businesses complement the federal government's and not overlap, and that is a fine dance that we have been doing all the time. Constantly, in my first Ministers' conferences, I keep talking about flexibility. The federal government seems to say, "This is for this. This is for that." We have businesses keep falling through the cracks all the time, so I have been asking for flexibility within that. However, absolutely, we are already on that.
I completely agree with the Premier that we do have to demand flexibility from the federal government, but in that, I believe that we also need to make up for that here in the Northwest Territories because our businesses simply can't afford to wait until the federal government is able to kind of work with our entire country to then give our northern businesses what they need to survive. Does the Premier see us in the Northwest Territories being able to provide an influx of cash, as a government, to businesses within the Northwest Territories, ahead of waiting for the federal government?
The Government of the Northwest Territories has already provided some economic relief. The relief packages that we have put out there are available on our GNWT website. If not, let me know, and I will get back to you on that. We are trying to keep up as well as possible. The whole idea, though, is we need a coordinated approach. Like I said before, if we keep running to the federal government -- which happened at the beginning. First, it was tourism. I am trying to remember the order. First, it was tourism. Then it was Chamber of Mines, and it kept going. It's confusing for the federal government. That is why we are talking about having a plan that will actually come forward and say, "These are all of our needs, both social and economic." It's a better presentation to the federal government, and it makes us look more professional as the GNWT.
As a government, we have incurred many expenses because of COVID-19, and we have incurred these expenses hoping that the federal government will down the road reimburse us for all of these. I am wondering: does the territorial government kind of have a limit of how much COVID debt they are willing to take on or they can take on, and is small business and money to small business included in that plan? Thank you.
Absolutely. We are not waiting for the federal government to help businesses and residents of the Northwest Territories. However, we are advocating all the time. I have to give credit to the federal government for what they have done. It's not fair to stand here and blame the federal government. They are trying their hardest. They have given to us so far $23.4 million for us to use for COVID-19, mostly of course for health and social services but for other expenses because they gave us the flexibility in that. They gave us $8.7 million for airlines. They are promising more. They gave us $35 million for businesses recently. You know, I mean they are trying the best they can. The question, though, is: are we tracking it? Absolutely, we are tracking. The Department of Finance is responsible for tracking. All finance directors in every department has a special COVID-19 code that they use to implement any of the expenses we are doing. We are tracking, and we are trying to be as responsible as possible.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's indicative of the question of public art that it's uncertain whether the question should be for Infrastructure or for ECE, but I am going to start with Infrastructure. As I mentioned in my statement, the recent discovery of a hand-painted mural lying on top of a gravel pile on the Stanton campus raises questions about how the government tracks and cares for art that it acquires. My first question is simply: who is responsible for the care and maintenance and the appropriate storage of art from the old Stanton hospital? Thank you. That question is going to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. It's confusing.
Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are trying to work with the other Minister and the Member to get some answers for her questions here. When it comes to public artwork, it is the responsibility for the department to care for it, to maintain it, to store it, and they can always reach out to the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre for advice. That is where the experts are. That is the situation right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister of ECE for that answer. Is there a policy or are there guidelines in place that describe how art in the government's possession should be cared for?
Right now, there are no government-wide guidelines. However, not just ECE but ECE in collaboration with all departments has put together the Culture and Heritage Strategic Framework that is 2015 to 2025 as well as four-year action plan that is 2019 to 2022. As part of that framework and action plan, one of the goals is to safeguard heritage, including artwork in government buildings that requires special consideration and preservation. We have put our mind to it, but the work has not quite begun yet. I will leave it there. I won't answer all of the questions in advance from the Member.
