This is a fairly new project, but we have offered and are still willing to provide the Standing Committee on Social Development a briefing and to take questions on what committee would like to see in an alcohol strategy. We are following an outline from the group called CAPE, which is the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation. They have a number of different domains that they suggest an alcohol strategy focus on, so that is the outline we are looking at now. My preference would be to make this an iterative process so that there is more than one occasion on which the general public can be involved in providing their feedback and that the feedback could come in a lot of different forms. It need not only be written. It could be video. It could be voice. It could be song and dance, just whatever it takes to get the information.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. The Department of Finance houses our liquor and cannabis commission and also administers the Liquor Act. I am wondering how the Minister of Health and Social Services intends to include the Department of Finance in this process and how she sees the alcohol strategy influencing the work of the Department of Finance. Thank you.
These different domains speak to a whole-of-government approach. For example, impaired driving countermeasures would involve the Department of Justice; marketing and advertising controls would probably involve the Department of Finance, where the liquor commission is housed there; pricing and taxation and the physical availability of alcohol are also Department of Finance issues; Justice may take on the minimum legal drinking age, which is another recommendation in this set of issues to look at. It's going to be important for the department of health, as the lead on this, to bring all these other departments in so that we can present a coordinated approach to alcohol use. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. My first set of questions a few weeks ago, when we started this session, were on the Ingraham Trail fire services, and my last questions will be on the Ingraham Trail fire services. The Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh raised the idea of Dettah providing fire services to the Ingraham Trail. My question for the Minister of MACA is: is that a feasible option, and have we done any work on that? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister of MACA.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. The question was only asked last week. My department has been in communication with YKDFN and with Dettah, as well. As soon as we have more of a report to provide, I will keep the Member informed. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
On my first set of questions, the Minister said there was presently a working group and that we were dealing with the City of Yellowknife. My question is: has an offer been made to the City of Yellowknife of what they would need to continue fire services for the Ingraham Trail?
The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and the City of Yellowknife are working jointly on this initiative, as well. We need to get out; we need to consult; we need to look at stakeholders; and we need to see what it is that we are able to provide at Ingraham Trail. We still need to have the conversation with the City of Yellowknife. They are strategizing on their end, as well. Nothing has changed. Once we meet with the City of Yellowknife, I will provide an update to the Member. As I said, we have just started working with them within the last week.
I want to press the urgency of this issue. If, on April 1st, fire services run out, first, it's people lose fire services to their homes, which is an emergency. However, also, a number of my constituents' insurance bills will simply double due to us not being able to sort out an issue here. There is a direct cost to my constituents that I would like to avoid. When can we expect the department to reach out to those residents and communicate with them?
I don't want to sound as if I am avoiding the question, but there is a lot of discussion that has to take place before MACA comes in and starts to make the decision. We need to be working with the City of Yellowknife respectfully and respectfully with the Indigenous groups, as well, and also speaking with the residents of Ingraham Trail and what it is that they are looking at; the fire services, as well; speaking with Dettah, as well. There are a lot of parties that are at the table. I do understand the urgency for April 1st coming up. It's very close. I will keep the Member informed because I just, right now, do not have an update, but we are working in conjunction with the working group.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am a little frustrated. The way I see this, there are three options. One, we contract with Dettah, and we make sure that a fire hall that has struggled to get insurance and get a full crew of volunteers happens by April 1st; two, we contract with the City of Yellowknife, who has been extremely resistant to providing services; or, three, in the next few months, we construct a fire hall on the Ingraham Trail, which also seems extremely impossible. My question for the Minister is: what is the plan to make sure fire services continue on the Ingraham Trail? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I would have to follow up with the Member, but we cannot make decisions because we are working with the Indigenous groups and with the City of Yellowknife. Considering the number of people who are going to be involved, strategically looking at how are we going to provide fire services in Ingraham Trail, we are working with this, and we do have a strategy right now. I will provide the Member with an update. It has not been finalized. We are working with the City of Yellowknife in respect to them, too, and YKDFN. I need to be very clear and strategic when I prepare the response. I need to hear from the affected parties first. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Health and Social Services. We are getting into the winter season. We are getting into the ice road season. I am just wondering if the department is looking at any special orders or changes to the orders or if anything will be in place for the truckers hauling to the mines and hauling down the winter road. I think we have that 30-hour turnaround in place, and I think we are going to be going over that, especially this winter when we are heading into Colville Lake, Norman Wells, some places like that. I am just wondering what the department is doing with respect to that. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Thank you to the Member for Hay River South for the question. It's an excellent question, and I am sorry I don't have an answer ready to it. However, I do take his point that this is something we need to sort out now. That 30 hours would not be enough time into Colville Lake or to drive up to the diamond mines. There will need to be some consideration of how to make that possible since those are essential services and time-limited services that are being provided. Thank you.
With the trucks coming into the territories and going up the winter road and to the mines and that, are we going to be adding any monitoring to that? Are we going to step that up, say, in Yellowknife and along the winter road, as well? Is there anything different that you think might be happening in that respect, on the monitoring side?
With respect to the road to the mines, it's a private road, and there is a dispatch office in the industrial area of Yellowknife that truckers go to to be dispatched. They leave at specific time intervals a numbers of trucks at a time. That would continue. It's a private road, so they would continue doing that. They have security on that road. I know that they are vigilant about the speed limit and how many hours the driver has been on the road and so on and so forth. For the rest of the territory, I think that the enforcement would be maintained through the current border controls that are in place now. I can certainly find out if they are planning to increase that capacity at all to deal with the volume of trucks that come up through the early winter.
When I think about Hay River, as well, we have a number of trucks coming in and fuelling up, and just knowing what's happening with monitoring and enforcement right now, all of a sudden, we're going to have a lot more trucks in there. Most of the truckers, I think, are following the rules, following the orders, but you always get the odd one that figures they can go around town and that. I just want to make sure that Hay River -- we're lucky; we've been fortunate that we haven't had a COVID case, but this winter, I could see that happening just because of the number of trucks that are moving in and out of there daily. I look forward to getting a response from the Minister with respect to enforcement and monitoring for this winter. That's all.
I appreciate the Member's concern. It usually is a lot of traffic. The road to the mines is usually in the realm of 7,000 to 9,000 trucks a winter over a two-month period, so it is a very intense amount of traffic that will be coming right from the border through the South Slave up into the tundra. With respect to other truckers who deliver fuel to small communities on winter roads, I see the need to be vigilant there so that they don't unintentionally spread COVID-19 to those communities. I will be in touch with the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer to ensure that these issues are on her radar, as well.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Just one last question, and that is: are we going to be looking at any quick tests for COVID where we can reduce the amount of time or assist the truckers who are coming in here to ensure that they are COVID-free when they come across our border? Is that something that we may be looking at this winter? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
The problem with rapid testing is that it really doesn't work if you only do it once. There is a period of time over which somebody could become infectious, have symptoms, have a fever, so you can't really do one test and say, "Okay. That's good. You don't have any COVID." It's usually a series during the 14-day isolation period. I know that what they're doing now with essential health workers is a test right when they come in to see that they're well, and then they're asking them to really self-isolate except for those times that they are at work. There is a model to follow there that may be helpful to make sure that truckers are not held up but are also well enough to go into the communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question is for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation on the National Co-Investment Fund. Can the Minister please provide the status of all applications to the National Co-Investment Fund of which the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation has knowledge, and can the Minister please advise:
How many Northwest Territories Housing Corporation employees are currently assigned to work on applications to the National Co-Investment Fund;
What percentage of those employees' time is spent working on applications to the National Co-Investment Fund; and
What communication activities has the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation completed in support of increasing applications to the National Co-Investment Fund?
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker, I have a return to Written Question 19-19(2) asked by the Member for Kam Lake to the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation on October 15, 2020, regarding homeowner's insurance.
The Member asked how the Government of the Northwest Territories intends to support homeowners in remote northern communities to access homeowner's insurance. The Government of the Northwest Territories recognizes that insurance is important to protect residents' most valuable possessions: their homes. The GNWT has raised its concerns with the cost of insurance with private insurance providers. GNWT departments will continue to make investments in community infrastructure, especially those structures and services that may make an impact on lessening insurance premiums.
The Member also inquired about how many Northwest Territories homeowners do not qualify for home insurance because of their community location. Data on how many homeowners do not have access to insurance is not available. In general, home insurance may not be available if a homeowner does not have appropriate land tenure.
Lastly, the Member asked how does the lack of homeowner's insurance and associated disrepair drive northern homelessness. There are no studies available that link the lack of homeowner's insurance to homelessness. The GNWT does recognize that having insurance was a requirement for major repair programs or homeownership purchase, which involved larger financial contributions. This provision protected residents in case something should happen to their home.
One action that is being taken to increase access to repair programs is to remove the requirement for insurance for residents living in small, rural, and remote communities where obtaining insurance may be challenging. In larger regional centres, insurance will still be required. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker, I wish to table the following six documents: "Taking Action: A Work Plan to Address the Calls for Justice in Reclaiming Power and Place: Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls;" "Interim Public Accounts of the Government of the Northwest Territories for the Year Ended March 31, 2020;" "Northwest Territories Business Development and Investment Corporation 2019-2020 Annual Report;" "Grants and Contributions Results Report 2019-2020;" "Consolidated Budget 2020-2021, Government of the Northwest Territories;" and "Northwest Territories Oil and Gas Annual Report 2019." Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Tabling of documents. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I wish to table the following four documents: "NWT Health and Social Services System Annual Report 2019-2020;" "Tlicho Community Services Agency Health and Social Services Annual Report 2019-2020;" "2019-2020 Annual Report of the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority;" and "Hay River Health and Social Services Authority Annual Report 2019-2020." Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. tabling of documents. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
