Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to also ask the Minister: what, if anything, is the Minister's department doing to ensure government employees are provided due process and fairness? Thank you.
We certainly do have a policy on harassment-free and respectful workplace. That is a stated policy of the Department of Finance and human resources. Indeed, there is to be an updated policy with new accompanying guidelines expected to come out this fiscal year. With that, of course, there needs to be significant training done to ensure that not only managers but employees and managers are aware of those policies. To date, I can say we have had over 550 employees and over 630 managers participate in the existing harassment-free and respectful workplace training, with much more to come. Some of that slowed down during COVID, although we have shifted to online models of training over the last year.
I say all this, and yet I want to say that there is always more that needs to get done. We also have a strong partnership with the union. Employees can always go to their union. They should be employing their workplace policy, and I really encourage them to do that. I will say one last thing. Interestingly, when people have their training and become aware of their policies, sometimes complaints actually go up. That is not a bad thing. That means people are aware of their rights, aware of the tools that they have in their workplace to solve these issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. The two most senior bureaucrats in the territorial fight against COVID vacationed outside the territory during the holidays last December. They did this as the Premier and also the CPHO were calling on Northerners to do their part and stay home. I would like to ask the Premier about the process of what took part, so the first question I would like to ask the Premier is: who was it who approved the out-of-territory travel for the following people: the associate deputy minister of the COVID secretariat, the deputy minister of Health and Social Services --
Mr. Speaker, I have to rise on a point of order. We are not to be discussing individuals who are not in the Chamber to defend themselves. It is clear in the rule. I appreciate the Member is trying to get information and that what he is doing he thinks is for the public good, but we can't discuss people not in the Chamber who are not here to defend themselves. It's fairly clear. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. The Minister is making a point of order which is accurate. We cannot discuss members who are not here to defend themselves, so please refrain from your question. Member for Monfwi.
Mr. Speaker, that is where I was leading to, where I am asking about the process itself. It is not me who is asking. The public is asking: who made the decision on these staff travels? That is the process I am asking, Mr. Speaker.
Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As our Government House Leader raised in the point of order, it is inappropriate to speak about people who are not in the House. I will not speak about the people who left because of extenuating circumstances. What I will speak about is to the process. Ministers are directly responsible for approving leave for their deputy ministers. However, in saying that, deputy ministers have to notify, but they are responsible for their own. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Just to be clear, you can reference public servants, but not specifically to single them out. Member for Monfwi.
The next line of questioning is obviously on the expectation of the general public. How can our Premier, the head of government, expect Northerners to answer the call for personal sacrifice when her most senior COVID officials ignore the same call?
I will start by saying that no Minister, no elected Minister in this House, left during Christmas because I believe that, as elected officials, all of us, all of us in this House as elected officials, are responsible for being role models to the residents of the Northwest Territories. We cannot change the past, but I do know that the public was hurt. I also know that over 1,500 people from the Northwest Territories left the NWT for leisure travel during that time. I also know that it was not an order; it was a recommendation, so nobody broke the law, even the residents who left. No one broke the law.
It has been a tough, tough year. People have gone, as the Member said, without funerals, without seeing families, all kinds of issues. People are making personal choices. However, I do believe that everyone who left made those personal choices and had tough decisions to make and that they made them in the best interests as they saw fit.
I was referring to public servants, not elected officials. Yes, we elected officials, we have not been travelling. I have not been travelling since the announcement came out, so I am speaking directly about public servants. They are responsible for their public funds. They are public servants, so these are areas of concern that were brought to our attention, and we have to keep in mind that there is accountability from this government to the public. The public, there is an outcry, and who is accountable? The Premier is accountable for that. The next line of question will be that I would like to get more information. Will the Premier provide this Assembly with a complete list of ministerial travel, including destination and purposes, both personal and official, since the COVID public health emergency was first declared last spring?
Actually, I do believe that the ministerial travel is posted on the website and is available to all Members already. I think it has been done. My understanding is that no Minister, as I said, has left the territories since COVID-19. The only Minister who actually left the territories when COVID started was myself, as Premier, at the beginning of COVID, when I was down there and I got hit. Sorry, I have been corrected. There was a Minister, again, who left because of extenuating circumstances, but not during the Christmas period. That record is public. That record can be obtained. If the Member does not know where to access it, let me know, and I will let him know where to access it.
Thank you, Premier. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. For the sake of the public trust, which I feel the trust has been broken, our political leaders and senior bureaucrats must set the high standards of conduct, whether it be in this House or outside this House, especially during a public health crisis. What rules is the Premier putting in place to ensure such regrettable double standards are not seen again in the ranks of our government? Masi, Mr. Speaker.
Again, we can't change the past, but we need to learn from the past. As stated to Members when we spoke in other times, I made a commitment. I did. I talked to all of our Ministers and said, "Please, don't leave unless it's extenuating circumstances." People do have extenuating circumstances, medical travel, loss of family members, horrible stories have happened over COVID-19, and I wouldn't want to penalize anyone for those things. That's not the goal of protecting our residents, is to penalize people; it's to keep people safe.
I had spoken to our Ministers, and I had spoken to all of our senior official staff. I told our senior staff verbally and in writing, and I believe I shared that with the Members, the standing committee on the other side, as well. I have told them that there are legal issues with that. We can't tell people that they can't leave the territory. That is a human right of people, but I have told them that I will not be supporting any travel, unless its extreme situations, until COVID-19 is done. We try to learn from our lessons. I apologize to the public who have been hurt by this. That was not the intent. I want to also state that, not only Ministers, I'm hoping that all Members will also be role models and not leave the territory until COVID-19 is done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, my questions are for MACA, and I am asking for help in regards to bussing services in the community of Tuktoyaktuk. This past week, the weather has been minus 63 for a few days, and we are looking to seek pots of funding and to work with the Minister in the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk. I know that the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk has a letter in to the Minister. We would like to work with her going forward to try to provide funds for the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct. I have been having conversations with the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk in regards to their busing services for Reindeer Point. It is located, I don't know how many kilometres, outside of the community, and I do hear the Member about the weather conditions as well, having the residents access basic needs in the community, as well, getting to the Northern Store, getting supplies, health appointments. I do want to assure the Member that we do have the operation and maintenance funding to the communities, water and sewer capital, and gas tax funding, as well, but we don't have specifically for these type of services. I will be working with the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk to resolve this issue. It does open up the conversation, as well, for the other communities in the Northwest Territories that do have these built-up areas located outside of their local communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for that. Would the Minister at least agree to cost share the busing services for the community? They have been doing this for the past three years, and it is really affecting what they are able to do to provide other services to the community. Is the Minister willing to at least provide some sort of funding relief for the community?
This year MACA did provide additional funding for our COVID response for communities throughout the Northwest Territories. It just lay within their hamlet and their council, how they were going to spend this additional funding throughout their community. I will follow up with the Member, as well, and I would like to take another look at their business plan and what my department has created with the hamlet out of that and looking to see what funding we could possibly be looking at. Once again, MACA doesn't have funding that is specifically provided for busing; 87 percent of our budget is distributed out to the communities, hamlets, charter communities, towns, and villages.
Would the Minister look at just talking to her federal counterpart in regards to getting that funding and increase the budget for the hamlets across the territory? I know that everyone is struggling and trying to provide services due to influx of COVID monies from the federal government. Are they able to try to redirect that to the communities across the territory?
Yes, we are in conversations with the federal government in looking at the additional funding for smaller communities. I just wanted to reassure the Member that the funding that Tuktoyaktuk receives annually, all combined together with the pots, is approximately $4 million annually.
Thank you, Minister. Final short supplementary. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, the executive, I guess, that I will be meeting with next week to try to come to an agreement to work with the Minister, are coming to Yellowknife next week for meetings. I would like to ask the Minister if she would be willing to meet with the SAO and the mayor of Tuktoyaktuk when they're in town in the next two weeks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Unfortunately, I will be returning back to my riding, and we will be having a grand opening in one of the smaller communities for our seniors centre, but I will follow up with the Member for future dates that we would be able to meet with the Hamlet. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Mr. Speaker, the GNWT has launched their annual summer student recruitment campaign. Last year, due to COVID, this was cut short. Many students were impacted. I am happy to hear that the Minister advised my colleague from Thebacha yesterday how it is moving ahead. My question for the Minister of Finance is: how is the government's Affirmative Action Policy incorporated into the government's summer student hiring process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Affirmative Action Policy applies to the summer student and internship programs, just as it does to all GNWT hires. Hiring managers are expected to be fully aware of all of those policies, certainly, and as I had referenced earlier, there are a variety of training tools, including an online tool kit for new managers as maybe needed so that they can employ that policy in this form of hiring as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
When a request is received to hire a summer student, is the hiring manager provided with information on the government's Affirmative Action Policy and how it applies to summer students?
Yes. There is a database that gets created, which is why summer students are asked to register and interns are asked to register as part of the process. When a hiring manager wants to participate in that, they have to get access to the database. When they get access to the database, they are reminded that the hiring process does still need to apply the Affirmative Action Policy. That reminder is right there. Again, at this point, they really should be versed in those policies as part of their training as being managers.
I'm just going to go down to my next question. What mechanisms are in place to assisting hiring managers to ensure they are appropriately applying the Affirmative Action Policy when hiring summer students?
I sense the theme of where this is going, and really, all of the policies in the world are really only as good as the people who are applying them. I am conscious of that. We certainly talk a lot within the Department of Finance around making sure that training is available and accessible; that the drive to give employees time to take their training is there; and that there's a conscious awareness from the top down that, really, we want employees to take the training. We want managers to be abreast of their training. We want them all to have those opportunities to take the right training so that they can do the best to employ the good policies that we do have and raise issues if there needs to be changes.
I do gather the general direction of the questions here, but more specifically on this one, I will also say, if there are students who are looking to be hired who are not a priority 1 or a priority 2, it is expected that the manager will go back to human resources, will check back in with them before simply proceeding, and, indeed, if in the end there is a hiring that is outside of those priority candidates, they are expected to go through the deputy ministers.
Thank you, Minister. Final short supplementary. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Department of Finance conduct audits or reviews of the summer student hiring program to ensure that affirmative action policies have been fairly and appropriately applied, ensuring that our Indigenous students have fair opportunity to gain the valuable employment with the government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
No. Right at this point, there is not a formal audit that takes place of the summer student program. In general, right now, we do certainly get feedback, and the feedback as I've been told is that it's positive. It's a program that is well received by students and well received by departments as this is a great tool for them to recruit and retain northern Indigenous students. Certainly, if there are concerns, I want those concerns brought forward. I would say, at this point, out of the 84 students registered, 21 are Indigenous Aboriginal and 54 are Indigenous non-Aboriginal, and those are the terms, I know frustrating to many, but they harken back to the policy itself. Really right now, almost entirely, the whole cohort is northern students, because I agree with the Member, we want to have this opportunity for northern students. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral question. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Finance. I raised the usual issues around the northern resident tax deductions earlier today. The deductions are not indexed. Northerners get audited far too often, and we have to guess at the lowest return airfare. Look, I understand that the Minister here is not responsible for this, but she is our liaison with the federal Minister for the Canada Revenue Agency and speaks on behalf of Northerners. Can the Minister tell us whether there were any outcomes or changes as a result of the April 2019 federal consultation on lowest return airfare requirements? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not the federal Finance Minister and I don't control the federal taxation. There is a new Finance Minister over in the federal government, as well, so it may well be that there is more change yet to come. As for any formal changes, I can say that we've been advised that the Canada Revenue Agency expects that some of the challenges that may have led to more audits have been resolved and, indeed, that that hopefully should not continue to be a problem for residents of the Northwest Territories. Aside from that, I don't have a, "what we heard" report from the federal government. I can certainly follow up and see if they have anything further, but that's really the best I can offer, being the Minister from the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for that offer to follow up. I would encourage her to do that. That consultation finished in April 2019 and, as I said, it's been radio silence ever since. A lot of residents did not travel South in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. It is my understanding that recreational trips taken within the NWT are still eligible for vacation travel assistance deductions, as long as people have receipts. Can the Minister tell us whether this is still the case and whether there have been any discussions with Canada Revenue Agency officials about flexibility with this travel within the North as people begin to file their income tax for 2020?
Yes, trips in the Northwest Territories do qualify for the travel deduction. That is specifically a maximum of two trips per year per household member, so please go take your staycation and continue to do so. For those eligible trips, Northwest Territories taxpayers are claiming, well, there's a number of different things, and I don't know if this is the right opportunity to be going through all the tax advice that people might need, but the advice is out there. In short, yes, the staycations people have been taking to support our local economy are, indeed, eligible for claiming.
