Thank you, Madam Chair. Sorry. I misunderstood that a little earlier, how exactly those positions get started. I see there are 23 staff here, but how many are actually working on the Waste Reduction Unit? I just want to get a sense of how well we're funding this. The Waste Resource Management Strategy is great; it has the potential to save us lots of money in making sure that, when we have to track how much it costs to put all of our buildings into landfills, we are doing that properly. I just want to get a sense of how many staff are actually in the Waste Reduction Unit to do that work. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Seven. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm looking at page 77 and, in particular, the Taiga Environmental Laboratory line item. The government is going to spend $2 million there this upcoming year, but when you look at the revenues, it only brings in $712,000 in revenues. While I understand that the lab does other things besides taking in samples from the private sector, there is concern about the lab testing itself and being the watchdog of its own projects. Has there been any look at Taiga laboratory to see whether or not it's still viable to have the laboratory, or would it be better off to use this money to fund Indigenous businesses, other northern businesses, create business opportunities outside of the government? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
I'll start, and then I'll turn to the deputy minister. We need Taiga labs. It's very important. I know the Member may not agree with me; we've had conversations about that, and I respect her opinion. When we're looking at the opportunity, it's about serving the people of the Northwest Territories, whether it's businesses or communities. The quick turnaround when we get things done, sometimes it's quicker doing it, but for detail on the rationale, why we still need to keep Taiga labs, I will turn it to the deputy minister, with your permission. Thank you.
Thank you. Deputy Minister Kelly.
Thank you, Madam Chair. In my opinion, the lab is an essential service. That lab does water testing for drinking water sources in the NWT but also in Western Nunavut. Samples that would not last, they kind of expire, you could say, they need to be done in a certain amount of time, and they cannot be sent down south. As the Member pointed out, there really is not a business case for the lab; it loses money, so what we are doing is making sure that we have the ability to do this sampling that communities need. There are some short-term sampling for projects like Giant Mine that have to be done within a certain amount of time, and they can't be sent down south. I think that the lab has shown its versatility in the work that it is doing on COVID waste-water testing as well as the amount of hand sanitizer that was produced in the lab when we had that shortage there, for use by government departments and those who work for the government who were on the front lines there. Clearly, the work on water sampling and the sampling itself is not a viable business. My understanding from looking into this further is that some communities in the South have lost their labs that are far larger than Yellowknife because they could not make it a viable business. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I do understand what the Minister and the deputy minister are saying. I actually do not recall ever having a conversation with the Minister about Taiga lab and my opinion on it, so I would like to just put that on the record. Whereas the ability to do short-term turnaround testing, there are other labs in town that do have the ability to do testing in town. I do understand that Taiga owns a specific piece of equipment, but it's not to say that others could not own that piece of equipment and such. As well, the sanitizer and the waste-water sampling could have been done by businesses in the Northwest Territories. In fact, our own departments and government competed with a local business. That business had to apply to get their sanitizer approved by our government in order to sell it after they went into production, and then Taiga went in after them. While I do appreciate that it is good to have in-town services, there is also an appearance that was always commented on about Giant Mine and sampling and testing yourselves. That piece of equipment given to an Indigenous organization, they could be running that. It could be private; it could be arm's length. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you.
Thank you for the comment.
Any further questions? All right. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I would like to start with the waste reduction line here. My colleague from Kam Lake asked some questions, and we found out it was for some work on the agricultural waste. Are there some studies or reports or anything that came out of this work that the Minister can share with this side of the House and, perhaps even better, the public? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. For the detail, I will go to the deputy minister, and then you can come back to me. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The agricultural waste management framework report was developed, and that identified potential regulatory gaps in the NWT based on the related controls in place in other jurisdictions across Canada. The department provided recommendations to ITI, which is the lead on agriculture, for gaps to be addressed. There was also a draft of the NWT composting facility standards that is ready for review by experts and then stakeholders. Preliminary work has been completed on NWT agricultural waste guidelines, and a first draft of these guidelines will be completed in the spring of 2021 for review by ENR. Following this, ENR will engage with stakeholders for input prior to finalization of the guidelines. With respect to sharing with committee, I see no problem with sharing that information with committee. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Minister.
Thank you. Yes, the deputy minister said yes. I was going to say yes, but it's okay. She got ahead of me, so it's all good.
All right. Member for Frame Lake.
I am not going to say anything on that one, but I appreciate the commitment to share that information with us. Let's just go back to: my colleague from Yellowknife North was asking some questions about the legislative work of the department. I was in the last Assembly. We actually saw draft Air Regulations, the wording of it. They were shared with committee. There was a lot of work done on that, and then it just kind of disappeared. I know that there was a lot of work that was done on changes to the Water Resources Act. I talked to some colleagues with Indigenous governments and the NGO community. They were engaged and involved in workshops and presentations, and then it just never happened. Now I am hearing that somehow all of that effort in the last Assembly is being put aside because we have to wait for something to happen with the MVRMA. I just don't get this. What are we waiting for with regard to the MVRMA? Clearly, GNWT has delegated authority now to sign off water licences, to deal with environmental assessments. What else do we need or want to allow us to do the work on the Environmental Protection Act and on the Waters Act? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
To the deputy minister. Thank you.
Deputy Minister Kelly.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As I mentioned before, this is related to Indigenous capacity to participate in legislative initiatives, and the work on the MVRMA is going first. Once there is room for Indigenous government capacity to take part in continuing the work, as the Member has stated, there has been a lot of work done on this, we will continue our work on the Waters Act and on the EPA. With respect to the Air Regulations, when we went out and got input on the regulations, the number one question was where they were going to sit within the co-management system or within the Environmental Protection Act. We still need to resolve that question, and we are working with the land and water boards with that, as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Yes. Thanks, Madam Chair. This may not be the best forum to do this, but I keep asking: what is it that we want out of the MVRMA? Do we want to be able to take it over and change it willy-nilly? There is very limited scope in terms of changing what is in the MVRMA because it is already defined in the land rights agreements. The MVRMA is just simply the legislation that has been passed by the federal government to implement the lands and resources agreements that are already in place, so I just can't for the life of me figure out what GNWT is doing to try to get control of it. If I was an Indigenous government, I would be very, very wary of giving GNWT control over the MVRMA. That would probably be the last thing I would ever want to do. I would rather have it stay with the federal government, quite frankly. I just cannot figure out what we need to do with the MVRMA that stops this other work from proceeding. Maybe somebody else can take a crack at it. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am going to again turn to the deputy minister to try to answer the question. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The review of the MVRMA and discussions on the MVRMA are an EIA lead. To be honest, at the end of the last Assembly, there was a discussion with Indigenous governments that took part in the partnership drafting approach and other approaches that were completed, and one of the things that the Indigenous governments said was that it was too much and that it was a drain on capacity. What's happened here is that we have heard the Indigenous governments through that review. The work on the MVRMA is happening first, and once there's Indigenous capacity available and that's completed, we are committed to working on the Environmental Protection Act and the Waters Act and looking at where air fits in there. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member.
Thanks, Madam Chair. It has been a long day, and I am just not getting it. I look forward, though, to this side of the House, the public, actually having a better understanding of what GNWT is trying to do to get control of the MVRMA. I just don't get it, and it's not been made clear; it's not been made public. I am really worried about that. I am going to leave it at that. Thanks, Madam Chair. Nothing further on this section.
Thank you. Are there any further questions under the environmental protection and waste management? Seeing none, please go to page 77. Environment and Natural Resources, environmental protection and waste management, operations expenditure summary, 2021-2022 Main Estimates, $4,255,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Committee, we will now go to environmental stewardship and climate change, beginning on page 79, with information items on page 82. Questions? Any questions? Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am looking at page 82. Can I just get clarification on what the three positions that were added to the environmental stewardship and climate change unit are?
Thank you. Minister.
For that detail, I will turn to the deputy minister.
Thank you. Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. A senior climate specialist, a climate change adaptation programs manager, and a climate data scientist. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I seem to recall there was an announcement of a number of positions across the GNWT in regard to this. Can I just get a clarification of whether there was any federal funding attached to those, and if so, how much?
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you. There was no federal money attached to it. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I get a bit of a clarification on what exactly the knowledge agenda is? I believe I have asked this before. There's $233,000 here, but does this have any relation to the work being done to implement a knowledge economy? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
