Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think what the Member needs to take a look at, and I'm certainly very interested in seeing as well, is the Emerging Wisely revision. It's my understanding that this is the purpose of that document, is to show us the path forward out of the restrictions that we're in now how do we get there, what are the benchmarks. And so as we know, that's going to come at some point in the first part of June and I certainly hope to see the answers to the Member's question at that time. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Presently the Office of the Fire Marshal's industry guidelines set out that the Office of the Fire Marshal can't act in the capacity of an engineering or architectural consultant or else the plan review function would be in a conflict. This is a fair rule, but it seems the Office of the Fire Marshal has taken a very strict interpretation of this whereby they won't give anyone any advice on the interpretation they'll take of the building code. The default response seems to be, go hire a code consultant, which is often thousands of dollars, to a southern consulting firm, and delays projects by a matter of weeks.
My question for the Minister is I don't know how to get rid of this very strict interpretation of their own guidelines but will the Minister at least set out some service standards that the fire marshal has to respond to their emails in a timely manner, has to answer questions about how they will interpret the code, and you know, maybe even that service standard could set out how long it takes to go through the plan review function. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To date, I haven't received any complaints about the fire marshal's office and the responses that have been supposed to be received. But I will follow up with the department. And also that, you know, the other thing that MACA is under review right now looking at our Fire Prevention Act, and it's very unclear for the Northwest Territories looking at the building code. I know the Member has brought this issue up several times but this is something that my department is currently working on. And looking at the client service standards for the Office of the Fire Marshal, I will bring that back to the department and we will take a look and a review on that as well too. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Another issue is presently the Office of the Fire Marshal has taken the position that they will not review any documents unless they are released for construction or final drawings. And the problem with this, Mr. Speaker, is that everyone else and along the process is the contractors GNWT has hired, the procurement we've lined up, all of our capital budget has worked together to get final construction documents. And then those documents are sent to the fire marshal, and it becomes this black hole before any work can start. And, Mr. Speaker, architects are willing to work in draft documents before they stamp them because they change the fundamental nature of the project if the fire marshal's going to make a change. And for some reason, due to that fear of the Office of the Fire Marshal becoming consultant, they will look at nothing but the absolute final documents when already thousands and thousands of dollars have been spent. I know this is delaying all of our GNWT projects. So my question is will the Minister change the guidelines and require the Office of the Fire Marshal to review draft documents first, just like everyone else involved in the building process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Office of the Fire Marshal and looking at the draft documents that have to be reviewed prior to the construction for the Northwest Territories, this is, you know, been brought up to my department several times. But I will bring this back to my department as well because of you know, we do have a number of construction projects that are happening right now. We do have one of their regions as well, too, we're down one fire marshal as well and this is quite concerning to the department. So I will have to follow up with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I suspect I would ask the Minister to also look at the capacity. I suspect the Office of the Fire Marshal is overworked. I suspect the GNWT capital budget requires them to review far too many plans and they could probably use some more staff, which I would fully support. And along that, perhaps a staff member could create some bulletins, some guidelines on the code interpretation. Right now, there are only three advisories on how the Office of the Fire Marshal will interpret the code. The last one was in 2016, Mr. Speaker. Despite the fact that the Office of the Fire Marshal is making hundreds of decisions on code interpretations, decisions that end up in court. And once a decision is made, there's no transparency for the next builder to know what the code interpretation actually was. So my question for the Minister is: will the Minister direct the Office of the Fire Marshal to create some bulletins and provide guidance on how they interpret the National Building Code that creates a transparent process so we're not restarting for every single project? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again, I will bring this back to my department as well to because looking at the 2014 bulletin that was provided to the general public and also that was to be maintained, and as we worked with the Department of Infrastructure as well too, but it's this is something that we need to work within our department. So I will get back to the Member and look at the bulletin as well too. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. As I've stated many times, every other jurisdiction in Canada has a Building Code Act. The work that our fire marshal is conducting is not inherent to the offices of fire marshals. Fire marshals are for training firefighters, for providing fire safety. They are not always code compliance officers. That usually lies with building inspectors under building code acts and those acts appeal to an independent body. Nunavut's Building Code Act, for example, has an advisory council made up of experts who hear building code appeals. In NWT, those go to the Minister, Mr. Speaker. I don't believe the Minister is an expert in building codes. Mr. Speaker, so my question for the Minister is will we create an appeal mechanism for decisions of the Office of the Fire Marshal to an independent body? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Fire Prevention Act is under review by Municipal and Community Affairs. And the comprehensive work is being conducted as well. And we need to find a mechanism as well, too, that would best suit and be in compliance for the Northwest Territories and for the needs of the construction that is happening in the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Infrastructure who is also responsible for the NWT Energy Strategy. I've indicated that there are three basic questions to apply to all GNWT energy investments, where to cut first, technology and projects ready to go, and evaluating lifecycle emission reductions. Most of our greenhouse gas emissions are from the resource sector and transportation outside communities. Can the Minister tell us what specific offtheshelf shovelready options are being pursued to reduce emissions from resource extraction and transportation? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one option is electrification of transportation. We have introduced a rebate through the Arctic Energy Alliance for the lightduty road vehicles, and we also have applied for federal funding to install some of these electrical charging stations along some of the Northwest Territories highways. The electrical vehicle technology is advancing. It won't immediately solve all of the problems of the heavyduty transportation emissions. I can tell you that the GNWT is investigating the use of some liquid biofuels, like a renewable diesel for use by the trucking industry. And at this point, it's not an offtheshelf readytouse solution for the Northwest Territories. This doesn't mean that renewable diesel doesn't have promise; however, we can solve the issues with the global supply limitations and suitability for cold weather use and storage in the Northwest Territories so it will remain a future solution for now.
The GNWT was pleased to hear that the federal government recently announced the federal funding to support the production of liquid biofuels in Canada. The existence of suitable and reliable supply of renewable diesel will help advance the additional evaluation for use in our northern climates. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for that. Actually, you can actually drive up to pumps many places in BC to purchase renewable diesel right there. It's not a stretch to bring renewable diesel up here in the Northwest Territories.
But I want to move on, Mr. Speaker, to clearly renewable diesel is an easy and fast win whereas Talston expansion has no funding, no buyers; it would take years to build to diamond mines that would be closed. So could the Minister tell us what proven technologies with projects ready to go are being pursued by this government? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I respectfully disagree that renewable diesel is an easy and fast win. There is a limited global supply. No one makes for our climate conditions. And there's significant cost premium over traditional fuels. However, as I previously mentioned, we do see some promise and be able to work to continue to evaluate liquid biofuels.
So in regards to the projects so here's where I get to the Member's question the GNWT is advancing in a number of energy efficiency renewable and alternative energy projects for heating, electricity, transportation, and industry across the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, our recent energy initiatives report provides details on the work and projects that we are currently advancing to be able to meet our goals for the under the 2030 Energy Strategy. So much work is underway and continues to, you know, work away at our energy strategy.
So as to as this report highlights, we did invest over $25 million in energy products to ensure that the energy system is secure; it's reliable; and it's affordable. So this report is publicly available on our government Infrastructure website. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for detailed response. The last question to be asked to ensure our energy investments are efficient and effective is to make sure that we actually conduct lifecycle emission reduction analysis. Can the Minister tell us whether this type of analysis is done to evaluate energy investments before Financial Management Board and Cabinet make decisions? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all emission reductions related to projects are assessed in terms of costs versus greenhouse gas reductions. You know, this is a fairly typical assessment method and also a very useful way to be able to assess projects against each other, assuming all other factors are equal. Unfortunately, it's not often the case that all other factors are equal. For example, the GNWT must balance having an energy system that is secure, reliable, and affordable. For example, one project may have solid community acceptance and have a likelihood of success, have relatively short development timelines, and provide reliable energy. This type of project may be given priority over other projects that have significant better greenhouse gas reductions per dollar invested, and that is something that our Cabinet and, you know, our departments will continue to look at. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that, again, another detailed response. I'd love to see this analysis, because I've never seen it. I keep asking for it. But I welcome the Minister providing that kind of analysis.
So, you know, great to hear that systematic evaluation is taking place; I've never seen it. If I was listening and I was the federal government, I would not be giving GNWT any money without such analysis. So how could you know, how can we be sure that this analysis is actually being done when it's not been shared with the Regular MLAs or the public. So can the Minister tell us what analysis, if any, does the federal government require in providing funding to GNWT for use in energy projects? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, you know, you win some, you lose some. You know, if we give detailed information, it's too detailed. We don't give enough detailed information, it's just not enough. However, getting back to the Member's question, so we have different federal programs that have different requirements but they generally require an estimate of greenhouse gas emission reductions. Some programs like the ISA program, which is the Investing in Canada Infrastructure program, require a climate lens assessment, which is a limited lifecycle type of greenhouse gas reduction estimates for each project. So every project, through the federal government, has different different parameters, and that's something that we look at when we apply for specific federal funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, I said earlier I acquired a document entitled NWT Schools Capital Needs Assessment Summary dated April 2003. It states that by 2018, JBT shall be reviewed to determine if further renovations are worthwhile or if a replacement building is necessary. Can the Minister tell us if a technical evaluation was done to JBT Tyrrell in 2018 or any time since, or if one is being planned any time soon? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Education, Culture, and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last technical evaluation for JBT was done in 2005. And I'm not aware of plans to do another one. There have been no major issues identified with this school. Issues are identified by the regional Infrastructure staff who regularly work with the school and maintain it through reports from the staff at the school, through observations from ECE staff when they're in the school, and Infrastructure has a database that produces a rating of schools, and the rating for JBT is based on its deferred maintenance and its condition, and the rating for JBT is .52, which is really right in the middle of the pack when it comes to all of our 49 schools. I think it's in better shape than about 21 other schools. And no major issues have been identified with this school. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the consensus I received from the constituents of Fort Smith is that JBT is the biggest priority to replace first because of the age of the school, the whole idea that it served as residential schools for the residents of Grandin Hall and Grandin College. Would the Minister take this into consideration when assessments on priorities are done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT uses a capital planning process when looking at what infrastructure to replace. It takes into consideration the following criteria: In order of importance, protection of people, protection of access, protection of environment, financial investments, and program needs or requirements. That being said, the fact that this school was a residential school is definitely something that we take into consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell us if the Department of Education has ever received any concerns about from people about the fact that JBT Tyrrell is a former residential school and is still being actively used as a school today? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, the Member just brought concerns to me, and she's a representative of the people so I have to say yes, I've heard concerns from the people. The South Slave Divisional Educational Council has also reported they have occasionally received similar concerns. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, PWK and JBT Tyrrell are the oldest schools in the Northwest Territories. Their increasing age, along with the historical baggage they carry as former residential schools, is becoming more challenging for Fort Smith as time goes on. For these reasons, Fort Smith is in need of a brand new school for both elementary and high school students. Does the Minister agree with these reasons that Fort Smith needs new schools? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, again, we can't ignore the fact that the schools were residential schools. But in terms of the age of the facilities and the technical status of them, they are in very good condition. You know, they what the what we don't do well is we don't keep up appearances well. So we don't refresh schools with new paint and those kind of things to make them look new but, really, the school itself is solid. And, you know, any new school would likely be, you know, significantly smaller. You know, the two schools might turn into one school based on the fact that they're both at about 50 percent utilization and that back then schools were built much bigger. So there's a lot of things to consider when we talk about whether or not, you know, we want to replace schools. But right now, technically, there's no need to replace the schools. They're solid pieces of infrastructure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of MACA. Can the Minister tell us what is the process for the review, updating, and training on emergency response plans for communities; when was the last time this occurred? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Emergency Management Act requires communities to prepare and adopt and maintain emergency plans and programming. MACA did support the communities through these through workshops, exercises during to prepare for these emergency, public alert testing was also conducted, public awareness and information. Starting in 2021, community emergency planning workshops were temporarily suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic started and refocused on updating community emergency plans to increase capacity to respond to the flooding. Due to the emergency response required for the spring 2021 flood season, some communities have deferred progress on their COVID-19 surge plans.
But then going back to the question, I'm just reading off of the notes, but you know, that during the flood season, I did travel over to Fort Simpson, and I did work with the MLA from the riding as well too. These were questions that I was asking how did the community respond, how did they prepare, what does this look like, how could we have further determined what these water levels would look like.
I was soon to discover that, you know, we do have surveys that are done, conducted through ENR, that would be able to determine what this flood season could possibly look like. But the magnitude of the flood this year was nothing that was to be expected. But prior to the flooding in the affected community of Fort Simpson and Fort Resolution that were severely affected, there was EMO training that was provided prior, and there was workshops that were provided as well and also the support from the regional office, from the headquarters office, to support those emergency management plans.
And then it's this is going to be a long answer, but then I also further had to discover that, you know, did the community have the capacity? Did they have the capacity to work with the to work with the individuals? I soon came to discover that the community was under a lot of stress. There was a lot of people that had lost their own personal items, their homes, and that, you know, should we go back to that time? You know, there's always going to be lessons learned through the response as well too. So looking at that, we are going to be working with the communities once the flood season is completed. We are going to be travelling into the affected communities of Fort Simpson, Jean Marie, Fort Good Hope, and Aklavik. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was a lot to unpack in there so I'm going to have to go back probably and listen to the response again. Without getting into a big debate with the Minister, I would say that this high level of flood and water levels this year was anticipated. So I do not agree with that statement that it was higher than expected.
Moving on, can the Minister tell us what or if anything is being done to get cash into the hands of people now, not in a month or two's time? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have been working with the flood risk communities. We did provide and but no, we directed them to the financial I don't want to say grants but programming that is available to possibly the flood victims that are there. But to date, we haven't received a lot of requests for that, requests for financial assistance from the communities. We did provide the accommodations for the evacuees. We did provide them with places to stay, with food and shelter. So the request for basic needs, I haven't received that. We are working with the claim to the federal government. We do have navigators on the ground that are identifying what items that each of these flood victims have lost during this time, and we are collecting that information, and we are going to be working with the communities.
And just as a note as well too, we did have MACA and Housing are actually in the community as we speak. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm at a bit of a loss as to how the Minister can say she has had no requests for money on the ground. Perhaps she needs to friend some people on Facebook, including the mayor of Fort Simpson who has been all over social media asking for money in the hands of people now. So I just find that to be kind of a ridiculous answer.
Moving forward, can the Minister tell us what she is doing to get the federal government to provide more flexibility for the disaster assistance programs? What are you doing to sorry. What is she doing to impress upon her federal counterparts that the Northwest Territories is already behind the 8ball when it comes to our extraordinary circumstances here and we need better assistance from the South, not just the typical that's afforded to the rest of Canada. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to go back to the question as well too, that, you know, MACA did provide food hampers to the communities. We did provide the evacuation centres as well too. And we also did provide the navigators that are on the ground that are looking at what may be required for the residents, for the flood victims, what can we further support. And looking for the financial contribution, we have provided it through assistance through looking at home repair for these individuals, looking at the environmental assistance. But right now, the department is concentrated on how do we return these individuals back to their homes and how are we going to further repair those homes.
But going back to the question that the Member had asked, preliminary discussions have taken place between the GNWT and federal officials on the GNWT's needs related to the 2021 flood season and the experience. We need to do a full review of our experience with this summer and the engagement more fully with the federal government when we have this information, and we are currently in the middle of the emergency and our attention is focused on the response and working recovery.
I'm committed to be doing a full review of the actions that we have taken this summer and where we could have done better. That work has already started and will continue as we recover. Community governments and their input will be a key part of this work, finding the related what's related to the federal funding programs will be discussed with them as well too. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm glad to the hear the Minister commit to a lessonslearned type exercise. I would ask that actually a third party look into the handling of our flood response and providing an independent analysis of what's happened here.
I'm also glad to hear the Minister bring up the navigators. We all expressed that we would like to see more people in the communities interacting with community members and being interpreters, for lack of a better word, between the GNWT and community members. However, it's my understanding that only two people have been hired, and they're likely out of Yellowknife.
So will the Minister commit to contracting a community member in each affected community to act as a liaison with the assessors? And I would prefer that that person be someone who has construction or building experience. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, there are two people on the ground this week, and that, you know, we call them "pathfinders", but I don't know what they're if we've actually given them the flood response officers or whatever, but to meet the residents and answer the questions. But also MACA is hiring contractors as well to look at preventing further damage to the structures. And one of the examples is removing wet siding and drywall and to decrease the amount of mold that could be evolving from the water damage.
The assessment services also have started this week in Jean Marie and are supported by MACA. And I just wanted to be clear that the assessment that is being done right now, this is a team of people. It's not just one individual. So they do come with the expertise, and it's information that we are going to be relying on as a department and looking at their technical experts as well too and also supporting the construction and the rebuilding of these units that may be required.
And that's and any further information as well. I did provide information to the MLAs as well, and I look forward to providing any additional information as we go forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
