Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm how many GNWT employees are currently vaccinated? Better yet, can she provide those numbers by department and how many may require accommodation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we don't monitor who is in fact vaccinated or not. What we are monitoring, Mr. Speaker, is individuals who have had their proof of vaccination documentation verified. So what employees in the GNWT will do, they go to the HR website and upload their proof of vaccine and it takes, you know, 24 or so hours for someone to simply review that and verify it, and then they're marked as having had that submitted and been verified. It's fairly quick. And I do have the numbers in terms, I think of a few days ago, of how many in total and by department have done that process.
We're sitting right now at just over 60 percent last time I had the numbers given to me in terms of, again, which ones have been verified. There is no doubt some further ones who are in the process of being verified. And I fully anticipate that we're going to have a number coming in over the next few days. I certainly can provide it by department, Mr. Speaker, but I'd suggest I do that in writing. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister, has the department considered the cost associated with accommodation, including the Northwest Territories Power Corporation and the NWT Housing Corporation, and can the Minister provide those costs. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, firstly, just the Northwest Territories Power Corporation has its own policies so I'm not in a position to speak to what efforts they may or may not have done on their end.
With respect to the GNWT's policy, we certainly did consider the cost mainly in the form, obviously, of the PPE but particularly of testing. I anticipate the costs of PPE, we're not expecting that to be significant. But certainly the cost of tests can grow to be more significant over time. We do have some estimates. There's ranges of low to high. It depends obviously on what number of public servants we are dealing with. It depends on whether or not that changes over time. So I'll certainly be in a position to provide some of those ranges. And it's something we're going to be very closely continuing to monitor as the numbers come in and we know exactly what numbers we're dealing with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when it comes to GNWT employees or contractors entering small communities, will the community have a veto power over or on whether or not persons have to be vaccinated even though some community residents remain unvaccinated? I ask that because in this past week, we had a couple contractors from Hay River go in to a small community one day and they did some work. Next day, they went in and they were told to leave because they were unvaccinated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so at this point we know what we can control are the -- is the policies as they apply to GNWT employees, and that is the policy that we came out with I'd say fairly early as other governments in other jurisdictions were looking at what they could do to ensure that they are protecting their staff, ensure that they're protecting the people they serve. Any GNWT employees are certainly going to have to follow not only our policy but policies that might be applicable to them if they, for example, attend a municipal building or in any community; if they are required, for example, to do air travel, which, of course, comes with federal requirements. So in that sense, there may well be a number of overlapping guidelines that workers are going to have to follow owing to the fact that a variety of levels of government and private organizations are taking those steps to keep -- to taking all the steps that we know are best placed to keep people safe. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I spoke about earlier today, we've ended up in a situation where we're giving $20 million a year to one company in Yellowknife. And, really, looking at the fact that the GNWT averagely occupies a building for 20 years, some of them we've been in for 40 years continuously, we're talking about hundreds of millions, if not a billion dollars of contractual obligations here. And, really, when looking at how this happened, there is one policy. It is the leasing of improved real property policy that was written in 1986, Mr. Speaker. And it speaks to trying to create northern ownership but clearly that has not happened.
So my question for the Minister of Infrastructure is will she commit to changing the leasing of improved real property to get our leasing portfolio into northern hands? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we recognize that the last substantial update to this policy was more than 20 years ago, as the Member probably already knows, and also note that there were concerns that were raised with the policy that is related to the procurement of the leases. So the GNWT, as we all are aware, is going through a procurement review, and we have recommended that the procurement of these leases be included as part of the overall review.
The results of the procurement review should also inform any proposed changes to the policy in order to align the principles of northern business development. And I also want to note that in recent discussions with the NWT Indigenous Economic Coalition, Infrastructure did commit to reviewing its existing leases with the Indigenous development corporations and also to bring forward a proposal to Executive Council because that is the process that we -- you know, we have to go to Executive Council in support of stability and economic growth across the territory to have a look at some of these leases. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that. I think that was almost a yes, and it even led into a bit my next question.
Mr. Speaker, I really do believe there is potential to leverage this money we're being spent by getting creative with our leasing portfolio, by approaching Indigenous dev. corps and saying listen, if you want to build us a building or buy an asset, we will give you the long term lease. They can go and then finance such a project. We could do a similar thing to nonprofits with the 160 housing units we presently rent from one landlord. Why don't we distribute that to nonprofits to run public housing.
So is the Minister willing to make those offers, that I think actually many of them may not be allowed under the policy right now, to Indigenous governments and nonprofits to diversify this leasing portfolio and let others leverage it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned we are looking at the policy and, you know, we respect that, you know, this has been the Member's second time bringing up leases so it is something that we need to have a look at as well.
Having said that, there are a number of exceptions. We are required under our legislation and trade agreements to have an open and fair procurement, which means government cannot exclude a single business from participating in a public procurement opportunity when that business is not in either default with the GNWT regardless of the location of that building. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess, you know, there's a couple of things that have happened over the years. One is leasing was largely across all departments and they were slowly moved into the Department of Infrastructure. A lot of our leases are from the federal government. We have over actually 90 leases for various periods of time, many of them short three-five year periods. And the reality is you can't go to any northern landlord and say build us a new building or, you know, buy an asset without giving them years' notice. By the time we get to the end of a three-year lease, we just simply renew it and this is the kind of cycle we've got in. So I really think there needs to be some political direction from the top to the department to look at that all leases across the board and give direction now, even if they have five years left, of find a plan to get them out of the hands of large southern REITS.
Is the Minister willing to give that direction to revisit all of these leases and give some centralized clear purpose to this portfolio? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for existing leases, the GNWT must comply with the terms of those leases. So our standard lease agreement does not include any early termination clauses. Under our standard lease agreement, an existing landlord may assign the lease to a buyer as long as the buyer honours the existing terms and condition of the lease until it expires.
So there is an option for NWT landlords to purchase buildings with existing leases in place. Infrastructure is in a position, however, to procure new lease space when there is a need for commercial office space that has been identified either at the expiry of the existing lease or when a new program is established. If the GNWT was approached with the request to negotiate a lease at this time, Infrastructure, yes, would prepare a recommendation for Executive Council's consideration.
This recommendation, again, would take into account many things, such as including supporting the priorities of this 19th Assembly, such as maximizing economic development benefits to Northerners and also, again, supporting Indigenous businesses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke at length of the relationship First Nations have with waterways and riverbanks. The small community of Kakisa has been denied access to a riverbank to build an arbor. Mind you, there is a new community hall that is built right next to the riverbank. There's a road marked on the community map by the GNWT, and that is right near and on top of the riverbank. The Indian Affairs branch has lands on the riverbank, and the community has built lookouts at these locations without being threatened of any legal action.
My question to the Minister is when was the community land use plan imposed by the GNWT to the community of Kakisa? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister responsible for Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, community land use plans are actually communities. In 2007, the community of Kakisa developed it with the support of Municipal and Community Affairs. In 2017, the community redid their draft or looked at improving it and, again, without anybody's help except from the community's level. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister for that answer. I'm not sure who the leadership of the day were at the time, but we have to be mindful of the fact that there's never any meaningful consultation by the federal government, nor the Government of the Northwest Territories in deciding to a impose land use plan into many communities, including this community. And a lot of times, they go on a plan, well, this is square so we're going to keep it square. You know, it's so...
Can the Minister enlighten this House to whether or not the First Nations community was invited for input on the government imposed land use plan and did they have any consultants that were working with them on their behalf? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I should reiterate, the community developed the plan in 2007 with the help of Municipal and Community Affairs. They reached out to Municipal and Community Affairs and asked to be part of it, asked them to be part of it so they could develop it. In 2017, the community went and redid the plan. They did it, not the federal government or GNWT. It was the community that dealt with it, and then in 2017 it's my understanding it's still the same Chief that is presently there now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister for that. The Minister, in email, states buildings should be set back a hundred feet from an ordinary high watermark. The ordinary high watermark at this small community has ever only gone over the boat dock. It has never, in history, crested the riverbank. If it ever does, and probably will never, then the whole community would be flooded. Why worry about what is on the riverbank and don't forget there are currently many buildings and establishments on top of riverbanks in every community up and down the valley.
Can the Minister revisit his decision and stance and allow a simple arbor to be built on the riverbank as per the First Nations wishes? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would never ever say never. I live in the community of Fort Simpson. I represent the community of Jean Marie. We saw our arbor go under water. So we saw that impact. We've seen what the floods do. The fallback plan is a hundred feet is across if -- the Member talked about the K'atl'odeeche , their arbor; the one in Fort Res; the one in Fort Simpson. It is actually further than a hundred feet back there. So, again, we need to be respectful that Mother Nature does not allow us to do it, because sometimes they do the 200-year flood which what I've seen in my community of Fort Simpson. So there is a community plan in place. We've reached out to them to come up with an alternative solution. So we've been talking with them.
And you heard today from another Member here talked about the flood in BC. That is the reality of Mother Nature and climate change right now. So we need to be respectful of that. So, no, I'm not going to revisit it. We need to follow what our rules and guidelines are. But we're willing to work with the community, and our staff have been reaching out to them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Deh Cho.
Mr. Speaker, and mahsi, Minister, for that. He talks about floods and everything. But First Nations people have lived on these lands for centuries. You would think that they would know that if they would ever have floods or any problems along the riverbank.
Mr. Speaker, government is great at suppressing and taking away life's liberties to First Nations for centuries. This government is no different from those governments. That is a shame. This government talks about reconciliation with First Nations but does not walk the talk. The Minister should be mindful that he represents a majority of First Nations communities in his riding. Government should be mindful that they are to represent all First Nations communities in their day-to-day decisions.
Will the Minister revisit his decision and stance on the riverbank issue and allow dwellings such as arbors at the wish of the First Nations community of Kakisa? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Quick answer, no, I'm not going to revisit it. The flood that happened in Fort Simpson and Jean Marie. You listen to the historical history from our elders there, I had an elder who is very much a supporter of mine who gives me advice, and when we were sitting there talking about the flood in Fort Simpson, he said oh, don't worry about it, Shane, it's never ever happened. Then he went, oops, it happened. That is the reality of it.
And the Member talks about working with Indigenous governments. We are very much working with Indigenous governments. We're talking with the Band. We're talking to them about alternative solutions. We've reached out to them. And we're trying to come up with a solution that works for the rules and regulations that we do have and that helps the community build the arbor. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My question's for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, and I'll squeeze in he's also in charge of the climate crisis.
I was thankful we had a delegation at COP26 but we need to move beyond blaming the feds. Can the Minister tell us whether there are any plans to centralize responsibility for the climate crisis including energy projects in the Power Corp and have one Minister responsible for all of this. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member is well aware, the Power Corp is with Minister Archie so whereas the energy climate -- energy plan is under Minister Archie's portfolio. However, in saying that, we don't have any current plans in place; however, we've been having conversations on how we better deal with the climate change and energy issues. So we've been able to work with that there.
So also we have to be aware is that the Department of ENR and Infrastructure has a couple of -- a number of departments working -- or groups, collaboration between a couple of groups. So the director's climate change working group, the ADM climate change -- climate change working group, energy and climate change deputy ministers, and a committee of Cabinet. So we do have a number of people working together to address this. But presently, we do not have any plans to amalgamate things. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'd be happy to be part of those conversations when he wants but it's no surprise to this House that I don't support -- I've never supported the climate change approach from the last Cabinet. We need to develop a real and focused climate crisis response; ditch the old approach from the last Cabinet and Assembly.
Can the Minister tell us whether he considers the current state of the climate a crisis; and, if so, can he commit right now to adopt the widely accepted carbon neutral target of net zero by 2050, or even sooner if he wants. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I agree that we are in a climate change crisis. We've been in it over 15 years. So I'm not saying anything new. When I was at the opportunity to attend Scotland, that was the climate change, we talked about it. Everybody was talking about when it was going to happen. This is the reality. The sad part about it I found even more frustrating is I had to educate Canadians. Canadians weren't understanding our challenges that we face day-to-day.
So in saying that, though, as for the net zero 50 -- in 2050, unless we get more money from the federal government, we're in trouble. We're not going to be able to meet the needs where we want to get there. And so, you know, we have the Department of Infrastructure working on the energy action plan. There's a new one coming up, and I believe it's supposed to be starting to look at 2022. So we're starting the process that will be involving committee, involving Indigenous governments moving forward. So presently, right now, unless the federal government wants to give us some more money, we're in trouble, folks, and I'm not lying. I'm not trying to hide anything. That's the reality of it.
And I had the opportunity to talk to Minister Guilbeault about that. Minister Archie had recently had an opportunity to talk to Minister Wilkinson about it. So, again, even though the federal government is spread out in two different departments or three different departments, similar to what we are, we are trying to work with them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that and his passion. Earlier I spoke about the need to face the capitalistic crisis at the NWT Power Corp and its entities head on. So just as the Minister spoke about, we need a real plan in place to -- and we don't have one.
So can the Minister commit to working with his colleagues and the public to develop a real and just transition plan for energy in the NWT? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, we're -- me and my colleagues, Minister of Finance and Minister of Infrastructure, we're talking all the time about climate change and how we move forward.
Mr. Speaker, I can say that the GNWT has a plan under the Climate Change Strategic Framework and the 2030 Energy Strategy. The energy strategy guides the development of affordable, secure, and sustainable energy for transportation, heat, and electricity, as well as supporting energy efficiency, conservation, and promotion of renewable and alternative energy solutions for the Northwest Territories. The energy strategy takes an adaptive approach and remains flexible to take advantage of new technology and opportunity as they arise, including accessing federal funding.
And as I said, 2022 is when we're starting to go through this. So there is this opportunity to look at the plan that we are in place, enhancing it, and improving it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I can hardly wait to work with the Minister in 2022 on all of this. But I spoke of, you know, we got to stop pretending that big petroleum development is ever going to come back to the Northwest Territories. So can the Minister tell us what he is doing to convince his Cabinet colleagues that we cannot and should not promote large scale fossil fuel development and exports in the interest of this planet? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first and foremost is the working with the Arctic communities out there. If you look in the High Arctic, basically they're on fuel. They're on diesel, and they're having an impact there. How do we get off them, how do -- we able to deal with that?
So, again, it is working with the municipal governments and other -- I would call them regions and -- when we were at COP, we had the opportunity to talk about in the southern hemisphere where they have regions working together. And one of the things that I talked about after coming out of that meeting, we need a regional approach to it. When I say a regional approach to it, I'm talking about Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Yukon, Alaska, and Greenland. We've had the opportunity to talk to Greenland, and some of their ideas and some of the things they're able to achieve. So we are willing to work.
And as for right now, we have to understand if you look up in the Beau-Del, they're talking about the potential of turning -- of changing it to gas right now. They have this opportunity, they're working on it, so we cannot dictate to the communities or the regions on how the best way to do it but we can work with them, and I think that's the most important aspect of it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
My first question is will the department commit to advocating on behalf of NWT fishers on the FFMC board to ensure any NWT fishers who wish to supply southern markets can obtain broad exemptions from the corporation within a timely manner? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for ITI.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly was listening earlier to the Member's statement to the concern that the process is unwieldy and difficult. It is not a GNWT process, Mr. Speaker. It is a process governed by the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation to which we're a member. But it is not unfortunately, a process that I can directly change. We have offered support in the past. And I've not had anything raised to me until now that there's been any delays. So we're going to keep an eye on that. I'll certainly make inquiries to see if, in fact, there's been other delays. And if so, we can certainly work with proponents in the industry to make sure they are navigating that system so long as we are still in it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to how much more per pound of fish will the fishers receive at the plant after the new plant is constructed and renovations are done? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for ITI.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish I could give an exact dollar figure that would -- I think it would actually be good news. The work that's being done right now has done initial look at what the markets are anticipated to be and certainly is well aware the potential of our industry. But as far as knowing exactly the state of the market in a year or two years from now, that is not something I can directly predict.
That said, again, in the work that has been done both in terms of understanding the markets, understanding the marketing potential and what's anticipated by the fishers themselves who have done some of that, looking as well, we certainly are expecting, without a doubt, increased prices. How much more, I don't know. That is -- it's a question that the closer we get, then the more we'll be in the moment of knowing what the markets are doing, the better I'll be able to give a direct answer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate that. I think that's important information. If we want a viable market, it needs to have value.
Mr. Speaker, my next question is does the department expect to remove the authority of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation in the Northwest Territories; and, if so, what timeline is the department working toward?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now the reason that the Northwest Territories continues to be a part of FFMC, it provides a stable and consistent floor for fishers to receive a price for their fish. It provides them a stable paycheque. And that's not a small thing in what is a -- what can be a very challenging industry.
But that said, it's a floor. And it's not necessarily one that markets the product to the extent that we believe it can be and should be and certainly doesn't get that high value for some of these side products that we also recognize that there are markets for.
So having said all that, Mr. Speaker, there's a process underway. And, again, it's led by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans by the federal government. It's not our process. The FFMC is not our entity. But there's a process underway right now, and we're certainly involved and aware of what's going on, to map out a change at the FFMC to turn it into a cooperative of fishers which would certainly change the dynamic that operates there.
I would just also note, though, of course, that a CFIA plant, a certified plant, which is the vision we have, would give more options as well. So there's a couple different tracks that we're on. We're participating in the change that may be happening over at FFMC, and we're looking to get our plant operating so that we have some of those options.
But, again, in the meanwhile, for now, we're certainly allowing fishers to keep the threshold that they have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
