Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the government to continue to defend a poor decision to shorten the width of a major regional airport is not okay. I don't want Fort Smith's decision to set a bad precedent for other communities to lose or lessen vital infrastructure. Would the Minister seriously reconsider correcting this direction by the Government of the Northwest Territories and reinstate the wishes of 550 people along with the entire Fort Smith leadership who signed the runway petition? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To be clear, narrowing the width of the runway has not changed the level of service of the airport. The runway meets current federal regulations and future needs.
When the Fort Smith airport was built in 1957, 60 meters was a common width for a paved runway across Canada. At the time, it was predicted that future aircraft would be bigger and would require larger runways. The evolution of aircraft technology disproved this prediction. Newer and more modern aircraft have improved performance when compared to aircraft from the 1950s and 1960s and wider runways are not necessary.
Mr. Speaker, in addition, I would also note that the federal regulations have recently changed and a 60meter wide runway is no longer required, even for the largest aircraft in the world.
Finally, I want to make it clear that Department of Infrastructure did consult with the airport users and the town prior to commencing the work on the new runway lighting and reduce the runway width in 2018, and no objections were noted or brought forward at that time. Ongoing engagement with aircraft operators during construction led to the addition of turn pads at both ends of the runway to be able to allow for safe operations of 737s and A320 aircrafts.
The expenditure of over 11 million in public funds to revisit the work completed in 2019 and return the runway to its former width is unnecessary, and the Department of Infrastructure doesn't have the necessary funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My statement dealt with the oftenpromised federal territorial agreement to bring affordable child care to all parents in the NWT. The ECE Minister is quoted in the media as saying in some media saying "we'll have this agreement by the end of the calendar year."
But I'd like the Minister to tell us the number of child care spaces the agreement will support and at what cost per day. Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member stated, I've already said publicly we should have this agreement finalized by the end of the year, in the coming weeks, in the coming week. It's very close. That being said, it's not finalized and so I can't say how many spaces, what costs, etcetera.
If you look at every other deal that's been made, though, there is some indications that there's a reduction in fees at the end of 2022 by a certain amount, and after five years there's a desire to get to around $10 a day average. So there are some things that have appeared in every other agreement. But I can't say what we are going to see in this agreement until we sign something. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that sneak preview. The Minister has also been quoted as saying that the lack of physical spaces will challenge universal affordable child care in the NWT. How is the Minister going to ensure that there are safe and appropriate places to put the new child care spaces in all NWT communities? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So ECE currently has funding for startup, new child care space startup to help programs get off the ground. Of course, we have the $1 million child care infrastructure fund that we're a few years into now. As well, we have been prioritizing the communities who have no child care services for that fund. While negotiating the terms of the new agreement, the Canadawide agreement that we hope to sign here in the very near future, we've been considering how we can utilize that agreement as well as some of the existing funding that we already have to construct new spaces. I noted earlier that we have reviewed the current funding programs and given that we're on the cusp of a new agreement, perhaps some of those funding programs can be adjusted to help get new infrastructure spaces off the ground as well as has been discussed in this House, ECE's capital standards for schools now allows for child care space to be built in new school facilities as well. So there's a number of ways that we are working on the infrastructure issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. The August renewal of the CanadaNWT Early Learning and Child Care Agreement provided a onetime earmarked $2.5 million to support development of our early child care work force, childhood care work force. I want to ask the Minister whether he can tell us if that money's actually rolling out now and how many child care workers have been trained or have their skills upgraded? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the money is rolling out. It is supporting a number of initiatives. Of course, we have the early learning child care diploma program at Aurora College that this money's helping fund. For the first time now that there is a distancebased early learning child care certificate, that people don't have to come to the campus to take. They can take it in their home communities. There's work on dual credit courses for interested secondary senior secondary school students. As well, we are supporting college Nordique to deliver postsecondary programming in French for early learning child care providers. We have 30 scholarships of $5,000 for students pursuing further education in early learning and child care. So we have a number of different initiatives.
There are approximately 300 childhood educators who are benefitting from some of the additional training that is being offered as well beyond those college courses. So there's a number of different initiatives that are available to prospective early learning and child care educators as well as current ones. 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. It would be great to get further updates on that money being spent.
So planning for universal child care in the NWT, it's not new ground. There was the 2015 feasibility study of universal affordable daycare in the Northwest Territories, and the department has some of its own action plans. But how is the Minister building upon this work to finally develop a comprehensive plan for universal child care across the NWT, and how will a new agreement with the federal government make this happen? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member mentioned, this is not new ground. Over the years, there's been a number of much work done on the types of programs and research into the needs of young children and how we can better support them and how we can better support parents with their child care needs. And so this work has been done by the Department of Health, by E, C and E, and the officials at the department have looked at all of this work spanning many years, and as well, they have gone out to have discussions with child care providers, Indigenous governments, and so on. And all of that is informing both the negotiations that we are currently in with the federal government as well as the 2030 Early Learning and Childhood Strategy. That strategy will be a very highlevel document without specific actions. That's generally what strategies are; they're guiding documents. But as with many federal funding agreements, there's already a requirement for an action plan. So the I expect there will be a detailed action plan under the Canadawide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement that will spell out exactly how we are going to spend this money and make these improvements to the child care sector. So I can assure the Member we will have a plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today my Member's statement was on shipping and timing in regards to my riding. It's really essential because three communities that I represent are on the ocean. And this year, we're worried in regards of having our shipment so late into the season, in September, due to ice conditions and in the rough seas because our boats are only limited to do so much.
Mr. Speaker, is there any way like, we have six and a half months of planning, is the Minister able to direct her staff with MTS in regards to servicing the community first before servicing contracts? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the marine delivery needs of the ISR communities, of any Northwest Territories communities, do not take a backseat to North Warning System contract or any other commercial contracts. MTS serves the ISR communities with dedicated tugboats and barges. I think the Member's going to be happy to hear that, that we dedicate our tugs and barges to the to the smaller communities. So a different tugboat and barge is used to serve the for example, the North Warning System. These marine operations run concurrently, but they don't interfere with each other. In the past summer, though operations were temporarily delayed by ice, the ISR communities did receive their freight. And a different tugboat than Nunakput did North Warning System deliveries and was completed on time this season. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. I'm really happy to hear that we have Nunakput serving Nunakput, and look forward to that this year. But we have six and a half months of planning to do to make that happen.
For the timeline, June 15th was when the ocean opened up on our side and boats are already coming in from June to September. Why did it take so long? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the tugs leave from Hay River. So I mean, there are a number of factors that we need to consider, including the ice to melt in the lake and getting it up the river. So those are some of the reasons why. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So in regards to the shipping, you know, we came in in September. We can't have that, what happened in 2018 with that service and costing former government millions of dollars to service our communities. So, Mr. Speaker, how does it work and where do they buy the fuel in regards to servicing the communities if they're coming up and they're doing tows out to the community, where are they buying the fuel and can we get it cheaper so we could pass on those cheap rates to the people of Nunakput? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if that's okay, I'm going to get back to the Member in terms of where exactly we purchase, and I think that was the Member's question last week as well. So, you know, we can look into, you know, where we get our fuel and if there's cost savings. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to again thank MTS for the service that they do. It's just a matter of getting a schedule that is doable because this year, like I said in my Member's statement, that people had boats, fourwheelers on there, that were wanting to hunt and go whaling in the community of Paulatuk firstly and they weren't able to get them until September, and they got to use it once. Mr. Speaker, more of a comment, but thank MTS for their service this year but we'll work on the scheduling. Thank you.
Thank you. Taken as comment, but I'll let the Minister respond, short.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll make this really short. Over the past two and I think this is really important because, you know, there are some of the delays and, you know, climate change has a big impact on it as well, but I do want to just quickly say that over the past few years, in Canada's Arctic waters, water and ice condition have been less predictable than in previous years. It is unfortunate, but ice and bad weather can sometimes interfere with our marine deliveries. Ice and weather can be dangerous. MTS operations must be safe operations. Our captains will not put their crews, vessels at risk. MTS had an excellent safety record over the past five seasons, and we're very proud of that record and I do want to note to the MTS staff that, you know, this is much appreciated. So the tugboats for the ISR communities was delayed by ice this year. All of our deliveries to the communities were done. Boats and crews made it home safely. And I think that's very important. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A quick Google search will tell you that the Fort Good Hope seniors home officially opened in February of this year. And then it didn't open. And then the GNWT said it would open at the end of summer. And then it didn't open.
So my question for the Minister responsible of Municipal and Community Affairs is when is the Fort Good Hope seniors home going to open?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for MACA.
Thank you. I know he probably read in the paper at some point in time I was the Minister of but I'm not the Minister responsible for Housing. That's Minister Chinna.
What I know right now, the Fort Good Hope Housing 9plex is not opened right now. We did open it during the COVID Secretariat. We had 24hour supervision, temporary occupation lined up through the again, with the COVID breakout, to assist the community and isolate the people there.
As for a date, I think the Member will should ask the Minister of Housing for that question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I'll put the Minister on Housing that I on notice that I will ask her when she expects the GNWT to let the GNWT open their building.
My question here is that I regularly see receive complaints that our Office of the Fire Marshal is not operating with the same service that both of our neighboring territories are, that emails go unresponded to, that plan review function takes months, that getting occupancy permits can take months and months with different dates provided. Is the Minister willing to create some sort of a standards for the Office of the Fire Marshal? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As part of the process, we're reviewing the projects to make sure they're looked at and then they're prioritized based on when they were received. So the fire marshall's office has developed a process to advise clients as we're doing that. But most importantly and, man, I can't believe I'm doing this to the Member from Yellowknife North, I'm giving him kind of another 'yes'.
The creation of the service standards for the Office of the Fire Marshall will be considered in review of the fire marshall, and we will be doing that that will be part of it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now, that's three yeses for the Member.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I never thought I'd be so excited for the Fire Prevention Act, but I'm really looking forward to that piece of legislation.
Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that Nunavut, after creating a Building Standards Act essentially hired a contracting firm to review the plan review function. My understanding is here we have one person who reviews the plans, and if they go on vacation, simply just no plans get reviewed.
I believe a good way to solve that problem would give the fire marshall a budget to have a contractor on hire as a backup for plan review. Is that something the Minister is willing to look into? Thank you.
Just so everybody here realizes it in the House and out there, my understanding of the fire office of the Office of the Fire Marshall has not had any delays or backup backlog in projects under review. However, giving him the fourth 'yes' today, I'm getting I can't believe this is four yeses I think Christmas is done for the Yellowknife North Member. Contracting services, when warranted, is an option for Municipal and Community Affairs to prioritize priorities and workload. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I believe me and the Minister, we're going to get through this. We've had a number of conversations, and I previously asked whether the department was willing to change the guidelines that the Office of the Fire Marshal operates under to review draft documents first. And I want to clarify what I'm asking for here.
I'm not asking for a final occupancy permit or a final signoff on draft documents. That would be very inappropriate. But during building a building, the architects, the engineers, and the contractors all get together, they move around the plans, and there's lots of conversations. Other jurisdictions, the Office of the Fire Marshal has consulting meetings. They also we review the plans. This is something our Office of the Fire Marshal refuses to do, and they will only look at finalized drawings. Then when one of our engineers gets in a fight with the fire marshal, we end up in court.
So what I'm asking is will the Minister change the guidelines to allow the Office of the Fire Marshall to be involved a little earlier and have a consultation session with the draft documents and not just look at finalized documents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, planning review guidelines are available on the MACA website and provides a number of options to resolve potential issues before final drawings are submitted, including presubmission meetings and partial review for specific circumstances. The Office of the Fire Marshal is willing to work with any client with concerns related to specific projects to find a solution with the regulatory framework.
I really hate to do this, but this is his third 'yes' today; the fifth one in two days.
We will look at this idea during the review of the Fire Prevention Act. So I'm looking forward to it. We will look at these things. We're trying to improve things moving forward. And I have to say the fire marshall is doing a good job despite what the Member has said in his speech today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, this is a question for the NWT Housing Corporation. I want to ask her why none of the ten units being built in Behchoko not in Behchoko but I meant to say Tlicho region is designated for homeownership program. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are on doing a distributing a federal delivery this year of 90 public housing units. Presently, right now, we are able to concentrate on homeownership. So the public housing units that are single and detached, they are up for sale. To date, we have had 104 applications that have been received, and we are working with those clients to educate them and to support them through the homeownership process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well, that was the question for yesterday. So so would the Minister commit some of those ten units to be designated for homeownership.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not as generous as the Minister of MACA. Unfortunately, no, they won't be as they won't be up for sale. This is to replenish our public housing stock. We do have a deteriorated housing stock. We are almost reaching our 50 years.
But for the Tlicho region, it's a very unique Indigenous government and Indigenous group where we do hold partnerships with them. We are in the process right now working with the Tlicho housing working group in transferring ten of our market housing units and also supporting them through that process as well too. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi. Would the Minister commit to selling units at a price that reflects their commercial value and take into consideration the amount of rent already paid and future maintenance costs? Masi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can provide the Member with further information on how our homeownership program is working and the eligibility and the criteria for them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Monfwi.
Mahsi. There are many barriers to the subsidy programs for homeownership assistance with the NWT Housing Corporation. What types of debt forgiveness does the NWT Housing Corporation have?
