Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the ITI Minister who seems to have the lead on our remediation economy. In my statements in May, October, February, and again today, I noted the potential for literally billions of dollars of federal investment across the northern territories as part of an accelerated program on contaminated sites remediation and economic recovery.
It's now clear that my calls to action or my offer of assistance have ever been taken seriously. But can the Minister provide an update on the status of this work to secure accelerated federal investment to build a remediation economy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of ENR is the lead for the remediation economy. They are the ones that are responsible for preparing a draft discussion paper. The fact that that paper is being prepared right now should be well known at this point by committee Members. Fortunately, Mr. Speaker, the Department of ENR and ITI actually meet regularly. There's a number of initiatives where the two departments are working quite closely together in addition to which there is an assistant deputy minister that also is working in this area of remediation. And so I'm certainly able to respond as I am not entirely sure where the rest of the questions will go. I can again assure the Member, assure this House, that that discussion paper is underway. It will go through its usual processes of approvals through Cabinet and sharing with the committee.
As for the potential of billions of federal dollars, I would love to know that there are billions of federal dollars that are so easy for the picking. I have, in the past, responded at some length about the efforts that I went through, the multiple letters and emails and context I went through, to see if we could get ourselves into the federal program that was announced for British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. That program, however, was quite specific to orphaned or inactive wells that have no owners. We've gone through our process. We've tried to provide all the information necessary. And quite simply put, the situation, the wells that we have here have owners and they will not be eligible for that program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. And clearly, the approach we've taken to date has been a dismal failure. From what I've seen, we continue to pitch this investment as a way to bail out the extractive sector. Federal support is not a way to backtrack and pollute our pace or absolve the private sector of its liabilities.
So what assurance can the Minister give me that we're going to change our bailout approach and start to make a pitch for an accelerated northern contaminated sites remediation program? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't agree that there is any sort of bailout program and so in that sense I suppose I could simply say there is no direction to go towards any sort of bailout and end my answer at that.
I, however, Mr. Speaker, will continue on to reassure everyone that the polluter pays principle continues to be the live principle that applies in the Northwest Territories. That hasn't changed. And as for, again, looking for opportunities to build the remediation economy, that discussion paper's already underway, led by ENR.
And in the meantime, Mr. Speaker, although we might not find ourselves fitting into the program that was announced for those three western provinces, we're already looking at whether there's a way to pivot our ask to better adapt to the circumstances and situation we have here in the Northwest Territories so that we can access, if there are funds available, that we can be able to access them or find a way to ask for them that's more meaningful. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I think part of the problem here is that we have no concrete proposal that's been put together to show what the contaminated sites are, the risks they pose, the cost to assess and remediate them, and the benefits that could accrue. I'm more than happy to roll up my sleeves and help with that work.
Can the Minister tell us whether there is a concrete proposal for an accelerated northern contaminated sites remediation program? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, again, ENR is the lead in terms of managing contaminated sites and the contaminated sites inventory. The Department of ITI certainly is responsible for liaising as well with the department on the federal level. With respect to the industry sector, Mr. Speaker, I can assure you that we did undertake a fairly extensive program in order to determine the various types of sites and sumps all across the Northwest Territories. Simple fact is they have current owners and including all those sumps and as such, they didn't fit into that federal program. For a future ask, that's exactly why there's a discussion paper that's being put together so that there is an organized ask, goes across all of the departments that are involved on this initiative. And, Mr. Speaker, that effort is already well under its way underway. The drafts will be prepared in early 2022. Might not quite be a Christmas present, but maybe we'll have it in time for the Easter Bunny. 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. And as my Christmas present, this will probably be the last question I can ask my Cabinet colleagues in 2021.
We have an extensive inventory of contaminated sites so there's lots of work to be done. That work should also be part of a key part of what the polytechnic university might look at as well to help build capacity and capture opportunities for remediation economy.
Will the Minister commit to regularly update regular MLAs on her efforts to secure federal investment to accelerate remediation work? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's too many times where perhaps the Member from Frame Lake and I appear to disagree. This isn't one of them. I also agree that the remediation economy is one that we need to be looking at, that we need to look at carefully, that we need to find the opportunities, and it's going to involve not only ITI but ENR, ECE, and Lands.
So, yes, Mr. Speaker, I certainly will be more than happy to ensure that bringing all of that together and updating this House happens regularly. When there's multiple departments involved, it does take a bit more coordinating. But it's a lot of good work that's happening, and I'll definitely make that commitment. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Oral Question 889-19(2):
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And it's good to hear the enthusiasm in Minister's voice. Mr. Speaker, the NWT arts program offers, as she said, registering artists the choice as well to have a public or private profile on this website. But I guess the question I have, what does this actually mean, and does this allow for art to be sold on that website as well? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm happy to give some information about the difference between the two. If there's a public profile on the NWT arts website, then they can use that as a way to help promote themselves. They can link to their own public pages. If they have a private profile, then, Mr. Speaker, they wouldn't have as much information available on the site. They'd certainly still be a registered artist so that they can use the branding. But obviously, that's not quite the same in terms of the promotion that they might get, but they may certainly it's up to them to be able to decide. The Northwest Territories arts doesn't actually sell art or sell artwork, but there is the "where to buy" section that can help link customers to online stores and to stores here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department promotes the NWT arts logo as a mark of authentic artwork in the marketplace and the website as a tool to find NWT art and artists. Does this logo differentiate between Indigenous and nonIndigenous artists, as we have Metis, First Nations, and Inuit artisans. Their artwork, as far as I'm concerned, should be recognized and promoted as such because it's you know, it's valued throughout Canada and worldwide as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at present, no, the arts logo doesn't differentiate between the artists' background of any sort. They are a Northwest Territories artist, and that is the extent of it. So I mean obviously if somebody wants to find out more information, again, they can go to the artist's profile. But that may be the sort of item where artists themselves may want to discuss with us if they are interested in seeing some differentiation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I took a look at the strategy, the 2021, 2031 strategy this morning, and I noticed that it was silent on distinguishing between Indigenous and nonIndigenous artists. And I think that, you know, by not having that not distinguishing, we're missing out on a big market out there. And I think it's something that the department should actually look at.
And, Mr. Speaker, you know, we got buyers who are seeking northern Indigenous artwork, and they need to have a mechanism that is central, accessible, and safe to use. And I guess what I'm saying is that we need a platform that artists can, you know that can go on there and they could have their product on there, and it's you know, the government looks after the cost of managing it and so we can get that you know, get the artisans' products out to the world. And, you know and I don't see anything like that. You know, all I see is kind of Facebook and like Kijiji, eBay, you see some stuff on there, but, you know, you really have to look for it. And we need something that's central to the NWT.
So how is this accomplished or to be accomplished, or is it even on the department's radar to have something that's central? And I have talked to the Minister of ECE about it as well so I'm hoping that between the two departments they can kind of take a look at it and decide whether it's worthwhile pursuing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so, again, at present, that's not a distinction that is being made, but we're at a good moment in time with the new art strategy having come out and a lot of work happening right now to determine the future of ways in which we're going to promote arts in the Northwest Territories. So I can certainly speak with my colleague of course at E, C and E about this, about whether there is some differentiation that might happen and want to of course talk to the artists themselves about what that might look and what benefit they would see from that. We do certainly have the seals and sealing network which does promote specifically Indigenous crafts based on seal skins. So that may be somewhere to start and somewhere to see just how how the impact of having an Indigenous lens and Indigenous identifier included might impact on buying decisions. So, you know, as I said, happy to look into that and certainly want to make sure we're promoting our artists. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I already got my early Christmas present from the Minister of Finance when she tabled the 2021 public accounts yesterday. And in those public accounts, Mr. Speaker, a trend that has continued for a number of years continues on with the GNWT exponentially getting sued for more and more money, well over a $100 million right now. I was just hoping the Minister of Finance could shed some light on what is going on here. Who is suing us? And why does this number just exponentially grow? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn't know I was going to get called Santa Claus today. But, you know, Mr. Speaker, there's I don't know I'd characterize it as exponential growth. I am able to look at of course all of the various lawsuits that are issued against the GNWT. We don't have any control over who decides to sue the government. And I've asked the department to find out whether in fact this is something where it's unusual for the GNWT as opposed to all governments across Canada. I can say from my past life, but there's sometimes a bit of a pension to sue the government on the assumptions that we have deeper pockets than what we actually maybe do. Anything that's been filed publicly, anyone can go and access the court filing records. And in those filing records, they would see who has sued the government and for what amount.
The number of the $107 million that's being described here, that is for a contingent liability. What that means, Mr. Speaker, is the total amount that someone is suing us for if it is unknown whether or not that will end one way or another, it's included at that point. It is not an actual liability. It's not the actual amount that we're expecting to pay. It's not even it's not reflective of where a settlement might be at. That's a different value entirely. That's your legal liability, and it's much, much lower. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll have questions at another time about if we can somehow perhaps take what's filed in the courts and get it somewhat public. I know there's some tension in doing that with matters before the courts. But I guess I want to talk about after that process.
You know, none of us want to see a $100 million all of a sudden show up in our budget. If we do settle these, and I assume we'll settle them for much less than that, does that get reported publicly anywhere, Mr. Speaker?
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, so when there's a legal liability, that's where there's an amount that is more determined where it's, you know, at a point where there's some relative certainty around the final amount, that does get reported. That is reported in the financial statements. And when there's a final statement, in fact, that if there's a liability that's owing or an amount that's being paid for under a settlement, then that is included under the specific department that is involved with that particular litigation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know in the past, both by myself and by the media, there have been questions about, you know, when we do settle cases what happened, what lessons, and there's kind of been this tension and resistance to not answer them. Sometimes I have caught them in the specific department's public accounts or a supplemental appropriation if it's significant enough and they can't find it internally. I know that happened with the Norman Wells Health Centre as an example. But can I just get some clarification of when we can't answer questions about public money that has been settled or why there has been a refusal in the past. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if a matter is still outstanding as a matter of ongoing legal determination, well, then we can't speak to the matter. I mean, obviously, as representative of the government, we'd be speaking on a matter that has lawyers involved that's before a legal decision maker. It's not appropriate for us to speak about the details. When it comes to this matter being settled, it is quite standard industry standard, not necessarily anything do with the government, that there would be confidentiality provisions associated. The confidentiality provisions, really, they benefit all the parties of litigation and, in fact, a lot of times litigants who have put themselves forward don't want their information shared.
You know, Mr. Speaker, I can say that having looked briefly at the list of outstanding litigation, a large number of it is individuals who have claims of past abuse against governments, government agents, government agencies, or who are looking to make those connections, whether that will actually tail back to the government or not. As an example, I suspect that many of those individuals would not want a final settlement detail to be included in public accounting documents.
So that's what makes it difficult for us as ministers to come out and to stand up and to try to detail all of this because they are matters where it's just simply not appropriate to give that kind of information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I suspect there's a much larger conversation here about the appropriateness of NDAs in society generally and with the government, you know, sometimes ask for NDAs when perhaps the victim does not even want them. But I guess I'll go to settlement agreements that are contract disputes, I know in the past they have had confidentiality requirements, which I think if we're paying out millions of dollars of public money in some sort of construction dispute, we should have a principle that there isn't one so that when I see that money in a corresponding budget or a public account, I can actually ask questions about it. Is this something the Minister of Finance is willing to review? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mean, as far as going back and looking at the settlement provisions, that's probably more of a question for the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Justice's department and the extent to which that would impede the ability to settle, whether it might, frankly you know, whether it would impede the ability to settle or whether it would breach expectations that are typically brought to us. I mean, I can certainly speak further about this not in the House but it would be drawing on my own experience as a lawyer where that's not the role I'm in anymore, Mr. Speaker. So, you know, we can certainly we are always looking for ways to improve our public transparency in the accounts and in the financial documents. We're going to continue to try and do that. When I went through our public accounts and contingent liabilities were mentioned by the auditors of the Auditor General's, there was no concerns raised. But if there's ways we can at least assist committee in terms of understanding that, Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to try and do that because this this shouldn't be made out to be something that it's not. And I think a little bit more information at least to Members can help alleviate that, then I'll certainly look for ways. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm asking this question because I worked in the school for many years, and it's to the Department of Health and Social Services regarding the addictions.
Children are being exposed to alcoholism and drug addictions throughout their entire school experience. What programs are in place for school age from elementary through to high school to educate young people about the negative impacts of alcohol and drugs, drug addictions? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I feel like I would like to consult my colleague, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, to provide a full response on that. I don't have that information off the top of my head. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. I know I should have addressed Minister of Education as well, but I do have one more questions but it's more technical, and I will submit written questions for that. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Would the Minister like to respond or take it as a comment. Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Sorry, no, I'm trying to keep up with emails. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I'm going to start with a really quick question for the Minister of Health and Social Services. My really quick question is does the Minister of Health and Social Services expect any closures of health care centres in the Northwest Territories due to staff shortages? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to give a really quick answer. No.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. That's my only question I have on that one but I'd like to go back on your list for further questions.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my next questions are also for the Minister of Health and Social Services in regards to immigration medicals.
The federal website indicates that only a panel physician can perform an immigration medical exam, and the NTHSSA website indicates that all of our physicians are panel physicians for the purposes of immigration medicals. Contradicting that, the federal website, if you punch in that you're trying to locate a panel physician in the Northwest Territories, it indicates that we have no panel physicians here in the Northwest Territories. And so I'm wondering if Health and Social Services will work with the federal government to have our NWT physicians added to the federal website? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member has referenced, the immigration medicals are driven by the federal government as they are the primary regulator of immigration. And as she said, NTHSSA can't assign physicians to immigration to IRCC panels. But we are working with the federal government to have physicians added to the list of paneled physicians who can do immigration medicals, which I just have to say are quite involved. They are maybe not your standard medical as you may have experienced it in your life.
It is in fact possible to have an IRCC medical performed in Yellowknife because while we don't have paneled physicians here, locations which are a certain distance from major centres are not required to have dedicated panel physicians. I think the key here is that when the person is making an appointment for the medical, it's really important to stress that it is an immigration medical so that all of the additional tests and paperwork are completed. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that from the Minister, and I really hope that we can get that fixed as far as coordinating with the federal government to have their website changed. It does add uncertainty for people travelling through that process here in the Northwest Territories.
I do find as well that I hear a lot from constituents who, they do contact NTHSSA to book an appointment and what they find out is that there is a lengthy period of time that they have to wait in order to complete that process, and sometimes that puts them too far up against the wall for their deadlines with Immigration Canada. And so for certainty, they end up travelling to Alberta in order to complete their immigration medicals. And so I'm wondering if the NTHSSA would be able to provide service standard commitments to people doing their immigration medicals in Yellowknife? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, we're in discussions with the federal government on this topic. I don't feel like I'm in a position at this time to make a commitment on service standards. But I do take the Member's point that the service turnaround time is putting undue stress on people who are counting on that turnaround time in order to secure their immigration status. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we take a jurisdictional scan of Canada, we see that the average cost for a medical in Nova Scotia is $200; the average cost in Ontario, $300; and in Edmonton, $365. Here in Yellowknife, the cost has an average of about $675. And so I'm wondering why medicals are more expensive in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
