Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I suppose there's a point of order on the floor.
There's no point of order. You may continue.
All right. Thank you. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, removing the mandatory and the continuance of encouraging the vaccinations may be a winwin for all, especially the ones who choose not to take the vaccinations. This has given the rights and freedoms we have all come to enjoy back to the residents of the Northwest Territories, especially the unvaccinated.
Will the Premier give consideration to removing "mandatory" and encourage residents of the availability of the vaccinations? Mahsi.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is no mandatory vaccine policy. Not for the public, not for the public service. People have a choice to make here. We are promoting a socially responsible place so that we can offer a safe workplace and a safe environment for the people of the NWT. That can be accomplished primarily by being vaccinated. It reduces transmission, and it reduces the severity of the illness.
So for further information on the government public service vaccine mandate, I recommend that the Member direct his questions to the Minister of Finance responsible for Human Resources. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Deh Cho. Okay. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure, who is responsible for government information technology services.
A year ago the Minister promised a solution for education authorities' internet bandwidth problems through a request for proposal which was to be issued last winter. Can the Minister provide us with a brief update on the status of that work and tell us how close we are to increasing internet bandwidth available to Yellowknife school authorities? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll give a brief update on where we're at with the project.
So TSC, Technology Service Centre, oversees the GNWT network connectivity provided to GNWT schools. TSC is currently rolling out the new digital communication network, which is the DCN, to GNWT schools across all the communities here in the Northwest Territories. This contract was awarded to Northwestel in September of 2021, and this work is currently underway.
To date, there has been completed approximately some the work that's been completed to date is about 50 percent of the communities. This includes hardware upgrades that, in most communities, will increase the bandwidth available to GNWT offices and schools. The current schedule estimates that the balance of the work should be completed within two to three months. Community service by satellite technology will unfortunately continue to have limitations, including the amount of bandwidth available overall.
So to mitigate this lower bandwidth availability, the school internet traffic leverages bandwidth that is not part of the GNWT network, and this will allow for better performance overall. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. There's some new information there that I wasn't aware of, but. I noted that in my statement that problems of inadequate internet access continue to be raised with us as Yellowknife MLAs and that they raised this territorially and nationally. So can the Minister tell us what specific solutions and funding is going to be made available to fix this problem here in Yellowknife right now? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, under the new DCN contract, the TSC will be able to leverage new satellite technology which we call Low Earth Orbit, otherwise known as LEO, as it becomes available within the North for GNWT schools. So again, this is expected to be completed in the next two to three months. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and I want to thank the Minister for that. I understood that Low Earth Orbit technology really is a benefit for more remote communities, not like Yellowknife. So I want to ask again, the Minister, what is this DCN rollout by Northwestel going to do to improve internet access for Yellowknife school authorities. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd be happy to provide the Member with more details on exactly how this would roll out. I think, you know, it would take up a lot of our time here today, and we still have lots of Members that want to speak. So 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 because neither one of us are techies. You can tell just from the tone of the questions and the answers. So I look forward to getting more information from the Minister. But what I'm really looking for is a clear commitment that the internet access problem for Yellowknife school authorities, students, and families here in Yellowknife is going to get fixed. So can the Minister tell us when that problem is going to get fixed here in Yellowknife? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member's last question is a really important one. So I'm just going to make sure I speak slow when I'm going through this.
In Yellowknife, the provision of internet services is a shared responsibility with school boards as the Yellowknife schools manage their own networks and hardware within each of the schools, including the nonGNWT internet connections as they have purchased and installed within the schools. The TSC has no visibility into how these separate internet connections are used, managed, or how its usage is tracked.
The TSC provides Yellowknife schools with internet services through existing GNWT enterprise internet contract. So any increases to their bandwidth would be through the existing contract.
I hope I'm making sense here, Mr. Speaker. Capacity under this contract was increased in September from 1 gigabyte to 2 gigabytes, and we have the ability to increase to 5 gigabytes under the existing contract when additional capacity is required.
Currently, our understanding is the 2 gigabytes provided to the Yellowknife schools is not fully utilized. It is not the case. If that's not the case, Mr. Speaker, I ask the YK schools to reach out to Education, Culture and Employment, and also Infrastructure, to increase that bandwidth. The TSC has also provided ECE with turbo sticks, Chromebooks, to be able to facilitate online learning. ECE and I'm looking at my colleague here manages the distribution among those in the various schools. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Question for the Minister of MACA. Will the Minister commit to providing funding to the community to resolve this issue.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you. And I give the Member credit for keep on asking the question. I've had numerous emails. I've had conversations with the Chief and that.
We give money through gas tax, CIP, and we work with the communities. Through the new deal, communities make decisions on where it is. We don't have any other money. There's no slush fund out there. So the answer, quickly, shortly, no. Thank you.
Thank you. Does the Minister think it is fair to give community gas tax funding of a million dollars in 2007 and not provide any funding for a 40yearold water pipe liability costing over $10 million. Will the Minister commit to seeking out unused funds from other departments to respond to the emergency? Thank you.
I think there was about four questions in there, but I'll try to answer them all, and if I miss, I apologize.
So the first is the funding in regards to each community have their infrastructure. In 2007, the Municipal and Community Affairs came up with a new deal. The new deal, the money is allocated by a funding formula and so since 2007 to 2022, the department gave Behchoko, in the community public infrastructure money, of just over $15 million, the gas tax funding of just over $10 million. And communities make decisions. They make priorities. So they have to make decisions on what they think needs to be done for the community, and they make choices. Unfortunately, this situation is 40 years old, as the Member has said. Community has the choice to prioritize this over other projects that didn't happen. Other communities are in the same boat. So we don't have any new money. There is no new money. The departments don't have any money. We're $1.5 billion in debt as we try to operate moving forward.
So as I tried to explain to the Member numerous times is we don't have any money. If we had the money, there's other communities that have other issues as well, I'd be more than willing to do it if we had the money but we don't have the money. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well, that wasn't the answer I was looking for but I think I don't think he really answered my questions too as well. So the Minister talks about $40 million. Some of this funding includes money for daily operations. People have to live and eat and work. So some of them goes to the operations, and this money is not for capital replacement like he is talking about. What money is available needed to maintain the existing infrastructure and not do a major capital plan replacement. So what money is available? That's what I'm asking him. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I tried to explain to the Member, there's CIP; there's gas tax and their water and sewer. On top of it, the community gives $30 million since 2007 for the operation of it. So they have this year, they got $2.27 million for the operation of their community. So on top of it, that's where the money is. Is there new money available? No. What the community has been able to do and as of today, and this is going to take a little bit of time and I apologize it might be a Minister's statement, but MACA staff have met with the Behchoko SAO, assistant SAO, and water superintendent to discuss the water and sewer infrastructure situation. Work as with Ace Construction to identify and fix a number of leaks in Edzo. Four houses now have temporary aboveground service lines. They have issued public notices to help identify leaks. The treatment water reserve is now up to 50 percent capacity, and the water treatment plant is able to make water faster than it is being consumed. Work on the 20yearold replacement plan identified in the 2019ADCO report has not begun. MACA has since reached out to them about updating and that report and respect to costing and priority.
So Mr. Speaker, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is doing everything we can do with the community to help. We don't have any additional money. I've said that publicly. I've said it in the press. I've sent numerous emails to the Member. I've said it to the Chief. We don't have any money. We give the money that we get from Municipal and Community Affairs, 80 percent of it goes out to municipalities. There's no new money. There's no new slush fund. So as I tried to explain to the Member, if there was a slush fund it would be great, but the municipalities, we don't have that type of money. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, I know he made numerous reference to the $40 millions and to the 2007, and I think I know what this Minister is trying to do, is that he is trying to discredit the community government and playing blaming game. I won't have time for that. So I think that's what he's trying do.
Point of order.
Thank you, the Minister is seeking a point of order. Minister of ECE.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is imputing motives to the Minister, saying that he's making comments in an attempt to discredit the municipality. I think it's a pretty clear one. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. You may continue with the point of order. Member for Monfwi, please withdraw and apologize to the House.
What's that?
Please withdraw your remarks and
Okay, okay. Then I'll
apologize.
say that. Not to discredit or the community government, okay, I'll withdraw with that statement. But I think in 2007
Apologize.
Apologize to the House, and thank you.
I apologize. I'm sorry, Mr., whatever. Okay, okay.
In 2007, when he made reference to 2007, and I think in 2007 when the decision was made to take out another project, that was with good intention. And there's a lot of things that we have done. But there was nothing that for all the years that I was there too, we never I don't want to say discredit again but I know they do get our financial statement. And if they knew that there was something wrong with our water pipe system 40 years ago, why didn't they address it back then and tell us. And years later, when we're experiencing this problem now. That is the reason why I said what I said before. But he keeps referring to 2007. Something must have happened in 2007 when I was not there when the other leaders are not here to defend themselves. So that's why I said that. But I would like to know if the Minister of he didn't answer my questions too. Will the Minister commit to seeking unused funds from other department to respond to this emergency? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said, the new deal started in 2007. So what was happening before that it was the government of the Northwest Territories were making decisions on what infrastructure was going to go into the communities. The new deal allowed the communities to make decisions. I fully support that. I think the communities make the good decisions based on the evidence they had.
In 2013, the department wrote a letter to the municipality saying you need to look at some of these decisions; here's a potential future problem that could happen. These things happen. We understand that. We, as government, make decisions and then we look at it and go whoops, that wasn't right but we're stuck with the decision we made. I respect the decisions that council made. However, the Member has asked me to go to the other departments and get money for stuff that if I do that, there is I have to do that for 33 or 32 other communities. There's priorities and needs there in the communities.
Another thing is we don't have leftover money to give to projects like that. I have reached out to the federal government. We continually reach out to the federal government to have those conversations. We support the community by having our staff in there. 40 years ago, the lines weren't a problem. They are a problem now. We're having this situation now. That's why you budget and we do things that way. And the department is more than willing to work with the community to deal with this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just have one question today for the Minister of Education, Culture, and Employment who is in charge of their Employment Standards Act, and if he says yes, everyone can feel free to go home. Will the Minister make today a statutory holiday, Family Day, for the people of the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Education, Culture, and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, and I wish the Member a happy Monday. Thank you.
---Laughter
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 Health and Social Services. I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to what work is being done to evaluate the demands on the NWT healthcare system to manage healthcare expectation and catch up required due to COVID19. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for that question. This is a topic that is on the mind of many residents of the NWT.
We are aware that people haven't had the same access to services that they may have had in the past for a variety of reasons. We've had staff who have been sick or in isolation. We have staff who've been committed to the pandemic effort. And so the result is in some cases we have fallen behind. The NTHSSA is right now working to identify areas where we need to enhance our capacity or bring new resources to focus on developing a plan to catch up for things like cancer surgeries, endoscopies, and core public health issues such as vaccinations of other types than COVID. So this is an issue that we are aware of, and we're working to resolve. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if in this work health is reevaluating how and who provides services. Examples of this would be maybe someone with a nursing degree is doing a role that doesn't require a nursing degree. Potentially other provinces and states are currently looking at expanding athome testing kits to include not only HIV but STIs as well. And so is that type of work being done as part of this? Thank you.
