Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So Mr. Speaker, the labour market supplement was something that we didn't have before. It does provide a tool. Given that the collective agreement is the bargaining document on which all of the salaries are based, all the recruitment any recruitment bonuses would be based, the total package of salary is based. So to go outside of that to offer something extra, we had to create this labour market supplement that would give us that proper tool or that basis on which to do that. In that policy, it does state that, of course, still the UNW remains the representative for all of our employees. And so before going ahead and doing something such as a labour market supplement, we would consult with them. The policy itself speaks quite clearly to the conditions under which one group of employees would be offered an enhancement to their salary. There's some fairly specific parameters that it's for certain conditions, particularly when there are shortages, particularly when there's great need. For instance, also that it would be the kind of a position that goes to health and safety of the people of the Northwest Territories. So when we apply that policy and we get to a certain point, we then go to the UNW and unfortunately we weren't able to come to an agreement. They took a different view as to what might be appropriate or needed in the circumstances. And again, you know, Mr. Speaker, they're there to represent their people and we are doing our best to maintain that relationship. We'll continue to do so. And as the Minister of Health detailed today, there are many other avenues by which we are going to continue to pursue an improvement for the morale of the staff over in the Department of Health. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recognize that the Minister, you know, probably there was some negotiations maybe going on, or still ongoing in this matter, but I am still looking for a bit of an explanation of how this did not happen.
I hear that we got a labour market supplement. Somehow we got money out of cabinet, never an easy task, and we wanted to pay nurses more money and the union said we will not let our members have more money, is what I am hearing. Can I just get a clarification from the Minister as to why they said that? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am not here to speak on behalf of the union. That would not be appropriate. It's a relationship that I have a great deal of respect for. So I'm not going to combat out and detail what their own reasons would be and be certainly seen to be speaking on their behalf.
Mr. Speaker, we are in a situation where in the course of a pandemic, we have held firm on not having cutbacks to our services and not having cuts to the public service. But to do that, we are running a lean operation. And so to be able to be offering any kind of additional bonuses and salary on top of the existing collective agreement, which does have increases in it unlike some jurisdictions during the last pandemic during this pandemic, in order to do that we're running a lean operation, Mr. Speaker, and there's only so much we can do and it's going to have to be narrow and targeted, and that was the position we were attempting to take here. As I said again, Mr. Speaker, we're not done looking for ways to continue to improve the system for nursing staff but we're just going to have to do that in a different way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment, who seems to have the lead on the management of the Cantung and Mactung properties.
When I look at the list of creditors, I see that GNWT's owed $5.528 million from this operation. Can the Minister tell us how much North American Tungsten actually owes us, for what, and when we expect to recover that money? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism, and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can go and look into the specific number the Member is quoting. My understanding is that when the GNWT purchased the Mactung asset, we did so and that became our asset. Canada, of course, owns the Cantung property. And at this point, the two parties tother are agreeing to market those assets as one and as such, as we go forward, there's nothing more owed to the GNWT by North American Tungsten. So again, I'll double check to confirm if there's some misunderstanding on what's on there, Mr. Speaker. At this point, we're proceeding with a process that's well underway and, in fact fairly advanced, in order to see that the Mactung and Cantung properties are sold and benefits are accrued to the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'll be happy to send her the list of creditors from the courtappointed receivers website, so.
But as I understand it, GNWT has decided to try to market the Mactung property and the Cantung mine site with the feds but there has been little to no interest over seven years. Can the Minister explain what is going on with proposed sale of the Mactung property and when the taxpayers of the NWT can expect to recover their socalled "investment"? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, these two properties were, of course, jointly owned previously by North American Tungsten. So not particularly unusual that we'd be looking to have them sold together now. What made it a bit more unusual is that you're involving multiple layers of governments. We've got the Government of Canada and the GNWT and even the Yukon government's involved to a certain degree in terms of this being the Cantung property being in the Yukon. All three, we're all coming together. There's governments in the region have come together. Much discussion has taken place.
I'm pleased to say, Mr. Speaker, there's been an RFP out to some shortlisted proponents as of March of 2021. It closed only just last month. And we are right now actually in the midst of reviewing those bids. A due diligence process needs to take place. But, Mr. Speaker, you might note that there's a bit of a delay between those two dates but that was entirely for the purpose of engaging further with some of the Indigenous governments in that region, and I'm very hopeful that we'll be in a position to report back positively in short order. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister again for that.
The MactungCantung properties are 140 kilometres away from each other by air, 700 kilometres by road. It's unlikely that some buyer's going to take these on as some sort of viable mining operation without significant concessions and subsidies.
Can the minister explain why GNWT's attempting to sell these properties together and whether we will offer further concessions and subsidies? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my last answer, Mr. Speaker, these two properties were jointly owned previously so having them as one unit under one owner is not particularly unusual. They are both highgrade Tungsten properties. Tungsten, of course, is one of the 31 critical minerals and metals on Canada's critical metals list, and under current geopolitical circumstances that may well help make these properties particularly in greater value and incentivize a private owner.
Mr. Speaker, again, we are working with Canada on this; Canada having the ownership of Cantung and us having Mactung. So we're working together to see that the two properties are sold together. And to do so, Mr. Speaker, there's no intention to start offering subsidies. That's not generally been the way that things happen in the Northwest Territories. We do have incentive programs, such as the mining incentive program, and that might help leverage some investment on the Mactung property in particular, which is an exploration property. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister again for her response.
The Cantung and Mactung saga is another example of postdevolution mismanagement of our resources. Can the Minister explain what lessons have been learned from our mismanagement of the Cantung and Mactung properties? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure I would accept or agree with the characterization of "mismanagement" on this. I think the story has yet to be finished and is yet to be written. Indeed, as I've said, staff from the Department of ITI are quite active right now in terms of doing their due diligence and hoping for a positive outcome on the sale. In fact, if anything, Mr. Speaker, this has been an example where although at the time of the sale there was some disagreements perhaps between Canada and the GNWT about how to proceed, we were able to set aside what differences there were, sign an MOU, and are working together to market the properties and share in the costs of doing so and now work together with the Indigenous governments of the region as we proceed to a point where there is hopefully a final and solid proponent who could take over and move this forward.
So again, there's no doubt going to be some lessons to learn but it may well be that they're all positive outcomes in the end, and I'm sure we will be able to once I'll be able to share that, have more dialogue in the House about that process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How many Housing Corporation staff have completed the Living Well Together training that supports cultural awareness and sensitivity among GNWT employees? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Housing.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With our staff and our client service staff at the local housing authority and within the corporation itself, it is important that we improve our services as well and looking at the Living Well Together and providing those numbers, I don't have that on hand with me right now. But government employees and specifically for the housing the Department of the Housing Corporation, they are supposed to be completing this program and really emphasizing on working in Indigenous communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am concerned, Mr. Speaker. The Housing Corporation staff in this particular case, as I stated in my Member's statement, continue to communicate with my constituents in a way that is not recognized, understood, or acknowledged, when it is the responsibility put back on staff to confirm clients understand the message.
Does the Housing Corporation have guidelines or standards to provide customer service expectation to staff? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Member for raising such an important question, and it's something that the Housing Corporation has included with our review of our policies and programming as well too. And coming from a small community as well, this is quite important for me because I do understand the language barriers that are real situations at the ground level and also the interpretation of our contracts and our documents as well too, that they need to be simplified and they need to be properly communicated. This is something I will take back to the Housing Corporation to improve our client service. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
What expectation are put on regional housing authorities to ensure that clients with English as a second language are given fair and equitable support? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And it's very important for me to making sure that our programs and services are fairly communicated. I just want to inform the Member as well too that we do have the local housing authorities which are the percentage of that representation is the majority is Indigenous. And looking at how we could better improve those services, communicating and language, I will bring that back to the corporation and I will making sure that we do have an emphasis on those communication and those interpretation of those legal documents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Housing Corporation use interpreters to communicate with clients whose first language is not English? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is something that I will improve with the corporation. And just, you know, I need to recognize as well too that we do have elders in the smaller communities. We do have just single languages that are spoken that are first before English and I will make sure that we do have those services available as well too, and not only at the local housing authority level but also at the district level as well too. It's very important to be having those options at the local community level. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a return to oral question from March 29th, 2021, in which the Minister stated that they're currently developing their own threeyear energy action plan to be released in the spring. The plan would include, you know, costeffective residential biomass system investments in other NWT communities.
Mr. Speaker, I've grown cobwebs waiting for the report. This is really I'm just wondering from the Minister, because they were working on it and currently developing, it said at that time, why nothing was progressed on this file at all? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Member's comments as well too that, you know, the Housing Corporation building and energy efficiency is quite important and we look at those new builds going forward and making sure that the areas where we could see improvement. The energy the energy plan is to be just a second, I have a our energy plan is to be presented to the standing committee in the spring of this year, 2022. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at that time we were specifically talking about wood pellet boiler systems for Housing Corporation units in the outlying communities as a possible way for savings through the fuel bills and the bottom line for the budget of the GNWT. And I really hope this energy plan, as I stated before housing is always referencing repairs for efficiencies, like sealing doors and fixing broken windows, but this one here I wanted it to be a wood pellet boiler energy action plan. I'm wondering if the Minister would commit to that. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Member as well too because he's putting a lot of emphasis on the wood pellet boiler system as well. But like I had said before is that I'm not too sure for the supply, that I need to bring this back to the department. The question was asked earlier this week, and looking at where we would be able to provide this service and also looking at education and training, maintenance of that system as well too.
One of the things that the corporation has looked at was the biomass projects as well too, and to date we have 53 units that we had advanced here in Yellowknife and looking forward to be working in partnership with the Department of Infrastructure on completing those projects. Correction, they were actually they were actually completed this year. It's eight units at Sissons Court here in Yellowknife, and that was a project that was completed with the Department of Infrastructure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As I stated too last week that I was very impressed with the values and vision of the corporation and where they got innovation, and I was kind of excited about that, because they continue to you know, they strive to improve. They're creative, adaptable, and flexible. Some of that stuff is leading well to the energy the wood pellet boiler energy plan. And I also stated about the contract services, Mr. Speaker. We can to encourage these contract services to the LHOs, you know, the department could consider contracting out these services so the contractor would purchase, install, and maintain those wood pellet boiler systems, which relieves the NWT Housing Corporation of any maintenance issues there except to tie in their house. And also it stimulates the local economy and
Ask the question, please.
Will the Minister consider this contract services for the future? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have to bring this back to my department to look at further analysis as well too. And I'm not too much of a huge fan for contract services, that, you know, we could look at local training and emphasizing and investing into the local community level, but I'm not familiar with the wood pellet system.
And the other thing I just wanted to emphasize on is the biomass investment, that the Housing Corporation does have currently a federal application to support these projects going forward. But I can follow up with the Member for further information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final short supplementary, Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I note the time was 18 minutes and we only got we're done with all the other speakers.
But I noted the Minister mentioned there was a project here in Yellowknife that they were completing, and she also mentioned previously that Aklavik has a system that the corporation is utilizing from a local contractor or a local organization that's heating one of their buildings. I'm just wondering if the Minister could share information in terms of savings through the corporation since that incorporation of that arrangement. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have those energy savings numbers at my fingertips right now, and looking at those comparisons I can provide those numbers to the Member as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to deviate a little bit from my Member's statement and ask the Minister of Infrastructure some questions.
I'm wondering if the Minister could please provide us an update on the Prohibition Creek access road. It's my understanding that the bid came in too high and has not been accepted so I'm just curious to know where we're at. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Prohibition Creek access road is one of our priorities of this Assembly and therefore it's something that we need to advance.
We did receive some funding from the federal government, ICIP funding that brings us you know, the ICIP program goes until 2028. We're still in process of phase 1. The project's broken up into two phases. The first phase includes the seven kilometre portion from Canyon Creek to the Christina Creek. The second phase is to include the remaining six kilometres of Christina Creek to Prohibition Creek. So right now, we're still in the procurement for the construction of the first phase. So we're still in that process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me whether the department plans to retender the first phase, or will there be a sole source contract going out? What is the plan now that the first tender didn't result in a successful bid? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So right now, as I mentioned, we're still looking at some of the procurement options. We've gone back to the contractor and trying to look at ways to be able to get some of the work started. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that answer. I hope that there's an opportunity to at least break down the contract a bit then to get the work started if need be. I guess my next question is that because there is a bit of a delay now in this project, and I'm guessing because the Minister answered that we're going until 2028 with the funding that we're not in any sort of danger of losing that federal funding if we're a little bit slower with the project than planned? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the last thing we want is to be able to lose some of these projects going forward, especially if that's our priority to advance. However, we still need to work through some of the procurement processes to be able to work with the contractor, our Department of Finance, perhaps go back to the feds and have a relook at some of the funding options. We'll also be chatting with Canada because we feel like this is important, it is a priority, so. Thank you.
