Yeah, thank you again. I guess overall, we've been talking about the high cost of living here in the Northwest Territories for some time and anything and everything we can do to try and help save a dollar for our constituents and our people in the Northwest Territories is will go a long ways. I mean, the other day I filled up my truck. It was like $250 now. I mean, seven years ago, it was like $85. So everything's going up in terms of the cost of living here in the Northwest Territories. So I guess overall and last week I did talk about, you know, the reduce of the gasoline surcharge and similar to what they're doing in Alberta that's going to take effect on Friday, and I guess the I know the there was some my response back from the Minister of Finance, I read it a few days later, you know, I wasn't really too happy in terms of, you know, looking at how we're going to address this issue. But going forward, maybe the Premier could maybe maybe, what do you have on your radar in terms of how we could address the high cost of the fuel here in the Northwest Territories and what are your plans for the next number of years in this area? Thank you.
Thank you. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do know that it is one of the issues that we will be addressing at the Council of Leaders coming up because all of the Premiers are experiencing that. We're looking at what we can do with the prices. However, I can't make a commitment on that.
We spend a lot of money in this government and, you know, at some point, we're going to have to make hard choices and so are residents. But I would like to turn it over to the Minister of Finance to see if she's got anything more that she can give to the Minister online. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister Wawzonek.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't necessarily have an update. I didn't anticipate this being part of the mandate discussion. You know, obviously two years ago when we did the priorities document and the mandate associated with it, we certainly didn't anticipate COVID, let alone the inflation that and that might result in part from that as well as some of the other crises we've continued to see over the last two years.
So I mean, just by way of general comment, as I think I've said a couple times in the House recently, the Department of Finance is paying quite close attention. I'm well aware that this impacts the cost of living and to that extent there are elements in the mandate that do, you know, speak to the the need and the desire to reduce the cost of living, and that I think is in the mandate document tied to energy costs.
As far as fuel costs, again there's, you know we won't be in a position to do necessarily what Alberta's doing but Alberta, to the extent that there's rising fuel prices, benefits most significantly arguably and most significantly of any jurisdiction in Canada. So they're not going to be necessarily the the jurisdiction we look to as our model. But that doesn't mean that there won't be things we can do, things we will look to do once we have a sense of what's happening across Canada, once we have a sense of what options there might be coming through from the federal government, who would certainly have the larger coffers. And as the Premier's already said, once those conversations are being had with all those jurisdictions across the Council of Federation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Edjericon
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for the finance minister's comments on that, and the Premier.
I guess what I think about this document here now, and even know it's two years old already, and and going forward, I know we are working through COVID right now as we speak and concluding and hopefully we can start focusing on the economy here in the Northwest Territories and going forward.
We already know the mining industry is you know, on the process of being winding down, reclamation, etcetera.
But I'm just wondering if the Premier is thinking outside the box as well for the Northwest Territories to forge new relationships with Alberta given that the Mackenzie Gas Project that fell down back in 2014 and 2015, you know, to really look at how we could build maybe relationships with the Alberta government to strengthen the economy here in the Northwest Territories in oil and gas sector. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm always looking to build relationships with anybody that's willing to bring help us with our economy. However, in saying that, Mr. Chair, I'd like to remind Members that we do have time for oral questions when we sit in the House but this is actually a review of the mandate of these items and that item was not in the mandate. So respectfully, ask me that question in the House so we can focus on this and try to get through this. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier. And that's a good point. We'll just stick to the items in this document. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I will ask in the House again because the economy in the Northwest Territories should be front and center. But overall, again, it's building relationship. Thank you.
Thank you. Premier.
Agreed. Thank you.
Mr. Edjericon. Are there any further questions? Mr. Johnson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess sometimes there's examples in here where it's unclear what's happening. We supposedly are supposed to put the environmental assessment and the regulatory process for the Mackenzie Valley Highway in for fall 2023, and it says here preliminary desktop fieldwork and community engagement has advanced; there's some planning underway. I'm just wondering whether we believe we are on target for fall of 2023 making a submission for the Mackenzie or the Slave Geologic sorry, I have these well, I guess I want to know both of these.
The Mackenzie Valley Highway is fall 2023, Slave Geological Province Corridor is 2024. Are we on target for those regulatory applications? Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Archie.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in regards to the Mackenzie Valley Highway, maybe perhaps I'll start with that project.
So we are still on track for 2022 developer assessment DAR submission. We are looking at you know, there's a lot of work that's involved in order to put the the regulatory process in place, and so we are still on target with that. Let me just see what we are at for the...
So the department is working to develop some of the work plans to collect some of the environmental work on the engineering baseline data, and it is focused on advancing engagement with Indigenous groups as well. So on target for the SGP, and we hope to undertake some geotech and environmental and also Indigenous knowledge gathering this year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Are there any further questions on make strategic infrastructure investments that can connect communities, expand economy, or reduce the cost of living?
Seeing none, committee, we will move on to pages 38 to 39, increase economic diversification by supporting growth in nonextractive sectors and setting regional diversification targets. Questions?
Seeing none, committee, we'll move to pages 40 to 41, increase resource exploration and development. Questions?
Seeing none, committee, we'll move to pages 42 to 43, reduce the cost of power and increase the use of alternate and renewable energy. Questions?
Seeing none, committee, we will move to pages 44 to 45, ensure government procurement and contracting maximizes benefits to residents and businesses. Questions?
Seeing none, committee, we will move to page 46, adopt a benefit retention approach to economic development. Questions?
Seeing none, committee, we will move to pages 47 to 48, improve early childhood indicators for all children. Questions?
Seeing none, committee, we'll move to pages 49 to 50, advance universal childcare by increasing availability and affordability. Questions?
Seeing none, committee, we will move to page 51, increase student education outcomes to the same level as the rest of Canada. Questions? Mr. Johnson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is another one where I'm looking at modernizing the Education Act and review the education funding framework, and then I see it's in progress. And will we continue beyond the 19th Legislative Assembly is what it says.
Can I just get a you know, I read that and I'm just a little confused as to whether we're going to accomplish this in this Assembly or when we think we'll get the Education Act. Can I get an update of when we expect a new Education Act and a new education funding framework. It seems that it'll clearly be work beyond this life of this Assembly, but do we have any kind of timelines? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Unfortunately, I can't give a solid answer. We we would have liked I would have liked to get this done this term. I've said that many times. I can't I can't lie about that. But the fact is that everyone was preoccupied for a couple years and not just the government but Indigenous governments. And when we out to just discuss this topic, it was clear that everyone wanted to be involved. There had to be a significant level of involvement from from teachers, from Indigenous governments, from, you know, different organizations. And so because of that and because of the fact that we were stalled for a couple of years, we've had to concede the fact that this will take longer than this Assembly.
However, the plan right now is to get it done in two phases.
The first phase I would like to see happen this term. I would like this Assembly to pass some amendments to the Education Act. And those would be much more technical in nature. They would fix some of the outstanding issues that we've seen over the past 25 years with the current Education Act. They would help facilitate information sharing, you know, which we discussed earlier today, and clarify the roles of education DECs versus DEAs which, you know, outside of Yellowknife are it's a real issue. So there's a number of those more technical amendments that I would like to get done this term.
We are working on developing an MOU with the through the Council of Leaders on this. And some Indigenous governments want to participate in that. Others haven't expressed interest. You know, there's still some work to be done. I think some people don't want to do phase 1 and phase 2; they just want to just do it all at once. But I'd like to see some changes because I expect that the full modernization won't happen until the end of the next Assembly. And so for four years, at least if we can have some positive minor changes in place I would like that, so.
And the funding framework is dependant on the legislative framework. So while we have made some minor tweaks so far, and I hope to make some more tweaks to the funding framework by the end of this Assembly, the real changes will happen next term. Thank you.
Thank you. Are there any further questions on increase student outcomes to the same level as the rest of Canada?
Seeing none, Committee, we'll move to pages 52 to 53. And before we start, we will break for supper.
SergeantatArms, please escort the witness to the kitchen.
Laughter
SHORT RECESS
We are on page 52 to 53, enable seniors to age in place with dignity. Questions? Ms. Nokleby.
Thank you. I apologize, without having my spot, I'm just going to ask one of the complaints that I'm hearing from seniors is around the processes of being reimbursed for issues and having to pay out of pocket first. And I apologize if this is actually not under the mandate but I'm just going to ask because I can't find my page.
Is there work to improve or change that policy towards making it less burdensome on seniors to get the money for their hearing aids or vaccines, etcetera? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think the Minister of Health and Social Services under the income oh no, Minister Simpson will be for income assistance. I don't see a mandate on it.
Extended health increase.
Do you want to take it?
Okay, we're going to try to stick to the mandate, though, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Who is taking Minister Green.
Yes, thank you. There isn't anything in this mandate that deals specifically with that issue. But I know from my own use of the extended health benefits that that's how it works that I pay and then I get reimbursed. It takes about three weeks. I can appreciate that for some people who have a short have a limited amount of income that that is that that can represent a hardship but at this point, I'm not aware that there are any plans to change that. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Nokleby.
Thank you. If I had to try to squeeze it in somewhere, I might say that it was in the program to help to tailor it towards their programs but that would be probably a bit of a stretch there.
I guess I'm looking around the mandate item to help protect seniors from abuse or neglect. Having had an aging parent myself, I am aware of that type of scams and things that can happen.
Can the Minister speak to whether or not what sort of work is being done in third party entities where we are providing funding to ensure that this type of abuse is not occurring? For example, I think of the longterm care facilities that may be operated by third party entities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister Green.
Yes, thank you. So those are two different questions. So the first question is the answer is that the Department of Health and Social Services provides $100,000 a year to the NWT Seniors Society to do the elder abuse awareness and they're we're at a point where we're going to review the whether there is more that we can do to raise awareness and combat elder abuse. So that's the one thing.
There's one longterm care that is not government operated but it's operated by contract to the government. And so there is a quality assurance complaint process in place so that if family members had any concerns about how elders are being treated in those facilities, they could start with the complaints process to make those concerns known. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Nokleby.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Minister for the answer. I guess that sort of brings up the seniors society. One of the they would be obviously a large player in this mandate item and I've noted that their executive director position is up for competition at this moment.
Is that is the Minister aware of perhaps any chance there may be a delay in that role and therefore impacting care for seniors or impacting the ability to carry out some of this this work? I would imagine as an NGO, they also are not super well funded and don't have a ton of capacity, and I'm worried about whether or not they would have an issue with continuity of service and care if that position isn't filled once it's needed. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am aware that the NWT Seniors Society is looking for a new executive director. I don't know how soon they plan to do that or whether there is a transitional period with the current executive director. The seniors society is really at arm's length from government so if they ask for our help, we'll help them but they manage their own affairs. And so that would be the case, as I say, unless the board members choose to ask us for help in some way. But they are funded with a number of different pots of money and so they have their own board to make a hiring decision for the new ED. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Nokleby.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that the Minister's open to helping them if they do need that.
I guess my next question is around the employee training that's being provided in the last item on page 53.
Having just with respect to that third party or sorry, contracted longterm care facility, will they be part of that training program as well even though they're they're not HSS itself? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister Green.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we treat Avens as one of our own, if you will, where we've provided them with additional funding to manage the stresses and strains of COVID. We're assisting them with evergreening their equipment and so on. So it's not a stretch to think that if their staff wanted training that we were providing that we would consider doing that. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Nokleby.
No, thank you, I'm good, Mr. Chair.
Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to double check that on page 52 it says that the NWT Seniors Strategy is going to be developed by June 2022. That doesn't really leave a lot of time between now and then. I just wanted to check on whether we're still on schedule for that. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
And look, my I know that the Member the Minister was very passionate about this when she was on this side of the House. I just want to make sure that we allow for enough time to do a good job, not a quick job, and I'm sure the Minister will agree with me on that. So I'd like to hear about that. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it's my understanding that the consultation on the seniors strategy is going to begin in April, and it will last for a couple of months of having different kinds of consultation online, in person, special meetings, and so on.
It was my understanding that a "what we heard" report would be developed and finished in June, and then the strategy itself wouldn't be ready until the fall. So I think there's my understanding and what's written here are not the same. So I am expecting to see it in the fall and so that that gives us about four or five months to do the consultation work and develop the strategy.
And as is usual with these cases, we will engage Regular Members in the development of this so that they can provide their input on behalf of constituents. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
