Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister of Finance believe that Fort Smith deserves a solution in addressing homelessness? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've had the opportunity also to speak with my colleague, the Minister responsible for Housing and for Homelessness.
Mr. Speaker, this is a mandate item of the Government of the Northwest Territories. I would venture to say that every person in this House considers it a priority and considers it a priority for every resident anywhere in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell us if she and her department treat people living on reserves, including members of the Salt River First Nation, differently than other people or communities within the NWT? If so, can she explain why that is. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I've had the opportunity to say on many occasions, the GNWT's approach, whether it be in policy development, funding decisions, it's meant to be inclusive. We look at the whole of the Northwest Territories, the needs of all communities. Funding is not distributed or not not distributed on the basis of one group and where they may or may not be, and that is equally the same for the members of the Salt River First Nation. They have the same access and must have the same access, of course, to services as every other member of the Northwest Territories, and the government does its best to allocate the funds that we have based on that need and based at looking at the whole of the territory to maximize the benefits to all residents of all those services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in an April 29th email, the finance minister said that officials with Housing NWT met with Salt River First Nation in April to discuss housing priorities, including the Tiny Home Pilot Project.
Can the Minister provide more detail with what her department will be doing next to financially support Salt River in getting this project underway? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so if anyone's wondering perhaps why as Minister of Finance I'm speaking to this is the Member and I have had the opportunity to begin these discussions back at the time of the last budgeting cycle and in discussing where and how funding decisions are made. I've since had an opportunity, and continue to have the opportunity, to meet with the Minister responsible for Housing NWT. It's her staff directly who had met with the members from the Salt River First Nation, the chief, the vicepresident I understand, or CEO. I understand that happened April 12th or thereabouts. And they will certainly be continuing to lead the development of this project.
At this point, the information I have received is that the Tiny Homes Project is potentially very innovative. It is potentially one that could have a lot of interesting solutions. I had an opportunity to speak with staff from my colleague's department, and they spoke well of it. The simple fact at this point, though, is that right now the community has the existing community housing support initiative program funding. They're going to pursue the funding that they have for a project that is well developed, costed, and then once that's run its course, that they will continue to develop an actual proposal and a more meaningful detailed proposal on the tiny homes. And I've been assured that staff from NWT Housing Corporation do now have individuals ready to support and to assist the development of that project going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to assist Salt River First Nation with their application to the National Housing CoInvestment Fund, including a letter of support assisting them with the project? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so, Mr. Speaker, ultimately it would be, again, Housing NWT that would be leading the development of a formal support letter. Certainly, we would work together as a government when it comes to time to developing budgets and to looking at the availability of initiatives funding. So that work will certainly continue through business planning process. But I've been assured by my colleague that, of course, the Housing NWT is quite eager to continue to work with Salt River First Nation as they develop a proposal, and then that proposal can go through the process of being considered for the National CoInvestment Fund Program.
So, again, I'm very confident that the staff from again, from Housing, but certainly from Finance if needed, will be there to work with the Salt River First Nation and to discuss with them what is needed to put a proposal together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My question's for the Premier as the head of the government.
I said I was caught by surprise by the recent announcement of the merger of Environment and Natural Resources with Lands without an opportunity for input from this side of the House or the public.
Can the Premier explain this decision and tell us what background information or studies were done for this merger and share that with us and the public? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So way back when devolution occurred in the last Assembly, actually Assembly before that, the Department of Lands was created and the organizational structure of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources was changed. Some functions, in particular related to water, came to ENR, and others went to ENR, to Lands.
There was a commitment at the time to devolve and then evolve if needed after time was passed.
Since then, it became clear that there's a well, I'm missing a step.
First of all, there was a in my speech from to be Premier, Mr. Speaker, I said that I'd be looking at the Lands department and seeing if I could combine it with another department. I found in the last government that smaller departments often sometimes don't get the attention they needed because of the size of the departments and it's also a lot of departments for ministers. So there was a benefit to reorganization.
But when we did that work, we actually found that the department that I thought might be closer related was the wrong one. So it was clear that there was a closer intersection of some of the work with Lands and ENR.
I know that Members here have brought that up that inspections in contaminated sites, for example, that's how there's overlaps, securities in project assessments or others. So several concerns were also brought forward by the public and Indigenous governments and organizations regarding the confusion of what roles and responsibilities between the departments. The government renewal initiative to date identified close significant intersections between ENR and Lands.
So when we started this government, and the Members were provided a copy I believe, I had asked Minister Thompson to review the Lands and MACA organizational structure in this mandate letter. And I do believe Members were given a copy of the mandate letters. If not, let me know. If they're public I can give them to you.
And the Minister, in his work, decided that he wanted to include ENR as well to meet the commitment that was made at devolution.
As well, another MLA raised an oral question in this House in December of 2021 asking if we'd started the work. And I responded that it was underway and could be actioned in the life of the government.
So we did a jurisdictional scan of functions at Lands, MACA, and ENR across Canada, and after review, we decided that we actually had a private contractor do this work, and they the contractor developed four potential options that were reviewed by the deputy ministers, committee of Cabinet, and Cabinet.
The design process, when we bring it together, would be a collaborative process involving senior managers from both departments to ensure that we get it right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Premier for that. That's way more information than was certainly in the news release. But I did ask her if she could share the background information. So I look forward to getting the consultant's report and I'd ask that the Premier also to make that public. So I look forward to getting that information. It's not clear what or who is driving this merger and how many staff may lose their jobs.
Can the Premier tell us who Cabinet consulted in making this the decision; was it the business community, Indigenous governments, or who? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to start by saying that this merger of departments was definitely not about reducing costs or losing jobs. That is not my goal at all. It was just, like I said, one commitment was with devolution devolve and evolve.
The bigger thing for me was just my experiences in the last session and seeing the difficulties with smaller departments competing against bigger departments. So at this time, we're not looking at we're not expecting that this will be a cost saving endeavour. This is about making sure that the program's more effective and more efficient and better for the users in the end.
Who do we use? When devolution occurred, I'll bring it back there, the Department of Lands was created, and organizational structure of the Department of ENR changed. Some functions in particular related to water came to ENR and others went to ENR to lands. And those were some of the confusions we were having.
Since now, I mean now it's become clear that this close intersection of the work being done, and so we're looking at changing it sorry, I was reading the wrong answers.
So the decision was made on concerns that have been brought forward by clients and the experience of those working in and within the departments themselves. And again, my own interests and the promise with devolution to devolve and evolve.
Merging the departments is consistent in how the functions are organized in the majority of other Canadian jurisdictions. There's many examples to turn to existing within the GNWT and across the country on how to organize to support gathering information for and maintaining effective stewardship and regulatory functions where climate change fix within the new department will be a focus of this work as we go forward.
Again, Mr. Speaker, this is not a cost saving endeavour. This is about efficiency. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Premier for that. Maybe I'm out of order here, but I'm trying to get a commitment out of the Minister to sorry, my questions are out of order. I'm just trying to get a commitment out of the Minister to actually share the background report, tell us who was consulted in this decision. And I didn't get answers to those but I'll try something else now.
So I've raised many times the inherent conflict of interest with one department acting as a promotor of resource development and then regulating rights administration and royalties at the same time. We've got NGO community government support that I think would be better situated in the Executive.
You know, so can the Premier tell us what further government reorganization is being contemplated and whether this side of the House, and perhaps even the public, might be engaged? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time, there are no reorganizations being expected within the term of this government. It was a campaign commitment that was made and so following through with that. It was in a mandate that was followed through. There was no other identified reorganizations that were necessary. However, never say never. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I'm not sure where I'm getting with the Premier on this. But I'd hope that she would say that gee, sorry we missed you guys last time but we'll talk to you before we do any more reorganization.
I'd understood that the socalled "government renewal initiative" would be much further along by now, and that process would be a place where reorganizations and efficiencies would be driven. But that's not even referenced in the news release. It doesn't even mention the words "government renewal initiative."
So the can Premier tell us why the decision on the merger appears to have had nothing to do whatsoever with the government renewal initiative? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I think that they are kind of related in that the government's renewal initiative is looking at program evaluations, making sure that we're providing good programs for the money, bang for the buck. But the reamalgamation of departments, reorganization of departments, was not based on the government's renewal initiative. It was actually, like I said, it was a mandate letter of Premier's commitments from the beginning of the Assembly, before we were even talking about government renewal.
What I do want to say as well that the first phase of the government renewal was to develop the inventories that were to be completed in 20212022; that two departments, both ENR and Lands, did complete their government renewal inventories. And that's why when we started to realize there was more similarity in those programs than there was in the other organizational departments.
So with the substantial intersection, it made sense that we would start to look at combining those departments for our organizational design. I do really want to repeat to the public, to the staff, this is not a cost saving exercise. This is not about saving money and taking away jobs. This is about providing a more efficient and a more effective department so that services that you provide will actually be better for the public, which is our ultimate goal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Mr. Speaker, the department did a procurement review along with a large engagement with NWT businesses, and I'm wondering when the GNWT responses to the procurement review will be shared be the public, and does the GNWT intend to provide a draft response to standing committee for feedback first? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm glad to have an opportunity to speak about this. Certainly, we're going into the fall session and getting ready on capital planning.
During the public review process, there was some Indigenous governments who had chose to not partake in that process and instead we've been engaging more directly with them in terms of the Modern Treaty SelfGovernment tables, Council of Leaders tables, in order to ensure that all Indigenous governments here within the Northwest Territories are properly involved in this process. So that process is now complete. There was some requests for additional time. But we have all of that information and comments back in now, all the feedback back in now, and so the next stage is, indeed, to prepare a final and formal response that can be shared with the public. And while I don't have the detailed work plan here in front of me, Mr. Speaker, it would usually be practice that we would be sharing things with the committee in advance, and I expect we'll do the same here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the review suggested incremental changes to GNWT procurement policy and processes. So I'm wondering while we don't have a work plan here today with a concrete date, I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to what changes have taken place with procurement in the NWT thus far? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, there have been some incremental changes, some interim changes already in place. One in particular I want to highlight the Vendor Performance Management Program. There's a few phases to this.
Essentially when we are going to be changing procurement, if we're not monitoring how vendors are doing and how those contracts are unfolding, it's going to be very difficult to ensure that we're either incentivizing or dealing with any lack or failure to deal with what was being said in the contracts. So we've ruled this out first phase last June for construction projects over $250,000, Mr. Speaker. We're now looking toward monitoring of compliance on those contracts. And currently coming up on one year, we'll be in a position now to analyze whether or not and to what extent contractors are, indeed, meeting their BIP obligations.
That's not all, Mr. Speaker. There's also some work happening in terms of onestop shop for procurement information. So, again, one of the concerns that was raised that was raised in the report was about the fact that there's just too much different information about procurement and it lives in too many different houses within the Government of the Northwest Territories. But we do now have a onestop shop dashboard that has GNWT procurement information, contact information, the contract dashboard etcetera. So starting to bring those things into a more unified fold. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before the procurement review of the 19th Assembly, the 18th Assembly did a review of the northern manufacturing policy and that strategy. And from within that strategy, there were a number of actions that were suggested to the GNWT and that were committed to. And within the procurement review that was done in this Assembly, they suggested simply implementing those action items from the northern manufacturing strategy review. And so I'm wondering will these actions will implemented in the 20222023 fiscal year as our businesses and our business owners have spent the time in order to provide the information on the review and do the engagement? So I can sense a frustration in not having that feedback implemented yet. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had an opportunity to look back at the manufacturing strategy and also with looking at that in the context of the procurement panel's review. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that is being recommended in the panel, by the procurement panel was, of course, to have a more integrated and consolidated policy to which the northern manufacturing policy would also then be part of. So to the extent that we are right now at a critical point in that process, having done obviously the public review process, now also an Indigenous government engagement and consultation process, and now looking to put forward some a final response out in public, that would lead us, I believe, in the course of this government to have a more integrated policy and one that can speak to both manufacturing and the BIP and all other elements of procurement and purchasing. So I am looking forward to seeing some further changes in this regard but it'll be one that comes, again, as part of the wholeofgovernment procurement and not something that stands on its own necessarily. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it's worthwhile noting that there's definitely a sense of frustration in that a lot of us in this room came into this House with promises of pursuing procurement reform within the GNWT and a lot of changes that have whether they've come out of the review from this Assembly or a previous Assembly have not been implemented yet. So there's definite frustration out there. And I think if we fail to reform procurement for the GNWT, it's not going to be a success for any of us because I think that maintaining northern benefit is a common interest of all of us in this room.
Mr. Speaker, my last question is the review called for greater transparency and how NWT businesses can get involved in GNWT procurement and greater reporting mechanisms. So does the GNWT intend to address procurement process reporting transparency immediately before we have to wait for more of this review to be put in to place? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, contract reporting is already being improved. The dashboard that I mentioned just a couple of responses ago has just gone live this month so I can appreciate that stakeholders, businesses, may not necessarily be familiar with it yet. Certainly, you know, I encourage them to go and look at that as a resource. It's an opportunity to get more information out and to get it out in one place. But, Mr. Speaker, the real core of what I'm hearing in the last question around frustration, you know, I think everyone understands, and can probably share some of the frustration, these things do take time and they take time to do well. I was certainly, you know, taken aback initially at looking at the work plans, seeing just how much time things would take. But also, Mr. Speaker, I felt also quite a bit a sense of relief.
I had the opportunity, anticipating that this may well be a session where I get questions on the procurement review, to sit down with the team. And at that team, there are members from ITI; there are members from EIA; there are members from Infrastructure; there are members from Finance all across government coming to together on this. It's a huge project. There's seniors members of the government all sitting at that table and now all working together so that all the disparate bits and pieces of procurement are finding themselves a home and are finding one place in a working group that's working well and it's working towards the coordinated goal of having changes in place this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, admittedly, I just must be out of touch because when I first heard that His Royal Highness was coming here, I just kind of expected that people would not be all that excited and that there was a pretty normal opinion to not support monarchy, and I was quite surprised. I guess I've been living under a bit of a rock when it comes to the royal family, Mr. Speaker.
But I guess my first question is I know that these royal visits usually cost Canada a few hundred thousand dollars, at least. But my question is was there any cost to the GNWT; did we have to chip in for this visit? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The final tally of the royal visit is not yet complete. The last royal tour came in approximately $180,000, and we expect that the cost of this one will be similarly the same. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I guess it's my political opinion that I would rather spend $180,000 on almost anything else. So my question is I was also somewhat surprised that during this tour no one none of our leaders anywhere seemed to suggest that we should stop having power passed down through family lineage, which seemed odd to me. So I guess my question for the Premier is will we stop hosting the future royal family, and maybe we could save some money there, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to start by saying that the royal family has a really special relationship with Indigenous people in the NWT. And if we talk about reconciliation and United Nations declaration, then we have to respect that relationship as well. A part of reconciliation is being able to have the royal family come and listen to the Indigenous governments and to the people and to hear their concerns as well.
So, you know, I have to say that the Royal Highness did come and he did meet with the Council of Leaders, and there was not one that said that they didn't want him there. In fact, they were all eager to speak to him and share their problems and share what they thought reconciliation was and some of the experiences that they had.
I also believe, Mr. Speaker, that it's really important that we as a Legislative Assembly show respect when the royal family comes and continue to be welcoming when their visits are requested.
On the other hand, besides the relationship with Indigenous governments, it helps promote tourism. It got international news. We had people here flying here and more people hopefully will come because of that.
And it's another one that's really key to myself is climate change. Mr. Speaker, we're in a place in this world now that climate change is real. We're being affected more than any other jurisdiction in Canada. We're trying to get that out there. We're also the issues that are facing the globe, such as Russia and Ukraine right now and the opening of our seas and stuff, we can't just sit back anymore, Mr. Speaker, and not get international news. So I have spent the last few months every since the invasion of Ukraine trying to get national coverage as much as possible, trying to get international coverage. So I see this is as one more step in bringing awareness to global awareness to the issues of the NWT and the issues that the Arctic is facing. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I guess, you know, I recognize it's largely a symbolic position but from where I sit, one of the parts that kind of rubbed me wrong is the mandatory nature of swearing an oath of allegiance. You know, perhaps you're an Irish member and there's been some blood shed on both sides of that. Perhaps you're of Scottish descent and you got a grandpa who's a strong independence movement, Mr. Speaker. You know, there's no shortage of countries that have fought very hard to be free of our sweet Queen's rule.
But my question is, does our Premier support amending the rules of this House so that, you know, if there is a Member who is a Republican, they do not have to swear allegiance to the Queen and can take their seat in this House? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I should start by saying that as Premier, I don't run the Legislative Assembly. That is the role of the Speaker. So it's not mine to address. But I do want to say as well that as long as we're elected into a system that's part of the constitutional monarchy with the Queen as the head of state for Canada, we appreciate that swearing an oath to bear alliance to Her Majesty is an oath to work diligently within the democratic system in place. It's no different than the oath that lawyers swear as part of their admittance to the legal profession of which the MLA is a part of that profession.
By swearing alliance to the head of the state, we as parliamentarians commit to faithfully serve our system of government. Until that system of government is changed nationally, I don't think it's necessary to change our oath. That's my personal opinion. But it's really your responsibility, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Before we begin, I'd just like to caution the Member, please use respectful language and refrain from making accusations against the Minister. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member's statement I made earlier today, my constituents, and most people in the NWT, know that our health system is in a crisis. Yet our leadership appears more interested in doing some damage control in the media than looking inwards to make policy changes to improve patient outcomes.
Mr. Speaker, my first question is health care in small communities require policies to take into account the unique circumstances for primary Indigenous population that have needs defined by race, geographically, and culture.
Will the Minister of Health and Social Services commit to a full policy review to improve patient outcomes and health care protocols in communities health centres and small and for small community medical travel within 120 days and report back to the House? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since we last sat I had the opportunity to go to six different NWT communities, and certainly some of them are small communities and they have a lot to say about health care delivered to them. And while some people are satisfied with it, other people see room for improvement and I'm certainly interested in hearing those ideas for room for improvement.
What we want for the whole population is the best possible health outcomes, whether they live in a small community or they live in Yellowknife. And that's something that we are very focused on as a department. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is she willing to make a commitment to a full policy review and report back to the House in 120 days? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you. And I'm pleased to note that the CEO of the Yellowknife Health and Social Services region, within which Fort Resolution is located, has been to the community a couple of times this month and has opened channels of communication with the leadership there to work on the specific issues that people have raised.
I also want to say that while people may be afraid or unsure about advocating for themselves in the moment, there is also a complaint process where people, instead of sitting with their issues, can point out what their problems are and ask us for resolution.
Because it's health information, we require a confidentiality form. So if the Member has people with specific health issues that they would like the department to investigate, I recommend that he get a consent form from them and send to my attention for resolution. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Medical travel has been found to be lacking in supporting the needs of Indigenous people in the Northwest Territories. The Minister and her department has spoken about the need for noninsured health benefits for the First Nations and Inuit, a reform to improve outcomes. I agree with the Minister but that this is an area of federal jurisdiction.
Will the Minister commit to additional resources to the medical travel assistance to cover off any shortfalls in NIHB benefits until permanent changes are made by Ottawa? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
