Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, getting our kids out of the communities for sports tournaments and training camps are huge. We need it for our youth.
Can the Minister give us some background on current funding available for teams looking to travel from the communities to larger centres in sporting events; is there any funding available that they could access right through MACA? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do give funding to the BDSRA and then the BDSRA gives that funding to the community. So there is an applicationbased money allocated from the BDSRA for the communities to do that. Again, it doesn't give all the money that they need, but it's similar to the Mackenzie Rec Association that does the same thing in the southern part of the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department is doing to ensure the education authorities have access like, I brought up in the House before that we want a big regional tournament in Inuvik with nine Beaufort Delta communities all participating such in sports like, you know, hockey, curling, Arctic sports, Dene games, and they have a swimming pool in Inuvik. Some of those kids never get to see that swimming pool from the communities I represent. Is there any possibility that the Minister and the department can ensure that if we don't give that money to the education, Beaufort Education Council, and keeping it in MACA, I'm wondering if the Minister and this government would step up to the plate and put our youth first and give monies to do something like this sporting event which was done in other years in this legislature? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have the afterschool physical activity program that the Member talks about. That there goes to the schools and communities depending on who organizes the afterschool programs. What the Member is talking about is regional events, and that was done and organized by the Beaufort Delta sport recreation Beaufort Delta Sahtu Recreation Association. Unfortunately, that organization defaulted. It's now talking to some of the leaders in the communities, especially the rec coordinators are trying to reactivate that, and that there does help develop the swim meets, the regional ball tournaments, hockey tournaments. But I can tell you right now that they have been working on one in Fort McPherson. They're actually working on a regional hockey tournament. This happened recently. They were working on that, and they're starting to work on those same types of opportunities, and they're getting money through the BDSRA, and we at MACA have given that money to them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I still feel our communities that we represent are penalized because of where we live, in this government. Our youth don't have we have afterschool sports in the community. No opportunities for those students to go to regional sporting events until they're older. Why can't this government step up to the plate and this Minister just give the funding that we ask for and put it in the budget? I mean, they always say youth are our future. They're so good at that. But nothing, nothing to back it up. They say and they put it all on the communities for the community mayors and everybody to stress out, to provide these sporting events for youth, when we should be doing it ourselves out of this place and supporting our youth, all youth across the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I totally agree with the Member youth are our future. That's our commitment, though. If you look at recreation funding, which is $825,000, we give that out there. We also give $450,000 to youth and child resiliency. We also give $400,000 for the regional sporting events. We also give youth contributions of $225,000. We also do $500,000 for youth court. So we do put money into that. We also then have the Mackenzie Recreation Association and the BDSRA, when we put money to them, and they provide to the programs there. I'm more than willing to work with the Member. I'm willing to work with the organizations, whether it's NWTAC however we can work together to get this. As for the budgeting process, we are going through negotiations. We have a budget that we submit, and we are in the process of negotiating that right now, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the appointment of the new board of governors for Aurora College, can the education Minister explain how this will change executive decisionmaking at Aurora College and with the transformation into a polytechnic university? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So before the board was put back into place, the functions of the board were carried out by the administrator, at the time Mr. Denny Rodgers, and so that is still the process. The board will make the types of decisions that the administrator was making. So those are decisions related to policies, developing policies of the college respecting the administration, operations, programs, and priorities of the college. But in terms of the daytoday operations, the management, that is it still an operational aspect that is handled by the administration. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, if the new board of governors wanted to make a change of direction with where the college is going and say it was different from the college president and senior management wanted, how would that be resolved? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The president works for the board so the board can set the direction of the college. And I hope they do set the direction of the college. I hope they are engaged enough to set that direction. And based on the conversations I've had, I'm sure they will. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, does the board of governors have the ability to veto or overturn a decision by the college president and senior management? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Aurora College Act lays out the responsibilities of the board and the responsibilities and authorities of the president. And it's quite clear I can't get into specific instances as there may be variables, but their roles are quite well defined. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, there are four positions within Aurora College that are currently being borrowed from Fort Smith. But they do not belong but they do belong to Fort Smith, and they must be returned as soon as possible.
Will the Minister commit to work with the newly appointed board of governors and return the four loaned college positions back to Fort Smith? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Aurora College Act states that the Minister is not supposed to get involved in the operations of the college. And I will say that those are positions of the college, not necessarily positions of a municipality or a region. So I'm sure the board will do whatever is best for the college. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are related to my Member's statement regarding the Kearl Mine tailings pond spills.
Can the Minister provide an update on impacts of the Kearl Mine tailings ponds spills for this House alongside the ongoing work of our government to protect our waterways? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, several meetings have been taking place with the Government of Alberta and senior representatives at Imperial Oil to receive the most updated information about the monitoring. I have also met with Minister Savage, the Alberta minister of environment and protected areas on this issue.
We have been informed that the water quality results have been stable and show no impact to downstream waterways or drinking water. Environment and Climate Change Canada's Fisheries Act direction was issued to prevent potential impact to fish not because impacts were detected. Again, the monitoring to date showed no impact.
ENR, in conjunction with the Town of Fort Smith, Smith Landings First Nation, and Fort Smith Metis Council, have also initiated a precautional weekly quality sampling campaign in response to the incident. Based on the monitoring and information provided, we do not expect any effects in the NWT presently. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister. I think he's already answered my second question. I provided all the questions to him ahead of time, so he's just about answered all the questions.
Mr. Speaker, we need certainty and confidence in our partners. Alberta needs to understand how their work in mining and the oil sands impacts our way of life.
Can the Minister apprise as to how we will ensure the future management of discharge regulations can be developed in a meaningful way? In a meaningful way, I mean meeting with all the Indigenous partners in northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, he did give those questions and I can tell you I just answered your question one at a time so I still have other answers for the information that you asked.
So the Government of Alberta is currently conducting assessments and scientific studies to fill knowledge gaps provided to decide on whether to develop regulations that would allow the release of treated tailing water. Alberta has agreed to give us significant time to critically review the reports and discuss our concerns with them before they make a decision to develop regulatory guidance.
The GNWT has received five technical reports that address these gaps. Four have been reviewed with the help of external experts, and one is under review presently under review. The federal government is planning to engage with Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations in NWT this year through a bilateral process. The GNWT has and will continue to advocate to Alberta to consult with the NWT Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations near the NWTAlberta border, as well as the public. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister for that. The Minister mentions consultations but it's a bilateral process he's mentioning. I'm wondering if he could elaborate on that. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, we're in the process of the Alberta government and Canada government is working to develop an arrangement where the bilateral they'll have the engagement. We've reached out to both the federal government and the Alberta government and said we need to be engaged; we need to be part of this process. I've sent a letter to Minister Savage and Minister Guilbeault, and I just recently sent another one there, again stressing the importance of us to be part of anything that's moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister for that. I'm encouraged by the fact that they will have engagement, which was very lacking at the outset of the tar sands development in the early years, as we would have heard many statements of concern, something similar to the Berger Inquiry. Everybody remembers that one, when the pipeline was going to be coming up and down the Mackenzie Valley and there were a lot of concerns. Nothing was ever, ever heard from the Indigenous peoples. I notice the people from Fort Chipewyan have been voicing their concerns for quite a number of years. There's lots of cancer agents within the tailings ponds effluent, and that is not going to stop. Because these lakes, as I mentioned before in previous statements, that these tailings ponds can be seen from space. So they're very large. And those are just waiting, you know, to spill over and into our waterways thus ending our way of life with the water. And this is very concerning because right now we got waterfowl that we count on for spring hunts that are landing in the tailings ponds. There's many of them that have been killed through that process, and it's going to continue. You know, this is very, very concerning. I'm just wondering what message the Minister's bringing to the bilateral water agreement table without first having heard from the First Nations of the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you firsthand that the Indigenous governments reach out to me on a constant basis, especially about the tar sands and this issue. And it's been an issue previously. So I've had a number of conversations with them. I've been down to Fort Smith and met with the Indigenous leaderships there. I've had conversations with other leaders in the Northwest Territories about that. So the first and foremost thing is right now with the disaster that had happened in with the seepage and of 5.3 million litres of tailings released into the environment, I can tell you right now Fort Chip has done the monitoring. There has been no impact there. Right now in Fort Smith, the monitoring we have done, there is no monitoring. So we are working with the Indigenous governments. We're hearing their concerns. We've also passed that message on. The Wednesday I heard it, we had a Minister's statement out. We advised the Alberta government and the federal government this was going on. We advised the Indigenous governments. So we are taking this seriously. It's about as the Member said, water is life in the Northwest Territories. We take it seriously. So we are dealing with it as efficiently as we can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had the privilege of chairing the Mackenzie Valley Impact Review Board for six years, and I had also the privilege of working with the Yukon Environmental Assessment the Yukon Environmental Social Economic Assessment Board and also the Nunavut Impact Review Board. Amongst these three boards, I was able to work with them to create an MOU so we could work together and share information. But at the same time here in the Northwest Territories, I chaired many environment assessment projects here and so I understand what's happening here in the North in terms of regulatory process.
My question to the Minister today is that my concern is that we need to come up with a strategy. And I mentioned that in my opening remarks. So my question to the Minister of ENR, Shane Thompson, is that what specific regulatory measures will the government put in place to address the downstream users of water contamination originating in Alberta to protect the Slave water system in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question. The NWT continues and does participate in Alberta public environmental assessments and regulatory processes. The transboundary agreement with Alberta provides a number of ways to address downstream concerns. The agreement commits Alberta to meet water quality, water quantity, and biological objectives at the border. The agreement commits Alberta to share information in a timely way and notify the GNWT prior to development of the activity. Should questions of dispute arise, the agreement contains a dispute resolution process. Should the provisions of this agreement not be met, the GNWT needs the agreement was negotiated so that all legal measures outside of the agreement remains available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Minister. When I was chairing the public review board, we dealt with Giant Mine, for example, and what we did with Giant Mine is that we had a lot of proponents that were impacted. So all Indigenous governments, the Metis, and we went through a review board assessment, environment assessment process, and we thoroughly examined that project and we made some strong recommendations and measures and that kind of thing. The thing is that the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, the way it's set up right now, is that it doesn't address the downstream users, whether it be in the Yukon or in Nunavut. And so we're only when I was the chairman, I was only able to address north of 60, in the Northwest Territories only. That's why we created this MOU to work with both boards and agencies and that kind of thing. But for me right now as it is, Mr. Speaker, is that the current transboundary water agreement between the Government of the Northwest Territories and Alberta is insufficient in addressing this issue on downstream users.
My question to the Minister is what steps will the government take to renegotiate this agreement to ensure it includes adequate regulatory measures to protect the water system for downstream users? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the transboundary water agreement remains one of the best of its kind. The agreement prioritizes NWT interests to identify throughout the years of engagement on the NWT water strategy and guidance from Indigenous steering committees. For example, it includes measures to protect aquatic ecosystems' integrity and ensures Indigenous knowledge is considered in decisionmaking. These agreements are cooperative and respected decisionmaking authority of each jurisdiction.
There is no reason to renegotiate the agreement. In fact, the agreement gives us the tools to address situations like the Kearl spill through our dispute resolution provisions, which is happening right now.
Throughout the agreement, we should not have if we would not have these tools and Alberta would not be obligated to share information with us or meet specific conditions at the border. Alberta's engaging with us on this issue. They have agreed to engage in a dispute resolution under the agreement and have put us in touch with Imperial to provide us with more detailed information on this matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, you know, when I was thinking about the when I chaired the impact review board, you know, we again, we couldn't really address any issues on the downstream users from Nunavut and the Yukon. And, but here and Alberta, it's the same thing. This agreement that the Minister talks about doesn't give us the tools needed to participate in their regulatory process in terms of approving a mega project. We're just kilometres down the road in Fort Smith, and my riding of Tu NedheWiilideh and Fort Resolution, that are impacted and all the residents of the Northwest Territories. So there has to be a way that we have the voice at their table so that we are able to have a say in the regulatory approval process, otherwise it's you know, we're going to be talking about this in the next four years and four years thereafter. Nothing's going to happen.
So my question now is to the Minister, again, the need for the national water strategy to protect Canada's water system against harmful effects from industrial development is long overdue. What concrete steps will the government take to advocate for and concrete such strategy and what timeframe is being considered? That's my question to the Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first, the NWT does can and does participate in the Alberta environmental assessment and regulatory process. I need to stress that. We do engage. We were part of that process.
In regards to the question the Member is talking about, the Government of Canada continues to work towards a Canada water agency. We have participated in the process and will continue to advocate for the NWT Indigenous governments and organizations to be part of any process that we have or they have. We've been having that's our letter. We've had conversations with Minister Savage. We're reaching out to Minister Guilbeault. And we're trying to meet with them, and we're trying to meet with Minister Savage as well sometime in April facetoface to discuss this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From what I'm hearing, then, the Minister had said that we the Northwest Territories has is involved in the regulatory process for approval for development in Alberta. I'm not sure about that.
Can the Minister provide a commitment that the government will prioritize a protection of the water system in the Northwest Territories over the interests of industry and will take proactive measures to prevent contamination from industrial activities from entering the Slave water system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And maybe I misspoke. What I said was we're part of the process. We engage. We provide feedback to it. We're not involved in the final decisionmaking. No other jurisdiction Nunavut doesn't have that with us when we deal with our diamond mines and that there. So we do engage, and we work with them there.
I can tell you right now I'm committed to protect the waters in the NWT. As I said to the previous Member from Deh Cho, as soon as we found out this was happening, we did a Minister's statement; we wrote letters; we've had contact with both the federal and the Alberta government. So again, though, I have to stress that right now there's no evidence in the water, whether it was in Fort Chip or in Fort Smith, that the tar sands that what has happened has had an impact in our waters right now.
Finally, as I publicly stated, I will not support discharge of treated oil sands tailing water without rigorous scientific or science to prove that the water is safe and the process is safe. And if the GNWT is not happy with it, Indigenous governments are not happy with it, and the public needs to be involved. So we're all a part of this. We're stressing it. And if it's not that, we have other processes that we can move forward on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Finance on the recent review that seems to have been carried out around the fiscal responsibility policy. So can the Minister outline how this review was carried out and who was consulted? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fiscal policy review was something that is an internal policy looking at a way of evaluating what we do as a government and how we manage our budgets, how we design our budgets. It was completed by the fiscal policy division as the primary lead within the Department of Finance but also with input from some of the other departments that look at this type of work and that do this type of work, such as the comptroller general's office, the management board secretariat. We certainly did look at counterparts across other governments to see what they might do when their departments of finance are managing and developing their own internal budgets, and it certainly was very helpful to take that opportunity and have a fairly detailed engagement with standing committee. And as mentioned earlier, it was a very thorough response that was received back.
I'd also note we did check in with the two credit rating agencies that would look at how we are doing to manage our budgets, and that's how this was developed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. It never fails to amaze me sometimes the things I can learn in oral questions, that the credit rating agencies were consulted but okay, that's all good.
In my statement, I noted that the fiscal responsibility policy has failed to keep our debt from growing at greater than inflation, that there are no consequences for noncompliance. Can the Minister tell us what changes will be made to the fiscal responsibility policy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fiscal responsibility policy is really only one tool among many, not the least of which is the process that we are currently engaged in here, of examining our budgets publicly as part of this Assembly. Mr. Speaker, I would note that our current rate of budget growth is the smallest that it's been in a very long time, possibly in over a decade. So certainly there are things that are working within the Department of Finance right now to manage that debt growth. But notwithstanding that, the review was done to try to make it even better. There's a number of changes, Mr. Speaker, not the least of which, something that comes up frequently, we're proposing a cushion of $120 million under the federal borrowing limit so that there's not going to be this constant question of when are we going to hit the limit. We know there's going to be that cushion there so that that gives us the room every year to ensure that if there's something like a flood that there's always the room available to us.
Another one I want to highlight, Mr. Speaker, is with respect to publishing two things: An ongoing moving average to show where we are in terms of where we are in fiscal responsibility policy, what kind of surplus we need depending on what's happening on the capital side. And with that, Mr. Speaker, in the fall, when we do the capital plans, that's when we'll actually be putting out an anticipated amount that's required for the fiscal responsibility policy and for the operating surplus to meet the capital plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course, as a Regular MLA, I was asking for that kind of information in the last Assembly, but glad that we're going to finally get this. So another concern, though, that I've outlined is the growth in P3 debt servicing that eats into our ability to pay for programs and services. This is a growing problem as this government takes on more and more P3 projects with little to no analysis or disclosure of the impact this has had on our operating budget.
So can the Minister tell us whether there will be greater analysis and disclosure of P3 servicing costs and impacts on programs and services as part of a revised fiscal responsibility policy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
