Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hear the back and forth on this issue in this House. I have heard it now for almost four years as well. I'm only hesitant to create something on the fly out of the Department of Finance when I know there's processes happening in ECC that I am less intimately familiar with. But, Mr. Speaker, the departments the two departments are more than happy to work together. I know Minister of ECC and I work together on shared areas of overlap, whether it's finance, whether it's ITI, we have joint meetings. We can certainly start to do that with Department of Finance and ECC as well. And if that might assist the staff, who I know are working through the process at ECC, to access some of finance's resources in how accounts are transmitted to collections and how they can be paused, Mr. Speaker, I know I think both of us on this side here would be more than happy to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister of ECE has previously stated that the last time a technical status evaluation was done on JBT Elementary School was in 2005. Can the Minister tell us when the next technical status evaluation is expected to be done for the JBT School in Fort Smith? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. According to the information I've received from the Department of Infrastructure, technical status evaluations are conducted when there are some certainty that major work is expected in the next three to five years. So if it looks like there's going to be some serious work that's required in three to five years, that is the point at which a technical status evaluation would be conducted. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, during the last session the Minister stated that, based on current capital needs assessments, JBT School is expected to be replaced in 2035 which would make the school 77 years old until it's finally replaced. But the Minister also said it could potentially take a lot longer. At this rate, the school will only be replaced once it becomes a hundred years old.
Can the Minister tell us if there is anything that can be done to speed up the timeline for the JBT School to be replaced? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And like I've stated before, it depends on the technical condition of the school. So there are many buildings in the territory that need replacing. There's many capital needs. And structures and deficiencies are addressed when they can be addressed when they get to them. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the community of Fort Smith petitioned and fiercely lobbied our government to replace JBT School. Would that speed up the timeline for our government to consider replacing this school? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That wouldn't change the technical status or the report the technical status evaluation report of the school. But, I mean, it's a political question and so the Member's also a politician, she probably can answer that as well as I can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, could the Minister tell us if he or Cabinet is content with the fact that the NWT is one of the only jurisdictions in the country who continues to actively use former residential school and Indian Day School buildings for students today? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I can't speak on behalf of Cabinet but I can say no, I'm not content. And if I could, you know, will a new building into existence, I would do that. But, unfortunately, I don't have that ability. I do understand where the Member is coming from. I would like to see the same changes that she would like to see. But, unfortunately, we're up against the constraints of, you know, the reality that we are in, so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Finance confirm if all evacuees, whether unemployed or not receiving income from employers, be eligible for the income distribution program? Because some of these people, you know, rely on temporary work, which is now not available to them, or they may be selfemployed as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, every individual who's had any sort of income disruption should be applying. So that applies to anyone who is selfemployed, who may be in what is known as the gig economy or temporary employment or, again, any sort of disruptions. So an artisan, for instance, who may be selling typically selling art or crafts, anyone who may fall into those categories, I would encourage them to apply. You know, it's difficult this was a program developed in less than two weeks. It's difficult to anticipate exactly every category of person to whom it would apply and exactly how to word the eligibility. We've done our best to be fairly flexible. So, again, Mr. Speaker, if they've had an income disruption, I'd encourage them to apply. There may be some classes of persons who work it through and find that it doesn't apply to them, but I'd rather have those applications in and look at those opportunities and see that we can make this available to those for whom it was meant to apply. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that reply because in talking to some KFN members, they were under the impression they could not apply. So that's good to know.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit her department to quickly reviewing the applications as they are received? They are one page, so I don't think there will be too much difficulty in doing that. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, yes, absolutely. I certainly wanted to vocalize that commitment here. Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago, we didn't have any staff assigned to this role. This wasn't something that we were contemplating. So while I am certainly cognizant that the people who were evacuated who are now having to go back after an extended period of time, they are the ones who are experiencing the greatest hardship. You know, again, we know that, but two weeks ago we didn't have anyone who was in the position of having to take these applications in. That said, Mr. Speaker, I can't say enough that I extend my gratitude to the MLAs from these ridings who were affected. They are bringing suggestions already about how to improve the process, how to improve the forms, and that will only assist in the time it takes to process the applications. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, now the question is where is the money? Or show me the money. Will the Minister commit her staff to getting the evacuee income disruption support payments out as quickly as possible to applicants? And one thing that they've been asking for is to provide a telephone number on the application so applicants can actually call and talk to a real live person about the status of their application and payment. I constantly get emails and calls about that, and I haven't been able to answer them. So please give me a phone number so that I can give them and one where somebody actually answers. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just days ago the Member from the affected region came and said why don't we ask for banking information right upfront on the page; it'll save an extra step when someone is deemed eligible. We have already made that change, Mr. Speaker. The new forms are now already on the website so things can change quickly. This issue of the need of having a contact point was raised today, and I can already assure the Member if he hasn't directly received a response from me, it's probably only because I've been in the House. So he will have that information before he goes back to Hay River to be able to share with residents. I don't have a number here in front of me that I can read in the House, Mr. Speaker, but that information will be available. And if we need to change those forms again, we can change the forms again. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And hopefully maybe I can get that number by break time.
Will the Minister confirm what programs are available to selfemployed persons or companies to help offset loss of revenue while evacuation orders in place? Because there was a number of companies and businesses in Hay River that haven't been operating for a couple of weeks and then to get started up again, it takes you another few days as they get employees back. And, you know, the owners, you know, more than likely whether they're paying themselves or not, I don't know, but I know that they've lost revenue. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when it comes to well, again, if there's a loss of revenue that's impacting an owner's personal income, you know, again I'd suggest they consider applying and we'll consider whether or not they can be eligible, at least under the income disruption stream. More generally, I realize that doesn't necessarily help the viability and strength of a business. So, you know, ITI does have the they have their own programs under SEED, entrepreneur support programs, operational support programs. Those were used for businesses that were affected by the floods last year. It's applicationbased. Again, please, I would suggest people to, please, early earlier than not, reach out to ITI. Our South Slave regional office is available to support businesses that may have been impacted. And, Mr. Speaker, one last plug here is that the United Way also is playing a role here and we're looking at ways to help support them as they play that role. They can put money into nonprofit organizations, charitable organizations, in the affected regions. So it may be a matter of looking at what some people's expenses may be and they may be able to then work with local charities to see if there can be supports found that way. But, again, Mr. Speaker, I know the GNWT did support the United Way and, of course, the residents across the Northwest Territories continue to support the United Way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Justice.
We know that over 700 rental units have mould or pests, across the Northwest Territories, but only three tenants got an order against the landlord to fix the problem. So clearly something is not working, Mr. Speaker. I want to know whether the Minister acknowledges that the current mechanisms to ensure healthy rental housing are not working. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If there were 700 applications made to the rental officer and only three resulted in orders then yes, there would be a problem. However, I'm not sure all 700 of those individuals submitted applications to the rental office so it's hard for me to say. If there were three applications submitted and they all received orders, well then it seems to be working well. So with just that information, I can't really answer the Member's questions.
However, if there are these issues in your, you know, rental unit, please contact the rental officer. This is what they do. If you have mold, if you have pests, and your landlord's not dealing with them, contact the rental officer. No one's going to contact them for you. They're not going to come to your house and do an inspection out of the blue. So people need to step up and take that first step. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, sometimes accessibility can be the issue. Saskatchewan provides tenants with an online fillable complaints form to launch an environmental health investigation into unhealthy housing. I'm not aware of a similar ease of use form that's available here that initiates an instant investigation. So I'm wondering if the government will consider a more accessible, efficient mechanism to trigger investigation by the environmental health officer through the rental office? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The rental office doesn't I guess is not a conduit for environmental health. So this is something that I can confer with the Minister of health on and get her take on it but right now that is not something that happens. They're two different entities and two different departments. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the problem right now is that multiple departments aren't able to work together in order to get this done. I mean, right now the Department of Health and Social Services says on its website that environmental health officers can investigate issues where a landlord has failed to take corrective action.
So I'm wondering if the Minister can tell me whether his department, or the department of health, tracks the number of landlord investigations by environmental health officers and the results of these investigations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have been informed by the department of health that environmental health officers do follow up on landlordtenant complaints, and they do track these requests. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the piece that's important in that is that information making it from the environmental health office to the rental office so that the rental officer has the ability to then hold those landlords accountable. The environmental health officer doesn't have a mechanism to hold those people accountable. By looping in the rental office, by seeing if there's other issues going on with those rental offices, it brings it to a onestop shop and actually empowers the rental officer to have kind of that bird's eye view of what's going on. And so there are things that have happened before that have really gotten results from landlords in town.
I look at what happened here in Yellowknife with an apartment building. Tenants kept asking for a security guard. They kept asking for a security guard. They didn't get a security guard. That landlord realized that they were paying hundreds of thousands of dollars from people pulling fire alarms. The next thing you know, they had a security guard because they were paying dollars. And so dollars speak, money talks, Mr. Speaker. And so I'm wondering if the Minister will consider empowering the rental officer to fine landlords that refuse to complete repairs that have serious health and safety impacts on their tenants? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Residential Tenancies Act provides for any person who fails to comply with orders or directions of the rental officer to be charged with a summary offence under section 91. That charge would be heard in territorial court and, if found guilty, would result in a fine not exceeding $2,000 for individuals or $25,000 for corporations. 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 of the Fiscal Responsibility Policy.
In my statement, I noted that substantive and detailed input from standing committee and that most of that was rejected. Can the Minister tell us whether she would have any objection to making the committee input public so there's greater transparency around that review of the Fiscal Responsibility Policy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this was certainly an interesting opportunity between the committee and the Department of Finance. We wouldn't necessarily, on the regular practice, certainly in the past, have sent a what is a financial management policy, an internal policy with internal application, for comment and review, but we did do so in this case, and I I don't know that I would say that everything was rejected. I've looked again back at some of the detailed responses provided, both from committee to department and from the department back. Just because, you know, the exact wording proposed isn't taken into isn't, you know, copied down doesn't mean that the considerations are not utilized in terms of crafting better procedures. So, Mr. Speaker, there's quite a number of things that I actually do think are being taken into account and applied, not the least of which is having our Fiscal Responsibility Policy knowing where and how we are at in terms of fiscal or in terms of infrastructure spend available at the time of the capital spend. That's going to be a huge change, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the committee's response.
As far as seeing what the entirety of their suggestions were, Mr. Speaker, I standing committee is certainly an independent body, and I to the extent that there was any concern of confidentiality, I would be happy to waive any expectation I had and of confidentiality of their materials. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. And I think we have a difference of opinion on how much was accepted. But the real way to look at that would be to actually get it released. So it sounds like the Minister's game for that.
So one of the provisions of the revised Fiscal Responsibility Policy is on affordable debt and states, "to ensure that the extent of its debt and borrowing including debt associated with P3 project is within its means to repay and that debt servicing payments do not adversely impact programs and services."
So can the Minister tell us what type of analysis and disclosure there will be now with regard to P3 debt and its impact on programs and services? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is sometimes I think a wouldn't want anyone to ever forget that debt is ultimately is debt, and debt at the GNWT is exactly that. All of it comes in under our federallyimposed borrowing limit. P3 debt also comes in and has to be under the federallyimposed borrowing limit. It shows up also as well in budget materials that we have out. It is disclosed in the borrowing. P3 debt is disclosed separately in the borrowing plan. It's analyzed and it's presented in the budget fiscal papers. And finance certainly has to then evaluate where we're at in our borrowing and whether or not we can face any increased debt. That's exactly the kind of analysis that goes into those papers. It goes in, it's often discussed in budget dialogues. The P3 debt servicing payments are in the operating budget. We see it show up there in the mains. So it's part of that overall fiscal picture that we present at various opportunities. And as I had indicated, we'll be looking to do so on a more regular basis further to the comments from committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Another area of concern is with analysis in reporting on compliance with Fiscal Responsibility Policy. A variety of performance measures are outlined now in the new policy, but there doesn't appear to be any public reporting required.
So can the Minister tell us with what, if any, public reporting will take place on the prescribed performance measures in the new Fiscal Responsibility Policy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, again, Mr. Speaker, in terms of the public reporting, performance measures really are a part of well, there's a number of places where it would come in. They're a part of the work that Finance does in preparing the main estimates that's in the budget papers that are presented as part of those main estimates. It is often part of reporting that takes place when we're doing budget dialogues to help orient participants to what's going on in our fiscal picture. We certainly also are reporting on the provisions when we report in the public accounts. And, really, Mr. Speaker, the idea of performance measures, even large, could simply be any discussion in the House around the state of the finances of the GNWT. So, you know, Mr. Speaker, again, there is the formal capacity, again the budget papers, the main estimates, the public accounts, the Fiscal Responsibility Policy, which will now also come in at capital planning, but also less formal opportunities like budget dialogues and discussions herein. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. When I raised the Fiscal Responsibility Policy in the last sitting, the Minister revealed that there had been a, quote, "checkin" with at least two of the credit rating agencies. I'm not sure what that means. Were they given a draft, an opportunity to comment or what? So can the Minister tell us what this checkin was all about and what happened? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the recommendations of committee actually was to find ways to increase the presence of independent fiscal analysis and advice to the Northwest Territories government. And, Mr. Speaker, the very purpose of the relationship that we have with the credit rating agency is, indeed, to evaluate their client's financial health. We, as the Department of Finance, meets with credit rating agencies and we have two, not just one, now we have increased that to two during the life of this government, Mr. Speaker, and we meet with them annually to give them an update as to our fiscal situation and as to steps we are taking around fiscal management.
Mr. Speaker, they are very conscious of maintaining distance and being objective. We're not even allowed to buy them lunch when they meet with us, Mr. Speaker. And so this is exactly the kind of meeting and opportunity where we were able to say that we're making some changes to our fiscal management and describe that to them. The reaction that we received from them was positive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
