Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, the Minister offered to come across this House, Minister Simpson will go across I was hoping that will happen and we would have this thing resolved.
Mr. Speaker, has an internal review taken place internally into the unconstitutional violation of the Lutselk'e Timber Bay culture camp raid? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it seems as some people on the other side thinks being on this side's easy. I'd love to be on that other side to ask those questions and get them you know, and say, when are you going to get it resolved and how are you going to do it. And I know Members over there say well, we got to fix it. We have a process. We have investigations going on. So, Mr. Speaker, a terms of reference has been developed, and we have identified an independent party to review the or to conduct a review. And the review will be conducted once the investigation has been completed. Again, this investigation is ongoing, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So in other words, we're not going to get no report in this at the end of this session and it's going to carry over to the next government.
Will the Minister drop this pointless investigation and own up to his mistakes that were made by offering the community of Lutselk'e a sincere apology to this House? And for the record, I just want a simple yes or no today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, usually I'll do yes or no. But I do need to follow up with more information here. I've acknowledged that the search at Timber Bay was very difficult for some of the people at the camp who were not harvesting wildlife or who were harvesting wildlife in a respectful and lawful way. Investigations are done independently by officers, not by myself. We allow officers to do their work. The investigation into suspected illegal harvesting in the mobile zone and waste of edible caribou is ongoing. So, Mr. Speaker, once this is all said and done, I would like to be able to say here, this is what we're doing. Until that is done, Mr. Speaker, I need to follow the process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering to start off if the Minister can confirm what GNWT department is ultimately responsible for climate action mitigation here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Environment and Climate Change is the GNWT lead for climate change using a coordinated interdepartmental approach that is outlined in the 2030 NWT Climate Change Strategic Framework. Under the framework, the Department of Infrastructure implements an energy strategy which is how the GNWT addresses reducing greenhouse gas emissions related to energy supply and consumption. The Department of Finance implements the NWT carbon tax approach. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we heard yesterday a very honest portrayal of where the Northwest Territories is in its production of alternative energies and how also the low water levels this year are having an impact even on what's happening right now with our current energy usage. Right now we have a huge dependency still on fossil fuels in the Northwest Territories, and that's only going up with our low water levels. And so I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to how this additional usage of fossil fuels, even in this year, is going to have an impact on our climate target goals? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent below the 2025 level by 2030. As of 2021, which is the latest data that has been analyzed, NWT has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent since 2005 with COVID, the pandemic and a slowdown of resource development activities being the main factor driving emissions down in recent years. Based on recent modeling, the GNWT is on track to achieve its target of reducing emissions by 30 percent below the 2005 level by 2030. Unfortunately, still emissions in the territories are largely driven by industry and transportation sectors. An anticipated reduction in mining activity in the late 2020s is one factor that will contribute to the realization of this target. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So if one of the things that we're relying on in order to meet our targets is for mines to actually shut down but, on the other hand, we're going out, and we're proactively trying to get mines to open up and do more in the Northwest Territories, how are we ultimately going to reach this goal if all of a sudden one of our hands gets what it wants and it has a direct impact on the other hand? So I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to how we're actually going to support both development in the Northwest Territories and our energy and climate change goals and our targets? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with those type of questions, I would encourage the Member to reach out to the Minister of Finance and Minister of Infrastructure to answer the energy and finance. I know Members on the other side think that I have all the answers, but other departments have the work that do the work on this area. So I would encourage the Member to reach out to them. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I was trying to do is ask the lead department on climate change what's going on and to help me paint this bigger picture as to how we're actually going to get to our goal. When I have to jump around from department to department, I don't actually get the full picture in one answer. And so it's nice when we can ask one department to help us paint that picture for residents. And so my final question is in regards to a dashboard that was actually mentioned yesterday and has been mentioned in this House multiple times before. Is there an intent, and is there a deadline, on when this government will potentially put together a public dashboard that outlines the progress on climate action and the GNWT reaching its climate target so that we can see a more fulsome picture of what our targets and our goals and our results are looking like? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the Member asks, yeah, no, it would be great to well, one Minister can answer the question. That would be great if we got all those questions so that we can get that information. If you ask me a question about infrastructure, I'm not going to be able to give you that information unless I get the question ahead of time. And I understand, and it's prerogative the other side to give the questions and not give the questions, to do that. So I appreciate that, but if you ask the question it's going to be multiple departments, and if I don't get it ahead of time, I won't be able to give you the information. And I apologize for that. In regards to a dashboard there, I will have to get back to the Member on the timeline on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Mr. Speaker, thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a question for the housing, for housing. Mr. Speaker, I understand about the process, and they are the Ministers. They can direct. We know that nothing gets done without their input or their direction. So I want to ask the Minister, can the Minister of Housing NWT explain why her department doesn't have a policy supporting the sale of market rental units. I still have currently there are some constituents who are living in a market rental housing in my region, and they would like to become a homeowner, and they have been living in those units for over 20 years, and they really want the market rental unit that they have been living in for over 20 years. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. I just wanted to just explain market housing was created to address the high income earners. Not only that, but the recruitment of GNWT employees to provide programs and services in our smaller communities. The units that are for sale now are the public housing units, but I am getting some push back from the clients as well that, you know, are they able to afford the units, are units in conditions that they're ready for sale. And also, Mr. Speaker, there is a consultation that is being done right now for the market housing units as well, too, that letters have gone out to the Indigenous governments acknowledging, would they like to work with us, are we going to address this market housing unit need in the smaller communities together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in small communities for many years, you know, there's people do not want to build because there's no market. So that's why housing was the only landlord in many of the small communities. So now many of these people we know what happened when a person who is not on the lease, when the elderly parents pass on, we had a lot of those because of those policy that was in place, many of these people became homeless and some are on the street here, and some have passed on being homeless because of the policy that's in place. So, yes, I understand about that now that she mentioned why the market rental is there, but it's just that why not make if that change the status of the market rental, they are the Minister, to public unit. Can the Minister commit to changing a lot of those public market rental unit to public housing unit? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. I just want to be very honest and say, no, I wouldn't be able to do that. Because we do need the programs and services in the smaller communities, we need to be able to house teachers, social workers, nurses in our smaller communities. So there needs to be housing set aside for them as well. But just looking at what the Member had said as well for the generational homes and I do know what she's talking at where we have families that have been raised in these units. These units were built in the 1970s. Going into the next government, this is one of the priorities of housing is how do we transition and how are we going to be dealing with these units that were built in the 70s. I myself personally but I've get to work with the department is I would like to see them all transferred. I would like to see them all transferred. And I would like the federal government to recognize that we need a replenishment of 23, maybe 5,000 units in the Northwest Territories. And hopefully this is going to be a working document for the next government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, many of these houses, just like she said, yes, they are over 50 years old. No social worker or nurses or teachers coming from the south would want to live in many of these condemned houses. And many of our people are living in those units, and nothing is being done. And there's a lot of boarded up houses in my community in my region as well. So that is why I'm pushing for all those units, if they can change the status from market rental to public housing unit because Tlicho government and other organizations are providing housing for many of their staff because we want to keep many of those people to educate and to help and work with our people. But many of them are not going to go into the housing that's available. So that is why I am saying that. So would the Minister commit to selling the units to people based on their commercial value and take into consideration the amount of rent already paid and future maintenance costs when determining the purchase price? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question because that's a mechanism that we are actually working with right now. We need to determine whether the client can actually afford these units and being able to take care of the operation and maintenance of these units themselves without government subsidy. And we're finding it very difficult throughout the Northwest Territories but trying to work with them fairly.
And also, I just wanted to speak about the Tlicho government as well and the working table that we do have established with them. They did get a distinctionbased funding announcement, I want to say in the spring, of $47 million, to address their housing need. And like I had said earlier, is that there is $400 million across the Northwest Territories that has been allocated to Indigenous governments. And this is where we as a territory and we as Indigenous governments, we work together in partnership. And for the agreement that's been signed with the Tlicho government, these are the type of conversations that are actually happening to address the housing crisis in the Member's riding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we lived here forever and we survived, you know. And it is not right the government determining or making you know, going directly and saying people are making a decision of who can and cannot afford the housing. So I just want to ask the Minister would the Minister consider giving existing public units to the people who live in them and use the money and use the money that's saved to build more houses in small communities. We do need more houses in small communities. We have people that are on the waitlist. I have families. There's five families that are waiting in Behchoko alone. There's nine one family has nine. There's nine of them waiting for a house and living in a onebedroom unit with other family members. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. You know, like I had said that this is this is a strategy that we're using within housing and trying to have our clients become successful and having them to own their own units. And we're finding difficulty, to be honest, very much. You know, we're not having people that are able to repair their own stairs, pay for their heating. And it's a difficult time right now. And all of these units are they're drastically subsidized. You can be living in a unit that's going to cost us $20,000, maybe even more, for us to operate and maintain, and the client would only be paying $75. So we need to find a balance where we're able to have the clients become successful in operating and maintaining their own home, and acknowledging that we do have a hundred unit rollout. In Behchoko alone, the community has received six additional units. Nine throughout the region as well. It's probably you know, to just give her an idea of what we are facing within the Northwest Territories, we are in a housing crisis, and housing has done what they possibly can do working with the Indigenous governments, working with the federal government to address this housing need. And like I had said, all together for the portfolio, there's $400 million that's been allocated. $200 million from this government. There's $600 million throughout the Northwest Territories. And that's still not enough. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I really do not like leaving things to the next Assembly. I think if you look at the last Assembly's mandate, a lot of the things that were very close, and it's clear hundreds of hours of staff time went into them and, you know, there was perhaps some last minute disagreement. Never got done. We didn't take them on. They didn't make it into our mandate. And all of that work disappeared. There's quite a few things in our mandate that I'm sure the next Assembly will let die as well. I'm hoping that the Business Incentive Policy is not one of them. So my question is for the Minister of ITI, are we going to make any changes to the Business Incentive Policy in the life of this Assembly? I know there's only a week left, but perhaps I could dream, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member has asked or made quite a number of statements about the procurement review, and there has been quite a lot done. In July of this year, a report was put out publicly. It's online through the GNWT's government the Department of Finance website detailing all the many changes and improvements to procurement in the Northwest Territories that have been made in the life of this government.
Within that with respect to the Business Incentive Policy and I know the Member goes on at length about how much he liked the review, the review itself says that the question of how to define a Northwest Territories business is one of the most complex components of the procurement review. The good news is, Mr. Speaker, I'm glad the Member really likes the recommendation. I like the recommendation too. But that has to go to modern treaty partners. Any changes made must go to modern treaty partners first. It is part of our obligations under those treaties. So the recommendations that we've put forward to make some changes are with them. It's been for review. It's had its time. A little extra time given where what happened this summer was probably not inappropriate. But I believe SCEDE will be getting its own letters in very due course, and we'll know exactly what's happening before the end of the Assembly. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. It sounded like we're not going to quite get there in the remaining week. I'm skeptical that the next government will take that on. I know the definition of northern business is complex, and I think you really just have to make a decision and commit to it. I don't suspect there's agreement. But in reviewing that, it says, the Minister's report tabled in July or released in July, it says a new definition of northern business which will result in the removal of Schedule 3 from BIP has been created. I understand it's been shared with Indigenous governments. Can the Minister tell us what that new definition is of northern business? Is it the same one that the procurement review panel recommended two years ago, or have we come up with a new one? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are protocols within a consensus government. One of them is that when we are releasing new information like this provided by government that it goes to one of the standing committees first. So until I can release it to standing committee, it's very difficult and would not be appropriate for me to stand in the House and make the announcement here. Otherwise, I would love to do it, Mr. Speaker, but I'm afraid the Members are going to simply have to look at their inbox and wait for the letter to come pursuant to the rules and the procedures that we all operate under. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. In addition, in that July report, you know, it kind of just says the work to create an Indigenous Procurement Policy is ongoing, there's no kind of timeline on there. I'm wondering if we have any sense of I know that's not going to be done in in the next week, but is there any hope of us getting that done in some sort of timeline, or will we have an Indigenous Procurement Policy as a government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Indigenous Procurement Policy is one that is being co-developed or and co-drafted and proceeded together along with Indigenous governments of the Northwest Territories. It is not something that's going to be singularly led or dictated by the Government of the Northwest Territories for the benefit of others. It's the people who are going to benefit from it who are the ones that should be at the table driving what it looks like.
And, Mr. Speaker, while it might seem nice and easy to just create a target and call it a day, Mr. Speaker, right now the Yukon is having quite a lot of trouble with its procurement policy. It's, in fact, been to court already. So the process for using goes through established processes within this government, within the consensus model, and within the Intergovernmental council model. Their first step was to get together, to meet, to determine what an Indigenous business should be and how to define that. It is not for the Government of the Northwest Territories to singularly do that. As I just said, defining a northern business is one of the most complicated and complex parts of procurement review. No less so when we're looking at who is an Indigenous business or what is an Indigenous business, but that work is underway. It's being led by EIA. Other departments are involved. My understanding at this point is while it won't be done in the life of this government, significant progress is made, and all of the partners are very much committed to seeing it through. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change who also conveniently serves as the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Later today, I'll table a request for proposal for a Northwest Territories 2023 Wildfire Response Review. It appears to be a standard afterincident review, but I just want to get it on the public record that this is not the comprehensive, independent review of fire and emergency management that we've talked about in this House. So can the Minister confirm that there will be that there will be a comprehensive and independent review of fire and emergency management beyond this request for proposal? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you. That's kind of both portfolios. So we will be both both departments will be doing an afteraction review of what the situation is. With ECC, we deal with individual situations that are impacting communities. So there will be I call it a number of chapters that we're having impacted communities that were with the wildfire. So we'll be doing that. And then we will do an overall review of the impact of the fire season itself.
Now, in regards to Municipal and Community Affairs, it's going to be an independent report. We will be going out to the public. We will be going out, and we will be getting an independent contractor to be doing this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I'm a bit alarmed at what I'm hearing. It sounds like there's going to be contracted socalled independent reviews. That's not what we've been talking about here. So there are a number of options, though, for an independent review of fire and emergency management. These include could include a public inquiry with a very formal legal process, a joint special committee with Regular MLAs, Cabinet, and perhaps others involved, or an independent group or task force with an agreed upon terms of reference that could include input from Regular MLAs and maybe even the Council of Leaders. Probably should include the Council of Leaders. So can the Minister tell us what options Cabinet is considering for this independent review? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've had conversation with the Member about this very topic. So Department of ECC is going to be doing what we consider our part of the afteraction review. Each situation and then an overall. Then Municipal and Community Affairs was going to be doing an independent, getting a person to go out there, and it's going to include general public, Council of Leaders, Regular MLAs, Cabinet Members, whoever wishes to talk about that. However, I have had conversations with this House here and talked about the opportunity and I think the Member talked about the special committee, which would be Cabinet and Regular Members or AOC. So it would be a team, a special committee. So it would be like three and two that would meet together, come up with the terms of reference, to look at this. So that was what I'm looking for and recommending in the next Assembly to my whoever gets this portfolio, or the MACA portfolio, to do that, work with the committee to come up and when I say committee, AOC, or what it will be called next Assembly, to work with them to come up with the terms of reference of how we're going to do it within the timeframe of six months. We don't want to interfere with the other work that ECC's doing and Municipal and Community Affairs is going to do. I think it can be worked together, and it could be part of a good solution. But, again, I think we want we don't want to, I guess, handcuff that special committee to do the work that they need to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I think it's very important that careful consideration be given to who and how this independent review of fire and emergency management should be conducted. I also realize that this is all very fresh and some of it's still ongoing, but this Assembly and government are coming to the end of its life. I don't want decisions made by this Cabinet alone or even during an election. So can the Minister tell us how and when decisions are going to be made about who and how this independent review of fire and emergency management will be carried out? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I guess I didn't make myself clear, and I apologize to the House and the public out there. It's going to be my recommendation to the next Assembly I repeat the next Assembly, not this Assembly here. We only got two weeks left. So there is no way we could do justice to the work that needs to be done. So what we're saying is that we're making the recommendation to the next government, whether Cabinet and AOC, to look at this, develop a terms of reference, develop a special committee to do the work. It can't be done, and we don't want to shortchange the work that needs to be done. We need to be respectful of it. It's a long season. And to get the information correct and to get everybody's viewpoints on how we can improve the things we were able to do. I agree with the Member. Work has to be done. But it's not going to be done by this Cabinet. It's not going to be done by AOC or SCEDE, this Assembly. It's got to be done for the next Assembly. And I agree with the Member. But as I said, I will put it in my transition binder this work needs to be done. And whoever gets reelected, one of the priorities that they need to stress is that work needs to be done first and foremost so we can get moving forward because we're going to have another bad season next year, in my opinion, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for clarifying that. He's just got it on the record that this Cabinet is not going to be making a decision about this independent review and that it's not going to happen during the election. That's good. It's going to be a decision made by the next Assembly. But I'm certainly grappling with who and how this review should be carried out. Personally, I don't think that MLAs, whether Regular MLAs or Cabinet, should probably be leading this review. It needs to be independent third party, so. And they have to have access to the resources and experts to do it properly. So I don't think it should be MLAs. That's what my thinking is. But I'd like to hear from the Minister whether Cabinet has any preferences as to who and how this review should be carried out? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't speak for Cabinet. That's the Premier's role and responsibility. But what I'm saying, my personal, opinion is that the next Assembly, the next Cabinet, the next AOC sits down and has that conversation. If they feel it needs to be led by X, then great. I agree. The next Assembly needs to do that. And it's not going to be a Cabinet or AOC directive. I believe it should be the collective when they meet at the very beginning when they talk about some of the mandates that they need to do, some of the things that they need to task the next Assembly to get done, they need to follow that. I'm not saying what should be or shouldn't be done. I don't think it's my role. I'm just saying it needs to be discussed. The way we do it in the next Assembly, it needs to be done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
