Mr. Speaker, later this session I will be presenting Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Borrowing Authorization Act. The purpose of this act is to increase the short-term authority to borrow provided in section 1(2) of the act from $175 million to $275 million.
This should not be confused with the federally set borrowing limit of $575 million. The Government of the Northwest Territories continues to discuss an increase to that limit with the federal Finance Minister so we will have more flexibility to invest in the long term. We have recently received a letter from Minister Flaherty assuring us that the federal government recognizes the importance of a timely resolution to the borrowing limit issue so that we can move forward with our fiscal planning and infrastructure investments.
However, we also have to do a little housekeeping of our own with respect to our short-term borrowing authority. The Borrowing Authorization Act gives the GNWT the authority to borrow up to $175 million over the short term. This allows the GNWT to manage its cash. This limit has remained the same for over 17 years while government operations and revenues have increased. As a result, the GNWT’s flexibility to properly manage cash resources has eroded over time. Increasing the limit will make it easier to manage cash, especially if new infrastructure programs are announced by the federal government in the next three or four years. The GNWT will need to ensure that any borrowing under the Borrowing Authorization Act will still fit within the overall limit
provide by the federal government under the Northwest Territories Act (Canada).
There is some urgency to the proposed increase because we need to make a $65 million corporate income repayment on March 31st that relates to an overpayment of corporate income tax from the 2007 tax year. In a sense, the $65 million represents an interest-free loan from Canada that has come due and as a result will cause the GNWT to exceed its current short-term borrowing limit when the repayment is made on March 31st. The following day, April 1st, the GNWT will once again be within the current limit when it receives the first Territorial Formula Financing payment for 2012-13. This brief moment of being over the current limit is why we will be proposing introduction and passage of the amendment during the February 2012 sitting of the Legislative Assembly.
Although this proposal increases the short-term borrowing limit, the GNWT will, under its current fiscal strategy, start to recoup cash resources over the next few years and actual short-term borrowing requirements will therefore start to decrease. The increase will restore flexibility in our cash management and will not affect the GNWT’s credit rating or factor into the discussions we are having with the federal government on the federally imposed borrowing limit. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister of Energy Mines and Resources.
Mr. Speaker, the sacrifices of the barren ground caribou harvesters during the past several years have not been in vain.
Recent surveys indicate the Porcupine herd has increased from an estimated 123,000 animals in 2001 to 169,000 in 2010. The population estimate of the Bluenose-East herd has increased from 65,100 animals in 2006 to 98,600 animals in 2010.
Recent surveys point towards a stabilization of the Cape Bathurst and Bluenose-West herds, though overall numbers remain very low.
Reconnaissance surveys on the calving ground of the Ahiak herd in 2011 suggest that the herd is also stable but we are waiting for final results from the Government of Nunavut.
Preliminary results from last April’s recruitment survey of the Bathurst herd show a 46 to 100 calf/cow ratio which is considered good and suggests that this herd has also stabilized. A similar survey done on the Bluenose-East herd indicates a 41 to 100 calf/cow ratio which is considered normal.
These are positive signs but we need to conduct population surveys to give us more concrete information on the status of these herds. Population surveys are therefore planned for the Cape Bathurst, Bluenose-West, Bluenose-East and Bathurst herds this summer.
While good information on the status of the herds is an important part of management, so too is planning. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is working with our co-management partners and stakeholders to develop caribou management plans for all the NWT herds.
A Draft Cape Bathurst, Bluenose-West and Bluenose-East Caribou Management Plan is in the final stages of public review, with final comments due by the end of this month. We are also engaging our co-management partners in developing a management plan for the Bathurst Caribou herd, with a goal of having a final plan this fall.
The results of this year’s population surveys will be provided to our co-management partners and the public in the fall once the analysis has been completed.
The results of the surveys, the guidance provided by the management plans and recommendations on herd harvest levels from the wildlife management boards will allow us to re-examine current limitations on barren ground caribou harvesting.
All harvesters in the Northwest Territories have made sacrifices during the past seven or eight years. In the Beaufort-Delta, all harvest was suspended. Resident and non-resident harvesting was suspended in the rest of the territory while Aboriginal hunters limited their harvest substantially to help these herds recover.
The reduction in harvest has helped these herds to stabilize and, in some cases, increase. I thank everyone for their sacrifices and their commitment to maintaining healthy and sustainable barren ground caribou populations for current and future generations. I also look forward to ongoing collaboration and cooperation between everyone involved in the management of this important species. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Mr. Speaker, this government promotes the importance of trained and certified skilled journeypersons. We encourage our youth to consider skilled trades as a great career choice, and we celebrate the success of our apprentices and journeypersons.
Every year the Northwest Territories dedicates a week to those in the skilled trades and occupations. This year, Apprenticeship and Occupational Certification Week is scheduled for February 6th to 10th. Each regional ECE Service Centre will host Apprenticeship and Occupational Certification Award ceremonies for the 37 top mark awards achieved by our northern apprentices. Mr. Speaker, we thank our many partners and, particularly, northern employers. Without them, apprenticeship programs in our territory would not exist.
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment commits funding to apprenticeship for both technical training for tuition and related training expenses, and job wage subsidies that assist employers in the Northwest Territories with their apprentices’ wages.
From September to December 2011, the department issued 23 certificates of qualifications and eight certificates of competence to journeypersons in the Northwest Territories. Today there are 421 apprentices in the Northwest Territories. More than half of these apprentices are Aboriginal, but we still need more people in the skilled trades and occupations.
The vision for the 17th Assembly, believing in people and building on the strengths of Northerners, is the cornerstone of our apprenticeship and occupational trades program. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is almost a year since the government closed the Joe Greenland Centre in Aklavik to elders who cannot live independently. Now there is a lineup of elders waiting to go to the facility in Inuvik which serves the entire Beaufort-Delta region. I am not convinced that the Inuvik facility can handle all the elders who need care. I am not convinced that sending the elders to Inuvik from the communities is the best way to care for them.
In my riding alone of the Mackenzie Delta there are more than 300 elders over the age of 60. They wonder what will happen to them if they can no longer take care of themselves.
In Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic there’s only one home care worker in each community. Even if they can’t stay at home, the elders themselves would rather live in one of the delta communities instead of Inuvik. That is because family and friends visit regularly and bring traditional food.
The Joe Greenland Centre is part of the social and cultural fabric of the delta. The community of Aklavik is proud of its role in taking care of our elders.
Members of the 16th Legislative Assembly agreed a year ago, they passed a motion to continue providing long-term care for elders at the Joe Greenland Centre. I know that our Health Minister supported that during the last Assembly when he was a Regular Member. For all these reasons I am asking the Health Minister to reverse his department’s decision to end long-term care at the Joe Greenland Centre. I believe the current building can be renovated to meet the necessary standards, but if this is not possible, a new facility should be built.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As many of you know, Hay River is known for its long-standing history of fishing industry in the community. The industry is at one of its weakest points. The industry has many issues such as the price per pound that they can get for their catch, the price of gasoline and the limited amount of youth that want to work in that harsh of an industry.
One of the issues that has been debated is the marketing of northern fish, whether it be to the Fresh Water Marketing Corporation. Where else can we sell the fish that they catch in Hay River and the Great Slave Lake for the best dollar?
One area that I would like to open up to the fishermen is the NWT border. In today’s economy with free trade, NAFTA, demands from provinces to open the borders to every province and territory, and even Europe wanting free trade, but the NWT fishermen cannot sell their fish to other provincial customers.
My questions today will be for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment to open our borders for the fishing industry. We don’t need to teach these people how to fish; we just need the NWT government to give the fishing industry a fighting chance.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Minister of Health and I did a tour in the Sahtu, we listened to the people in our communities of the Sahtu. One of the things that we heard was that people talked about cancer, people who are dying or have died of terminal illness, and they talked about a government compassion policy to help people at their last stages of their life. People talked about one of the hardest things they have encountered was when they take their family and loved ones to the airport not knowing if that would be the last time they’re going to see them. If there’s any type of policy in the government to help them be with their loved ones.
With the policy right now, we have to argue with the administrative medical travel to see if they fit the requirements. We asked if this government here could look at a policy that would be a compassionate policy that would support family members to travel either to Inuvik or to Yellowknife or even further south to be with their loved ones in their last dying days on this land here. The people talked about how hard it is. Sometimes they have to argue with government administrative offices to let them get on either as an escort, or they create some other barriers that just frustrates the people in our communities to travel with their loved ones.
What happens is that people go back to a time in history where a lot of our people went to Edmonton under the TB sickness and they have never seen their loved ones come back north. A lot of them are buried in the South. Today people are still talking about that, so it gets to be very emotional.
I want to ask the Minister later on what type of compassion policy the department has with people who have terminal disease and someone is dying, and what the family can do to help, and more importantly, how can the government help our people get down there on time with the people and stay with them. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Colleagues, before we go on, I’d like to welcome long-time past Member Mr. David Krutko, a former Speaker, Minister and long-time serving Member for the Mackenzie Delta. Welcome.
---Applause
The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our overall approach to development of a secondary diamond manufacturing industry has missed the opportunity to tap into the amazing artistry of our people. By pouring millions into a northern diamond cutting and polishing industry, we’ve gone head to head with global producers. Their competitive advantage of rock-bottom wage rates and established expertise has proven difficult to beat. In contrast, we have a strong local, regional and national market for art, foreign tourists looking for northern-made, authentic NWT souvenirs and a motherlode of talented but untapped artists to fill the demand.
Any cursory survey of our current artistic production – our painting, sculpting, fine crafts and designs – confirms the cadre of artistic talents equal to any on the globe. That’s our competitive advantage.
What’s been lacking is training in the skills and techniques of creating fine jewellery. Nunavut provides a successful example of combining northern skills with training in attractive silver and gold jewellery making. We see these beautiful products today in Arctic Co-operatives and other outlets. What we want to do is combine the proven artistic design talents of our unique northern artisans with the technical know-how to produce quality jewellery with a volume that modern technology allows.
I have no doubt that when unleashed with appropriate support, this product would develop a strong value-added market to our territorial and polar bear diamonds. We know that the diamond polishing route has been problematic. Let’s respond and add the magic ingredient of our artists’ vision.
One local highly successful producer of jewellery has been recognizing this opportunity and suggesting such training for years, and could provide some of the required training. Given that one of our diamond mines is a partnership with one of the world’s prestigious jewellery producers, perhaps arrangements for local benefits could include access to these skills through training.
What I’m talking about is playing to strength, Mr. Speaker. Our artists’ endless creativity and a northern artistic motif found nowhere else in the world; these are our strengths. As we enter into the business planning for our future ITI programs, I’ll be looking for innovative support of this fertile sector and I’ll be asking the Minister for his ideas on how we can make this happen. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Breakfast for Learning program plays an important role in helping our children succeed in school, and I’m pleased that this government recognized them with a gift of $5,000 following the most recent Governor General’s visit.
Breakfast for Learning provides grants and support for school-based breakfast, lunch and snack programs. Last year Breakfast for Learning provided grants to 47 of the 49 schools in the Northwest Territories. More than half the students in the NWT had access to these nutrition programs on a daily basis.
When students are hungry, it is hard to learn. Nutrition impacts the student’s ability to focus. It impacts their levels of fatigue. It impacts their classroom behaviour, their self-esteem and their classroom attitude. But most of all it impacts their health and their school attendance. We know that education opens doors, but the first step is to open the door to the schools and the classrooms.
This government is working hard to increase the schools’ attendance and graduation rates. School meal and snack programs not only encourage students to get to school but they also help them learn once they are there.
Corporate donations and non-government agencies are keeping snack and breakfast programs running in our communities. By collaborating with organizations like Breakfast for Learning, we can maximize our efforts in supporting students. There currently exist a significant number of stakeholders that share a common desire to ensure that our children are well nourished and ready to learn.
We now need to solidify our collective efforts and establish shared goals and objectives while building on existing infrastructure and valuing work that has already been done.
Mr. Speaker, it is disheartening that in Canada one in 10 children and one in four First Nation children live below the poverty line. Those are national statistics and not NWT statistics. This places them at a risk for hunger and for food and security. At the same time, more than one in four children and youth in Canada are overweight and obese. While pairing hunger and obesity may sound like a contradiction, their impact is similarly devastating. The immediate and long-term consequences of childhood hunger plus overweight and obesity affect both the academic performance and the health of children.
Mr. Speaker, at this time may I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member’s statement? Thank you.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. Consequences range from inability to focus in school to behavioural issues. Combine these with the health conditions that were previously seen almost exclusively among adults but are now seen in children, such as high blood pressure, Type 2 Diabetes, high cholesterol and sleep apnea are all leading to a preventable health crisis, something that we can address here in the Legislative Assembly in this government. Recognizing the importance that nutrition plays in educating our children, we need to look for ways that we can ensure that children in our territory have daily access to healthy foods. School meal and snack programs are effective and measurable in this regard. Schools readily recognize the impact that hunger and poor choices have on learning, yet schools are forced to cobble together meal and snack programs, taxing already overburdened school staff to plan, shop for and prepare as well as serve the food. On top of this, schools are constantly having to source funds for these much needed programs.
Breakfast for Learning has been providing funding to the support of NWT schools since its inception in 1992. They are well recognized as leaders in the field of school nutrition. I am proud that our government brought public recognition to the work that they do. However, we must find additional ways to support their work and, by extension, school nutrition. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak about the environment and the concerns of Fisherman Lake near Fort Liard. There is a difference between monitoring and remediation, just like there is a difference between a lake and a tailings pond. I have some concerns about the contamination of Fisherman Lake in the Pointed Mountain Gas Field near Fort Liard. This lake provides for seven families of Fort Liard. They have been there for generations. Groundwater, surface water and soil in the Fisherman Lake area, only 20 kilometres north of the hamlet, is contaminated after years of oil and gas activity, but remediation efforts seem sluggish.
Fisherman Lake has a long history of water quality concerns. Production drilling in the Pointed Mountain Gas Field started in the mid-1960s. The property has had various owners, the most recent being Apache Canada that took over from BP in 2010. Ten years ago the field was shut in after three flow line failures. Shortly afterwards, the wells were abandoned and the pipelines removed, but surface and groundwater naturally flows towards Fisherman Lake.
Residents have noticed changes in the water and the fish five years after the spill. The environmental site assessment found high levels of solidity, hydrocarbons and metals. Last summer Canadian Forest Oil re-entered two abandoned wells that test for gas reserves. Companies must submit waste disposal and remediation plans before the federal government can permit drilling. What are these plans? How are they being implemented and who will cover that cost? Annual site reporting, testing and inspection took place as recently as last fall as required in the existing land use plan, but BP Canada only authorized Apache to work under its land use and the plan expires in June of 2012, this year.
I understand that until we negotiate a strong Devolution Agreement, ENR can only take limited action to clean up Fisherman Lake. I urge the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to forward concerns about responsible remediation to federal regulators. Responsibility for land use plans must be clear to all stakeholders. Everyone has a role in being stewards to our land and resources and I will be asking the Minister questions on this topic at the appropriate time, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Edmonton City Centre Airport is still facing closure, which will impact our medevac flights here from the North, but there is a viable alternative on the horizon. A well-known Edmonton city airport known as the Muni is facing closure, but the Province of Alberta has been working closely with the federal government to come up with a solution of using the old Edmonton Garrison airstrip, which is seven kilometres north of the city of Edmonton. The National Defence runway is located on a good transportation route, which connects to the Anthony Henday road, which rings it right into the centre of Edmonton.
Early indications say that this Garrison airstrip may be a cheaper, more practical solution for air carriers that are flying to Edmonton on medevac flights. Clearly, the option of flying into the Edmonton Garrison clearly warrants more investigation. At the same time, I’d like to hear our government taking a lead role in supporting this initiative.
The Edmonton Garrison may not be as close as the Muni Airport, but darn near close is considered a viable option. Yellowknife has had a close relationship with Edmonton over the years when it comes to our medevacs. Last year Mayor Mandel came to the North on an invitation I had given him. I’ve spoken to Envision Edmonton, as well as many others. A lot of people want viable solutions for an airport there that provides good access. Hundreds of patients come from the North; they travel to that city every year, many with life-threatening conditions. The fact is every minute counts. So, safe, fast and effective medevac flights are critical when it comes to health care services.
May I remind the Minister of Health that medevacs are only one part of the continuum of health when it comes to this solution. We must look at the whole process as one problem and break it down to elements to see where we can help on all fronts of our medevac process.
Later today I will be urging the Health Minister to stay on top of this particular situation. I need to see that he is taking an active role and dialogue with the Province of Alberta, working to hopefully get the solution of the Edmonton Garrison once and for all to make sure that all Northerners who have to fly south on medevacs have a safe and reliable airport to land in, and clear access to good medical services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the GNWT departments are developing their business plans right now, I want to comment today on the importance of volunteers and volunteer groups, and I want to comment on the need for adequate funding for this most valuable human resource.
The GNWT seems to recognize the value of volunteers. We had a 2005 Declaration on Volunteering and a Volunteer Support Initiative. We all recognize the importance of volunteers, at least we should. The work of Northerners in the voluntary sector touches us daily. Volunteers and volunteer groups build communities through their work with community radio stations, carnivals, seniors, disability and youth groups, school councils, food banks, advocacy groups, churches, friendship centres, cultural activities, sporting events, daycares and many other services and programs that improve our lives.
Unfortunately though, our own government pays little more than lip service to the role of volunteers and the people in the voluntary sector. The GNWT has only two programs that focus on or support volunteers. One is the annual Outstanding Volunteer Awards, four of them, and the other is the Volunteer Organization Development Fund that provides funding for training up to $4,000 per organization. What the GNWT does not do is provide for coordinated umbrella support for NWT volunteers.
In 2008 when the federal government cut volunteer funding to provinces and territories, this government did not fill that financial void and Volunteer NWT ceased operations. Since 2008 no one has carried out the activities that Volunteer NWT used to do.
Contrast our commitment to that of the Yukon. Volunteer Yukon is alive and well, and has a long history of providing training services. It’s Volunteer Yukon that provides public seminars and workshops on board roles and responsibilities, financial management, strategic planning, liability and risk management, and volunteer management. Their volunteer training fund allows individual organizations in Yukon’s non-profit sector to hire their own trainer. Volunteer Yukon annually receives $67,000 as core funding, funding which allows them to hire a part-time executive director. As well, Volunteer Yukon gets $50,000 annually for programs and that’s almost twice as much funding as the NWT, but it allows oh so much more support for non-profit organizations.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Here in the NWT we also provide money for training purposes. What is missing is the core funding which would allow for enhanced training and centralized help for volunteers. Our hundreds of volunteers deserve the financial commitment to match our verbal commitment. I expect MACA’s 2012-2013 business plan to include core funding for Volunteer NWT to show our commitment.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will attest that this will not be the last time that I will be discussing this topic during my term in office. This topic is how this government has and is dealing with its procurement guidelines, negotiated contracts and sole-sourcing arrangements. What makes this so bitterly sweet is that my questions later today are for the very Minister whom not that long ago was the MLA champion of such nonsense, but we’ll come back to that in a couple of minutes.
It’s come to my attention via some very concerned businesses in my riding and the riding of Kam Lake that the Department of Transportation has entered into some preliminary negotiations with a group of proponents for the contract of the Giant Mine Bypass Road Project. What’s interesting is that this project was being fast-tracked and only recently, due to some pressure by some of the businesses not invited to the dance, has now gone back to the department and Minister for option consideration. I find that interesting.
Is it wrong for a business to be considered for a project? Is it wrong for a business to ask for an opportunity to do business for the public with the use of public funds and a transparent environment? We think not. I think the proper phrase people use here is opportunity, not exclusivity, as it pertains to one being faced against a negotiated or sole-sourced situation; a situation that happens all too often in the history of past Assemblies.
In the end I can stand here and quote the various passages in the GNWT procurement guidelines and procedures manual or I can use fancy terminology like negotiated contract, which really means sole-sourcing, or terms like building competitive capacity, which I think should be called government market disruption program. I won’t stand here and regurgitate such a leading and misunderstood contracting process. Instead I wish to leave the Members here today with a statement, one of many statements that repeated itself countless times in Hansard and one that one could really not tally up, and a statement that might seem very familiar to a certain Minister here today as these are his words as a Regular Member: “When you do go to a sole-sourced way of acquiring goods and services, the transparency and accountability take a back seat. The people of the Northwest Territories deserve a better way of doing things. We are stewards of public funds and we can’t forget that fact.” I couldn’t agree more.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about a very frustrating flaw in our procurement policy. We hire engineering services for the Department of Transportation for transportation infrastructure on a standing offer agreement basis.
A constituent of mine, Darrell Dean, born and raised in Hay River, Aboriginal, owns a drilling company called Procore. This company has expended resources to buy equipment and hire employees to be involved in geotechnical work. Last winter and again this winter he has observed our government continuing to use the services of a southern company called Mobile Augers.
Mobile Augers is doing work for which my constituent had no opportunity to bid. The frustration is compounded by the fact that the GNWT work instigates their mobilization into the North from the South, and while already in the North they then start to clean up on the private work from the private sector because they’re in the neighbourhood.
We as a government, with all our glowing claims of wanting jobs and economy in the North, can ill afford to be forfeiting any jobs to the South. Look at our Stats Can report on population. While my constituent is laying off his employees and his equipment is sitting idle, he has to drive by a southern competitor doing work in his home territory for which he had not even an opportunity to bid.
I took it upon myself to speak with officials in the Department of Transportation about this. What I was told is that the engineering services are awarded through a standing offer agreement and they have no control or say over who the engineering firm subcontracts to for geotechnical work. May I suggest, on the principles set out in other types of contracting methods, that northern content should play a large and decisive role in the consideration of proposals for engineering services. It appears that Transportation officials are acting within the policy but the policy is flawed. It’s a glaring gap.
Again, in summary, we must support northern companies who live, pay taxes and hire people in the North. Later today I will be happy to question my friend Mr. Ramsay, Minister responsible.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize former Behchoko resident Peter Beggair who is here with us.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize the former Member for Mackenzie Delta, David Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a constituent of Yellowknife Centre, the former Member for Mackenzie Delta and a guy that could out-talk everybody in this Assembly, and certainly a guy who knows a heck of a lot of the goings on in the Northwest Territories, the one and only Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity one more time to recognize my constituency assistant Maia Lepage, doing great work here at the Assembly this week.
