Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ve got a few questions for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I wanted to ask him a little bit about mine training in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, the concern has been brought to me by constituents about the lack of available mine training for P2s. Now, we certainly have the Mine Training Society and opportunities for P1s to get access to training for jobs that are producing diamond mines, but, Mr. Speaker, there seems to be a lack of any available training for P2s, long-term residents of the Northwest Territories. I’d like to ask the Minister how his department and the government are working towards shoring up that hole in our services that we provide our residents. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Training of Northerners for meaningful employment in the Northwest Territories is a huge priority for our government and we’ve been working very closely with the diamond mines in this region in order to not only increase the number of trained Northerners that are employed, but also to fulfill the objective that people that work in the North should live in the North. So we’ve signed an MOU with the three diamond mines and we’re also working with the Mine Training Society and through Aurora College and the NWT school system through the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, it only makes sense to me that if there are any residents here in the Northwest Territories that require training, the requisite training to be employed at a producing diamond mine, that they get the training here in the Northwest Territories and are employed here in the Northwest Territories. There’s much more likelihood that they would continue to live in the Northwest Territories while working at the mine. I’m just wondering if the Minister could just elaborate a little bit on how exactly the government is going to work, his department and other government departments and agencies are going to work, again, to correct this and to provide opportunities for all residents of the Northwest Territories when it comes to mine training. Thank you.
Through the MOU on mining that the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and myself have signed with the three diamond mine companies, we’ve been focusing on three areas, one of them has been training. So through that process we are examining ways to train more people, more Northerners to go through programs that are designed specifically for employment in the three mines and other mines as they become open and processing. One of the things that we’re doing is identifying barriers that prevent any sector from being able to access training. Thank you.
Thank you. I’m wondering if the Minister could let potential residents of the Northwest Territories, those that are P2 -- they’re not aboriginal -- long-term residents of the Northwest Territories that want to have access to mine training today, where do they go and who do they look to for the training that’s required to get a job at one of our mines. Thank you.
Thank you. Most of the training that is provided for mining is through the Mine Training Society, and the funding for that comes through the federal department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and the training money is for what we call P1s or aboriginal Northerners. For those that are classified as P2, we are working with Aurora College. There are training programs, but it becomes a question of access to funding. There are student financial assistance programs that are available for P2s to access. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From discussions I’ve had with constituents, there’s no training currently for P2s in the Northwest Territories when it comes to mine training. They have to leave the Territory and go to Ontario or other jurisdictions to receive the training. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister, would the government be looking at creating a mine training school or something to that effect here in the Northwest Territories in the near future? Thank you.
Thank you. We are in fact having those discussions between Aurora College and the diamond mine management through our MOU process, and this is an area that we have identified as a barrier and this is something that we’ll be working very hard to resolve. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
QUESTION 50-16(5):
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Municipal and Community affairs and it’s in regard to the new water treatment plant that’s being installed in Aklavik. There is a problem with the contracting and contractors in regard to payments that have been outstanding to subcontractors and also even the community Hamlet of Aklavik who has provided a lot of gravel to this source, yet there seems to be a problem with payment. I’d like to ask the Minister in regard to what, if any, holdbacks have been in place and does he know if the contractors and the Hamlet of Aklavik have been paid out in full in regard to the outstanding balances for the water treatment plant in Aklavik.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have withheld some funds from the general contractor because there was an issue with the subs. We had an opportunity to speak to the subs a little while ago. We haven’t heard from them for a while, so I can follow up and then find out if the issue was resolved. But as a department, we did withhold some funds from the general contractor until this issue was resolved. Thank you.
Thank you. Also, I believe the Hamlet of Aklavik has used up a lot of their gravel sources in which they were committed to do a bunch of drainage work again this summer, which is out of the Building Canada Fund, but they need those dollars to replenish their gravel source. Without that they won’t be able to do the work this summer. So I think there has to be some urgency to this. So I’d like to ask the Minister, also, can he check to ensure that the hamlet is able to get the resource in time so that they can do a gravel haul this spring to get the gravel into the community.
Thank you. I will commit to the Member that I’ll follow up with the hamlet and see if they’ve received payment, and I’ve also committed to following up to see the status of this contract, because my understanding is there were a few issues that needed to be worked out and there were a few people that needed to be paid and that’s why we withheld the money until that got resolved. Thank you.
Thank you. I’d like to ask the Minister if he can tell me exactly when is the new water treatment plant going to be up and operational so the people in Aklavik can get some safe drinking water from the new water treatment plant.
Thank you. I know that the construction is ongoing and they’re very close to completing. I don’t have the exact date, but I’ll find the exact date and I’ll share it with the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
