Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I raised the seriousness of our definite lack of safety culture and a clear failure of our Occupational Health and Safety Policy. Recently the Territorial Court, under presiding Judge Malakoe, drew public attention to the GNWT’s offending behavior and levied significant fines under the Safety Act. Considering these facts alone raised concern of our own responsibilities as deputy heads and government as a whole for the people we injure and to the overall safety of our public service, my questions today are for the Minister of Human Resources.
On November 28, 2013, almost one year ago, the Minister announced a significant milestone for the GNWT to fulfill its mandate and commitment to a safe, healthy workplace for all of our employees. Can the Minister update us as to what’s transpired since that announcement? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Members can appreciate, this is a very complex issue with many employees scattered across the North doing many things, and many other people working for the GNWT that are not necessarily employees, but contractors, even down to people who are doing the custodial work in our buildings and so on. So, as I indicated, a complex issue.
The Department of Human Resources is working with all of the departments to strike occupational health and safety committees in the regions and in headquarters and are having regular meetings, trying to put as many safety programs on as possible through the GNWT training programs that we deliver across the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you. The Minister is, indeed, right; it is a very complex issue and, interestingly enough, for a workforce of over 5,000 employees, the GNWT does not have a safety department, no apparent safety program, no safety manual, no training and no contractor management system.
Can the Minister inform the House by what tools or divine intervention, how does the GNWT support our Occupational Health and Safety Policy, our so-called safety program and, of course, our missing contractor management system? Thank you.
Thank you. Kind of a multifaceted question. The GNWT does have a website. We have various forms that are filled out by the staff that are taking courses. I indicated there are some committees in place. We have an orientation for new staff, we have safety meetings, guidelines, we deliver inspections on the worksites and then again with the contractors, another matter again. Contractors are required to have a safety program when they’re on-site. There are various types of contractors that build for us, contractors that build roads and buildings and, like I said, custodian contractors. So each of those contractors are required to have safety programs. Thank you.
At the sake of not repeating all the findings of the recent GNWT guilty case by our territorial Judge Malakoe, can the Minister inform the House, is pleading guilty the new cost of doing things these days, or in other words, is the GNWT’s inaction deemed as an acceptable accounting loss? Thank you.
This particular case was a maneuver that had been performed various times by the contractors under the supervision of the Government of the Northwest Territories. The reason that we had received the lion’s share of the fine was because we’re the owner of the contract and that we also owned the ferry. They made a decision in the courts that only a small portion should be administered to the contractor because of the injury that was received on-site. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you. The Minister and I both know they have more pending GNWT safety lawsuits before the courts, and I know asking him questions on them will just entice a response of no comment, so I won’t ask him. But I will ask him this: Why, Mr. Minister, why, why didn’t you just implement a proper safety program and why is there so much pushback and resistance from upper management? Thank you.
There isn’t pushback. The departments and the main contracting departments, DOT, Public Works, do want safety programs in place, and no one wants to be paying fines. We know what needs to take place. There are various sizes of contracts. As Members in the House can appreciate how many different contracts we have across the GNWT of varying sizes, so we do have contractors implementing safety programs. We have a safety orientation with contractors. We have a safety questionnaire with contractors when they are on-site. So, there is no pushback. There’s an attempt to try to employ as many occupational health and safety programs as possible, not only with the contractors who work for the GNWT but also with the GNWT employees themselves. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
