Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am happy with the timing of the way capital has been rolled out. I think the sooner we get this out, the better the chances of us actually completing the projects are. I see some problems with the allocation because of the capital planning.
In reality, in Tu Nedhe over the next four years, plus future years, what was allocated outside of what we considered, areas like that highway, was actually some holdback money, which is very interesting, I found. They have no capital projects in two of the communities at all. The only capital project that appeared in Tu Nedhe is the capital project that is either holdback or warranty money from a project that was completed this fiscal year. Nothing in Fort Resolution at all.
However, we do have some money put into areas of the highway that leads into Fort Resolution. One of the ways that the government can resolve a lot of capital issues or even a lot of issues of employment…. All kinds of positive results could be from actually spending every cent that is put into the capital plan each year. The fact that we continue to carry over a lot of projects is an issue.
Just as indicated in the Minister’s statement, inflation is eroding capital projects. That is true too, but if you take a project that was supposed to be scheduled for one year and it’s not done till two years later, then there is an additional two years of inflation erosion.
I think the various departments could look at innovative ways to complete capital. I know there are a lot of unemployed equipment operators in Fort Resolution, as an example, and lots of local equipment that could be utilized to do these projects. I know that even the one project that’s related to Tu Nedhe that’s on the books is maybe about a quarter of what’s needed to actually complete the project 100 per cent.
I looked at the 20 year capital needs assessment of the government, and I’m not seeing anything in the 20 year assessment in Tu Nedhe, Lutselk’e and Fort Resolution. However, I’m sure that the 20 year assessment is not done only once, so I’m comfortable that something will end up in the 20 year assessment.
Talking specifically on the 20 year capital assessment, my understanding from talking to some of the people that were involved in the capital assessment was that inside the 20 year capital needs assessment you look at what type of capital is the ultimate and not the capital that’s needed by the GNWT and the communities over the next 20 years and mid-life — I’m not sure what it will be called, but some sort of mid-life retrofit will fit, for lack of a better word. Inside the 20 year assessment we are looking at some mid-life and some replacements, and I found that to be interesting, because a lot of the capital has moved now. The capital that is really needed has moved to the communities, and then the communities aren’t adequately funded to address all of their capital needs. There is funding that I think should eventually get to it, but it is not really adequate funding.
It’s a strange thing that I saw looking at the capital plan. I noticed a replacement of major heavy equipment, and it was dropping amounts of $240,000 or $170,000 to replace pieces of equipment that under a normal 20 year capital needs assessment wouldn’t have even gotten to the mid-life retrofit. They are already shot and being replaced. I asked the community, “Why is that water truck,” which is six years old and broken down, “parked in the garage and you guys are renting a water truck from a private company to haul water when you have two water trucks that are relatively new?” The simple answer was that there is no actual maintenance on any of this equipment at all, because years ago the government made the decision to pull all the mechanics out of these small communities.
So now instead of spending $20,000 to retrofit a piece of equipment, say a Cat or a grader or something, it’s replaced. That puts a tremendous amount of strain on the capital, obviously, at the community level. The community goes in there to have a plan to do something. They don’t have the people in the community to maintain their equipment. There are no meters on any of the equipment saying that equipment runs for 2,000 hours and you have to do this, this, this. There’s no maintenance manual. This is just equipment. You put them on the road; people jump in and drive them. They do their thing, and when it breaks down, then you buy another one. So I found that could really be an unnecessary strain on the capital.
I don’t have much time here, but just to touch a bit on the New Deal. I found that looking at the capital plan in the New Deal, there’s just not enough capital money. The overall amount sounds fairly impressive at $28 million, but in reality, when it gets down to the communities, the community can’t do the major things that need to be done. A major thing that has health implications and all kinds of other implications…. When you keep pouring dust over the entire community all summer long, there are health problems. It creates all kinds of problems. Even a house creates problems.
Just the simple fact of chipsealing the entire community, getting away from replacing equipment all the time that shouldn’t be anywhere near its mid-life and putting that into chipsealing and doing something for the youth.... I thought that a summer swimming pool in Fort Resolution or Lutselk’e would be something that can be really positive and something that has lots of benefits to it. But with the amount of money they’re getting and the size of the community and it’s basically almost allocated per capita — I am not one hundred per cent sure, but it is relatively close to that — they just don’t have the money to do things like that. So as long as their money is given to them and there’s no support as far as maintenance goes on the items, and they are never ever going to get paid enough money…. I recognize that they have mechanisms in place that allow them to do that, but that’s going to be really difficult for them to do.
So I guess my hope is that for Tu Nedhe — I am just about wrapped up here — the deferred maintenance program, I think, would be something that is needed. The NWT Housing Corporation programs, when they roll out…. I am hoping that with some of those programs — a lot of those programs are sometimes difficult to access as well — the government can find a way to deliver those in conjunction with some of the energy programs and so on. But think I’m out of time, so that’s it, Mr. Chair.