This is page numbers 5095 - 5126 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 5th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was work.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on some questions from my colleague Ms. Bisaro on the Anti-Poverty Strategy. I was wondering if the Premier could tell me which departments are represented in the internal working group that’s working on the strategy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Question 216-16(5): Anti-Poverty Strategy
Oral Questions

Inuvik Boot Lake

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Premier

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have to get that information and I will provide it to the Member. Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I attended both Prospects North and the Anti-Poverty Summit the week before session, and what became really interesting and obvious to me is that for an Anti-Poverty Strategy to work and to be effective in the Northwest Territories, you’re going to need to engage business. Business is going to need to be involved. I don’t believe that Industry, Tourism and Investment is currently one of the members on our internal working group, and I’m just wondering, if they’re not one of the groups on our internal working group, could the Premier commit to getting a representative from ITI onto that working group to represent business so that we stand a chance of succeeding at our Anti-Poverty Strategy. Thank you.

Question 216-16(5): Anti-Poverty Strategy
Oral Questions

Inuvik Boot Lake

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Premier

I am prepared to have that discussion and see how we can add and strengthen this process. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my previous history in the land claims process, before getting into politics, was with the Dene Metis claim and then also being involved in the regional land claims of the Gwich’in and the Sahtu. I also took part in one of the devolution negotiations back in 1995 in which we were all at the table, we had our own legal counsel, each group was basically represented around the table for negotiating a northern accord on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories along with the Government of the Northwest Territories. Back then Mr. John Todd was the Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, which we actually sat at a table to negotiate. So again, I’d like to ask the Minister in regard to the process. Were the aboriginal groups physically at the negotiating table when this agreement was being signed between the federal government and ourselves?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr. Roland.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process now is we have a draft AIP that has been sent back by the negotiators to the principals. An additional letter has gone out to the aboriginal organizations seeking their input if they want to continue on with the process of being involved in the final set of negotiations. We are going to await

that response. In the work that’s gone on before, as I stated earlier, if we go to the previous Assembly, in fact four of the aboriginal groups signed on to a draft agreement at that point and had sent it in. So throughout the years many have been involved in the negotiations.

Up until this point, this Assembly has not signed any agreement. We are going to take in the comments, wait for the response from the aboriginal organizations. As I said to Members of this Assembly earlier, we will seek input from Members before a decision is made on how we proceed. Thank you.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Mr. Speaker, the concern from the aboriginal groups that I’ve been talking to is that under the land claim agreements we have water rights provisions; we have, basically, land and water provisions; we have the surface rights provisions; we have land use planning provisions. All those provisions are basically supposed to be part of the devolution process so that when the devolution process will be concluded, you will have a working relationship with landowners throughout the Northwest Territories from the aboriginal landowners to the Crown holders and making sure that all the parameters of those agreements are basically intact and they’re working in regard to a new land and water regime in the Northwest Territories.

So again I’d like to ask the Premier, because I think a lot of the discussion has been around royalties, royalties, royalties. Everybody sees dollar signs. But this agreement is more than dollar signs; it’s dealing with lands, waters, and the management of resources in the Northwest Territories. So again, I’d like to ask the Premier why is it that the government is refusing to allow aboriginal groups to sit at the table and negotiate those elements of the agreements, which is very much a part of this devolution process to ensure that those elements are in the agreement going forward.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Mr. Speaker, the fact is we have not refused anybody to the table. We have invited all groups to the table, and, in fact, between INAC and ourselves, have supplied up to in the neighbourhood of $400,000 for groups to come to the table and participate. We’ve been welcoming, we’ve been open and invited all groups to the table, and throughout this process groups have been at the table and some have not been at certain meetings until April where it was the Gwich’in who said that they were not going to be formally a part of the negotiation process. Previous to that, they were involved.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Mr. Speaker, there have been court cases across the country looking at the whole involvement of aboriginal people, governments, to ensure that consultation is more than just getting a notification to take part. Negotiations means you

actually sit at a table like this and you basically negotiate back and forth. So I’d like to ask the Premier again, were the aboriginal groups at the physical table where these negotiations were being negotiated between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Mr. Speaker, I can’t speak for the previous government. I know that the groups that did sign on at that point and were also at the table at the start of this process when we re-engaged with the federal government. At that point, one group has chosen not to be there. Again, others were at different parts of the discussion tables and briefings and negotiations. I am not going to get into the actual workings of those groups.

There is a process in place. As I said, I will honour that process and we are going to wait for a response from the aboriginal organizations if they are going to continue to be a part of the next phase of these discussions. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I will try to simplify my question. During the negotiations between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government at those negotiating tables... I mean, you keep talking about a past tense of what aboriginal groups did or who signed on or who didn’t. I want to know, physically, were the aboriginal groups at the negotiations between the federal government and the Government of the Northwest Territories to come up with this latest agreement-in-principle for devolution for the Northwest Territories? Yes or no?

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Mr. Speaker, the aboriginal organizations that have a joint letter from the chief negotiators talking about the process they reached and the continued involvement of the aboriginal organizations to this next process and we are waiting to see if they will be continue to be a part of this process or come back to the table, in some cases. We have included and we have sat down with Members to provide them information on those that have been involved until we had the official response of the Gwich’in in April. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up with some of the questions I had earlier for the Minister of Transportation in regard to the Deh Cho Bridge Project. I would like to just ask the Minister, the remaining balance on the work to be concluded on that project is roughly $90 million. I am just wondering, given the fact that the steel still

hasn’t shown up in Fort Providence, is there any indication that the cost of building this superstructure on that bridge in the coming year or 18 months or whatever it is going to take, is going to cost more than the $90 million, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Minister of Transportation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, there is no indication that we are going to see an increase in costs. I think the budget remaining for the bridge is around $60 million. Thank you

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Mr. Speaker, if it does cost more than $90 million, obviously given winter construction on a project of that size and nature, and given the fact that it is steel that is going to be erected on that bridge, it would seem to me that, given the delays in the project, costs are going to be incurred. If they are incurred, is it the responsibility of the contractor or the Government of the Northwest Territories to pay any additional costs over $90 million? Thank you.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Minister of Transportation

Mr. Speaker, that is a hypothetical question at this point. We don’t anticipate that there is going to be any delay in the construction schedule. Right now there are 100 trainloads of steel coming from the south and will be unloaded on site. We expect to have a superstructure in by March. Thank you.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Mr. Speaker, in regards to the debt servicing on the bridge, at what point in time is the government liable for the almost $8 million in debt servicing if that project isn’t completed by November of next year? Thank you.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Minister of Transportation

Mr. Speaker, the Member is aware that there is a plan to service the debt. We need an average of at least 6,400 trucks to cross the bridge through the toll system and that would allow us to break even. Anything over that would allow us to have revenue or a profit. Anything under that would force us into a deficit situation.

There’s going to be years when the traffic volumes are up, there’s going to be years when the traffic volumes are down. For this coming year, we expect the traffic volume is going to be around 7,500 trucks or 8,000 and that’s not counting any other new developments such as the Gahcho Kue mine project, there’s also Seabridge, there’s also MGM Minerals and there are other initiatives that are out there that we haven’t factored in here. But our information from the mine industry tells us it’s going to be around 7,500 trucks up to 8,000. Thank you.