This is page numbers 4411 - 4462 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 4th 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 project.

Topics

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we sort out who, in fact, we’re going to be dealing directly with the authorities, be it the chief or the Dene Nation. We will deal with this and we will continue to deal with it through the two most senior officials in the department, both the deputy minister as well as the assistant deputy minister. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Once this has been confirmed, as I said I just had a discussion with the chief of the Yellowknives and he is the man. He is the head of his people here and, like I said, they have different players on both sides. Sometimes they cross boundaries and that’s part of the whole issue here with the meetings. The Minister said the deputy minister and the assistant deputy minister on the GNWT’s side. If that can be confirmed today, can they have negotiations or have the meetings hopefully between now and Friday. Would that happen?

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Those realities are currently in place. The contact has been made. We’re waiting for the clarification. The deputy minister, of course, has been on top of this along with his very able assistant deputy minister to stand ready to try to resolve this. We’ll see what happens by the end of the week, but we hope we’ll be able to move this process forward quickly. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

I look forward to some good announcements hopefully in the next couple of days. I want to ask the Minister in terms of the meat that was seized from the hunters by the ENR officers in terms of how that was distributed to the Yellowknives Dene or to the public.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you. You are kind of going in to a different line of questioning here, but I’ll allow the Minister to answer. Mr. Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The meat was distributed according to the very clear detailed order by the justice of the peace. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance. I want to start with a couple of questions. The Financial Administration Manual accounting

control section notes that failure to comply with policies and directives of the Financial Administration Manual may result in actions under part 10 of the Financial Administration Act. I’d like to ask the Minister what is the process for determining whether policies and directives have been complied with or not. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Minister of Finance

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The act lays out processes for various departments. Ministers, deputies and all their staff have that information available. There are checks and balances through the system, approval processes required. As well, there are audits done on a regular basis. We table all the reports in the House. When there are concerns raised, they are backtracked to wherever they originated and we make efforts to remedy those situations. Thank you.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

My second question is what are the steps needed to start such a process in action? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Minister of Finance

This is a daily practice that managers deal with throughout their various mandates and authorities. If circumstances come to light, if they are considered to be illegal or criminal, there’s a process. If there are steps that haven’t been followed or steps that have been missed, there is a different process that comes into play. We table all the contract documents on a regular basis. If there is a concern in this House that they want to assert that there’s flagrant wrongdoing, that’s a whole different matter than the normal practice than we have here of making sure that we are accountable in a transparent way to the public through all the documents that we table and the processes that we have through the FAA. Thank you.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

The Minister makes some kind of subtle distinction there and I guess I need to ask more what is meant by that. I asked what the process is for determining whether something has been complied with or not, whether a process has been complied with and what the steps are needed to initiate that process. Apparently there are two different processes that the Minister is talking about and I require more information on distinguishing between those two. Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Minister of Finance

When a contract is let, there is a process that is initiated from the time depending on what kind of a contract it is, if it’s an FRP, if it’s a tender, if it’s a different kind of contract, there’s a process. There are checks and balance all along the way within the various departments to make sure this is being done by the numbers. The Members stand up in the House and raise issues about specific contracts with veiled and not thinly veiled allegations that there is some type of wrongdoing. We’ve got all the

documents here. We’ve laid it all out. Issues in the Legislature are different from the normal course of action that happens on a daily basis in government is the distinction that I was making. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last point of confusion here is what documents have been laid out. I haven’t seen any documents on this other than what I’ve researched myself. I am very interested in the documents that the Minister is talking about. Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Minister of Finance

We bring to the House public accounts, we bring to the House contract documents over $5,000. This is one of the documents that’s tabled. It’s on the Internet. If the Member wishes specific information that he doesn’t have access to, I’d be happy to assist to make sure that he’s given all the information that he thinks or would like to have access to. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources questions in the area of environmental protection. In Fort Resolution the community feels there are enough sites to warrant some sort of contaminated soil from within the community. Does the Minister have data on all the sites that are contaminated within the municipal boundaries in the Northwest Territories communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a list which I’d be happy to share with the Member. I believe there are six sites in Fort Resolution all assessed as low risk and there’s another seven in Lutselk’e all assessed, as well, as low risk.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Does the Minister have a schedule to clean up all of the sites that were identified as contaminated sites in the community even if they are low risk? I think the community wants them cleaned up. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

We have an extensive list, both between ourselves and the federal government, which is responsible for Crown land mainly outside of municipal and community boundaries. There are many hundreds of sites. The ones in communities we’re looking at. We work and we are intending to work and are going to continue

to work our way down the list from the high priority areas to those that have been assessed as lower priority. Thank you.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Do the amount of sites currently identified as contaminated still warrant the contaminated soils farm in Fort Resolution and Lutselk'e? Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, what I would suggest to the Member is that I will share the list with him and he can give us his advice. He is far more familiar with the sites than I would be. Then we could, if it’s the wish of the Member, we could set up a meeting with the department officials to get an update for both of his communities. Thank you.