This is page numbers 6401 - 6420 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 6th 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 communities.

Topics

Question 5-16(6): Taltson Hydro Project
Oral Questions

Inuvik Boot Lake

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Premier

In fact, the Power Corporation with the new chair and the new president/CEO are beginning to look at the ways the Power Corporation can be more involved across our Territory with the customer base, whether it’s residential or industry side, to look at a balance and to see how we can be more proactive in looking to the solutions that we may be able to find here in the Territory and provide that it meets a number of targets that we would set towards a Greenhouse Gas Strategy, towards reducing the cost of living in the North and being sustainable.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

I again appreciate the comments from the Premier. The Premier mentioned the greenhouse gas already. I’m wondering, could the Premier confirm what I’ve heard, I believe from the Minister of Finance before, that GNWT does indeed have the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from development in the NWT should they choose to use it.

Question 5-16(6): Taltson Hydro Project
Oral Questions

Inuvik Boot Lake

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Premier

I believe that is affirmative that, yes, as we begin to look at that area and establish our strategies and implementation of those strategies, we are able to put targets in place and the requirements to meet those. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources along with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment are working on coming forward with a strategy as soon as this summer, I believe.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve often been told that only the federal government can regulate industry proposals through the environmental review process, but here we now have evidence that there are two ways to skin a cat, so I appreciate that. Will the Premier ensure that in fact the Greenhouse Gas Strategy does include the ability to regulate carbon emissions from the development project as one of the key tools obviously required in such a strategy?

Question 5-16(6): Taltson Hydro Project
Oral Questions

Inuvik Boot Lake

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Premier

The work that’s being done with the consultations that need to go out, with the work with Members of this Assembly, all the avenues I think we’ve had discussions about will be looked at in one degree or another, but the final product needs to go through our system of working with committee members and getting feedback from the residents of the Northwest Territories.

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. My question is directed to the Premier and is in regard to my Member’s statement. One of the biggest challenges we’re facing in our communities is dealing with the social and economic aspects of trying to generate employment and jobs for our residents. A lot of those jobs and opportunities come by way of government contracts and services. I think that we as government have to take a close look at the social and economic indicators, especially where we have high pockets of unemployment, high graduation rates. What can we as government do to ensure that those capital investments that are made in our communities are being expended in those communities and make way for training opportunities, skill development, and enhancing the local opportunities and for businesses to develop locally and stay in our communities so they can provide those important services? I’d like to ask the Premier: as a government, what are we doing to ensure that we look at those assessments when we make those decisions on capital investments in our communities?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Premier

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Government of the Northwest Territories we use a number of tools to do just what the Member has spoken to, building capacity throughout the North both in our people and in our construction industry, for example. We have, as the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Business Incentive Policy, we have the Negotiated Contracts Policy, we have MOUs within a number of regions, and continue to negotiate renewals and new MOUs being put in place. We try to use as many of those tools as possible. Internally one of the things we‘ve done to look at the capacity issue in our small communities is have our committee structure of small and remote community representatives working together to look at some of those

challenges that we face in our community from program delivery to just as the Member is talking about, construction and capital as well.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Again, I’d like to ask the Premier, with regard to looking at the social and economic fabric of our communities where we’re really starting to see high, high numbers of unemployment in our communities, knowing that we have to do whatever we can to sustain our communities not only through programs and services but economically as well, does our government look at the social numbers to see where we have high pockets of unemployment where people are using the high numbers of social programs and services, regardless if it’s income support or other programs, and as a government realizing that there are benefits to putting money into communities to stimulate that economy and stimulate our local workforce?

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Premier

Yes, we do have quite a number of programs, as I touched base earlier on, in trying to stimulate the economy. Just the announcement earlier today by the Minister of Transportation on the Community Access Program, expanding that because we see the good work it does in many of our communities. We do look at the socio-economic factors. That is why, for example, under Executive we’ve extended services into our small and remote communities under the CSO, or community service officer, positions to try to get as much information about programs to people across the Territory. When you look at our other program structures, we do take into consideration the cost of living, whether it’s income support and so on. Those are the other side of trying to deal with the cost of living in our communities. We do look at whether it is under employment, under capital program, to try to reach out to communities as much as we can and look to expanding those ways as well.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

I think one of the things we have to do as government is to look at the loopholes we have by way of contracting policies and procedures. I think some of them where we deal with as and when contractors... In most of those cases a lot of the contractors that receive those contracts come from outside the region. They’ll go, with regard to a mechanic or a plumber, do work on behalf of the different government departments. Those are the type of jobs that can keep small businesses going in our communities. I’d like to ask the Minister if you also look at the as and when contracts that government lets by way of service contracts without going through a public tendering process and offering those contracts to local contractors.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Premier

I guess the process, if I understand properly the question, goes to with the as and whens in many of our communities are posted on an annual basis for businesses to put

their names in and show interest in that area, to provide those services in our communities and regions. We do have a process established of doing that. I’m not sure if the Member is requesting that we look at them through our other programs that we have there. That is something I guess we can look at from time to time where capacity issues need to be met.

One of the things we do have to look at as a government is the cost of being able to deliver those programs throughout our communities and that does have an impact on some of our decisions as well.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Premier if he could submit a report to this House or the Members of this House identifying how this government is re-profiling its programs and services so we can actually physically see how the programs and services we have are really benefiting communities, and at what cost are we putting them in place to ensure that the investment we make in our communities, the dollars stay in our communities, and that it is stimulating our local economies.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Premier

One of the interesting areas we began to look at prior to division and leading up to division of the Northwest Territories and the creation of Nunavut was we started the geographic tracking of our costs in our Territory at the territorial, regional and community level. This government picked that up and is using that to look at where we benefit our communities as well. We try to use as many tools as we can in measuring our impact in communities both large and small and will continue to look at that type of information as we look at designing our programs and how they benefit our communities.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the need for legislation that comes forward that’s comprehensive and reaches out and provides support and regulation to alternative therapies. As a Member of the Legislative Assembly here, I feel strongly that our job is to make sure that we develop legislation that protects our citizens, and legislation that is developed for alternative therapy I think is the way to go.

Listening to the Minister’s responses to some questions earlier, I’d like the Minister, maybe for the

House, to define and elaborate on the scope of what the draft of that omnibus legislation is going to cover and when can we expect that type of information or that draft legislation to be out for the public to get a sense of what’s happening?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The legislation that we are working on is going to be Health and Social Services umbrella profession legislation and it will start with including four large professions: licensed practical nurses, psychologists, emergency medical service providers and chiropractors, because they have been identified as the four we need to work on right away. There are several other professions that have asked to be included and they could be included as we go forward.

There is lots of research and background work that we need to do to establish this umbrella legislation and this has been in the works for a very long time. We believe that once the framework is in place it would be more doable to include other professions.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

I outlined a number of them in my Member’s statement, which is massage therapist, naturopaths and acupuncturists. There are other alternative medicines out there, and I use the word “alternative” in the sense of option. A lot of people think that there are many solutions to getting healthier and it’s not necessarily driven by just taking a pill. Many people like to take a natural approach. What would hold the Minister back from including these alternatives and other suggestions I’m providing here today? What’s holding the Minister and the department back from including these options in the development of this omnibus legislation?

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

I think it’s important for the Members and the public to know that professions like massage therapist and naturopathic practitioners can continue to practice their fields. They do not need the legislation to practice those. As I stated, unregulated professions pose certain regulating challenges such as small professional numbers and significant licensing differences throughout Canada. It does require tremendous research to determine how best to accommodate these unique circumstances. We believe that, as a department, by finding a framework for the most challenging and complex professions, the four that we have stated, that we will be able to accommodate future professions under the act.

Mr. Speaker, we are making progress in this area. We feel that it will really ground the work to a halt if we were to include everything at once. We are interested in moving forward in the four and that will set a framework for the other ones to be added. I want to note again that nothing right now will stop

massage therapists and naturopathic practitioners from practicing their fields. They can continue to do that. Thank you.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Mr. Speaker, there is a clear expectation from the public that certain industries are regulated for a lot of reasons, but certainly safety is particularly one high on their list. There’s an expectation that with legislation there are things like registering and licensing of these types of therapy groups happens, but as the Minister said -- and I won’t disagree -- that the people can practice these particular options outside of any legislation.

Mr. Speaker, legislation would help these therapy groups define their scope of practice as well as their standards, ethics and certainly bring much needed competencies and ensure the public is protected. Is there a resistance from the Minister to consider these options, as other provinces have proceeded, to move forward in creating legislation? Is it a resistance built into the department or is it just a lack of willingness to take the time to include them? Thank you.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

There is no resistance or lack of willingness or any of those negative connotations, Mr. Speaker. The department has a number of legislations in their workload, and as the Member is well aware, we have a little bit of a traffic jam with legislative process. We, as a government, have a whole list of legislation, I would say upwards of at least 50 that have been in the works for many, many years. We are all in the same traffic highway on legislation.

We recognize the importance of regulating some of these professions and the ones that we have most urgent need is the licensed practical nurses, chiropractors, psychologists and emergency medical responders. Those are identified as being a priority and we believe that once those are set, it would make it easier for other professions like the massage therapists and naturopathic practitioners, which have come onboard later than these other guys, to get one. Thank you.