Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the Chamber. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, one of the priorities of the 16

th

Legislative Assembly is

improving human resource management within the Government of the Northwest Territories through training, career planning and encouraging employee innovation. By doing this, we move closer to our goal of an effective and efficient government.

The Department of Human Resources is working towards that goal with the Public Service Strategic Plan, 20/20: A Brilliant North. We know that to provide a high level of service to the people of the Northwest Territories, we must develop and maintain a public service representative of the people it serves. The Government of the Northwest Territories is working to ensure that the diversity of northern society is represented throughout the public service, which is a shared responsibility involving all departments in establishing opportunities for people.

In addition to our ongoing efforts to hire interns and graduates, a number of initiatives are underway. The Government of the Northwest Territories Advisory Committee on Employability was formed in 2010 to provide recommendations for increasing the representation of persons with disabilities. A strategy will be developed for the recruitment and retention of persons with disabilities this fall.

As well, in 2010, the Aboriginal Employees Advisory Committee was formed to provide recommendations on increasing the number of Aboriginal employees within the public service. This year regional advisory committees will be established to bring a regional and community

perspective to Aboriginal employee issues. The Department of Human Resources is currently developing an Aboriginal Employment Strategy which will guide the Government of the Northwest Territories Aboriginal recruitment and retention initiatives. Mr. Speaker, there is still work to be done and we remain committed to the fundamental principles and implementation of the Affirmative Action Policy.

Developing our employees and preparing for the future of the public service is another central focus of our strategic planning. To develop a sustainable core of managers in the Government of the Northwest Territories, a Leadership Development Program has been initiated which will provide employees with the specific skills they need to succeed. This program is targeting a 50 percent Aboriginal participation rate.

The Associate Director/Superintendent Program was piloted this year with great success. This program provides increased opportunity for indigenous Aboriginal persons to occupy senior management positions on a developmental basis. The Department of Human Resources is preparing to roll out the next phase of this program.

While we continue to build opportunities to improve capacity of the public service, I would like to recognize that the people of the Northwest Territories are already served by skilled and dedicated public servants. To acknowledge the good work of the Government of the Northwest Territories staff, and to give the public an opportunity to meet the people working on their behalf, the Department of Human Resources has launched a new website: Meet our People. This page features career profiles of public servants in a variety of jobs in different regions and who are at different stages in their careers.

The Public Service Strategic Plan provides an ambitious 10-year framework for the development of the public service in the Northwest Territories and is guiding our human resource management. I have highlighted a few of the major initiatives that this government has developed to meet our vision of a well-staffed, representative public service. Later today I will be tabling the 20/20: A Brilliant North Action Plan and Results Report for 2011-2012.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every day our employees deliver critical programs and services to the residents of the Northwest Territories. The Premier’s Awards recognize this outstanding service and celebrate the extraordinary achievements of those employees who demonstrate excellence and innovation in meeting the objectives of work as a government.

Earlier today I was pleased to present the 2011 Premier’s Awards to 36 such dedicated public servants and 20 external collaborative partners.

Three team awards were presented in the 2011 season recognizing:

•

the creation of the Good Building Practice for Northern Facilities 2009 guidebook;

•

the

in-house

development of a system that

collects and disseminates weather products critical in calculating wild land fire danger; and

•

the use of Aboriginal standards of practice and traditional values for prevention and early intervention on social issues.

The Premier’s Collaboration Awards recognize the work of teams made of GNWT and non-GNWT employees who work together to enhance government programs or services. Collaboration Awards for 2011 were presented for:

•

the use of environmentally sustainable

technology that blends traditional and western science knowledge;

•

work on our government’s multi-year

intervention at the National Energy Board hearings on the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project; and

•

development of the Northern Voices, Northern Waters - NWT Water Stewardship Strategy.

An individual Premier’s Award for Excellence was presented to Mr. Benoit Boutin for his work on the implementation of communications and services in the French language.

This year a new individual award was introduced in honour of the late Dave Ramsden, a long-time GNWT employee, former deputy minister and secretary to Cabinet. This award recognizes an individual with a demonstrated history of commitment to excellence and public service over the course of their career.

The 2011 Dave Ramsden Career Excellence Award was presented to Mr. Sukhdev Cheema. During Mr. Cheema’s nearly 30-year career with the government, he has guided building design

decisions on major infrastructure projects throughout the North, promoted and demonstrated sound energy management practices, and played an instrumental role in bringing northern building science and technology issues to the international level.

Each Premier’s Award recipient today received a plaque featuring porcupine quillwork on birch bark from artisans from the Fort Liard area. The Dave Ramsden Award features original artwork by Jennifer Walden.

Encouraging innovation among our public servants is one of the priorities this Assembly identified to help pursue its goal of effective and efficient government. The leadership, cross-agency collaboration and innovative ideas demonstrated by the recipients of this year’s Premier’s Awards and their working partners is a model for us all and has resulted in enhanced productivity and improved services.

I invite the Assembly to join me in congratulating award recipients and extending our appreciation to all members of the public service for their professionalism, resourcefulness and hard work.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Later today I will table the new NWT Seniors’ Society Action Plan: Making Connections – Building Networks to Prevent Abuse of Older Adults.

Seniors and elders are the fastest growing segment of the Northwest Territories population. Unfortunately, the vulnerability of many elders leaves them open to exploitation, often by relatives or others in their community. The Northwest Territories Seniors’ Society reports within its new action plan entitled Making Connections – Building Networks to Prevent Abuse of Older Adults that 71 percent of older adults say the abuse of older adults is a problem in their community. While all forms of abuse exist, the most common forms are financial, neglect, emotional and verbal.

Protecting the health and welfare of all NWT residents is a priority of the Government of the Northwest Territories. I would like to thank the NWT Seniors for this action plan. The Department of Health and Social Services will consider these recommendations in our new five-year strategic plan.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services has included elder abuse prevention as

part of the overall strategy to prevent family violence.

The department considers senior abuse an important issue. We have provided $187,452 to the NWT Seniors’ Society, and $90,000 of this funding was used by the NWT Seniors’ Society for community outreach work to support their Building Networks to Prevent Elder Abuse Symposium.

The NWT Seniors’ Society Action Plan includes many valid recommendations to address abuse. It is the role of governments, NGOs, community leaders and northern society as a whole not to turn a blind eye to elder abuse. We all have a responsibility to prevent the abuse of our elders. We all must stand together and say this is not acceptable in our communities.

The Department of Health and Social Services continues to pursue initiatives to provide enhanced services for NWT seniors, such as long-term care planning, injury prevention for seniors, developing new continuing care strategies, and elder abuse awareness and prevention.

The department’s Foundation for Change Action Plan recognizes the importance of working with our stakeholders and partners on policies and programs for seniors and elders. We will continue to work collaboratively with the NWT Seniors’ Society towards eliminating elder abuse and ensuring our seniors enjoy the benefits of healthy aging and a better quality of life. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Public Works and Services, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Contracts are a means to develop economic growth in our communities, but more importantly, government infrastructure such as housing, replacement of schools and public facilities. Mr. Speaker, I’ve asked through a written question in this House how many negotiated contracts were let in my riding, the Mackenzie Delta, for the last five years. Surprisingly, it was $876,000 in five years.

Mr. Speaker, out of a total capital investment of almost $12 million, $9.6 million was expended to contractors from outside my constituency.

Mr. Speaker, economic development is a key component to deal with the socio-economic development of our communities. Without the contracts government lets, capital investment in our communities, those capital investment dollars should be expended in our region and our ridings so that it can generate employment and business opportunities and allow for our workforce to meet its needs by way of apprenticeship programs, skill development and, more important, employment.

Mr. Speaker, in my riding there is some 60 percent unemployment in two of my communities. Mr. Speaker, it is pretty obvious that this government’s policies and procedures when it comes down to contracting, negotiated contracts, sole sourced or even public tendering, is not meeting the needs of our smaller communities. It’s meeting the needs of people in the larger regional centres, where a large portion of our capital investment is being expended to the tune of almost $10 million in my riding alone, where only less than 10 percent is being expended in my riding.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will be asking the Minister of the Housing Corporation how he can justify this imbalance of capital expenditures in my riding.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are significant hydro opportunities here in the Northwest Territories. Given the rapidly increasing fuel rates and the environmental impacts of our reliance on diesel fuel for power and heat throughout the Northwest Territories, we must remain focused on building upon and maintaining our hydro potential.

Earlier this year the Northwest Territories Power Corporation decided to put more time into development of the business case for the Taltson Hydroelectric Expansion Project. I believe it was the right and most responsible decision. If previous assumptions about customer usage are not proven out, the basis for the project needs to be re-examined.

Today, Mr. Speaker, I’d like to talk about another NCPC project. In the fall of 2009, the replacement of the Bluefish dam was deemed to be an emergency. The Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board granted an emergency exemption for preliminary screening for the required permits for the replacement of this dam. Construction materials were to be brought to site during the winter of 2009, but unfortunately the project is now slated to be in service in the fall of 2012.

Mr. Speaker, the cost of the replacement dam is a concern. I was very surprised to read in the media in late April that the cost of the project had increased to over $33 million. Constituents came to me after reading the same article. They are concerned about the impact of the higher cost of the Bluefish replacement on their families. They are worried the increased costs will be passed on to them. Many of them are having a hard time making ends meet now.

As a Member of this Legislature, I was only aware that the cost of the project was going to be less than $20 million. I think it’s important that the public of Yellowknife be aware of the increased costs for the project, and potential implications for their household and businesses. Gas prices have already increased for our residents, going from $1.16 a litre before Christmas to over $1.30 now. According to our Bureau of Statistics, consumer prices for water, fuel and electricity in Yellowknife have risen by over 10 percent between March 2010 and March 2011.

I think we’re in danger of pricing many people out of our capital and out of our territory. They won’t have the means to cope with an ever-increasing cost of living. This could have serious implications for the GNWT programs and services available to our residents.

I will have questions at the appropriate time for the Minister responsible for the NTPC regarding the impact of the Bluefish dam replacement on power rates in Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories as a whole.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to draw attention to Aboriginal elders

who are in long-term care. We have an excellent facility in Fort Simpson and I have praised it before in this House. Our elders are very well cared for. That care comes at a price to them. Every elder, including elders with treaty rights, pay $712 per month for accommodations and meals. That payment eats up the lion’s share of his or her old age security money. To make matters worse, this government is increasing that fee to $729 a month on June 1

st

. It is truly shameful.

On one hand we love and respect our elders and on the other we chip away at their meagre incomes and leave them with little to enjoy in their last years on this earth. Seniors in public housing pay little or nothing for rent. Why is it that those elders who need the most help have to pay for their accommodation while those who are able to look after themselves do not?

Why is it that Aboriginal elders with treaty rights to medical care have to pay for their long-term care? Why isn’t our government collecting these fees from the federal government? The agreement with the federal government is that they provide medicine chests to Aboriginal people. It is probably much easier to chisel $729 a month from our elders instead, but that doesn’t make it right.

For the sake of convenience, we ask our elders to pay when we could be helping them live more comfortable lives. This government should let our elders keep their old age security pensions and do whatever it takes to make it happen. They must speak with Ottawa and get this issue resolved.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Premier and the Finance Minister do not like to miss any opportunity to talk about the $450 million spent on capital projects here in the Northwest Territories over the past few years. Yes, this spending is unprecedented capital dollars that are being spent in our communities when our economy needed it the most.

I’d like to again thank the federal government in Ottawa for all the millions of dollars that have flowed North through the various infrastructure stimulus programs that they have offered our government.

As a government we have always seemed to have an issue with carry-overs where capital dollars are approved in one year then never get spent because the project does not get finished. We took a step in addressing this carry-over issue by approving the capital budget in the fall of the year as opposed to with the operations and maintenance budget which

we deal with in February and March. This move was supposed to help alleviate the carry-overs on an annual basis. Yes, we’ve had an inordinate amount of money to spend, but why are we again this year carrying over close to $130 million in capital, $72 million alone in the Department of Transportation?

What I hear from mid-sized construction companies in my riding and in the Northwest Territories, and the Northwest Territories Construction Association, is that they really wonder where all the money was spent. Big projects like the Inuvik School Project and highways and bridge projects ate up the majority of that money. Missing in the equation are projects that medium-sized construction companies could have bid on. Large projects are cutting out small to medium-sized construction companies who employ hundreds of people in our territory. These companies have not gotten much benefit from this unprecedented capital spending by this government. Perhaps what we need is a breakdown of where and for what all this money has gone to.

The smaller companies are getting scared. They have payrolls to meet, overhead and operational costs to bear, and all they see our government looking to is to shrink our capital plan back to more historic levels of around $75 million a year.

The Minister of Public Works and Services earlier today stated that we’re improving the government’s approach to capital and we are delivering capital infrastructure projects that benefit our workforce and our economy. Why is it, then, that there is so much concern out there amongst the small to mid-sized construction companies who indicate they are not getting the work...

Mr. Ramsay, you’re time for your Member’s statement is expired.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Why is it, then, that there is so much concern out there amongst the small to midsized construction companies who indicate they are not getting the work or benefit of this spending?

We need to ensure as a government that we are spending as much of our capital dollars fairly and that there is a balance between large, medium and smaller capital projects around our territory to benefit our economy the most and the companies that depend upon it.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to try to discuss a sometimes misunderstood program that we call Affirmative Action. This policy is our government’s attempt to achieve a representative workforce. The GNWT is a huge employer in the Northwest Territories and officials may tell me that the GNWT is not the employer of choice in the North, but I can assure you that GNWT jobs are highly sought after and valued by most people that I know.

The population of the NWT is split approximately 50/50 between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. Since the GNWT is a large employer providing services to all residents of the NWT, the goal of achieving a representative workforce is a worthwhile and needed endeavour. How it plays out in reality in the offices and institutions of our government across the North is a little more complex than it sounds.

How do we get people to move to the regional centres in our capital where there is such a high concentration of public service jobs if they live in their own communities and don’t want to move there? We don’t very often talk about decentralization around here, I notice.

There are also some activities in the government that have traditionally attracted more people from a distinct group that comprise our population. For example, there are undeniably more Aboriginal people drawn to and employed in areas such as renewable resources, wildlife officers and corrections than there are Aboriginal people, for example, working in the towers here in Yellowknife in policy and finance analyst jobs.

Will there ever be a greater balance of people in these areas of administration and finance if we don’t make a concerted effort as a government to create capacity in these areas? Are there certain positions that one group would have more affinity with given a stronger connection to the land, such as the areas that I’ve mentioned: wildlife management, human sciences, counselling, social work?

Some people are not cut out for nine to five jobs and I often hear that from people. They’re not interested in sitting in an office from nine to five. How do we set targets, and when those targets are reached in an individual department or activity, do we say mission accomplished and stop applying priority status to those positions?

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

It’s hard to believe in this day and age, in this territory, that there are still

systemic barriers to Aboriginal people finding employment with the GNWT in positions for which they are qualified, yet we continue to hear evidence of such instances. If this is true, this is something that needs to be documented and addressed. On the other hand, if we’ve reached departmental or regional representation goals, what do we do for the people who want to find employment in those activities but cannot and feel that this is because they are not a priority hire candidate?

In the absence of any kind of appeal process for people looking for employment in the GNWT who are not already employees, what mechanism is there to register these kind of concerns from Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal people?

I’d like to thank the Minister of Human Resources for his statement today, which kind of ties in with the kinds of things I’m addressing. That’s not my entire statement but I’ll stop there and perhaps save some for the preamble in my questions.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.