This is page numbers 6849 - 6882 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 safety.

Topics

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The file in Ottawa is sitting on the Infrastructure Minister’s desk, who I think is Minister Lebel. He’s got the infrastructure file. At the same time, we supported the city’s application to try and access some of the green funding for the residents out at Northland Trailer Park. Thank you.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

I appreciate the Minister’s response. I would like to ask the Minister when was the last time the department, MACA, government officials from the Government of the Northwest Territories sat down with municipal officials and the federal government to try to come up with a solution with what’s happening at Northland. Thank you.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

I pointed out the other day, we had written a letter to the Infrastructure

Minister, Minister McLeod had written a letter to the Government of Canada on July 18

requesting this

particular type of meeting and getting more information on where the application is at. Thank you.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Obviously, we’ve got three days left in this sitting of the Legislature. We are going to go into election mode during the month of September. A new government won’t come in until October. Something has to happen. I want to get a commitment today from the Minister that he can get a thorough update on exactly where this situation is at, what needs to happen so that the residents in that trailer park can have some hope for the future. When can we get a thorough report from the government on where exactly things are at? Thank you.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

We can provide a communication as to where we’re at in this whole application process and the support we’ve provided. At the end of the day I think the municipal government plays a large, if not the largest, role in this situation that is happening out at Northland because those folks out there are municipal taxpayers. So I think the municipal government has to take a lead role or a larger role in the situation out at Northland. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Minister; it is a municipal concern, but what I’m saying is the Government of the Northwest Territories has to pay attention. If there is a catastrophic sewer line break or a water line break, it is going to be our problem, Mr. Speaker, in a big way. We have to be out in front of this. We have to try to be coordinating efforts between the city and the federal government to come up with a solution. Again, I think if we don’t do that and we just try to let them sort it out... We need to be doing that.

I would like to ask the Minister for a commitment to get people to the table to, again, try to come up with a solution to the issue out at Northland. If there is a sewer line break there this winter, there will be 1,100 people, 600 kids, displaced from their homes that are going to be our problem, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

This government is not blind to the plight of the folks out at Northland and we have been doing what we can to support the city’s application and making our feelings known to Canada. I can assure the Member and all Members that we’ll continue to do that. We’ve been constantly trying to get a meeting with our Infrastructure Minister. Early indications are that a meeting may be able to happen as early as a couple of weeks.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my statement earlier today, I’d like to ask questions of the Minister of Human Resources. I’d like to start by noting that the GNWT is one of the territory’s biggest employers. The human, financial, and even governance costs of poor health and safety practices can be very significant.

The Minister’s response to my written inquiry said that GNWT is taking steps to create the health and safety committee structures required by law by the end of this fiscal year. Can the Minister tell me why these committees are not already in place three years after the start-up of the Safe Advantage program and what was the hold-up?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I missed who your question was directed to, Mr. Bromley. Could you clarify who your question is for? The honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Minister of Human Resources

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member noted, the Department of Human Resources has been working very closely with all of the departments and the government to develop an Occupational Health and Safety Program. It’s taken a couple of years to do so. We now have a program that we’re implementing. It will be fully implemented by 2011-2012.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thanks for that response from the Minister. That is this year. So we expect to see that in the next few months. Good to hear.

As I said, also I’m confused by the apparent contradiction between the increasing fines and penalties that we’re experiencing as an employer and increasingly good survey scores on return-to-work practices and safety. Can the Minister explain how our scores could be improving at the same time our penalties and claims costs are actually mounting into the millions of dollars?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Minister of Human Resources

There are a couple of reasons for that. First of all, WSCC operates on a three-year cycle. For the first two years of this government we were in a neutral category. The third year, 2010, there was a significant increase in the amount of claims. There are two parts to it. One is a financial penalty and then the other part is on the management practices side. The penalty that we paid is because of the increase in claims. We were able to show on the management practices side that we do have a strategy and a plan to improve our performance. By doing so, we were able to get the WSCC to acknowledge that, and

instead of instituting, there was also the possibility of a further $121,000 penalty which they did not assess because we were able to show that our management practices were being improved in the future.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

I appreciate the response. It sounds pretty confusing still to me, so I’m going to study up a little bit on this. I appreciate those comments.

For some reason the WSCC has stopped publishing the accident frequency rates that tell us how different types of workplaces compare in terms of accidents, lost time, et cetera. Can the Minister of Human Resources tell me how the GNWT workplace accident and safety statistics compare to other major employers? Are we the best? The worst? What are the facts here?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Minister of Human Resources

In the Safe Advantage program there are three categories that one can fall under. One is where your performance is so good that you get a refund. The second category is where you are middle of the pack, so you have a neutral assessment. Third is if you’re in the category where over a three-year period you’re exceeding the average of $40,000, that you pay a penalty. So we’re in the third category where we have paid a penalty of approximately $243,000.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Of course, I didn’t ask for those categories. It’s obvious, as we’ve heard, that we’re paying the biggest fine, so we’re clearly in the worst category. I asked for rates, statistics, and I’m hoping the Minister will provide those to us. Examples of good safety practices are available at most mines and industrial workplaces. Safety is usually right in your face. Even when I attended a meeting at the Explorer Hotel, we started with safety protocols simply identifying where the fire exits are and other important facts. So I know these workplaces have vibrant health and safety committees up and running. Closer to home I’m disappointed to have to ask if the Legislative Assembly even have a health and safety committee in place.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Minister of Human Resources

Whenever we attend meetings with the mining companies and mining industry, we always start off with a safety first meeting. That’s been expanded to oil and gas companies. I’m sure as part of with the opening prayer we can also start with a safety first commitment. I think that as we go forward, I really believe that as a government we’re going to have to move in that direction. Safety is going to have to be first and foremost on everybody’s minds.

As far as statistics, we have lots of statistics and I can give the Member the top three events that are causing the significant amount of claims. The first is

falls; 21 percent of our claims are due to falls. Thirteen percent are due to overexertion. Nine percent are due to bending, climbing, crawling, reaching, twisting. Those are the main reasons for the high number of claims in this government.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Transportation. I’d like to ask some questions of him with regard to programs that the department runs relative to distracted driving. It’s well known that distracted driving dangers are out there and that they’re really quite valid.

Early in 2011 the Minister made a statement or comment that the Drive Alive program would have different facets to it. In February, I believe, I made a statement about distracted driving and I asked the Minister about the Leave the Phone Alone pledge campaign, which he had indicated was going to be part of the Drive Alive program. At that time he gave me no information as to activities that the department had done with regard to the Leave the Phone Alone pledge campaign. So I’d like to ask the Minister, from February of this year to now -- we’re almost at the end of August of this year -- what sorts of things has the department done with regard to the Leave the Phone Alone pledge campaign.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; we had indicated that we would take on a number of initiatives to encourage people to leave their phone alone while they’re driving. It’s our goal to reduce the number of collisions in the Northwest Territories attributed to driver distraction. We have a number of objectives that we’ve set, and that is to have a large percentage of people acknowledging that distracted driving, driving with a phone or other electronic devices can cause harm, and that’s something they shouldn’t do.

We have also an objective to reduce the traffic collisions, by a small percentage, increasing every year. We also want to increase the use of seatbelts. We’ll do this by providing a number of messages. We’ve already started. We’ve sent out information to every house in the Northwest Territories. We will be taking out ads. We’re working with the Students Against Drunk Driving, with their public campaign. We’ll be providing them with some funding to do

some work on our behalf, or on behalf of this initiative. We’ll be providing public announcements.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done. Some of it is already ongoing and some of it will be coming forward.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

All the objectives of the department are certainly laudable. I certainly support them. In all of the words in the Minister’s response, I really heard very little reference to the Leave the Phone Alone pledge campaign. In March of this year, again the Minister made a statement on the Year of Road Safety. He mentioned the pledge campaign as one of the initiatives. Again there was no real detail to it. To this day -- I checked the website before I came down today -- there is no mention on the department’s website, there is no mention in any communications plan, that I can find for the department, of the Leave the Phone Alone pledge campaign. It leaves me to wonder how important this campaign is to the department. I’d like to ask the Minister if he could explain that.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

The campaign is very important to the department or we wouldn’t be doing it. There are a number of strategies and tactics that we have committed to provide. We need to get the information out into the public. Some of it we’ve already started. I certainly can provide a detailed information package to the Member.

We are, as I indicated, providing information to each community in the Northwest Territories. We have a window sticker campaign that is ongoing right now. We have news releases that are being developed on the new distracted driving law when and after the legislation takes effect. We have plans for public service announcements on CBC’s Northbeat. On CKLB we’re taking out ads and in the newspaper, to promote awareness about the new law. We have a social media campaign using Facebook ads. We have a brochure that’s going to be distributed. We’re providing, as I said earlier, money to Students Against Drunk Driving so that they can do public service announcements. We’re also going to involve the Students Against Drunk Driving in most of our public campaigns on distracted driving. We have, and are creating, a public service announcement for CBC TV website and radio. We have the French language version for radio also. We’re providing funding for school media studies and for professional assistance. We’re working with the enforcement people, the municipal people, the RCMP, and we want to start an advertising blitz in advance of back to school. There are a lot of things we’re doing, and certainly we can provide that in further detail to the Member if she’d like that.