This is page numbers 2143 – 2196 of the Hansard for the 17th 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 services.

Topics

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

I think the really positive thing about having the training there is that we can get people from the communities to attend the training in Hay River, and take the skills and knowledge that they learn there back to their communities so that they can train and teach other people back in their communities. So, yes, there has been some indication that we will get some people from the communities that want to get the training and take that information knowledge back home.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

I think some of the other issues that are out there, also in the agriculture area, is in training. Are there ways that we’re implementing these into the schools and institutions and stuff like that? The corrections facilities? Is there any indication from the department, as far as agriculture is concerned, of doing that type of education as well?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

We haven’t had discussions. I know ITI has not had discussions as of yet with ECE on looking at putting a component in the schools, but that is a very good idea and certainly something that I will follow up on.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question about agriculture is the agriculture policy and the identification of lands and special taxation. Has the department done any additional work with that lately?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

The only demand involving lands outside of municipalities is coming from Hay River. We have met with the Town of Hay River and the Territorial Farmers Association. They are looking at 300 acres of land within the municipality for agriculture, and our officials have spoken to both the town and the TFA and offered support in trying to find a way forward for utilization of that land for agricultural pursuits. We will continue to do that. There is also interest in Fort Smith and Enterprise, as well as Yellowknife for land for agricultural use. We’re continuing that dialogue as well.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Item 8, written questions. Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

The attached Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, AANDC, map for the Giant Mine Remediation Project shows the location of underground arsenic chambers and project drill holes. The attached GNWT Department of Transportation map, “Proposed Ingraham Trail Realignment,” shows the route of the road realignment.

1. What is the purpose of the realignment and

what issues or concerns is the highway being realigned to address?

2. How was the road alignment route chosen so as

not to interfere with the remediation project and to avoid damage to underlying arsenic storage chambers?

3. Since the underground arsenic chamber labeled

Reach 6 on the AANDC map appears to lie directly under the route of the realigned NWT Highway No. 4, how is the safety of routing the highway over the storage chamber assured?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a written question for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

The Business Development Investment Corporation, BDIC, reports to the Minister of INDUSTRY, Tourism and Investment, from whom I ask for the following information regarding the BDIC:

1. The monetary value of new activity for each of

the following categories for the current fiscal year:

(a) contributions,;

(b) credit or credit facilities; and

(c) venture investments.

2. A summary description of new activity in each of

the following categories for the current fiscal year:

(a) contributions;

(b) credit or credit facilities; and

(c) venture investments.

3. Detailed information on the following:

(a) the value of funds owed by BDIC to the

GNWT;

(b) when those funds were borrowed; and

(c) what those funds were used for.

4. The subsidiary companies owned by BDIC, their

locations and a summary of the products and services they provide.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to opening address. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mrs. Groenewegen’s Reply
Replies to Opening Address

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m sorry that I didn’t get a chance to really conclude my Member’s statement today on the theme that I was going on and I really didn’t think it was fair to leave everybody hanging overnight. Also, as I mentioned earlier, tomorrow is Anti-Bullying Day, so I thought I’d better get my comments in today.

We’re coming up soon to the midway point for the 17th Legislative Assembly. We’re just a little past

the midway point of this particular session. This is where everybody is tested during the budget session, where Ministers are put to the test as they appear with their witnesses before the Chamber, where Regular Members are put to the test with their tolerance and endurance, and sometimes frustration with some of the long hours and some of the issues that we all grapple with.

I’d just like to do a quick review of the folks that we chose at the beginning of the 17th Assembly. We

went into TLC. We heard their comments. We heard their speeches. Some of them we knew, some of them we didn’t know as well, but we chose leadership from amongst us to go on the other side and take responsibility for departments. We entrusted them with that. Now we are coming up to the midway point, so I just wanted to go over a few of my observations today. These are purely my observations.

I’ll start at one end: Mr. Beaulieu. A very tough and challenging Department of Health and Social Services, one that covers a very broad spectrum of issues that are dear to people’s hearts. When we, as MLAs, have constituents come to us with issues, I would say the majority of our issues that I’m approached with as an MLA are somehow related to Health and Social Services. It’s a people department and it’s one that requires a lot of knowledge to get familiar with all of the issues. I appreciate that Mr. Beaulieu comes to us with a small community perspective. He did chair the Standing Committee on Social Programs in the last government, but he is a person that knows the real challenges that face people in their everyday lives, and he’s real. I mean, there have been some days here, but I think he has a ways to go before he matches my record of six days with Health and Social Services before standing committee, but…

---Laughter

Mrs. Groenewegen’s Reply
Replies to Opening Address

An Hon. Member

Record noted.

Mrs. Groenewegen’s Reply
Replies to Opening Address

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Yes, record noted. Thank you. But sometimes when, like, he’s so honest about it, he’s not a good poker player. Sometimes it’s becoming overwhelming and he says that I wish to do better and I strive to know more about the issues and give my colleagues a good answer. I appreciate the fact that he is very real. We all have a ways to go to learn all the topics.

Our Minister responsible for Public Works and Services and Human Resources, comes to us from a background in the public service. I find Mr. Abernethy very responsive. He’s a critical thinking person. You don’t have to say, “Do you know what I mean?” after you ask him a question, because you do know that he knows what you mean. I believe that he genuinely cares about the plight of our communities outside the capital. He has demonstrated that, and that is very comforting to me, for a Yellowknife MLA to be able to understand some of the challenges that we are facing in the communities and in the regional centres. We’ve kind of had a little thing going on this side of the House, where we just want to add at the end of every sentence “and the communities and regional centres,” because in our discussions in committee it comes up so often. I do appreciate Mr. Abernethy’s quick thinking and responsiveness to the issues, and I think that a Cabinet position suits him very well.

Mr. Miltenberger, my long-time colleague of almost 18 years now. I’ve given report cards on him before and I think I might have even used this phrase before, but again, in the 17th Assembly, the

workhorse, with his eye on the fiscal restraint and responsibility of our Legislature. Undeniably, a very intelligent man. You know how the really smart kid in the class gets really bored with the others? Sometimes he has to be a little bit careful, that we need to catch up with him. Maybe it’s just a thing of being here so long, you’ve got so much, kind of, corporate knowledge. But with that knowledge, I think that Mr. Miltenberger is in an excellent position to be looking at these next two years for mentoring some of the folks who will be here after…

---Laughter

Mentoring some of the folks that will be here after we’re gone. Now he says he’s coming back so…

---Laughter

When the Drive for Five was still alive, I said don’t make me come back again, but anyway, here we are. I’d like to thank Mr. Miltenberger, because I do know that his motives are altruistic and I know that with the length of service he does have here, sometimes I tell people he could be… He’s making

nothing because your pension can’t start until you actually retire, and I’m sure if he was in Fort Smith or pursuing his own aspirations right now, he would be probably making as much, if not more, money than he does sitting here as a Minister in our government. I know that his motives are good and he does genuinely care about the people of the North. He just has to sometimes understand that maybe we’re not all quite caught up to where he’s at and he needs to communicate with us.

Premier McLeod. Premier McLeod is probably the most understated achiever that I’ve ever met. If I’m doing something or have something on my mind, everybody’s got to know about it. Everybody around me is going to know about it, but Premier McLeod is not exactly a walking billboard for what he’s doing or what he’s accomplishing at any given time. Every time I hear about things in little bits and pieces, I’m amazed. I tell him that and I tell other people that. I’ll say it again in this House that the devolution file was one that I doubted I would see in my time as a politician in the Northwest Territories. I doubted I would see it get to this point. But through a culmination of events and the support of his staff he has around him, the support of his Cabinet, it seems like the stars have aligned for the Northwest Territories on the devolution file. But I do say that I don’t think it could have come to this point without the leadership of our Premier that we have here. I’d like to thank him.

---Applause

One thing that’s always been very curious to me is, after all those years in the senior levels of public service and having a front row seat to what goes on in this Legislature, that he actually wanted to come here. That kind of surprised me about him too. Again, from a small community perspective, when he does not forget his roots in the small communities, and that is something that, when we do talk to him about the challenges, he understands.

Next I have Minister Lafferty. Again, I’d like to thank Minister Lafferty for his genuine caring about education. For him, I believe, it’s not just an assignment. Like Health and Social Services, it is a big and very challenging department with many things to be accomplished, but we chip away at it. Mr. Lafferty is not as quick in his responses and in verbal dialogue as some, but he does take our issues seriously and to heart, and sometimes he processes them and, maybe a day or two later, comes back with what he’s had a chance to think about and process and talk to his senior staff about, and then has a response to us at that time.

He’s had some really good success on some really innovative things in education, and let me just mention a few of those. The residential school curriculum, which we just had a briefing on today, is something that is very new. No other government

has ever spearheaded that and has ever been able to bring that along. The Aboriginal student achievement. I mean, how many years have we stood in this Legislature and said that we have to level the playing field, we have to bring Aboriginal students along, we have to affect those graduation rates that Aboriginal students are not as well represented in. Those were things that we wanted to effect change in. Also, with the revitalization of the education program. I’d like to thank Minister Lafferty for his work on that.

Minister David Ramsay. We were seatmates so we had the advantage. But I think that Minister Ramsay really wanted in the Cabinet, even in previous governments, but hadn’t quite made it there. But once he got there, I could see that he came into his realm and he’s a natural in that. He’s very enthusiastic about his issues and his departments, sometimes a little too enthusiastic, like the Inuvik-Tuk highway, but that’s another whole story. I do appreciate, very much, his intelligence and his responsiveness to the issues. And like Minister Abernethy, a Yellowknife… May I say this? It’s a long time from elections. It’s a long ways off, elections. But again, another Yellowknife Minister, like Mr. Abernethy, who, when he says he cares about decentralization and the sustainability and the viability of communities outside of Yellowknife, I believe that when he goes to the Cabinet table, he brings that message there. We have seen the results of that and I appreciate that very, very much about him.

I know that he does travel lots to represent our government because of the portfolios that he does have, and I’m absolutely confident that he does so in a way that generates a great deal of respect for the Northwest Territories and creates awareness about the issues that we face here. I think he is a very good ambassador in that regard.

Last but not least, our Minister Robert C. McLeod. Someone just said this morning, and I don’t think this is committee confidentiality, that the NWT Housing Corporation has never been in better shape than it is today. Housing is one of those departments, again, where you have to find that fine balance between understanding the issues that Northerners face but still be pragmatic about the realities of when government coddling ends and personal responsibility kicks in. That is something that takes walking the line.

We want to do good for our constituents, but at the same time, we don’t want to enable them not to take responsibility for themselves. So I do appreciate that common person, common sense, pragmatic approach that Minister Robert C. McLeod brings to his work in the Housing Corporation and in MACA as well. It’s obvious, from the work with his senior officials, that they work very well together and that they are there to see things get done.

I’m not used to having all this time. Sorry. I have to slow down a little bit.

As I started off saying earlier today, in consensus government maybe we need to think about the varied skills that we all bring to the table and how we bring that together to get the best results possible. No doubt we do have frustrating days at times, but this group of 19 is what we have to work with. Maybe it would be interesting to see what we could accomplish. The type of government we have is necessarily, at times, adversarial. Like I said, it’s that little hybrid of partisan politics that seems to creep in here, but it would be really good to see what we could accomplish together by encouraging each other. When we see things that could be done better or things that could be done differently, if we could find ways to communicate those in a way that’s encouraging, that is supportive both ways, that we can say that, and maybe somebody can see the way I’m doing my job and could offer critiquing or suggestions that would help me do my job.

At the end of the day, the work that we do here in this Chamber, and with our constituents, and in our offices and everything we do, is not about us, but it’s about the people of the Northwest Territories that we serve. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mrs. Groenewegen’s Reply
Replies to Opening Address

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. Mr. Moses.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very honoured to be tabling the following document today. It is an insert from the Inuvik Drum dated Thursday, February 21, 2013. I will be tabling the front page as well as page 3. The front page says, “Father in Posse, Son Recalls How Dad Involved in Mad Trapper’s Death 81 Years Ago.” The other page is, “Mad Trapper Chase Recalled – Inuvik Man is Son of RCMP Officer who Took Down Albert Johnson.”

This document is part of NWT history. It tells a story of Winston John Moses talking about Constable John Moses, who fired the fatal shot of the Mad Trapper of Rat River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Item 15, notices of motion. Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, February 28, 2013, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on February 28, 2013, it shall be adjourned until Monday, March 4, 2013;

And further, that any time prior to March 4, 2013, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the times stated in such notice and shall transact its business as it has been duly adjourned to that time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Hawkins.

Motion 6-17(4): Gasoline Pricing Regulations
Notices of Motion

February 25th, 2013

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, February 28, 2013, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that the Government of the Northwest Territories investigate and evaluate the possibility of regulating gasoline prices;

And further, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 120 days.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. WHEREAS there are over $630 million in financial commitments attached to existing oil and gas exploration leases in the Canol shale formation;

AND WHEREAS oil and gas exploration activity has increased significantly in the Sahtu over the past two winter work seasons, and there are strong indications not only that exploration activity will continue to increase, but that a long-term

production field employing hundreds and possibly thousands of workers will become a reality;

AND WHEREAS all levels of government stand to benefit from increased resource development in the Sahtu, which could potentially become a major economic driver for the territory;

AND WHEREAS recent events have proven that the existing Mackenzie Valley winter road infrastructure is already inadequate to support current traffic bringing supplies into the region, and will not stand up to even higher traffic levels as exploration activity increases and production activity begins;

AND WHEREAS many potential workers in the Sahtu and elsewhere in the Mackenzie Valley and the NWT are lacking in training and skills needed for employment in oil and gas and related sectors;

AND WHEREAS a substantial capacity-building effort is needed in the near future to ensure Sahtu and NWT residents benefit from employment opportunities arising from the Canol shale play;

AND WHEREAS there is precedent for significant federal human resource development assistance in the Voisey’s Bay area of Labrador which in recent years saw rapid development in its mining sector;

AND WHEREAS it would be tragic if the tremendous potential benefits in terms of jobs and economic growth from the Sahtu oil and gas exploration and development were not realized for want only of a timely and relatively small upfront investment in capacity building and transportation infrastructure;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that the Government of the Northwest Territories immediately initiate discussions with the Government of Canada to prioritize funding for an all-weather Mackenzie Valley Highway from Wrigley into the Sahtu;

AND FURTHER, that the Government of the Northwest Territories immediately initiate discussions with the Government of Canada to seek federal investment in human resource development initiatives along the lines of the Voisey’s Bay model;

AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 120 days.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to say a few words on this motion here. I thank the honourable Member for Nahendeh for seconding it and Members for allowing me to feed it through the P and P and to bring it to the floor where it is today.

Over the last couple of weeks, we have been hearing from different Members and different Ministers on the Sahtu recent oil and gas exploration activity that’s going on up there. Norman Wells is the oldest oil-producing wells in Canada. It started in 1920 or 1921. In 1943 the Canol pipeline was built right from Norman Wells into the Yukon Territory in regard to the war initiatives by supporting the U.S. Army.

We are no strangers to pipeline. In 1980 Enbridge built a pipeline down the Mackenzie Valley to take our resources out. There have been record-breaking sales of leased lands in the Sahtu 11. As the Minister has stated, it’s over $630 million, and two more parcels recently got taken up by Shell Canada in the Fort Good Hope area. That makes it close to $700 million that’s supposed to be committed to be spent in the Sahtu. There’s been encouraging results from reports that we’ve been getting from the oil companies. Income assistance has certainly come down quite considerably in the days and winter months of this oil and gas activity. Then it will come back up again in April.

There’s a new technology happening and the people in the Northwest Territories are finding out it’s called hydraulic fracking. Once this hydraulic fracking issue has been given the green light, there will be ample opportunity for people in the Northwest Territories to benefit from the Sahtu play. The companies from Yellowknife, Hay River, Simpson, Inuvik, Tuk, all over, are going to come to the Sahtu to see how they can benefit. It’s not only people in the Sahtu, but everyone. It’s taking a piece of pie that everyone can work on.

The point that I want to make here is that the play is happening now. It’s going on. The activity is there. This winter over $100 million is being spent in the Sahtu. Over 350 workers are working on seismic, driving, camp catering; you name it, they’re working. We recognize this in the Sahtu and we want to know when is this government, the federal government going to look at it and say there’s encouraging results. We could put in some funding like the Voisey’s Bay model for training people in the Sahtu, training people in the North to look at some of these long-term activities. There’s going to be activities such as the hydraulic fracking. We need to get involved in that. There’s environmental protection like wildlife and monitoring. We need to have proper training in that. We need to put together a comprehensive social, economic strategy. We need to put together a strong – and we do have it already, as a matter of fact – the Sahtu people put together a wellness strategy that came out of funding from the $500 million that was targeted by the federal government. They told us to go to work. What would you do if you had a piece of this $500 million? In the Sahtu, over a period of a number of years, sat down and said this is what we want to do.

We know it’s an issue with us. The Minister of Justice and I have been in contact. We know the number of liquor seizures that have been happening on the winter roads. Nobody carries 50 bottles of mickeys for the pleasure of an evening of drinking. We know there’s stuff happening. The RCMP are happening, they’re doing their job. We’ve got to do our job in being responsible for our region. We know crimes have been increasing because of the activity and because of the unrestricted liquor sales in Norman Wells. The Minister of Justice and I have been talking about the sharp increase in crimes related to alcohol, a sharp increase. We know that people are getting hurt. We know that the government has responded and we want to thank you, from the Sahtu, for responding to the needs. The government put $1.2 million into programs and services. They have heard the people, but we need to do yet a little more. We’re looking for some help in the health and social services and we’d hope that the Minister would have some more discussions with his colleagues to look at some of these issues.

We’ve got to start working with our people. Once these developments happen and production happens, these oil companies are going to want certified people to work; pipefitters, welders, they’re going to want them to be unionized because of liability insurance and safety. So we’ve got to look at how we work with the union, because they’re the ones that are going to be contracted to do this work. The days of shovels and thick wheelbarrows are over. So we’ve got to look at some strong training programs.

Of course, protection of environment, the baseline, the air, the water, the animals. I’ve heard it somewhere and I’ve read it, that if we take care of the land, the land will take care of us. That’s so true. Under the ground we’re standing on there’s rich, rich minerals. I think the Government of the Northwest Territories did an estimate of over 600- some-odd billion dollars of resources that we have. We’re a rich nation, a powerful rich nation and we’ve got to get ourselves ready for that.

The people in the Sahtu want to be wealthy, they want to be prosperous, want to have the opportunities, but like every other region in the North, they also want to save things. We’ve got to work on how we change our thinking. With this motion, hopefully that will start changing our thinking. So this is the direction that we want to be in now so we can prepare for the opportunities that we can be ready for and we can work with the other regions to get their people ready. I have seen people in the Sahtu from the Beaufort-Delta, the Mackenzie Delta, people from Nahendeh, all over. So this motion is to tell this government that if you can set some time aside, help us with the federal government to look at these things that we want to pursue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. Mr. Menicoche.