This is page numbers 2429 – 2482 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 going.

Topics

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

We’re awaiting approvals from the federal government and word from the federal government on funding. As soon as that happens, we certainly will be moving things along.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The winter season is coming to closure and soon it will be warm. Does the Minister have some plans in place, once the federal government has given us the permission slip to go ahead on this section of the road, do we see any type of difficulties due to the warming of the seasons?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

We’d have to act very quickly in order to see construction start this season. As Members know, we’re already into March and the season isn’t too much longer. We’ve probably got another five or six weeks in the Beaufort-Delta to actually get a lot of that work done, so we’d have to work quickly.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today as a follow-up to my Member’s statement on the legislative gaps in our dated Real Estate Agents’ Licensing Act as pertains to dual agency. Admittedly, the North is faced with unique challenges where we may have limited agents available to fully represent a given area. Therefore, a real estate agent may be forced to represent both the seller and the buyer. In reality, how can one agent place the interests of two separate and distinct parties first in the same transaction? This is tricky yet not impossible as the proper legislative roles around the simple use of representation disclaimers could still legally protect both the owner and the seller.

My questions today are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs responsible for the Real Estate Agents’ Licensing Act. As I indicated earlier, this act provides the basic governance for real estate agents in the Northwest Territories and has not kept pace with the development of real estate practices. Can the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs indicate why we have not looked at this act since its inception in 1991?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There were a couple of minor amendments made to the Real Estate Agents’ Licensing Act. There was a minor amendment made in 2010, and another minor amendment that came into force in April of 2011. However, the Member is correct; this is a very outdated piece of legislation and it’s one that could benefit from a full review. I will weigh this against our other legislative priorities and see where it fits into the legislative priorities of the 17th Assembly.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

I appreciate the Minister’s response. I wasn’t aware of the recent, I guess, the changes in legislation and I’ll make a note of that. Can the Minister indicate as to what work the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has done to review the gaps of legislation that are currently in the Real Estate Agents’ Licensing Act? Has the department identified those provisions found in real estate law in other jurisdictions and looked at responding to increasing trends in real estate in the Northwest Territories?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

We haven’t started any work yet, as I’ve said before. This is one aspect that we’d probably benefit from a full review. We look at our legislation based on the basis of risk, and we look at the potential risks and benefits of a number of persons that are affected by legislation, and we do have some pieces of legislation that we’re working on right now and we need to weigh that against looking at future legislation.

I do agree with the Member, though, it is one that would benefit from a full review. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today, my question today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. As I mentioned, many residents of Hay River who are involved in agencies for helping people have been very busy putting together ideas and suggestions or initiatives to continue on our path of community wellness. I’d like to ask Minister Beaulieu, through you, Mr. Speaker, if he is any closer to knowing how much funding Hay River would be getting. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have the breakdown by community right here just on the wellness funding, but how we funded the project is, we were looking at the federal funding for community wellness funding. In 2011-12 we carried over $500,000 from the federal funding to start this project, start to initiate the wellness plans across the communities. This fiscal year that we’re currently in, we’ve brought another $350,000 into this fiscal year to complete more wellness plans across the territory. Thank you.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

So I’m hearing $850,000 in total. How many communities will be participating in applying to access that pot of money? Thank you.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Our intention is to try to develop wellness plans for all of the communities. I think there will be wellness plans developed. Even in Yellowknife, it will be more complex, it will be working with non-government agencies. In some communities we just work with one body in the community where it’s simpler for us to do wellness plans. But the intention is for us to do wellness plans for all 33 communities. Thank you.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Mr. Speaker, people in Hay River who have participated in this consultation, were canvassed for ideas for specific initiatives that could be carried out in the community. I’d just like to ask the Minister, wellness plans are one thing, initiatives within those plans is another matter. For that reason it would be really nice to know approximately when this funding is going to roll out. Is there a target date like April 1st ?

Just so the community knows, because they’ve put a lot of work into this. Thank you.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

We get annually in excess of $12 million from the federal government on wellness funding. So what we’re hoping to do with the wellness plans to stay within the confines of bad budget, and as the wellness plans are developed and hopefully we do just a bit of internal movement, and we will be funding the wellness plans as we go. But the intention is to complete the wellness plans and then fund them as they’re completed. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the community wellness plan for Hay River has already been completed. That being the case, I understand it may be ahead of some other communities, but when could Hay River expect to receive funding? Thank you.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Mr. Speaker, like I’ve indicated, I don’t have the community-by-community breakdown of that budget, but I suspect that if the wellness plans are completed that on

April 1st they would be able to start funding the

plans. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are in response to the Minister of Transportation’s Alcohol Ignition Interlock Program. I’m just wondering when the Minister and the department expect the regulations to be in place to implement these units.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Minister of Transportation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Within the next three months. Thank you.