This is page numbers 2725 – 2750 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 community.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable 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, I have questions for the Minister of Public Works and Services. I think we as the government, through the Department of Public Works and Services, should allow for a local interpretation and local input into how they want their community infrastructure to look and the kinds of things they want to accommodate. But, Mr. Speaker, we pay top dollar for architects and engineers when we build these kinds of projects. I guess Inuvik particularly stands out in my mind just because of the sheer cost of it.

I am not in any way trying to discourage the staff or anybody of that school, but we as a government, when we build a building, have to give the staff the kinds of things they need to work in a tidy and a useable and functional environment.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Public Works and Services, when building a school, quite apart from what the architects want to do or things should be done, do we not have standard things that would be built into a classroom, like a shelf to put shoes on, blackboards, bulletin boards? Are there not standard things that we set out as at least a minimum before the architects take them and add their flavour to it? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Public Works, Mr. Abernethy.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear the Member’s point. We do planning studies with the department that is leading the build. In this case it was Education, Culture and Employment, and they identified the requirements, the things they would like to see in the building, the input from their staff, the input from the boards, the input from the community. All that is incorporated into the design. We build what is asked of us to build.

In the case of the school, we heard clearly from the board of education, from the Department of Education, and we incorporated state-of-the-art kitchen facilities, music rooms, theatre capacity so community groups could do those types of things. We put in state-of-the-art gym and physical rooms, so that the students could be healthy and well. We also incorporated a significant amount of light and open space that the community, the students and the staff all indicated they wanted.

So we do try to incorporate community input as much as possible. If you look around the Northwest Territories, every school in the Northwest Territories is different and they’ve all had input from the communities. A good example would be Diamond Jenness. If you go into Diamond Jenness in Hay River, clearly the community has had input into that facility and the types of things they would want to see in that facility. It, as well, with the upgrades, is a state-of-the-art facility.

The people of Inuvik are very proud of their school. They are very proud of the facility that was built and it is a state-of-the-art facility with tons to offer. Are there sore points for certain individuals? I’m sure there are. Are there things we can do better? Absolutely. We will learn from these experiences and we will take the Member’s point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

I’d like to thank the Minister; good answers. There are always going to be deficiencies with new construction. Any new building, there is going to be a list of deficiencies of

things that need to be addressed. I am just disappointed that such fundamentally required things like millwork or cabinetry to store things like kids’ shoes… All the way down the hallway, there were those $1.99 plastic boot trays on the outside of the hallway. Inside the classroom door, literally, were Rubbermaid white laundry baskets with all the kids’ shoes all chucked in there in a pile. I’m sorry, I’ve been in a lot of schools in the Northwest Territories and that’s not standard. It’s not conducive to a tidy and workable environment for me. When I go into a school and the first thing I want to do is start cleaning it up, straightening it out and taking papers down and putting things on bulletin boards, maybe it’s just me.

They have a dental facility in the school. How amazing is that? That is beautiful, but they can’t use it because the door opens the wrong way. It’s completely unusable.

There are things that somehow, someway when the translation between what the community and the staff and the DEA wanted and everything, and what was delivered, there are deficiencies. I guess, suffice it to say, I hope that these things can be addressed so that the residents and students of Inuvik can enjoy this new facility to the utmost.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I’m not familiar with the door issue, but I’ll certainly have Public Works and Services take a look at it.

With respect to the other items, they weren’t part of the original design. I’m happy to work with Education, Culture and Employment, and if they are interested in putting in those types of things, we, as the facilitator of building in the Northwest Territories for government infrastructure, will be happy to work with them and do as they ask.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

There also seemed to be a question about snow removal. This school is located on a very large lot, and of course, you get a lot of snow. Like anywhere in the North, you get a lot of snow there. But I guess in the old school maybe they had like a shed for snow removal equipment. I know this is a problem in Hay River too. I’m not even sure whose responsibility it is to clear the snow. Is it the schools or is it Public Works and Services? That was another deficiency that we observed and heard about when we saw the new school in Inuvik. Maybe the Minister of Public Works could answer that for us. Who is responsible for the equipment and the actual removal of snow on school property?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Ultimately, the authorities are responsible for the schools themselves, but we do a lot of maintenance work for schools as negotiated. In the case of Inuvik, I’m not sure what the situation is with the snow, but I will certainly look into that and get back to the Member.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions will be for the Minister of Health and Social Services. After quite a lot of advocacy work done in BC province, on March 14, 2013, the BC Premier and her government amended what is referred to as their Medicare Protection Act, which now allowed for the coordinating of regulations to formalize the extension of out-of-country stays, from six months to seven months.

Once those regulations will come into effect, what this means is residents in that province will be permitted to spend up to seven months outside of their province and still maintain their health care coverage.

Keeping our seniors in the North and those who wish to enjoy the fruits of their labour means we have to offer the same level of commitments many other provinces are offering.

For my first question: Is the Minister of Social Services prepared to consider similar provincial regulation changes to formalize an extension of health coverage for out-of-province stays, from six to seven months?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department would be prepared to look at other jurisdictions to see what all the jurisdictions across the country are doing in as far as coverage and the extent of which the person can be a resident in another part of the country or another part of the world. We would be prepared to look at that and to look at the cost of that.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

No further questions.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member’s statement, I will have questions for the Minister of Transportation. I heard him talking about economic development today with his other hat, and I have concerns about how open for business we are here in the Northwest Territories.

My first question is: What is the department doing to recognize the configuration of a tri-drive truck that we currently do not recognize but Alberta does, the jurisdiction right adjacent to us?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve got a balancing job to do here in the Northwest Territories. With all the gravel and chipseal surfaces here in the Northwest Territories, it’s important that we protect the integrity of those road bases from harm. Some of these larger trucks may, in fact, be damaging our road surfaces here in the Northwest Territories. We’ve done some research and we’ve listened to the concerns of Members, and we are going to be moving forward with a two-year trial period changing regulations on tri-drive configurations here in the Northwest Territories. We expect that these changes will come about in the next month and we look forward to watching how our roads are impacted as a result of this change, but we’re certainly listening. We understand that trucking companies want to bring those types of configured vehicles into the Northwest Territories and we are going to look at changing regulations so we can allow that to happen over a two-year trial period.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

That’s great to hear; and my friends in the trucking industry will probably be happy to hear that as well.

My next question is all the inconsistencies I was speaking of today in the two jurisdictions, whether it has to do with licence plates, whether it has to do with wide load signs, whether it has to do with truck qualifications, whether a pick-up is 4,500 kgs and the class of driver’s licence you require for that. What is the department doing to try to get the jurisdiction, considering it’s mainly with Alberta, but because we are so adjacent and that’s where the majority of our stuff comes from, what is this department doing to meld or mirror our legislation between us and Alberta and make it consistent for the trucking industry so they feel like we’re helping them out?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

It’s, in many cases, in our best interest to look at harmonizing regulations with other jurisdictions, but as I mentioned earlier, the Northwest Territories has roads that are gravel, chipseal. Sometimes the regulations that may work in southern Canada aren’t going to be able to work here in the Northwest Territories, but I do believe, if the Member has some examples, I know he’s spoken about a class 3 driver’s licence for the one-ton pick-up hauling a trailer, if there are others the Member speaks of.

Perhaps what I could suggest is a meeting with the EDI committee that the Member is on and we can go over the regulations that they have concerns with. We’ll get department officials there and we can try to chart a course forward, because we do want to listen to the concerns of Members and the public as well.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

As a Member of the EDI committee, I’d be interested in that, and I will follow that up with my colleagues and see if we can get a briefing on that. Obviously, my concerns are definitely the fact that there is that inconsistency in the class 3 driver’s licence because there are businesses out there that are dependent upon unskilled labourers that only have a class 5 driver’s licence. Now they’re having to get a class 3 driver’s licence, which is more expensive and not conducive to doing business in the Northwest Territories.

Will the department look at this regulation of pick-ups requiring class 3 drivers’ licences, and if it can be changed to meet and mirror the Alberta legislation?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

I know we are looking at that situation the Member outlined for us. As soon as we get some work done on that, I will be able to get that back to the Member as soon as possible.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

That’s all, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At one point or another, everyone here, I think it’s probably safe to say, grew up with radio in the background, in the bush or else in their homes. Radio continues to be an effective medium of communication for Aboriginal languages. It’s a vital net that bonds everyone together in the smaller communities.

My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. The $6,000 a year grant has not increased since 2001. That’s very concerning. Why hasn’t ECE supported community broadcasting and not increased it for so long, especially trying to even consider it perhaps in terms of inflation as well? Mahsi.