Good afternoon, colleagues. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.

Mr. Speaker, the 17th Legislative Assembly identified the need to enhance addictions treatment programs as a key priority. Our government is committed to making sure that NWT residents have the tools and support they need to overcome their addictions challenges.

Addictions are linked to poverty and to educational achievement. Addictions can affect parents’ ability to care for their children and meet their needs. Their impact goes well beyond the individual. Families, communities and even our economy can be affected.

Mr. Speaker, we asked 12 respected community leaders to come together, to travel to communities and to learn from our people’s experience of what solutions are most effective in this battle against addictions. I want to thank Mr. Paul Andrew, the chair of the forum, and all the members for their efforts. After the Minister’s Forum completed its work last year, 67 recommendations were put forward in the final report on how to move ahead with a plan of action to help people heal and recover from addictions. Later today I will table the GNWT’s response to the Minister’s Forum.

Many of these recommendations perfectly align with what is already laid out in our Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan, A Shared Path Towards Wellness.

The report also identified a need for new services and approaches. Initiatives that focus on spiritual and cultural healing are being incorporated into our approach to mental health and addiction service delivery. We are also focusing on the need for

streamlined intake and fast turn-around in accessing treatment services. Mr. Speaker, the NWT is a diverse region made up of many different cultures with their own traditional beliefs and practices. We need as many options as possible to allow people to decide what works for them. People need to determine their own pathways to wellness, and it is the government’s responsibility to help them follow that path. We are addressing the recommendations of the Minister’s Forum on Addictions and Community Wellness with $2.6 million in new funding in the 2014-15 budget. This is in addition to the existing budget of $6 million for the delivery of the Community Counselling Program across the NWT.

As a result, we will continue to provide an array of southern residential treatment options which can offer specialized treatment facilities, gender-specific options, cultural components and increased length of treatment. We will ensure that NWT residents who attend these treatment programs are offered follow-up support and after-care through their Community Counselling Program once they return home.

Through the Standing Committee on Social Programs, we will continue to keep the Members of the Legislative Assembly informed about developments in this area. I greatly appreciate Mr. Moses, Mr. Dolynny and Mrs. Groenewegen taking the time to visit Poundmaker’s Lodge with me recently. We saw firsthand the high quality of care our residents are receiving at one of our four southern residential treatment facilities, and we heard directly from NWT residents attending this program how important this treatment option was to them.

Mr. Speaker, at the same time, we have not lost sight of the need to develop NWT-specific options as part of our approach to addressing addictions. In collaboration with Katlodeeche First Nation, we are exploring options for the use of the Nats'ejee K'eh building to ensure existing infrastructure is put to good use.

On-the-land programs will be an important part of our continuum of care. The $2.6 million in proposed new funding includes $900,000 to establish community-based on-the-land healing programs. This fiscal year we are partnering with Aboriginal governments and regional authorities to pilot a

variety of approaches to combining traditional and clinical approaches to healing. I am also committed to obtaining the best possible withdrawal management services for our residents, and work is underway to identify models that are best for the NWT.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I can assure Members that the Department of Health and Social Services is working to put in place a range of addiction treatment services that meet the needs of all residents of the Northwest Territories. We will open the doors for people to choose their own pathways to wellness and addiction-free lives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, many of our residents want to access more government services “on line,” rather than standing “in line.”

We are looking at ways to improve service delivery. In 2013 we approved the Service Innovation Strategy, a government-wide strategy to improve the delivery of programs and services by leveraging technology and by taking a more coordinated approach to service delivery.

I share this Assembly’s goal of efficient and effective government. It is time to move into the 21st century. It is time to focus on on-line services to complement the services we provide in person and by phone. We have to make it easier for residents and businesses to find the services they need.

The office of the chief information officer is working with all departments to provide a consistent approach. Already,

the departments of Justice and

Transportation have introduced new on-line services that securely manage on-line payments and client information.

We are committed to continuing to create and deliver services in a citizen-focused manner. We have already heard from the business community, and this year we will ask the public about their priorities for on-line services. We want to hear how satisfied they are with the services they receive from government.

We will also continue to foster a culture of service excellence within the Government of the Northwest Territories.

For instance, in December we delivered a pilot training program for front-line service professionals and plan to follow up on this training in 2014 with additional training for both front-line service professionals and management responsible for service delivery. Seven departments sent 30 very

engaged GNWT employees from across the NWT. Feedback has been very positive and consensus from participants was that their customer service skills have improved as a result of taking this training. This year we hope to offer regional training as well as more training in Yellowknife.

A service excellence training program is also in development. It builds on the introductory course and lays out a path to certification as a certified service professional or certified service manager. Based on the levels of interest shown in the course in December, we have already received feedback that more people would like to attend.

Our new service directory website launched in December, with information on over 375 government services, in one easy-to-search location.

It connects people, information and services, reducing red tape and making it easier to access information and services more quickly.

This government has had great success providing

in-person service through department

service centres, government service officers in rural and remote communities, and through offices like Services TNO here in Yellowknife. With the service directory, residents don’t need to know which department, division or location offers a service, they can simply go on-line to find the information they need.

You can also expect to begin seeing improvements to the GNWT’s website in the coming year. We are improving the design and making information and services more easily accessible.

Mr. Speaker, important initiatives like those outlined in our Service Innovation Strategy will improve the way we deliver programs and services and serve the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation is now providing residents with the option to access driver and motor vehicle services from the comfort of their homes, workplaces or from anywhere else with an Internet connection. On-line driver and motor vehicle services are part of the government’s Service Innovation Strategy. Effective and efficient government is achieved by reducing red tape and connecting NWT residents and businesses with the information and services they need.

It has taken over five years of dedicated work to modernize the Motor Vehicle Information System. Now we have been shifting our focus outward to expand on-line services to our clients.

Our first move was to offer electronic notifications. We’re streamlining processes and delivering more efficient government at the click of a button.

How many of us have forgotten to renew our registration or driver’s licence, only to be reminded by a ticket? NWT drivers, commercial carriers and organizations may now create accounts to manage their driver and motor vehicle information through the Department of Transportation website. It’s as easy as going under the “Drivers/Vehicles” tab at the top of the page and clicking on the link that reads “On-line Services.” Once registered, Northerners can subscribe to receive e-mail reminders to renew a driver’s licence, general identification card, vehicle registration, driver’s medical, appointments, and commercial vehicle inspection notifications.

Vehicle owners can now also renew their vehicle registration anytime, from anywhere that has Internet access, as early as three months before the registration expires. This is an important step that will particularly benefit those in small communities without issuing sites or who are outside the territory at renewal time. On-line services also reduce wait times and improve service quality at driver and motor vehicle issuing offices.

At our busiest issuing site here in Yellowknife, we have recently implemented a number of initiatives including queuing systems, posting wait times on-line and implementing measurable service standards to improve the client experiences. We expect that up to half of registration renewals will be processed on-line. That means clients who do need to come to the office will have shorter wait times. In small communities government service officers have been trained and are available to provide assistance.

The department will soon expand on-line services to include scheduling appointments such as driver tests and obtaining your driver record on-line. In the long-term, we hope to offer on-line driver’s licence renewals, address changes and commercial vehicle permits.

Streamlining the driver and motor vehicle services also includes eliminating validation stickers on NWT licence plates. When renewing vehicle registrations, clients will receive blank masking stickers to cover previously issued date stickers. Over the next year, like other jurisdictions, we will be phasing out the use of validation stickers. This will streamline the process for on-line registrations.

With technology and client-centred thinking, there are endless possibilities for innovative service

delivery. I look forward to keeping you updated on our ongoing efforts to improve service delivery and reduce red tape. In the meantime I encourage residents to go to the Department of Transportation’s website and click “On-line services” under “Drivers/Vehicles” to begin taking advantage of this convenience. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, last week I delivered the 2014-15 budget on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories. That budget was based on a fiscal strategy of living within our means while still identifying funds to better support the people of the Northwest Territories and make strategic investments in our economy. Part of our plan included investing in the future of the territory by allocating 5 percent of resource revenues coming through devolution to the Heritage Fund.

While public reaction to the budget has generally been positive, Members have clearly indicated that they disagree with the proposed allocation for the Heritage Fund. We have heard these concerns and, in the spirit of consensus government, will be taking Members’ wishes on this matter into account by allocating 25 percent of resource revenues to the Heritage Fund beginning in 2015-16 when revenues begin to flow to the government.

---Applause

We should be clear, Mr. Speaker, that this will have an impact on future budgets for our government.

Our Fiscal Responsibility Policy limits the amount we can borrow to fund capital projects, Mr. Speaker. Beginning in 2015-16, when the first resource revenues begin to flow to our government, we will have to revisit our fiscal strategy.

We will need to find offsetting reduction from the O and M base and protect the infrastructure budget.

We share a vision of a strong, prosperous and environmentally sustainable territory, Mr. Speaker. The programs and services we deliver as a government and the capital projects we undertake have a direct impact on that vision. An important part of our job in this Legislature is to decide how we will work towards that vision and how we will pay for it. Come next year, this government and this Assembly will have some decisions to make about the initiatives it wants to undertake in its final year and how to pay for them. I look forward to working with Members to take on that challenge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 3, Members’ statements. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recently had occasion to run into a leader from the Fort Smith Metis Council and he was telling me about a very interesting program. I subsequently did some research and I wanted to share what I found out with Members of this House. It may be something that’s already been shared with this House, but it’s not something that I was aware of, so I would like to do a Member’s statement about that today.

About a year ago, the Fort Smith Metis Council was approached by the Department of Health and Social Services to develop a pilot project for elders that would incorporate traditional foods. In the fall of 2013, the Metis Council received a $55,000 grant. The idea behind the pilot was simple: provide elders with a free year-round supply of fish and wild meat. The project is called TAASTE, which stands for Time-honoured Aboriginal Actions Sustaining Traditional Eating, short form TAASTE.

The bulk of the funding was earmarked for the purchase of new freezers to be stocked with foods donated by local hunters and fishermen. The freezers have been purchased and installed in the Metis Council’s secretariat building.

The success of this pilot hinges on a time-honoured Aboriginal tradition: to give a portion of the hunting harvest to the elders of the community. According to local observers, the program is a godsend because it gives elders access to the type of foods that they were raised on but have, regrettably, gotten used to going without.

Another facet of the project is sending youth out into the bush to learn basic hunting and survival skills, how to set up a tent, how to shoot, clean and cook small game and how to make bannock on a stick. Getting kids out on the land stimulates their curiosity and their appreciation of local foods.

A final component of the project will see greenhouses built in the Northern Lights Special Care Home, giving elders a chance to cultivate some of their own food.

The principles behind the project are sound and surprisingly easy to put into practice. What’s not to like about enhancing community solidarity? What’s not to like about elders having access to healthy, fresh and unprocessed food? What’s not to like about elders lessening their dependence on imported food and redirecting the savings toward other necessities?

Traditional foods are good for them. They are also a source of comfort and pride. I would like to see this pilot project become a blueprint for other NWT communities, so my hat is off and kudos to the Fort Smith Metis Council. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When times are tight, you pay down your exposed debt, retool your expenses and seek ways to increase your revenues. When times are good, you invest and plan for growth with infrastructure and service enhancement. These should be the principles of a sound business plan or, in our case, a fiscally prudent government balance sheet. Sadly, this is not the case. Instead, we see our financial picture as one based on a Fiscal Responsibility Policy that doesn’t pass the smell test, yet this policy is touted and praised at every conceivable opportunity by our Minister of Finance.

Again, if one repeats the policy statement enough times, it must have some bearing of being truthful. At least this is what this Cabinet is instructed to do and does so faithfully.

However, there are some of us on this side of the House whose job it is to evaluate grand statements of claim and take the time to look at the numbers being brought forth into the public realm. One only has to look at statements made in the budget address, such as “We have a record of sound fiscal management as shown by our Aa1 credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service and debt servicing costs below 1 percent of revenues.”

I think I addressed the Moody’s part last week, so I wanted to hone in on the debt servicing issue today. Clearly, we have heard many times in the past week from the Minister of Finance of our servicing cost below 1 percent of revenues. Now, this sounds very impressive, yet has anyone asked for the government to prove this?

If I told you this number could be more like 1 percent under our debt servicing ability, we can sleep better at night knowing this, or should we? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the Minister of Finance’s announcement today, I can throw away this speech, I guess, a complaint about the Heritage Fund not being funded 25 percent. I commend the Cabinet and the Premier

for making this bold decision for the future generations of the Northwest Territories.

Twenty-five percent is a substantial amount. It’s an amount that actually provides an amount of money of these non-renewable resources that we’re taking from this territory, giving it to the future generations for capital infrastructure, for paying down debt, exactly what we told the people of the Northwest Territories we were going to do. This is a fiscal restraint. This is something that’s responsible government. This is something that we, on this side, are willing to look at the O and M operations.

We’re seeing a declining population and we need to keep some of this stuff in check. In a year where we’ve signed on to devolution, we should be fiscally strong, but because of some of the lesser values in taxable incomes, because of forced growth costs we’re definitely in a tighter position than we actually expected after devolution, but these are some of the tough choices that we have to make now and some of the tough choices we need to make for the future generations. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would have to put my statement aside, but picking up some points from the statement that I’d planned today, first and foremost I have to commend the Minister for taking a bold step, and Cabinet, in terms of increasing the Heritage Fund from 5 to 25 percent, a fairly significant investment for the NWT.

Nonetheless, the Heritage Fund is a vital component of how we use the revenues from our non-renewable resources. As we approach the implementation of the Devolution Agreement, the role of the Heritage Fund is among the important decisions that the NWT has to make. Establishing such a fund is a complex and controversial process, but it is essential to how we move forward as a territory.

The NWT has a wealth of minerals, oils and gas, and these resources are costly to develop. While it is impossible to predict when they are developed, once they are gone they will not benefit anyone. A well-managed Heritage Fund will ensure that money accrues for future needs when we develop non-renewable resources today.

There are models of successful funds in place today that promise jurisdictions will benefit from non-renewable resource development even after major operations are long gone.

There are enormous pressures to spend the resource revenues now on major infrastructure investments, such as roads, airports, hospitals and schools and on fiscally responsible debt repayment,

but our constituents, the people of the NWT, have made it clear they want a meaningful portion of this money saved for the future.

Today I applaud the move of the Finance Minister to really listen to the people of the NWT and put aside 25 percent of the resource revenues towards the Heritage Fund for future investments. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to use today’s Member’s statement to once again return to the issue of position vacancies within the Northwest Territories government. One day later, in my view and in certainly the view of many others, is one day no further ahead. If this problem was an onion, we keep peeling it back and the one thing that is certain is that it just keeps getting stinkier.

The reality here is the fact that we just don’t know where these 800 jobs are and how they’re being filled, or in this case how we know they’re not being filled. Questions still need to be answered. Even after our briefing this morning, we’re still just as much in awe as to how this could be happening without anyone fully knowing exactly where these are. Questions like the other day the Finance Minister said there was an actual 571 jobs out there that are being actively pursued, but we know that there are at least 800, maybe even more. So what happens to those jobs? Do we continue to fund those jobs?

If you go to the website on the GNWT jobs area, it says they’re looking for about 100 people. So what happened to the 471 people that they say they are looking for jobs, are they posted with invisible ink on this website? I don’t know. Nobody knows where these ghost jobs are. Are there 100? Are there 200? By the way, that would add up to 10 to 20 million dollars. We just don’t know. We need to know where these jobs are located and what they’re doing sitting empty.

The Minister of Human Resources may describe them as, well, geez, in some cases we have students and casuals in them. Well, let’s face it. How do you actively pursue a job posting when you have a casual sitting in there that constantly gets renewed? I guess the question is: Are you really actively looking to fill these jobs? They may also say, well, geez, we use that money to hire summer students, so you hold a job open for a year and only fill it for three months. What do you do with the nine months’ money that’s left over? By that theory, you should be hiring four summer students, not one. Where is the part that starts to make sense?

There are so many questions and we’ll continue to pursue them later today in question period, but we still need to know where are all these missing jobs, these ghost jobs. How many are there? How are we funding them, and by golly, why do we bother still keeping them on the books if no one is interested in filling them? Because, quite frankly, as I said yesterday, if we have jobs on the books that we’re funding, then nothing is more clear than it is simply a slush fund. We’ll be pursuing this later today in question period.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unlike my colleagues, I will not be putting aside my statement today, and I want to talk about the Heritage Fund. I want to speak to the report that I tabled yesterday from the Action Canada Fellows, titled “A Question of Future Prosperity, Developing a Heritage Fund in the Northwest Territories.” That report had six recommendations and I’d like to comment briefly on each one of them.

The first one is to establish clear fund objectives and allocate more than 5 percent of annual resource royalties to the Heritage Fund. We’ve heard from the Finance Minister earlier today that the government is willing to put 25 percent into the Heritage Fund, and that’s wonderful, but I don’t believe it’s in the current budget year, and that’s what, I believe, we’re asking for.

Legislation is also required to state exactly how much money we’re putting into the Heritage Fund, and I didn’t hear the Minister state that legislation changes would be upcoming.

The second recommendation is to set up a statutory framework for deposit and withdrawal rules. Again, this needs to be in legislation. We need to know how much money we are depositing on a regular basis, how much money we are withdrawing on a regular basis. Some of that is covered in our current act, but not in as much detail as it should be.

The third recommendation: Appoint a supervisory council to manage the Heritage Fund. This one is a big one. Currently, the fund is under the management of the Financial Management Board, and in my mind that’s like having the fox guard the henhouse. We need to have an independent and arm’s-length supervisory council which will have independent oversight of the Heritage Fund. Sure, we can have government representatives on that council, but we need to have the public involved and it needs to be reporting directly to the Minister

of Finance or the Premier. It should not be reporting to the Financial Management Board.

Number four, develop a robust investment mandate. This one is maybe a little bit more difficult, but we need to know how our funds are being invested. There should be an independent investment manager, and I’m not saying that that’s missing, but it’s not stated, and we need to also have that stated in legislation.

Number five, establish strong fund governance including transparency mechanism, and we don’t have that. It goes back to the third recommendation about the FMB managing the fund itself. There needs to be regular reports, and it has to be reported to the Assembly, and it also has to be reported to the public.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Currently, I don’t believe we have anything which states that there will be any kind of an annual reporting mechanism, and that also needs to be in legislation.

The last one is to continue citizen engagement to ensure the public support and the long-term viability and success of the Heritage Fund. It’s very important that the public understands and supports what we’re trying to do with the Heritage Fund, that we’re trying to save for the future, that we’re trying to ensure that we have revenues in the future when our resource revenues are gone. The fund belongs to the residents of the NWT, and with them involved that will ensure that the objectives that have been set in place will actually be maintained.

I will have some questions for the Minister of Finance later on.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the last few sittings that we have had here since we started the Assembly, there have been a lot of questions regarding some of the human resources practices that this government exercises and we have talked about the career fair and going into the communities. We talk about trying to recruit our northern people into positions within the government. We heard about how many vacancies we have within the GNWT, within the departments.

We are going through the budget process right now where this government, actually the departments determine positions required for them to do the programs and services that they provide the people of the Northwest Territories. These fully funded positions are budgeted for and funded through the

business planning and main estimates process. That is where we are right now. As I said, we have heard a lot of issues on these funded positions that, as committee, we go through page by page, department by department, we look at these positions and we approve them.

Now, not all of these positions are people getting these positions; we have all these vacancies. Where do these dollars go? In discussions with the government, it opened up another, as Mr. Hawkins put it, you peel one layer away of an onion and there is another layer.

It brings me to something that I have to look on in the Financial Administration Act and dealing with how dollars are moved around within our departments. It brought concern to me because, looking at the actions, there is a significant amount of cash and budget that has been approved for within this government that can move from these job positions that we are talking about, that we approve and fund through the budget process.

I will have questions today to see who has the authority to move the funds that we put for these positions within the government, why they are being moved around, and I will get some more clarity on those with questions later. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to respond to the Minister’s statement on the Heritage Fund contributions. I would like to begin by thanking my colleague Ms. Bisaro for stating many of the shortcomings of where we are at right now with regards to developing the Heritage Fund.

With regard to the Minister’s statement, I think pulling the wool over our eyes would be the most appropriate thing that comes to mind here. The net fiscal benefit resulting from our collection of resource royalties as a result of devolution is booked, although dollars are slow to flow.

The Minister has repeatedly claimed to have included 5 percent of the net fiscal benefit in our 2014-15 budget, but a quick scan reveals on page 5-14 of the Department of Finance budget, that in fact is all he allocated is $250,000, the same as last year and far short of the $2 million to $3 million that 5 percent would be.

The resource royalty collection that the Minister has booked for 2014-15, this fiscal year under discussion, is $120 million. Page 12-9 of the Industry, Tourism and Investment budget shows this clearly, of which we expect $60 million will go to the federal government as per the agreement, leaving $60 million for the GNWT booked during again fiscal year 2014-15.

The Minister is allocating 25 percent of the net fiscal benefit to Aboriginal governments during the 2014-15 budget. That is entirely appropriate because we are booking the revenues. This amount is $15 million, as clearly laid out on page 5-18 of the Department of Finance budget under discussion. Yet the Minister here is grandly offering, in his statement earlier today, to meet Members’ request for 25 percent into the Heritage Fund for this 2014-15 budget year under discussion by providing 25 percent in the 2015-16 year, a year that is not under discussion here. This is obtuse and is further evidence of a lack of forthright dealings to address this issue.

Further, this is absolute bafflegab, apparently meant to confuse and misdirect us into accepting this grand offer, which addresses his needs, not that of Regular Members.

In 2014-15 we are booking $120 million in royalties. We are booking 25 percent of the GNWT’s net fiscal benefit, $15 million to be paid to our Aboriginal partners.

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

---Unanimous consent granted

In 2014-15 we are booking $120 million in royalties. We are booking 25 percent of our net fiscal benefits. That is $15 million to be paid in our 2014-15 budget to our Aboriginal government partners. Regular Members want 25 percent of GNWT’s net fiscal benefit to also be booked for ’14-15.

This House has been clear, the public has been clear about this 25 percent for many, many months, probably over a year. The Minister needs to start paying heed to the will of the House and not provide bafflegab where this is going to be met in some future years. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement is on the mechanics of the Heritage Fund. It’s fine and dandy if you have a Heritage Fund, and colleagues have talked about the amount of money going in and how it’s going to be administrated. I wanted to look at the mechanics. Should the Heritage Fund come to a full-blown discussion with the people in the Northwest Territories, what is the purpose with the Heritage Fund and how it’s to be set up within the government structure, independent, arm’s length from the government and have people who would administrate it and look after it for us, and having

that framework set up – do we do it now or do we do it later on in five years or 10 years?

I wanted to also know that within this Assembly if the government is willing to entertain that concept of removing the Heritage Fund administrative process and start looking at an independent process as other Heritage Funds have been set up elsewhere within Canada, and look at how this independent body could work if we were to move it out of the government’s hands and put it into an independent body.

The Heritage Fund is a very good concept. I remember having this discussion in a past Assembly, when Members on the other side who were once on this side brought up this idea of having a Heritage Fund for our people in the North, especially for our younger kids who are going to inherit this money. So, I would like to have some discussion on a territorial level, specifically on the whole concept of the Heritage Fund and the implementation of the Heritage Fund. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Over the last couple of days we heard in this House about many empty jobs in government. This is, of course, concerning to all Members on this side. However, my take on this is that I think we should be filling them.

Of course, we’re asking the Minister to assess them and see where those empty positions are, how many are funded, not funded. There are many mechanics and different definitions about this whole job review and ghost jobs, et cetera. My concern is my people, and in my constituency qualified people are being screened out. P1 Aboriginals and local people are not getting the jobs.

Part of the Minister’s fiscal plan is to increase the population, I think he said by 2,000. I also submit that this plan should also include filling our empty positions so that they have people in them paying taxes that will benefit our Government of the Northwest Territories.

Members are anxious to reduce positions because the day that we see that these jobs are not needed…but I remain cautious about that. Jobs are important to my constituency of Nahendeh. We depend on them. They generate revenue for our economy. So, I like the slow, cautious approach, but we must get answers about what those jobs are and why it looks like they’re so empty. We think that the government is using empty positions to use those approved jobs for other expenditures, which should not happen, but let’s work on the plan, let’s

get them filled and let’s get people back working in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a pleasure to recognize today the Honourable Paul Okalik. He holds the distinction of being the first Premier of Nunavut and is currently the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Culture and Heritage and the Minister of Energy with the Nunavut government. Joining the Honourable Paul Okalik is Karen Kabloona. Karen is an EA for Minister Okalik. Also my executive assistant, Mr. Ryan Strain, is with us today. I’d also like to recognize a former Member, Ernie Bernhardt. Also with us today is our Conflict of Interest Commissioner, Mr. David Jones; and I see our Privacy and Information Commissioner Elaine Keenan Bengts as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize some of the people in the gallery. First and foremost is Ms. Joyce Rabesca of Behchoko. She’s also an entrepreneur in the community of Behchoko. I’d like to welcome her. Also, the honourable Mr. Paul Okalik. He’s also responsible for Culture, Labour and Immigration and Official Languages. Welcome. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I talked about the Minister’s Forum on Addictions and Community Wellness and the 12 individuals who helped us with that. Today I’d like to recognize Paul Andrew, who is the chair of the forum, and thank him for all of his hard work and that of his colleagues. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize, as well, Ernie Bernhardt, a senior boy, my roommate way back in the mid-‘60s back in Grandin College. I was a junior boy and they put me in with him so I could learn a thing or two and I learned all sorts of things that I don’t really want to talk about, but about dating girls and all that kind of stuff from Ernie. Also, his son O.J. and his daughter Donna. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think both Minister Ramsay and Lafferty already introduced him, but I wanted to once again reaffirm a welcome to Minister Okalik. I’ve come to know him over the last number of years and certainly have a great respect for him. One thing that hadn’t been mentioned was he’s also, I believe, the first lawyer in Nunavut, if not close to the top, but he’s had such a distinguished career as a politician and we’re certainly glad by all means to see him return to the House in the Nunavut Assembly and I look forward to the good things he’ll continue to do. It’s a great honour to have you here, sir. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also am proud to recognize some Weledeh constituents. We’ve heard about Mr. Ernie Bernhardt and I see his family, too, so welcome to them. Paul Andrew, of course, and any members of the forum that might be with him from Weledeh. I can’t really see people back there. I’d also like to recognize David Jones, our Conflict of Interest Commissioner, who I haven’t met yet but am looking forward to meeting, and Paul Okalik as well. It’s great to have a representative from Nunavut here, old friends. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Colleagues, I should have gone in front of Mr. Ramsay. I’d like to draw your attention to our presence today in the gallery of Mr. David Jones, our Conflict Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. He’s accompanied by his daughter Sarah Jones. Please join me in welcoming them to the House today.

Also in the gallery is the Information and Privacy Commissioner, Ms. Elaine Keenan Bengts. Welcome to the House.

As well, the former Member of Nunakput, Mr. Ernie Bernhardt and his son O.J. and my executive assistant, Donna Bernhardt. Welcome to the House. I, too, would like to welcome Mr. Paul Okalik to the House. I remember fishing with you in Huskey Lake when we had the western Premiers up in Tuktoyaktuk a few years back. We had a good time. So, welcome to the House.

I’d like to welcome all visitors here in the public gallery today. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today, I have a few questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’d like to ask the Minister if there are plans by the department to evaluate the pilot project in Fort Smith that I referred to. Maybe the evaluation has already been done. Maybe there are other communities that are already piloting a similar project. I’d like to know what the status is of the evaluation and the encouragement, I guess, of other communities to follow this example.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member indicated, this is currently in the pilot status, and as with pilots, we will evaluate and determine whether or not we will be able to deliver this in the future in other communities, regions, locations throughout the Northwest Territories. I will get a follow-up on the status of the evaluation for the Member.

I’d like to ask the Minister, would they be at a stage at this point of perhaps calling for expressions of interest from other communities who may like more information on this or who may be wanting to participate in a similar program as this to support elders in their communities? It encompasses a lot of really healthy activity. Would it be premature for other communities to contact the department to express interest?

It might be a little early to go out and to actually do an expression, but we’re absolutely willing to share any information that we have on the program with other communities that might be interested in doing the same type of thing. But until we do an actual evaluation and conclude that evaluation, we won’t necessarily be in a position to make any commitments to support that program in any of the other communities, but we will share information.

My research would indicate that this program started in Fort Smith about a year ago, and I was wondering if the Minister could provide any kind of a time frame on when such an evaluation may be undertaken and completed.

I’m not sure of the exact date or the exact status of the evaluation, whether we had started or whether we’re just waiting for the program to conclude its full year, but I will get that detail for the Member and committee.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I talked about the mechanics of the Heritage Fund. I want to ask the Minister of Finance, within the life of this government, will the government consider an option to look at considering having an independent body type of framework to manage the Heritage Fund?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The establishment of a Heritage Fund has been a long process going back to the last Assembly, and we started with the legislative proposal to get the legislation passed. We got the legislation passed in anticipation of the day when devolution would come. In the meantime, we started putting in a very modest amount of money, a quarter-million dollars a year, seed money, as it were. We’ve always contemplated, and it has always been anticipated that as the fund devolves as we hit devolution, and as the money starts being put into the Heritage Fund, and as it grows in critical mass it will need to evolve in terms of how it’s managed.

All the issues raised by Members in terms of the lending criteria, what’s the governance model, initially, in the start-up phase it has been looked after within government by the FMB, which has allowed us to get up and running, and we’re still in very early stages, but that discussion has already been acknowledged that we’re prepared to take part in that. Whether we are going to be in a position to set up a major governance oversight structure in the life of this government to look after a relatively small amount of money has yet to be determined, but we are definitely going to be moving that way once it is set up and fully operational. Thank you.

Within the life of this government, would the Minister look at a discussion paper where he could bring forward to the Assembly to say where we could start having discussion on the Heritage Fund and the government framework for the fund? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we would be glad to pull together a document that lays out issues to be addressed in the coming months and years as it pertains to the Heritage Fund as it moves ahead. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister say that it will be within a year, within a few months shy of us calling our next election? Thank you.

Yes, we will endeavor to have a document on the books within the timelines outlined by the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up with the Minister of Human Resources on our Affirmative Action Plan. Over the years it always seems to be the case of one step forward and two steps back. The statistics have held level at about 33 percent for the last 10 years. I know that the Minister has got some new strategies there.

I would like to ask him, just exactly what is he doing to improve the affirmative action and our representative workforce in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The first thing that we are doing is that we are looking at community-by-community statistics and determining whether or not in a particular community that the numbers of affirmative action positions are low and then we are trying to fill the positions that are vacant in those communities with Aboriginal employees by various strategies that we are undertaking. One example would be the Regional Recruitment Strategy. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, also I think some of the barriers are that some of our jobs are entry level positions, but the qualifications listed beside them are impossible for just entry level positions. They are asking, I don’t know, like five years of experience, some college or university, but these are entry level positions and they don’t have to be that qualified.

I would like to know if the Minister is reviewing some of those jobs and entry level positions as well. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, in the Deh Cho, which includes another riding in the Assembly, there are 34 positions that we are trying to actively recruit for. Seventeen of those positions need a university degree and 10 of those positions are college or trades. Very few of the 34 positions are entry level positions, so I hear what the Member is saying.

One of the things that we are looking at with the regional recruitment is to see if individuals who have a high school education with some training for over a year can fill one of the positions that has a greater education requirement, combining experience and the fact that the individual would have high school. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m glad they are going to do some work towards that. Just on another note, too, my constituents and also people throughout the Northwest Territories are frustrated that they’re P1 applicants and are screened out. They actually qualify. They showed me their qualifications. “Mr. Menicoche, why am I being screened out when I’ve got the qualifications?”

What will the Minister do about those scenarios that I’ve raised in the House before? Thank you.

These situations have come up a few times. We do look at these on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes the position requires something that’s not exactly in line with the applicant’s experience and qualifications and they end up being screened out. Sometimes they are close enough that we can use equivalencies and their experience to screen them in. So, many of these things are on a case-by-case basis, but we are working with the departments as these jobs come up, and as individuals responsible for making sure the policies are followed, human resource people are working with them to make sure that the policies are followed with the intent of increasing affirmative action hires in the GNWT. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess part of our job as government is to give our constituents the confidence that we are taking care of their needs, confidence that our policies are working. We are not giving the people the confidence that it’s working. I have constituents who have applied and applied and get screened out. How does this P1 affirmative action work to get our people hired? In my constituency, I have a majority Aboriginal population, but I don’t think the stats represent that.

How are we going to become a representative workforce? If there are two applicants who have the same qualifications, can the Minister explain how P1 works? Thank you.

The job evaluation process is used to determine what qualifications are needed to do this particular job, so if this particular job is out, has certain qualifications that are required, those are the qualifications that must be met. So if there is a priority 1 candidate that meets the qualifications, then those are the individuals interviewed. Once we have a number of priority 1 candidates or even one priority 1 candidate eligible,

regardless of whether or not priorities 2 and 3 have higher qualifications, we do interview the priority 1 candidate and attempt to try to increase the affirmative action numbers. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions, probably not surprisingly, are for the Minister of Finance today on his statement earlier today in the House. I’m wondering how the Minister can book $120 million in resource revenues in 2014-2015, $15 million for Aboriginal governments as 25 percent of our net fiscal benefit and refuse to commit 25 percent to the Heritage Fund to a more distant fiscal year? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In both the case of the Aboriginal governments and the Heritage Fund, the money is not expected to flow into our coffers until late in 2015, at which time we will honour the commitment to put in 25 percent into the Heritage Fund. Thank you.

I didn’t hear an answer there, but I’m not surprised at that either, I guess. The Minister has repeatedly claimed that 5 percent of the Heritage Fund was part of this budget, yet less than 1 percent – it’s a very small fraction of 1 percent – is actually budgeted. What gives? Mahsi.

The key issue with the Heritage Fund has been the political debates over the amount that goes into the Heritage Fund. We came forward with 5 percent. We’ve had the debate. Clearly, the money is not going to flow into our coffers where we’ll actually have the cash until 2015, but the critical decision as a government was what we are going to put in, as a Legislature, what we are going to agree to earmark to go into that Heritage Fund. If we would have waited until next year, then the 5 percent in the budget would have gone into the fund. So there was a need to have that political debate, even though the money isn’t going to flow until some months hence. This was the first opportunity to clarify that and we’ve done that.

The point is that the Minister has booked the revenue. He’s booked the allocation to the Aboriginal governments and he has not booked the dollars to the Heritage Fund. We want that done this fiscal year. We know that the dollars flow later, and by delaying it another year, guess what. It delays the dollars into the Heritage Fund another year. Not acceptable.

I assume the $120 million booked in the budget as resource revenue royalties is an estimate. Why don’t you, again, at least book the estimated 5 percent as per your repeated claims that 5 percent was being booked this fiscal year.

The intention was to have that number reflected in the 2015-16 budget when we had the number. We’ve committed to the 25 percent and we will honour that and we will put it in as soon as we get the money. That will be reflected clearly and accurately in 2015-16. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

The Minister has budgeted us into an untenable situation where he claims we have to spend almost all of our children’s inheritance in 2014-15.

How will the Minister adjust our budget to ensure 25 percent of the net fiscal benefit in 2014-15 can be booked into the Heritage Fund as per the will of our public and this House? Mahsi.

Our plan is clear. I have laid it out. We’ve agreed to the adjustment of 25 percent. That money will not be available to us as a government until late 2015. We will book that money. We will agree to the 25 percent on an ongoing basis. We will book that and have it reflected in the 2015-16 budget. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be for the Heritage Fund as well. The Minister’s statement indicates the Heritage Fund begins in 2015-16 when the revenue begins to flow into the government. I guess Mr. Bromley’s questioning about when that money will flow... Are we skipping a year of the Heritage Fund? Are we skipping the first year of the Heritage Fund?

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, we’re not. We’re acknowledging that the Devolution Agreement kicks in April 1st . The

resource royalties will start to accrue but the royalties will not be paid out and will not come into our coffers until the end of 2015. Once the appropriate business cycles are concluded and reporting cycles and financial cycles are concluded where royalties are ascertained, at that point we will honour the commitment and put in 25 percent in 2015-16 on a go-forward basis. Thank you.

I guess one of the confusions, then, is that we’re booking the revenue, we’re booking the expenses for the Aboriginal groups for the 2014-15 budget.

Can the Minister explain those if we’re not expecting them until the 2015-16 budget?

The $120 million is booked for accounting purposes. The $15 million is a sign of good faith, but you’ll notice in my budget address I indicated in there that that money will not flow until late 2015.

Mr. Speaker, are we sure those monies are flowing and if they don’t show up are we committed to the fact that we’re going to have to borrow that money to pay the Aboriginal groups?

As it has been pointed out, some of these figures are estimates. They’re based on the royalties posted on an average basis. So depending on how good a year it is and the coming year will depend on what we’re going to get, but we fully anticipate we are going to get royalties in the neighbourhood of $120 million, barring some unforeseen bad news, and if there’s good news, then it will be more. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to continue with questions towards the Minister of Human Resources, and again it’s about the GNWT vacancies. So let’s start with what we know. We know that there are 571 jobs that the GNWT is actively pursuing, and we all know that there are possibly 100 or 200 other jobs that they’re not pursuing. We can only assume that when you consider and extrapolate the numbers the Finance Minister has used that could be anywhere from $10 million to $20 million.

So let’s start with this: How many jobs out there are not being actively filled and sometimes are defined as dormant or inactive jobs? How much money is being allocated and where do we find these resource jobs referred to as dormant or inactive? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The dormant and inactive positions that are not scheduled to be filled in the GNWT as of October 31, 2013, was 161 positions.

I want to thank the Minister for laying out a clear number in front of us. So let’s work with 161 jobs that are not being pursued, of course. So we’ve ignored for just a moment the 571

jobs that are being pursued. Knowing that we have 161 jobs and we use the typical math of about $100,000 per person, that could now put us into the range of about $16 million are out there somewhere just sitting.

Would the Minister agree that some positions are not being filled by departments and that money is being used for other things that the department has on their wish list other than being directed for human resources as further directed by the Legislature itself? Thank you.

At this time many of the dormant and inactive positions are not funded. They’re unfunded positions or just PYs that appear in the PeopleSoft as dormant and inactive positions. We are undertaking an analysis with all of the departments to determine if any of these positions are funded and with the ones of the inactive, dormant positions that have funding attached to it, what is happening specifically with that funding and for what other personnel use is that money used for.

The Minister said many. Many could be one or two, three or four, maybe even 100. We don’t know, because in my first question, of course, I asked exactly and the question was how much money is being allocated to these jobs. So right now all I can do is use my traditional math provided by the NWT Department of Education, I want to thank them for those 12 good years, not discovery math, which we’re not sitting here guessing.

My next question for the Minister is, if there was a snapshot using the ever famous program called PeopleSoft, as of October 31, 2013, what would that snapshot say of how many vacant positions are there within the Northwest Territories government? Thank you.

The positions are vacant for various reasons. Two of the position categories that are vacant are the dormant and the inactive and also the to-be-staffed positions, which we use the number or 571 for that specific date as a snapshot. Counting that plus all the other vacant positions in October, no, I’m sorry. I do have a number that is from December 31, 2013, and that is 1,150 positions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s a reason I keep saying traditional and discovery math and I’ll leave that up for the Cabinet to figure out. So we work with the number provided by the Minister, which is 1,150, we minus the 571 they call it actively pursuing jobs, we also minus the 161 jobs that the Minister says, well, they’re vacant or dormant, we don’t know what’s happening with them, that still leaves us 418 jobs on the table. We

have 20 percent of our government unstaffed and certainly funded.

So where are those human resource dollars going? Who is spending them and who is providing the direction on how that money is being spent? If it’s not through the Legislature itself, it must be the bureaucracy deciding where human resources are being spent, overriding the will of the Legislature. Can the Minister answer that? Thank you.

The departments manage their own human resources. They do it using the vacant positions. Sometimes they maintain a home position for an employee that may be under an assignment. So that home position would be considered vacant. They may need other priorities that need to be met by not just by the Assembly but also the department priorities and they use the position by filling some casual positions to meet the mandate. They support other positions that are required, other priorities that are required and also sometimes if the department had some vacant positions, they may keep the positions vacant if they felt that if they’re filling the positions immediately could create a cost overrun in the budget. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s been just over three months since we’ve had a commitment to have RCMP overnighting in Tsiigehtchic. So I’d like to ask the Minister, how many times have the RCMP overnighted in the community of Tsiigehtchic since our last session? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Justice, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The detachment commander in Fort McPherson has met with the band council and the SAO in Tsiigehtchic twice in December. We continue to work out arrangements for RCMP officers to overnight in the community of Tsiigehtchic and our hope is that they would be there eight days a month. We continue to work out the logistics on exactly how that’s going to happen. We’ve identified accommodations, I believe. So the details are just being worked out today.

I’d just like to ask the Minister, when can the community expect to have the RCMP overnighting in that community? Thank you.

If the details can be worked out, it should happen. Hopefully by March we can have RCMP officers overnighting in the community of Tsiigehtchic. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Many of the community residents in the community of Tsiigehtchic would like to see more of a presence from the RCMP, so I’d like to ask the Minister, will he ensure more of a presence in the community of Tsiigehtchic? Thank you.

In addition to looking at having RCMP officers overnight in the community of Tsiigehtchic, we’re also looking at the establishment of a contact location in the community of Tsiigehtchic so that community members are aware when the RCMP are on patrol in the community and they have a place where they can meet and bring any concerns that they might have to the RCMP that are on patrol in the community of Tsiigehtchic. We do look forward to the success of that. We’ve identified policing priorities for last year. We’re looking right now to establish the policing priorities for the community of Tsiigehtchic for the upcoming year.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to follow up with questions to the Minister of Human Resources here. It’s been brought up many times with the vacancies that we have within our government system. I talked to people back home and some of the concerns they bring up is they constantly see a job posting but it never gets a hiring.

I’d like to ask the Minister, for all the GNWT jobs that we have in the Northwest Territories, who writes the job descriptions? Because we’ve also heard with the college students that a lot of these job descriptions ask for two, three, four, five years’ experience. That already takes them out of the equation and doesn’t help them out when we’re trying to get our own northern workforce in.

I’d like to ask the Minister, who writes these job descriptions that go out into the public?

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The job descriptions are written by the department that will be employing that specific person once the person is hired.

Going off some of my colleagues’ questions here, because we have all these job descriptions out there and we also have job postings that aren’t being met. You look on the website and there’s, I don’t know how many there are, but I know they’re not all being filled. We talk about the main estimates and the budget process where we approve these funded jobs for the government and the departments but they’re not being filled.

I’d like to ask the Minister, and he already alluded to this earlier, but what happens to these dollars that we approve for these job positions? What happens to the dollars within the departments that we go to the positions and they’re not being filled?