This is page numbers 3475 – 3500 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 5th 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 positions.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, we are doing things like regional recruitment. We are looking at the way we are structured as a college and supporting post-secondary students. We are now doing things, as indicated in this House, like job fairs. We have the initiative that’s going to put market housing in the small communities, which we hope will allow us to staff long needed positions in the smaller communities. There are a lot of things being done not only by us but by industry.

The issue is, are we doing it, as the Member herself said, well enough. Clearly, when we look at our territorial population statistics, there is work to do. The fly-in/fly-out, as well, is a challenge. We also believe there is significant opportunity in the immigrant Nominee Program. The one political case that comes to mind is Premier Wall from Saskatchewan went all the way over to Ireland as part of a recruiting career fair to sign up Irish folks to move to Saskatchewan to fill jobs that are going begging. We are in a very competitive market to do those types of things in addition to trying to employ every Northerner that we possibly can. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up with my Member’s statement today. I have questions today for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

In the budget address it mentions that one-third of our NWT children start school already significantly behind in their overall health and development. I want to ask the Minister, with the data collection, does he see those stats as per norm that we see in the small communities?

Would the Minister give us any kind of indication what those stats are in the small communities and how he plans to address those challenges, those problems that we have with children being behind in their health and their development? Does he have the stats for the small communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We do have those stats from the small communities and also the larger centres in comparison and also southern jurisdictions, as well, because they do serve isolated communities sometimes.

We have done a lot of research in this area and we have been working with other provincial jurisdictions. We realize that a lot of our communities, especially the isolated communities, small communities, are not up to par on their educational paths. Through the Education Renewal Initiative it will certainly capture those areas, and even the Early Childhood Development Framework that we have been talking about. All those tools that we have been providing will offset and enhance the program that we’re going to be delivering as we move forward. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

I agree with the Minister that we do have a lot of challenges in our smaller communities, especially ones that are isolated.

The Minister and committee have had the opportunity to work with the Beaufort-Delta Education Authority on their e-learning program that provides education tools and education to the small communities using teleconference.

Would the Minister agree that this new e-learning structure is working and is very successful in the Beaufort-Delta region, and is he willing to look at providing additional resources to this project? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

First of all I would like to commend the Beaufort-Delta Education

Council for working diligently on this particular e-learning initiative that they have embarked on. It has been very, very successful to date, even though it has been a short time frame. At the same time, we have been doing our research across our great country of Canada and there is other e-learning that’s happening throughout the other regions, but this particular one captures the most isolated communities.

I agree that this is an area that we need to invest in more and then how we can deliver that as a test pilot project through the Beaufort-Delta region to other isolated communities. Those are just some of the discussions we are currently having. Mahsi.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

I appreciate the Minister’s comments on the work that’s been brought forth by the Beaufort-Delta Education Council, and just quoting him he says it’s “very, very successful” and that we have to start investing into this organization.

Right now the Beaufort-Delta Education Authority, through the e-learning program, provides opportunities for three communities to advance their education, higher education, meaning that there are other communities in the coastal regions that aren’t getting the proper, not the proper but the same education that they can.

Would the Minister be willing to invest funding? Knowing that the Beaufort-Delta Education Authority is using their old funds to fund this program, can new dollars be invested into the Beaufort-Delta Education Authority to fund this program so the coastal communities can also reap these benefits? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thanks for the Member’s statement, Mr. Moses. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Member for addressing this important subject. We are, as I stated, working very closely with the BDEC – Beaufort-Delta Education Council – exploring various ways on how we can expand on their initiative that has been highlighted as a success.

As the Member indicated, part of the coastal regions are not covered. This is our goal, to capture those isolated communities, reaching out to those isolated communities. We are discussing that at this point. Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to be pretty blunt about this, I guess, would the Minister be willing to fund the e-learning program with new dollars so that Beaufort-Delta Education can use their allocated funding for other programs and projects that other regions have? Is there new

funding in the ERI Initiative coming down the pipes in the 2014-15 fiscal year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

E-learning will be a key component of the Education Innovation Action Plan, so as we move forward, evolve into action plans, this will be captured to reach out to the most isolated communities. So, yes, that is part of the plan. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Bouchard, Hay River.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Finance on his new release of this year’s budget.

I would like to ask the Minister, if he had done his tour of the Northwest Territories, how he can justify as the amount that we are supposed to put into the Heritage Fund when we have clearly heard other numbers such as 25 percent and 50 percent?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was an issue of choice and having to make disciplined choices to try to meet all the objectives that we have as a government and as an Assembly, in a way that allows us to be sustainable, stay within our borrowing limit and still move forward.

There was a very diverse range of opinion across the territory. For example, the community of Hay River, they were supportive of the 5 percent when we met there and when we did a wrap-up at the end of the day. In Fort Smith there was a significant debate, 25 percent at the end of the day. Inuvik said they thought it should be probably more, at least 10 percent. In Norman Wells it wasn’t that clear. In Yellowknife the range went from 25 to 100 percent. So there was a range. There was no doubt and you have to make a choice. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing. That’s what we are required to do and that’s what we did in a careful, thoughtful way.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

I know the Minister did attend Hay River and he indicated that Hay River supported the 5 percent. At the same time, the Minister indicated that we were reducing debt and he’s indicated in our budget here that we are looking at borrowing another billion dollars. So I mean, I think Hay River is supportive of 5 percent plus paying down the debt. I think the 25 percent that we’re looking on this side for is a cost-savings. The community of Hay River is looking to save more towards the future.

I wonder how the Minister justifies this when he indicated that we’re going to reduce debt but we’re

actually taking on more debt, a billion dollars’ worth of debt.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

As we went around the North and travelled to the regional centres, we talked about not only the Heritage Fund but we talked about the vision of the Assembly and of the government with the grid build out to the road completion from Wrigley to Norman Wells, the need to look at things like natural gas expansion, the need to put infrastructure into our communities. The only way we can do that is if we get a bump-up to our borrowing limit, which I would point out we haven’t had finalized yet and we haven’t borrowed a cent yet. We painted that picture for folks for the road ahead on what we need to do as a territory with devolution. We are currently, with our $800 million borrowing limit in the budget address, with the path that we’re on, we will be within $142 million of our borrowing limit. We’ve agreed that we want to keep a $100 million cushion on anything that could happen, a horrific fire season this coming summer, God forbid, but something of that nature.

So we had a fulsome discussion with the communities. We didn’t mislead communities. We didn’t just go in there and talk about the Heritage Fund. The Heritage Fund is actually about $45 million that we are looking at potentially out of a budget of $1.6 billion. We had the board discussion too. We have to make those choices. We can do both, the question is not what degree. Thank you.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

I think we’re looking at terminology. The Minister indicated that we are looking to borrow a billion dollars. The indication that he said that we might have been misled is the fact that we indicated that we’re actually going to reduce our debt. This budget says we are going to reduce our debt and that’s what they have been selling, but in this budget they are also talking about borrowing another billion dollars. So I’m just wondering where the Minister sees the difference in that. We’ve talked to the communities about reducing the debt, but now in this budget we are actually taking on more debt.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

We talked about if we park the $1 billion request to bump up our borrowing limit to the side which is going to be geared to major economic infrastructure, when we talked about the Heritage Fund, the resource revenue sharing, we talked about debt reduction, paying down the debt and we talked about investing in infrastructure. Those are the three areas and we are working to keep the debt reduced to within $100 million cushion of our $800 million borrowing limit. We’ve talked to people about that. We’ve talked to people about the things we need to do about the Stanton renovation at $350 million. When we did the consultation, we didn’t have the number, but we knew it was going to be significant. So we were clear and we do need, as we borrow money like we

plan to do on the Stanton renovation, we need to be able to pay down that debt. We want to keep it within $100 million. To me, that’s debt reduction to keep it all affordable for people. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you. Another area of interest in the budget is the discussion of the regional positions. The Minister’s presentation indicated that there’s going to be 52 positions in the regions. I’m just wondering: how many positions are we putting into Yellowknife with devolution?

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you. I think there have been briefings with the Members. We’ve offered all the existing employees in Yellowknife that are in federal positions that are transferring. We’ve had, as the Premier indicated yesterday, nearly 100 percent take-up. So you’re going to be at 150 positions, roughly. I mean, I don’t have the exact number, but all the jobs that are currently in Yellowknife, job offers were made, all of them were accepted and they have a two-year commitment to their positions and stability here in Yellowknife. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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