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

So, Health and Social Services has not been involved from the outset. I am a grandmother. I’m looking after my

grandchildren. Can I go to social services and explain the situation to them and work collaboratively with them to ensure that I can afford to financially care for my grandchildren? Thank you.

I would encourage the grandparents, obviously, to talk to social services to see how they can engage with the system, but it does come back to the parents who have the legal responsibility for those children. They would have to be involved as well. History would have to be determined; a file would have to be created. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I discussed some of the concerns surrounding a Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Admittedly, the Alberta Labour Minister earlier this week indicated that Ottawa is over-reacting with the foreign worker moratorium and that responsible employers are being unfairly punished. Ultimately what we are hearing from many of the big western provinces is that they want to have more control over the program. It’s about a month since the temporary freeze on the program. I thought it would be important to see what our Minister of Education, Culture and Employment has to say on this subject.

Could the Minister indicate to the House where does NWT sit on the temporary foreign worker file? Is the Minister in contact with the federal Minister Jason Kenney on a regular basis? Thank you.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We are fully aware of the temporary foreign workers moratorium that is laid out across our country. GNWT has no Temporary Foreign Workers Program. It is a federal program but we do share concerns. I did speak with Minister Jason Kenney just the other day, Wednesday evening, May 28th , about this particular program and share

our concerns, how to move forward on this and what his plans were. My department senior officials are working very closely with other counterparts as well, territorial/provincial and also the federal Minister’s office on this particular subject. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It’s good to hear that we have some communication here with our federal Minister, but I would like to get a little bit more information in terms of where we are at with our NWT Nominee Program. This is where we administer from our end. I am led to believe that we have only two out of four employees actually working in this department, so

I’m a bit concerned whether or not we have the capacity to work with it.

For example, what has been our quota for this program? How many unprocessed applications do we have? How long have these applications been in stasis and how many have actually been processed during this fiscal year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Temporary Worker Program, again, is a federal funding, but also federal programming. The Nominee Program, we also administer that with the federal government. Part of the process is to monitor and evaluate the program itself. With the actual numbers which I don’t have with me, the detail, but I can share with the Member all the transactions that have taken place since we took over the program with the federal government until today and how we are planning to integrate that with the federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I will entertain those numbers when the Minister has them for me. That would be great.

We know that this Temporary Foreign Worker Program is, as I said, delivered here through the NWT Nominee Program. We know that a recent ITI Economic Opportunity Strategy implementation plan proposed strengthening this NWT Nominee Program. However, there has been little information on the proposed timeline of action. There hasn’t been any mention of any anticipated resources required.

Can the Minister share with the House what is this action plan and how much is this going to cost taxpayers?

During my discussions with Jason Kenney, these were some of the discussions that we’ve raised. We’ve raised some concerns, as well, just to elaborate and also enhance our nominee programming. The Northwest Territories Nominee Program is employer driven. The program is administered by our department and supports a permanent residency. The department is investigating ways, as I stated, to enhance the immigration program, which includes raising awareness of the Nominee Program and provide supports for new Canadians. Any new enhancements to the Nominee Program will be met with the existing resources. Those are the discussions that I had with Jason Kenney, and he is also supportive, and we will be pushing forward with the federal government.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We heard that there are internal funds being used for that, but I didn’t quite hear a timeline, so I’ll

encourage the Minister to get back to the Member and the House.

We know that competition with the local job market requires a strong policy with such an NWT Nominee Program. Can the Minister reassure the public, with pending reform, will GNWT policy, including mining industry socio-economic agreements, still recognize Aboriginal people at a higher priority than foreign workers?

Yes. Of course, the people of the North are our most important resources, and first and foremost, we want to ensure that Northerners in the Northwest Territories have the skills and knowledge for their employment success. That’s our priority. We also recognize that there are growing pressures on the government, not just our government but the federal government, industries, business, to respond to the increase in the labour market demands due to changing demographics. Those are some of the important discussions that we have had with Jason Kenney just the other day as well. It’s important that my department is also working with all partners to ensure skills training and also the post-secondary education system responds to these needs. I will carry this forward with the federal Minister as part of a priority for this government.

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

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Minister of Public Works, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are evaluating the needs of the staff for office space at this time when the people from the old centre go to the new health centre. We recognize that there are approximately…well, at this time exactly 57 people that would have to be housed outside of the new health centre, so we are looking at all of the possibilities including refurbishing the clinic, which will be moving to the health centre, to accommodate some of the staff in there and maintaining the current lease that we do have that accommodates 11 staff members. We’re looking at a location for another 23 staff and probably also some contingency space. We haven’t made a final determination on how we’re going to do that at this time.

The Minister indicated the refurbishing of the current medical clinic. I guess my concerns and questions are: Do we have an estimated cost of what that refurbishing is to an older building, and would those dollars be better spent adding to the new facility so that we have office space right in the location as opposed to renovating an old building?

It would be around $785,000 to get that clinic tenant improvements to accommodate the staff at this time. We will be doing a cost comparative analysis to determine whether or not leased space purchased from the private industry would be more feasible. Hay River has very good rates, so that is something that when we go in to needing office space in Hay River we do do a comparison to actually going into the market and getting leased space as opposed to producing our own space through capital because the rates are very good in Hay River.

Obviously, the fall of 2015 is when the new facility is going to be established. I guess the question is: When will the general plan for this office space be released and the report completed so that we actually have a plan in place before the close of the fall of 2015?

We’re going to complete the move into the new health centre. The individuals that are currently housed in the H.H. Williams will remain there until the spring of 2016. Prior to that date, we will be placing them outside of H.H. Williams and then the Department of Health and Social Services would then have an opportunity to determine whether or not the H.H. Williams is surplus to the government.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess the question is about that renovation and the $785,000. Would that not be better spent to be invested into a newer building, into a newer facility, along with some of the costs associated that we currently have in leasing? Is the department looking at that as an option as well?