Debates of March 1st, 2017

This is page numbers 2075 - 2114 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 2nd 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 work.

Topics

Oral Questions

Members Present

Prayer

Yellowknife Airport Evolution

Progress Statement - Education and Training

Canada's Outstanding Principals: Education, Culture and Employment Milestone Statement

Commitment to Action on Climate Change

Protection of the Bathurst Caribou Herd

Dead North Film Festival

Proposed Carbon Pricing Charette

Impacts of Climate Change on Transportation Systems in the Sahtu

Northern Carbon Pricing Regime

Deh Cho Boreal Caribou Study

Member's Statement on Inuvialuit Water Board

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

Inuvialuit Water Board

Inclusive Schooling Funding

Northern Carbon Pricing Regime

Proposed Carbon Pricing Charette

Industrial Activity Green House Gas Emissions

Protection of the Bathurst Caribou Herd

Notification of Northern Carbon Pricing

Proposed Carbon Pricing Charette

Tabled Document 307-18(2): Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 4-18(2): Report on the Review of the 2014-15 Public Accounts Tabled Document 308-18(2): Follow-Up Letter for Oral Question 505-18(2): PeopleSoft Public Service Human Resource Reports Tabled Document 309-18(2): Follow-Up Letter for Oral Question 606-18(2): Status of Transboundary Water Management Agreements

Tabled Document 310-18(2): We Can Do Better: Housing in Inuit Nunagut Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, Senate of Canada, March 2017

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Tabled Document 261-18(2): Main Estimates 2017-2018, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Deferral of Corporate Management Activity

Tabled Document 261-18(2): Main Estimates 2017-2018, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Deferral of Environment Activity

Tabled Document 261-18(2): Main Estimates 2017-2018, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Deferral of Water Resources Activity

Tabled Document 261-18(2): Main Estimates 2017-2018, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Deferral of Further Consideration of the Estimates for Environment and Natural Resources

Report Of Committee Of The Whole

Orders Of The Day

Committee Motion 71-18(2): Tabled Document 261-18(2): Main Estimates 2017-2018, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Deferral of Environment Activity, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 2107

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Is this $2 million in funding, a new initiative or is this a renewal? Is it an increase? Just maybe if I can get a little bit better description of what happened here. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Page 2107

The Chair Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Ms. Craig.

Page 2107

Craig

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The funding for the Water Stewardship Strategy and Transboundary Agreements has been renewed on an annual basis in the past. What expired or sunsetted at the end of 2016 was $1,016,015. Our budget was changed to $2,056,000 for 2017-18 and ongoing for three years. The net increase to this area was $441,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Page 2107

The Chair Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Ms. Craig. Mr. O'Reilly.

Page 2107

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the response. That's good to hear. If I just do the math here and add in 441k from 2016-17 to 2017-18, there are obviously some other things that are going on here within the Watershed Management function of the ENR.

Sorry, I'll just digress here for a second. Part of the problem is there's just no detail provided in the mains or even in the business plan about what this money is being spent on. I guess I would urge the department to find a better way to present what's going on with these functions in their business plan so that we can actually see where any money is brought in or things are being sunsetted and reduced and so on. I think it might have been in an earlier version of the business plan that we saw, but it's certainly not in the public version. That's just an aside.

Maybe I could ask if that's something that the department could look into so we don't have these big globs of money and not really knowing what's going on within the function. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Page 2108

The Chair Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

Page 2108

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I think there was some information of the activity description in the front there as to where it might go. I take the Member's point though about - I think he wants to know exactly where all the money is going and, I would have to go back and see because I thought during our business planning process, we gave a better indication of where it was broken down as to where the money was going to go and then we bring it forward to a business plan and we have the one figure here for $3,600,030. I'll go back and look at the business plans and if there's an opportunity to provide a bit more information to committee, then that's what we will consider doing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Page 2108

The Chair Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Page 2108

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I'm happy to have an offline discussion with the Minister about this. There was a difference between the business plans that we reviewed in September and was publicly available. It's always a bit of a balancing act for a number of different reasons. I'm happy to chat offline about that. Let's go back to the numbers that are presented here in the mains.

There is something else going on within the watershed management. I think my colleague from Yellowknife North talked about source water protection being reduced. Can someone from the department talk a little bit more about that? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Page 2108

The Chair Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Dr. Kelly.

Page 2108

Dr. Kelly

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's been a reduction of $115,000 for source water protection funding. That money has, over the years, contributed to the development of guidance documents on source water protection for communities to use as well as workbooks. We've held community workshops and completed the workbooks with communities. We've produced source water protection maps. We've completed train-the-trainer events with some of our local environmental non-government organizations. We believe that we have the resources in-house within the water resources division to support continued source water protection in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Page 2108

The Chair Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Dr. Kelly. Mr. O'Reilly.

Page 2108

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the level of detail provided by the ADM. That's helpful. We have the materials now. Presumably, they're being distributed and there's some assistance from local and regional ENR staff. I'm not sure that's quite good enough to make sure that source water is actually protected. We need the plans.

I don't think it's just ENR's responsibility, clearly. There's a role for MACA here as well. MACA does spend a lot of money and tries to build capacity within the communities to have sound water systems for communities. Part of that is to make sure that the source water is protected. Just as MACA is doing some work to try to make sure we're going to have safe water for all of our residents and all, whatever sized-community you live in, we've got another department cutting some of the funding that could be used to help support that.

We finished the guidance documents. I guess I don't understand why this funding can't be used to support, say, workshops or getting people maybe even together on a regional basis to look at actual source water protection plans and how you actually develop and implement them at a municipal level. I'm not very happy with the cut. Maybe the department can convince me otherwise. What we have here is departments working at cross purposes and I think we need to find ways for them to work together better. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Page 2108

The Chair Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Dr. Kelly.

Page 2108

Dr. Kelly

Thank you, Mr. Chair. ENR, MACA, Health and Social Services and Public Works work together on an interdepartmental drinking water committee. The source water protection money was for source protection planning. We have produced guidance documents and workbooks, as I mentioned, that will help communities. With respect to the other money that's part of Watershed Management and water research and studies, that also contributes to source water protection in the Northwest Territories because we do biological monitor as well as water quality monitoring. The Transboundary Water Management Agreements are a significant part of source water protection for the Northwest Territories. We feel that we have the expertise and the ability within other areas of the Water Resources Division to support source water protection and communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Page 2108

The Chair Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Dr. Kelly. Mr. O'Reilly.

Page 2109

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the explanation. I guess I'd be much more favourably inclined if we could find then a way to re-profile this money to actually support communities preparing source water plans, but we could probably be debating this for a lot longer. That's enough for me. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Page 2109

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Seeing nothing further from committee. Mr. Beaulieu.

Page 2109

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I would like to talk a bit about watershed management. It is the fifth program under program detail. I'm wondering if there is some work being done on the Slave River which runs from another jurisdiction. What type of work is going on in the Slave River in as far as monitoring, developing baselines, and seeing if the water that's flowing out close to Fort Resolution is still water that is not affected by whatever is happening upstream. I'm wondering if that information is collected from a year-to-year basis for the Slave River. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Page 2109

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Dr. Kelly.

Page 2109

Dr. Kelly

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is ongoing federal government monitoring for both quality and quantity on the Slave River. There is also ENR monitoring and community-based monitoring on the Slave River at Fort Smith near Big Eddy and in Resolute Bay as well with community members doing that work. All of the communities along the Slave River are part of a group called the Slave River and Delta Partnership that's been working for the last many years on beaver, mink, and muskrat studies, contaminants and sediment studies, all types of work that's been going on on the Slave River to address the types of issues that you've mentioned. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Page 2109

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Dr. Kelly. Mr. Beaulieu.

Page 2109

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to ask the Minister if that information gathered from that work by the federal government is available to us. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Page 2109

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Dr. Kelly.

Page 2109

Dr. Kelly

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is a report that's been compiled on Slave River water quality at the federal station that we could provide, and there are also numerous documents that have been compiled on the work of the Slave River and Delta Partnership and a partnership we have with the University of Saskatchewan on the Slave River as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of March 1st, 2017

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