This is page numbers 4243 - 4266 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was community.

Topics

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

There is a 20-year capital plan that most departments have. There is an overall 20-year capital plan, and then there is a five-year capital plan. There are a number of projects that could get on these plans, but sometimes the plans change. If they find that there is another facility or a building that is unsafe for the occupants, then that might take priority over one that is on the five-year capital plan. That may get pushed back a bit. I think we all, that have been around in this building for a while, have seen that, where plans get pushed back a bit because of other circumstances.

That would be the process that would be used. If it is on the five-year capital plan, then, normally, the planning would start for that, but if, for some unforeseen reason, something else happens to any of the other government assets, then that may have to take priority because of the safety issues that come along with it.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Assuming that everything remains and there are no emergencies, I would like to ask the Minister if factors such as employment play into the capital planning process. I know it is an important aspect of this Assembly to ensure that we have employment. As many have said, including the Minister of Finance, "employment is the best social program that we can have."

I would like to know if there is a community that has an employment of 40 per cent versus a community that has an employment rate of 70 per cent, is that a factor when we're allocating capital projects? Right now, what is happening in my riding is the projects are getting completed, and the young people that are being trained and are ready to take the next project on will have to work in other communities to fill in the gap.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

First of all, that is a good thing. If these young people are getting the skills that they need and the contractor wants to move them to another community, I think that is a good thing. When we debate the capital budget, as we are going to be doing, you will find that there is a number of other projects for other communities. If contractors are able to secure that work, then they may move these folks there, and then there will be an opportunity, if there are other projects in their hometown, to come back home.

I always believe that's a good thing, and it expands their skills, their knowledge, but, as far as the employment goes, I don't believe that plays a part in the prioritizing of that project. Again, it goes back to safety and whether this building needs to be replaced for safety reasons and how long it has been on the capital plan. The Member makes a good point, and I agree with them that, if they have to move around with the work, then that's a good thing. They are being recognized for the skills that they gained when the project was near a home community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with some parts of what the Minister is saying. Some of the employees like to go to other projects in other communities, but many of them cannot.

I would like to ask the Minister: I know that they use several factors to determine, I think, five or six different factors to be weighed up against other factors to determine which capital item or infrastructure item will be placed first on the infrastructure list for each year that we review in the House. I would like to ask the Minister, if there is a possibility that, it's sort of like a social factor I guess, of getting away from the technical factors, if they could add employment as part of a key factor when determining which communities will get infrastructure projects?

Question 372-18(3): Capital Planning Process
Oral Questions

October 12th, 2018

Page 4259

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, as much as I agree with the Member on the importance of employment in the small communities and I think, through a number of the different programs that the Government of the Northwest Territories offers as part of infrastructure goes, I think we have seen an example through the small community employment fund through the rural and remote committee, there was someone there that was allocated for some employment opportunities and in small communities, but I don't believe that's a particular one that was factored in with the prioritizing of projects. I don't even know if it should be, to be quite honest with you. Maybe it is a discussion we need to have.

Again, I will go back to the fact that we do have infrastructure deficit that is quite large. All communities in the Northwest Territories need projects. We hear that here, in the House. We go back to our capital budget that we are going to be debating in the next couple weeks in this House. I think we are going to see that there is a huge infrastructure budget and there should be benefits for all those possible in the territory.

I think I took the long way to answer the Member's question. It is no, I don't believe that employment factor would be prioritized as part of allocating projects in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Cory Vanthuyne

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I talked about the effects of climate change and the importance of taking action now. The federal government has indicated that the way in which we are going to do that is by changing folks' behaviour and that was going to be through an applied carbon tax. The NWT signed on to the federal plan for a carbon tax and even though we had previously argued against it, saying such a tax wasn't appropriate for the North.

Can the Minister describe what the tax was in fact intended to accomplish? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry, my questions are for the Minister of Finance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, the NWT signed on to the Clean Growth and Climate Change Framework. Carbon pricing is actually an element of that. We didn't sign on to carbon pricing just yet. We have an MOU that we are in the final stages of drafting, or it is in its final stages right now. We have not signed that yet.

The Member is correct. We were against carbon pricing when it first came out because we knew that it was going to have a detrimental effect on people in the Northwest Territories. Once we realized that the federal government was going to implement this regardless of whether we were in or not, then we took steps and showed some leadership in coming up with and made an NWT approach that we thought would benefit or minimize the impact of the federal backstop. Had we gone with the federal backstop, it would have been quite costly to people in the Northwest Territories. I would encourage the people not to stand by the border because people would have been leaving so fast, you would have gotten run over. So we have come up with a plan that, although not perfect, addresses a lot of the concerns that we heard from the public across the Northwest Territories.

Cory Vanthuyne

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

I appreciate the Minister's reply, and I certainly do appreciate the effort that they have put in with regarding to protecting Northerner's interests, especially around the cost of living.

As maybe a supplement to that question, then, I just want to ask the Minister, then: are there or have there ever been discussions to use carbon tax to mitigate the climate change impacts by changing people's behaviour? I mean if that's what the federal government said it was intended to do, were there ever discussions between ourselves and federal governments to apply it in that manner, that it would be used to change people's behaviour so that we could protect the impact of climate change?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, the federal government, that was their original intent, was to try to curb people's behaviour so not to contribute to climate change. They came up with the carbon price tax.

We, in turn, had to make some adjustments to try and minimize the impact that it was going to have on the people of Northwest Territories. The intent was to curb people's behaviours so that there's less greenhouse gas emission, but I think even the federal government realizes that, in the Northwest Territories, and we used the word 'uniqueness' a number of times, our situation is a little different. We have had an opportunity to use their idea to leverage some funding to try and help with some transitional projects in the Northwest Territories to actually contribute to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Cory Vanthuyne

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

Thank you to the Minister for the reply. You know, northern communities, industry, and residents are already taking significant steps on their own initiative to invest in renewable energy. We have seen numerous examples of that throughout the territory, whether it's the windmills at Diavik, the solar panels in Colville Lake, or just folks doing improvements on their homes.

Because we are doing it on our own, does it make sense to even burden residents with the new tax, especially if it's not going to do what the federal government intended it to do, and that was to change people's behaviour?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

I mean, first of all, this government did not want to burden people with a new tax. Had we used the federal backstop, which they were going to use regardless, it would have cost people in the Northwest Territories a lot more. I want to make that quite clear.

Through a number of our approaches to carbon pricing - and I do believe that our document is public. I know I have briefed committee on it. I have some feedback from committee on it, so I do know that we have a backstop that we are using. One of the things is the cost of living offset that we proposed to help offset some of that high cost of implementing this. The NWT Child Benefit is another one that we are using.

We have taken some steps to try to mitigate the impact on people in the Northwest Territories. Again, I have to reiterate that the federal government was going to impose this no matter what. I think we have met the challenge of trying to minimize the impact on people in the Northwest Territories.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Cory Vanthuyne

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for the reply. Yes, the federal government was going to impose it on us no matter what, but, as we have seen around the country, there are a number of different jurisdictions that are mounting arguments against Ottawa's carbon plan. You know, if we were joining the new carbon regime, that very future seems to be in doubt. Does the Minister still think that this is the way to go, or are we still going to go through this carbon tax, made-in-the-North carbon tax, come January?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, we are monitoring what the other jurisdictions across the country are doing. We will continue to do that. As I said before, we haven't signed the MOU yet. We are still working with Ottawa, but again, I go back to the point that Ottawa is going to implement this regardless what the other jurisdictions are doing. They will implement. They will have their fight with the other jurisdictions. I just want to be sure that our territory is ready, that when the date comes to implement carbon pricing, we are ready for it, and if there are any benefits to be gained from it while mitigating the impact on people in the Northwest Territories, we will take full advantage of that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 373-18(3): Carbon Pricing
Oral Questions

October 12th

Page 4261

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I was in Fort Providence, the home community of Premier McLeod. My question is to Premier McLeod. It was a proud day in Fort Providence. Everyone was there, but, sadly, there were no GNWT senior officials. Can the Premier explain: what was the GNWT's role in establishing the Edehzhie as a protected area? Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. The Honourable Premier.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The reason we weren't there is we received an invitation two days before the event, and we were already scheduled to be in session. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

There was an initial schedule signed back in September, and parties, of course, that were involved, you know, sought clarity, and one of them was the GNWT. Can the Premier explain or update the territorial position on the subsurface withdrawal for Edehzhie?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

We have been in discussions with the Dehcho First Nations with regards to the subsurface of Edehzhie. We see it as a package arrangement. We are not prepared to one-off individual sectors of the Dehcho process. We had put forward a significant offer where Edehzhie was part of it, and we have yet to receive a response to that offer.

I understand that the Dehcho leadership will be holding leadership meetings at some point in October to determine where they want to go with regards to the Dehcho process.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Yesterday evening, it meant a lot for the Federal Government of Canada to be there and Dehcho First Nations officials, as well, and it was a big, exciting event.

One of the steps that needs to happen to fulfill the future of our protected area and advance it through the federal process is transferring Edehzhie to the federal government. Could the Minister or the Premier explain in terms of how that process might work out?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

There was never an intention to transfer the subsurface of the Edehzhie back to the federal government. The discussions that we have been having is that it would be controlled in the Northwest Territories by the Aboriginal government and the Government of the Northwest Territories through an agreement that would be established through the Dehcho process.