This is page numbers 3161 - 3198 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 going.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister reach out to the City of Yellowknife, canvass with them on any potential funding shortfalls, and commit to working with them to resolve those shortfalls, either with additional funding or with legislative change by the end of this session? Thank you.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

As stated before, the City of Yellowknife has not approached me as the Minister to intervene on their behalf. As the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, I am open to any municipality or any of our funded bodies that need our assistance.

With the City of Yellowknife, I will be seeing them on the weekend, I believe, coming up here at the NWT Association of Communities AGM. If they have any concerns for me as the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, I am more than interested to listen to their concerns and see how I can assist them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Four months ago, I rose in this House and I asked questions about the review of the day program for elders available here in Yellowknife. I was told the review was done. Subsequently, the report was tabled, and as we stand here today there still is no day program for seniors in Yellowknife. I would appreciate an update from the Minister on when his department plans to resume this service. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on conversations with the Member and committee, we have agreed to move forward with the development of a seniors' day program here in Yellowknife.

The RFP was supposed to be out shortly before Christmas. Unfortunately, we ran into some difficulties with some of the content. We want to make sure we get it right. It is my understanding that the department has almost finalized that work, and we are hoping that the RFP goes out very shortly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

I am very familiar with the "we don't want to rush; we want to get it right" answer here, but we are talking about almost a year-and-a-half delay in providing any kind of day programming for seniors in Yellowknife. I would like to think that this is highest priority the Minister has, in order to ensure that our seniors are well looked after during the day. Can he please give us some more specifics about not only when the RFP will come out, but when the service provision is anticipated to start?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

As I indicated, the RFP is almost done. As far as the drafting, we are hoping that that RFP will come out in the next couple of weeks. It will follow its normal process to make sure that we are getting solid applications. They will all be assessed and evaluated against the criteria that is established in the RFP.

I am hoping that we can get this contract out as quickly as possible, hopefully before the end of this fiscal year. Granted that we really only have about a month and a half before that time ends; I cannot guarantee it will happen before the end of the fiscal year, but that is my desire at this point.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you to the Minister for that response. Can the Minister confirm that the RFP will serve people with cognitive disabilities on some days of the week and people who are frail on other days of the week? In other words, will the RFP accommodate different needs by seniors in the day programming?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I will commit to sharing a copy of the RFP with the Member once it is released.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister reveal for us whether this contract is going to be retendered every year or whether this will be a multi-year offering? Mahsi.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Some of that depends on the types of proposals that we get in. We would obviously like to see something that lasts beyond the upcoming fiscal year, but it really depends on the nature of the proposals that are submitted. I would like to see some consistency and some continuity on this particular approach, but we have not seen proposals that have come in at this point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister responsible for Public Engagement and Transparency on his lengthy statement earlier today. He had to reach back in time to 2015-2016 and quote some figures from the main estimates, but can he tell me what is in the current main estimates of 2018-2019 in terms of royalties from minerals, oil, and gas extraction here in the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister responsible for Public Engagement and Transparency.

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, I do not have the main estimates in front of me. I do know, however, that there is likely to be a significant decline in these revenues. Thank you.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks to the Minister for that. I can help him with his memory there. It is $13.46 million. It is found on page B14 of the budget address, and I am sure he is going to have the main estimates in front of him shortly. Tobacco taxes are $16 million. In the interest of transparency, can the Minister tell us who actually calculates and predicts these royalties?

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

I am not exactly sure how those revenue and royalty rates are set, but I will take the question as notice.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. The question has been taken as notice. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment made a Minister's statement, and I will quote from it: "Royalties directly impact the profitability and viability of resource development projects in the NWT" and that, "further, we will not be reviewing our resource royalty regime as part of the work on the proposed act."

One of the stated public goals of the act is to create a cutting-edge mineral resources regime in the Northwest Territories. If royalties affect our competitiveness so much, why is the Minister indicating that we are not going to address that? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated before in this House around the Mineral Resource Act, there are a number of complex issues that we are moving forward working with intergovernmental council on these issues. The question about resource revenue coming into the GNWT was asked yesterday. This is a very complex issue, as I've stated in this House, and it needs a whole-government approach, and along with intergovernmental council, we have decided to defer that to a later date. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

When is that later date?