Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Justice. The 2016-2017 NWT Rental Office Report shows an enormous increase in wait times from the norms of the previous five years. Why has the turnaround time between the dates of application filing and the dates of hearing become so long? Thank you.

Masi. Minister of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the period of 2016-2017, there were actually fewer applications, but there were more complex issues involved in those applications. Also, too, the long-standing rental officer retired, so that left one rental officer working there. Those two issues led to delays, which we fully acknowledge. Now, I have noticed that the numbers for the period from April 1, 2017, to January 31, 2018, do represent an improvement. So we are committed to improving those numbers further, Mr. Speaker. We knew there were also pressures on the office administrator's workload, and those procedures have been streamlined. So we think that all these adjustments will lead to improved service, which, of course, is our aim. Thank you.

I appreciate the response from the Minister. Can the Minister tell us whether he has allocated additional resources to this office?

Yes, I can advise that we have allocated additional resources to the office. We have entered into a contract to have a second officer, a second rental officer, work there on a part-time basis. So we believe that that will reduce the workload.

I appreciate the Minister's response that there is, in fact, more staff available. He said that service time had been improved. So, for example, what percentage of applications are now taking more than 90 days to process?

I don't actually have those figures, but I will undertake to provide them to the Member opposite.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that commitment from the Minister. I'm looking for another commitment, and that is that the Minister will direct the rental office in its annual reports to track this indicator, which is not only the waiting time for applications, but the lag between applications and court orders in future reports. Thank you.

The annual report covers the number of applications filed, the number of hearings held, and the elapsed time between filing and hearing. This information has been included as a performance measure in our departmental business plan for a number of years, and we'll continue to do that. We do recognize that justice delayed is justice denied. We do realize this is an important issue. We are taking measures to improve service to the public. Thank you.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Mr. Speaker, yes. We do work with other departments as we work on strategies because sometimes there are times when there is cross-over; it's inter-departmental. So all the departments will usually work together as we bring these strategies forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for that reply. Seeing that it's a multi-department, coordinated, cost-shared effort, would the communities be involved in their particular landfill as part of the engagement?

There is an opportunity through the engagement process with stakeholders. If there are concerns with landfills in the communities, I'm sure the community governments will bring those issues forward to the department when they're doing their consultations. There is also an opportunity for online comments, so all those factors are taken into consideration. If communities have a concern, then they have an opportunity to bring that concern to the department.

I'm glad to hear from the Minister that there is going to be some community consultation on describing the details of the scope for the clean-up. My next question is: when is this consultation going to occur in the Sahtu communities?

I do know that there was a regional meeting held in Norman Wells, the regional centre for Sahtu, in January of 2018, so there was an opportunity there for some community input. Then there will be some public engagement on the discussion paper, and we're looking for the draft strategy and implementation plan to be ready for review and comment in the fall of 2018.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister keep my office posted so that, if time permits, I might be able to attend these community consultations? Thank you.

I do commit to keeping the Member informed. As I said before, I do know that they have had a number of regional meetings taking place in January and February. Actually, I think the last one was on February 14th. There was one other community that wanted to have a meeting, so I think they are trying to fit that in there, but I will keep the Member informed as to any potential meetings that are happening in his riding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I spoke about some of the challenges in my riding for carbon taxes and green gas and energy and that. My questions are to the Minister of Infrastructure.

My first question: has the government considered expanding the Taltson hydro dam system, and are they looking at expanding that to the Nahendeh riding as well? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.