This is page numbers 3883 – 3910 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 report.

Topics

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

I don't know whether we would be able to identify candidates and resources by May 24th. That is the issue, so I cannot make that commitment. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are not enough pilots in Canada to meet the demand, and this gap is widening. The effects are being felt across Canada, but, in the NWT, we are disproportionately affected, I would say, because our territory is so large, would have a lack of road infrastructure, and the new rules around pilot fatigue mean more pilots are required to maintain the current flights that we have. Many residents rely heavily on small regional airlines, and those are the type of airlines that have difficulty retaining pilots because they are being poached by the bigger companies who can offer more. The NWT has become sort of a training ground for pilots where young pilots might come in and then leave, so the pilots are also more inexperienced. I have heard that the big companies are hiring entire classes of pilots and instructors. You know, it does not look well for the future.

In Hay River, we would like to see more flights in and out of there so we can get some competition and lower the prices, but this pilot shortage is making that even more difficult. So, because the Minister of Education is responsible for labour and training, I have some questions for him. First, I would like to ask: has the department identified this as an issue? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know, not too long ago in the Yukon government, they looked at creating some type of training school for pilots. The Member is correct. We do have a shortage of pilots throughout all of Canada, and, when our pilots here, in the Northwest Territories, are getting approached by big airlines, it does become a concern for residents. As well, as he mentioned, a lot of us are connected by the airlines. We have had initial discussions with one of our airlines here, in the North, but that is all it is right now, just initial discussions on how we can move forward in creating some type of partnership or training for pilots, a pilot school here, in the Northwest Territories. We will continue to keep Members updated as this moves on because I do know that the Yukon has really jumped into this, and we want to follow suit because we do have a very vast region here, in the Northwest Territories, and we do need to get to our communities.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

That is great to hear. I have gotten a couple of good answers from the Minister today. I was talking to someone yesterday, and one of their relatives wants to go to flight school, but it's, I think it was, $90,000 a year. You know, it's pretty cost-prohibitive, so I am glad to see that the department is taking these steps. I know it's early days, but does the Minister have a timeline when we can expect an update on the progress of this?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

As I mentioned in my earlier response, we just had initial discussions. That is where it is right now. I do believe my colleague the Minister of Infrastructure has sent a letter of concern to his federal counterpart about some of these concerns with pilots and concerns that the Member has brought up here today. We will keep Members apprised of how this progresses as we have these discussions.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

I guess it is very early, but is this something the government would look at partnering with a local airline on? Is the government willing to look at providing funding to get this school started?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

We do not really have the full details in line right now. As this progresses, as the work progresses with one of these northern airlines, we will see what kind of response we get back from the federal government. We will have a better idea of what everybody's role is in this and what our role will be as a government. Until then, we really do not know until we get more details.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be to the Minister of Lands, and it's going to be changing a little bit from what I was looking at doing here. I am going to come back to what the Member for Deh Cho was talking, these positions. So we heard the other side say that we should maybe put the positions in Hay River. Hay River has six, just like Fort Smith, so can the Minister please look at doing this, instead of pitting two small communities against each other, take one position and put it in the Deh Cho? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Lands.

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned previously, the plan is to have five people in this section or this department dealing with equity leases; two in Fort Smith, one in Yellowknife, one in Inuvik, and one in either Fort Simpson or Fort Providence.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I thank the Minister for the non-answer again, but, I mean, I understand. We have five positions. We have two in Fort Smith, six equity leases in Fort Smith, six in Hay River. We have 58 in Fort Providence, 33 in Nahendeh, which is in Fort Simpson, that surrounding area. So will the Minister get his department to look at it and actually, after doing the training -- that is what they are trying to do; that is where they are bringing all those five together -- put one position in Fort Simpson, one position in Fort Smith, one position in Fort Providence, one in Yellowknife, and one in Inuvik?

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

This proposal for these five positions was thought out over a period of time, and, as I say, I do not think it's necessary that the employees, these five employees, be in the same communities as the leases are located. It's more important that they have surrounding them the correct support, both from current employees and perhaps retired employees, to finally resolve this matter of these long-standing equity leases.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Support, I agree. I think that's great. We are looking at office space. Deh Cho has an office space with your government services there. They have an Internet service that is there. You know Internet? They're close to Yellowknife. Like, they're really close. Why won't the Minister look at this and be fair to the Deh Cho, the Nahendeh, and put the positions where they need to be?

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

The Members may remember that the original proposal was that the three positions be all in Fort Smith, which seems sensible to me, because we have the expertise there. To be reasonable, we have come up with an alternate proposal to hopefully resolve this longstanding issue.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, this is the Minister who thought 10 per cent was reasonable when we were talking about leases. Now, we have it down to 5 per cent, which is a little bit more reasonable.

When we talk about the Deh Cho, Lands Department has Fort Providence and Kakisa being serviced out of, guess what, South Slave -- the Fort Smith office. Will the Minister look at this and quit worrying about the position in Fort Smith, but help the residents of the Northwest Territories, i.e., Fort Providence, and they're really close to Enterprise, and put the position where it needs to be, in Fort Providence? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

What is most important and should be paramount in our minds is resolving this situation of longstanding equity leases, which has been a thorn in the side of the residents and the Minister for some time. We sought to resolve it in the most efficient way possible. We have agreed, however, that to speed things up, there will be more employees. At least, I hope that will be the result of having more employees, but the real point of this is to resolve the matter, and that is what we are proposing to do. I think the proposal as we have changed it, from three to five and the placement of those employees, is a reasonable way of resolving the matter in the most efficient way possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we began our sitting, I had questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs about changes to the Cities, Towns, and Villages Act. It is the last day of the sitting. Perhaps we will have a bill later, but I don't predict that is going to happen. Where is the Minister at with changes to the CTV Act? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I know that we were trying to get it rushed through. There was concerns with the tourism, the income for the City of Yellowknife, et cetera, so we have been trying to work diligently on it. We are still on track.

We have our legislative proposal that I believe is in the process of being submitted. I know I dated it March 6th, and it was sent out of my office on March 8th, so I can find out where exactly in the background it is, but we are diligently trying to get that legislative proposal to standing committee at this time. Thank you.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

At the time of when this issue was first brought to the floor of the House, there was a concern from the City of Yellowknife, the community who has been targeted for these changes, and who desperately needs them after this government has cut their tourism support. Has the Minister reached out to the City of Yellowknife and solicited them for their upcoming budget challenges if this legislation isn't brought forward according to their timelines?