This is page numbers 43 - 80 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 1st 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

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was a positive response from the Minister, and I appreciate that. My final question is whether the Minister will be lobbying her colleagues for a greater investment in housing in the next budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Yes, we will be lobbying. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Finance for the rationale for the delay of three to four weeks in making payments to GNWT vendors, as set out in the Financial Administration Manual. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Finance does attempt to pay all vendors within 30 days, which I would suggest is really an industry standard. It allows an opportunity to due diligence on the materials that are presented in support of an invoice, in addition to which the goal in fact is to pay BIP members or BIP businesses within 20 days, a standard that we are working towards. So that is the rationale, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Has the Department of Finance given consideration to the standing committee's report on procurement, and, if not, can we expect to see some analysis or response to the committee's recommendation?

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

I understand the department has reviewed that report, and I have also personally reviewed that report. With respect to the response that may or may not be coming, I believe there will be a more fulsome response in due course, Mr. Speaker, and, over the course of time, when that does happen, I will certainly engage the Member with that information once I have it.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

I understand that the financial administration policy on the timing of payments to vendors provides for certain exceptions that allow for immediate payment upon receipt of invoices from language translators or interpreters, justices of the peace, coroners, and sheriff's bailiff services. Would the Minister be willing to consider expanding these exemptions for small northern businesses?

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

That kind of a consideration is not currently within the department's purview of projects underway right now. That said, there are a number of things that the department is doing to try to improve the speed of which small northern businesses are being paid. There are a number of things that can be done and a number of steps that can be taken to improve that process, not the least of which would be to just encourage the vendors themselves to be using e-mail, to be directing things, fulsome information, as well, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that our departments know that those vendors invoices go directly to Finance. All of those things can help improve the system, and we will be taking those steps to improve the process.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister be willing to commit to developing a proposal or supplying me with any kind of documentation that would allow me to better communicate with Kam Lake business owners as to how they can go about getting paid in a timely fashion? Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

I think there is a simple answer, and it is "Yes." While I don't know exactly how quickly I can get that to the Member, I am prepared to make that commitment to do so as quickly as possible so that there is a better way to have all the northern businesses paid as quickly as possible. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Ronald Bonnetrouge

Ronald Bonnetrouge Deh Cho

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment as my Member's statement on the GNWT's education renewal document and the state of education in the small communities. Can the Minister advice if the education renewal document was presented to the education councils or divisional education boards in the Northwest Territories? Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can inform the Member, my colleague, that the education renewal and innovation framework was shared widely with all the education bodies back in 2013 when it was first released. The Member referenced a three-year action plan in his statement. I am not sure if that was. It is my assumption it was, but I can't say for sure. I can find out.

However, this leads me to something else that I have been discovering since I took this portfolio. The communication between the department and the education bodies, the boards themselves and the regional councils, needs to be improved. I have spoken at length with the department about this, and I have reached out to all the education chairs around the territory. I haven't been able to get a hold of one, but I have spoken with all the other ones to bridge that gap and ensure that we have better communication. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Ronald Bonnetrouge

Ronald Bonnetrouge Deh Cho

Will the Minister commit to delivering on the education renewal plan and have the department staff go into all the small communities to discuss the state of education with grass-roots people?

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

There are two parts to the question: will the Minster commit to delivering on the ERI, and will the departmental staff go into all the small communities? The original ERI framework had a lot of big goals in there. I actually respect that document quite a bit because it says, "This is what we are going to try. We might not try them all. We are going to try them, and we will see if they work." They threw ideas out there.

It is a great document, and a lot of good things have come out of that. We have northern distance learning. There are elders in school. There are all sorts of these things that have happened. I think what we are realizing now is maybe we need to pare that down and focus on the things that we found are working.

Education is a tough department, and I know some of the Ministers have had a rough go at it over the past little while, whether it is junior kindergarten or whatever it may be. We are actually in a good place right now because the department has learned from a lot of the issues that have come out in the last few years and has done really well with gathering data and really focusing themselves. Going forward, we are going to be delivering more focused programming that hopefully will deliver results.

In terms of going to every community, I will be travelling to a lot of the communities. Like I said, I am reaching out to current and former board members and talking to as many people as I can because I want to hear from the people on the ground how education is actually being delivered in the communities.

Ronald Bonnetrouge

Ronald Bonnetrouge Deh Cho

Mahsi to the Minister for his answers. Most if not all the small communities are quite possibly facing more teacher layoffs in the near future. My community of Fort Providence has lost four teacher positions this past June. This is creating increasing workloads for the existing teachers as they are teaching more than one grade and quite possibly increasing the stress levels for the teachers. Shouldn't a situation like this raise red flags in the education system, and what is the GNWT Department of ECE going to do about these situations in the small, outlying communities?

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

ECE provides funding to all the education bodies in the Northwest Territories based on the School Funding Framework, and that, essentially, is based on the number of students who are enrolled. Then once the regional education body receives that funding, it allocates it to individual schools. It is the principals of those schools who determine how that funding is best used. When there are declining enrollments, that means there is less money. That means there are fewer teachers.

This is something that was discussed at length in the last Assembly, and I know that there were comments made that we need to look at this and we need to determine if this is really the best way to fund schools. I understand the Member's concerns. I am alive to them. That is why I am happy to be in this position, because these are the exact kind of things that I want to deal with this term.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. In my statement earlier today, I noted that the priorities of the 19th Assembly do not provide clear direction for many of the departments and agencies and Ministers. I would like to know from the Premier whether she agrees with that assessment. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member. Honourable Premier.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree that the priorities that were developed by the 19th Legislative Assembly could have used another day. I did also feel that there were too many. We had tried to get them down. We didn't get to that process. "Think big" was kind of the last thing we were left with, and we thought big.

Yes, I do agree that it didn't address all the things that we wanted to. Although, I am not 100 percent sure, Mr. Speaker, if we would have spent another day, if we would have made every single Member in this House happy. It is a process that we go through. I am respectful of the process. Cabinet has dealt with 22 priorities that we are trying to work through. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.