This is page numbers 4857 - 4880 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 budget. View the webstream of the day's session.

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Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it has come to my attention that there is an apparent conflict in the Manufactured Products Policy that this government operates. There was a tender put out. It was very specifically applied to registered manufacturers under the policy, and it seems that certain details of the policy were not followed. I have a question for the Minister. Have there been any changes to the approved NWT Manufactured Products Policy in the past year? 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. The Manufactured Products Policy still does exist, but, as the Member knows, we are in the process of engaging or have engaged with the Northwest Territories Manufacturers' Association in the public engagement sessions, and we are working on that. We will be tabling that strategy probably in this sitting, but the policy still exists as it has.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

On that basis, then, the approved NWT Manufactured Products Policy says that a product that is from an approved manufacturer must be made a term of any contract that it applies to. Yet, on a recent request for tender, the form that was publicly issued said "whenever possible" it would be using NWT products. Can the Minister speak to this inconsistency between the policy and what is being issued on the forms from Infrastructure on procurement?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

I don't know the exact specific tender that the Member is talking about, but I suspect, the way the process works, that if there was a procurement for an NWT manufactured product, that would be put out to all compliant northern manufacturers for a bidding process, and, if there were no compliant bids, then it would be going out to public release. That would change the wording of the document.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

What I heard is the Minister confirm that the policy still applies, whatever the language of the document says. That is a good thing because, in this case, there were three registered manufacturers, and the policy quite clearly says that they have preferential treatment in this case. Now, I will share the details of this case with the Minister, and he can look over it, but will he undertake to correct this deficiency between what forms are going out and what the policy clearly states, so that we can have certainty for our manufacturers and continue to support them?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

I will gladly have a look at the documents that the Member has, but, as I have said, if there was a tender put out to these three manufacturers or something that these three people have qualified for, if there were non-compliant bids that came back, then we would put it out to the public and the wording of that document would change. I will gladly look into this particular tender he is talking about.

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, earlier, I spoke about the complexity of our legal system, particularly in regards to family and civil law, and the difficulty that the members of the public have engaging with this system. This isn't the first time that I have raised this with the department. I have had a number of constituent issues that the Minister is aware about. I have brought this to their attention during our business planning process, and I have walked down the hall and sat with the Minister and his staff and discussed this. I don't think the government should provide everything to everyone, but, because it has an authority over the legal system, it must ensure that the system is accessible. It is already providing some good services that could be expanded to make the system much more accessible.

One of those is the Legal Aid Outreach clinic operated out of Yellowknife. The outreach lawyer offers up to three hours of advice to anyone who needs it and can act as a pathfinder to help people navigate the system. I personally think that this work is invaluable and should be expanded, but the government always wants data to back up their decisions, and I understand that the government has been collecting data to understand what outreach services are needed and what are being used. Could the Minister please give us an update as to the status of that work and when we can expect to see this data? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Justice.

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member opposite is quite correct. The outreach program has been a success. They have been visiting many of the communities, and a proposed policy for the outreach clinic has been drafted and will be going to the Legal Aid Commission in the coming months.

I can advise, however, that we are looking at the amount of use that the outreach clinic has, knowing that it needs to fill that gap between the legal aid programs that we have that provide assistance to those in criminal court and family matters and the private bar. We realize that there is a gap that does need to be filled.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

I know it is being utilized by a lot of people, because, when people call to get an appointment to speak with the lawyer, it is usually quite far in advance. Not everyone, however, needs to speak with a lawyer necessarily, and the department has announced plans to make public legal education materials more available on its website. It also needs to do more work with things like a Facebook page for the Legal Aid Outreach clinic. What is the status of these efforts to get this information out there to the public and make it more accessible online?

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

There is no dedicated Facebook page at present, and, although that has been discussed by the department and communication staff, it's not an option immediately available. However, the outreach clinic will advertise on the GNWT Facebook page instead. In some ways, in my view, the best advertisement is the trips that the outreach clinic lawyer makes to the small communities, which I assume are well-advertised. We are bringing the law to the people.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

If that is the best way to advertise, then I would like the Minister to advertise more and get the outreach worker out to the communities more. The reason that I talk about a Facebook page is because I wasn't aware that the Legal Aid Outreach clinic lawyer was coming to Hay River. I found out by happenstance. There was no Facebook page to advertise this.

We need to get this information out there so that we can inform people. If the best way to get the information out there is to have the lawyer travel to the communities, will the Minister commit to increasing the number of visits that the lawyer makes to the communities?

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

In the last number of years, the outreach lawyer has been to most of the communities, and I can advise as follows to the upcoming plans. There are community visits planned to Deline, March 4th; Tulita, March 5th; Fort Good Hope, March 6th; and Norman Wells, March 7th and 8th, with monthly community visits to Ndilo, Detah, and Behchoko to continue. The outreach clinic is proposing visits to Fort Smith, August 5th to 8th; the Inuvik region, August 27th to 13th; Fort McPherson, Tsiigehtchic, Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk by road; Aklavik by air; and potentially, Fort Simpson and Fort Liard. There has been a lot of work in visiting the communities outside of Yellowknife. That will continue.

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. It sounds like there is not going to be anyone in the office to answer the phone when people call. Can we get a commitment from the Minister to look at hiring another lawyer to stay in the office while the other lawyer gets to travel around and engage with the community in person?

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

I can't commit to adding a second lawyer, as any additional resources would have to proceed through the budgetary process, but certainly we do want to look at the level of activity in the office. I am open to considering issues that, if the office is overworked or there is too much work, we may have to add staff. I will be open to that discussion, but again, it has to go through the budgetary process. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in May of last year the Aurora Collage Foundational Review was completed and it recommended, among other things, that the department hire an associate deputy minister of post-secondary education. In September, on September 7th, in fact, the government announced that they were hiring an executive search company to find this associate deputy minister of post-secondary education. Here we are, five months later, without having heard a result of that search. What is the result? My question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Later on in the session, actually, I'll be doing a Minister's statement on where we are with post-secondary education, so I'm going to be a little bit careful about what I'm saying. Currently, we are right in the middle of the process of the hiring of this associate deputy minister at this time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

We were told that this individual would be in place by the beginning of this year. It is now almost the middle of February, so what is the new date for this individual to begin work?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

I do have to take responsibility. I was a little bit more optimistic and hopeful that it would be in place at the beginning of the new year, forgetting that people do take Christmas holidays, and even forgetting that I had to take some vacation, myself. I realize that it's a little bit more delayed, and I'm not happy about that, but like I said, we're in the middle of it. We have just done the interviews and we're looking at the reference checks, so as soon as possible, once we make the offer. I can't make a firm date, though. The problem is that, depending on who we offer, if they have employment, there will have to be a notification, but my commitment is to get the best person in the country to help move us into a polytechnic university.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Can the Minister tell us how many qualified candidates Boyden Search Company turned up for this position?