This is page numbers 5255 - 5298 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 housing. View the webstream of the day's session.

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Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Certainly it is exciting times here in the North for post-secondary education. I know that the Minister is also setting up a series of seven talks in various communities, and I want to commend her for that, because there are some really interesting topics. Unfortunately, we are stuck here for some of them, but I know that I have been working with her office to get some public broadcasting of that done, as well.

I want to get back this issue of how the Minister sees herself and the department working more formally with municipal governments. What kind of mechanisms has she started to think about in that regard, about how the department should work with municipal governments? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

As stated publicly, in this House, behind closed doors, I have constantly said throughout this that it is important that we work with the community governments to make this right. I do want to commend the Member for actually saying that we have made a lot of progress on our polytechnic university. We have been talking about this for 15, 20 years. I am really honoured, as the Minister, to be able to, as one older politician told me, "get 'er done." It is time that we move forward with this, and it is not only time that we move forward in isolation with the Government of the Northwest Territories; we need to work with the communities.

Communities have a stake. Students do not just stay on campus. They expand throughout all of the community when they are accessing training or services education. We need to work closely with them. We have a commitment to meet regularly. We sit on the City of Yellowknife's education committee; I am not sure what it is called. We have committed to including them when we develop the strategic plan, the implementation plan. All three communities will be involved in that work.

It is important, whether I am in this chair next Assembly or not, that the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment work very closely with all three communities to make sure that we get this right, so that the best services within the campus and in the communities as a whole are provided to students of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement I talked about the Transboundary Water Agreements. I would like to ask the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources questions. My first question is: I know that the GNWT has signed bilateral agreements with all affected jurisdictions, with the exception of Saskatchewan. Can the Minister provide us with a timeline of when this bilateral agreement may be signed? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Negotiations towards the establishment of a bilateral water agreement currently are under way with Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan is conducting a legal review of the intention document, and that review is ongoing. Negotiations will continue once that review is complete. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Under the master agreement, environment Ministers from their respective jurisdictions are not obligated to present reports from the Mackenzie River Basin Board. My question is: would our Minister commit to providing this House regular updates as the work is done within the board?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

The work of the board is to provide a state of aquatic environment report every five years, and they get the funding to do that work. My understanding is that the next version of the report is coming out in 2020. I would have to follow up to see if there are yearly reports that are put out. I was on the board's website to see if there was an opportunity to find a yearly update, but I can look at that. The report is due in 2020.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Considering the master agreement has not received any funding increase since it was created in 1997, would the Minister commit to advocating for a funding increase?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

I believe that there is adequate funding for the Mackenzie River Basin Board, and I think Members would expect me to say nothing less. They have $280,000 in annual contributions from all parties, $40,000 from the jurisdictions, and $8,000 from Canada. If they feel that there is a need for more resources, I am sure they will approach the appropriate ministers in the jurisdictions to make a case for more funding. Again, that is another one that I would have to follow up on, and I have not seen any requests from board representatives for our department to increase the funding.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister if there are monitoring requirements. I am referring to maybe something a little technical, the monitoring requirements of the water within the Mackenzie River basin.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

I believe we are always monitoring the quality of the water, especially with some of the projects that are going on in the southern jurisdictions. We have the Mackenzie data stream project, and I believe we have monitoring stations in almost 22 communities, as far as the work of the Northwest Territories. I would encourage Members to go on I believe there is a website, the Mackenzie data stream website. We have a lot of monitoring stations on the Mackenzie, down the valley. As they propose to do some work in the southern jurisdictions, I think the importance of the water monitoring on our part of the border is critically important so that we can see if there is any effect of some of the projects that they are doing in the southern jurisdiction. If we feel there is, then we need to raise those with the appropriate ministers in the southern jurisdictions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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. Earlier I spoke about some of the concerns I have been hearing regarding the Business Development and Investment Corporation. It seems like this corporation is not living up to its full potential and is not serving the residents of the Northwest Territories or the businesses of the Northwest Territories in the way that it was intended to. It performs bank-like lending functions, but, from what I hear, it does not do much else. I have heard that it's even hard to get anyone on the phone over there, even though reviews have noted that they have an exceptionally large staff for the scope of their work.

Mr. Speaker, according to section 4 of the BDIC Act, the Minister of ITI may establish written directives for the corporation, including directives relating to the economic objectives of the Government of the Northwest Territories. The priorities of this Assembly and the mandate of the GNWT have made clear that we prioritize economic diversification and workforce development, both areas that BDIC could assist in. I would like to ask the Minister: have there been any ministerial directives established by this government relating to these or any other issues pursuant to the BDIC Act? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, there have not.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

We are three years in. Why not?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

The act actually has a requirement to have a review done every five years, and that process is under way right now. The draft is coming shortly to my desk, then will be coming to Cabinet and will be going back to committee.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

I took a look at the last two reports that were done, the last two reviews, and they were scathing. There were a lot of improvements that were needed, and it does not seem that many of those improvements have been implemented. Given that we have another report coming, what is the Minister going to do to make sure that the results of this report are implemented and that we are going to see improvements come out of this?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

There are probably three things that we are going to concentrate on, for sure, when we look at this review, and one of them is: how well did BDIC achieve its objectives in the last five years? That is one thing we are going to be very critical of. We have also done an environmental scan and had a look at other jurisdictions and what's going on. We are also looking seriously at the future challenges we have as a territory, the market conditions that are out there, as the economy is always changing, and considering what services and programs BDIC should have in place in the future. At the same time, we need to have another look at our legislation if changes need to be made based on the assessment that we are getting from them. I want to reassure Members of this House that I am very active on this file, and I want to have a serious look on how we are going to develop BDIC going into the future, to help the economic opportunities for the residents.

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, and that is good to hear. I just want to make sure that the committee gets their say, too, because we represent a lot of people and we talk about these issues with a lot of business owners throughout the territory. So I want to make sure that this review report comes to the committee and that the Minister solicits feedback, and that any sort of ministerial directives that might come out of this, that we also get some consultation with committee. Can I get that commitment?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

I have worked very closely with committee on this. The first thing we did was share our terms of reference with them, in July of this year, on this. We have had the contractor reach out to all Members of this Assembly to interview them and get their input on this. Once we get this review back into my hands after Cabinet has it, I would certainly like to sit down with committee and have a discussion, so that we are all on the same page on this thing going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to Commissioner's opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Member for Kam Lake.