This is page numbers 5993 - 6030 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 work.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was very proud to hold this summit up in the community of Inuvik, only because we have looked at some new initiatives and the way we do housing in the Arctic, especially with discussions around climate change. I think that this was the first one of its kind, in terms of where we had a lot of leadership right across the territory. We invited leaders to come to the forefront and discuss the issues.

We have identified four key outcomes in our report on the summit. I can, in due time, make sure that I can give the Members and the committee -- we did have committee there, as well -- and share with them some of the outcomes that came out of that summit. If anything, I think that I have put responsibility not only on the territorial government, but also federally and locally, in making sure that we all have responsibility in addressing housing across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Daniel McNeely

Daniel McNeely Sahtu

Thanks to the Minister for the reply. We look forward to the information. My next question, then, Mr. Speaker: I certainly appreciate that the Housing Corporation did a lot of work organizing and bringing communities, Indigenous leaders, and other stakeholders together to learn of the opportunities at the forum, such as the co-investment fund. Organizations in my riding want to put forward proposals under the co-investment. How would they pursue this?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

As I mentioned in a Member's statement in the House during a previous session, we did negotiate a $60-million carve-out of the co-investment fund. I would like to let all leadership across the Northwest Territories and other partnerships know that we can go above and beyond that and still put in an application to the federal government to access more dollars.

We also have a strong partnership with the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. We have been working with them to work with our local leadership and our Indigenous leadership to access that funding. We have been pushing that during the summit, as well as in our bilateral agreements. Hopefully, we will see more access and more applications to the program to make sure that our communities can access some of this housing funding moving forward.

Daniel McNeely

Daniel McNeely Sahtu

I will relay that message on to the regional leaders in utilization of their bilateral. My third question is: I know that there has been a lot of work on the community housing plans. Can the Minister provide an update on those plans and what is going on in the Sahtu riding?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

As Members know, initially, when we were doing these community housing plans, it was a pilot project and something new to the Northwest Territories. I think that it is something that should be pushed right across Canada, especially in our rural and remote communities, on how we address housing issues.

Initially, we had three that we wanted to pilot. To date, I can tell the Member and all Members in the Legislative Assembly that we have 12 that we are working on. I made a statement earlier today that Whati, Paulatuk, and Liard are communities that we are working on. I think that it is going to be a good news story, and it is going to help us learn how we invest our dollars into community housing plans and encourage all leadership to approach us, work with CMHC, and work with our leadership here at the Legislative Assembly and in our communities to work on seeing what our priorities are in our communities across the territory.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Daniel McNeely

Daniel McNeely Sahtu

Thanks, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for that information. My last question, Mr. Speaker, is: I understand that the Government of Canada has dedicated funding for Indigenous housing. Can the Minister tell us where we are at with allocations under this fund for the Northwest Territories? Mahsi.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

We have had meetings with various federal Ministers across the board on funding for on-reserve, off-reserve. In terms of housing, we have worked with, I have said in the House before, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. They were successful working with ITK to get funding to do some work, and then they partnered with us to look at our capital planning and our strategy, and that came right from the federal government. That went to the national Indigenous organization. One of the, I won't say the "priorities," but focuses out of that summit that we did up in Inuvik was to bring all of our Indigenous organizations together to lobby not only the federal government but the Assembly of First Nations and the national Metis organization to see how we can be recognized here in the Northwest Territories, because we are an over-50 percent Aboriginal population, that we should get some of the funding that the federal government gave to the NIOs and see how we can use that funding to address our housing issues across the Northwest Territories. We will continue to lobby not only the federal government but our NIOs, as well. 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. As per my Member's statement, the state of community funding in the Northwest Territories has a major problem, and we have known about this problem for a long time. I would like to know what the Minister responsible of Municipal and Community Affairs has done to properly address the deficits and shortfalls in the municipal funding formula. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Let me catch my breath. No, just kidding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The funding strategy will be released prior to the end of this session. I do know that Members are being, I won't say "pressured," but I know they are getting questions on how do we address the funding gap. We will be releasing a funding strategy prior to the end of this session. We have taken input from the NWT Association of Communities since I have been in this position. We have had meetings with the executive. We have let them know that this funding is really for, I won't say the core need, but, you know, what are the priorities for their communities. We will continue to work with them.

In terms of the strategy right now, I think that is going to be something that the 19th Assembly is going to have to really take a hard look at and continue to work with the federal government on how do we address municipality shortfalls. The climate change is going to be a big one, especially up here in the North, that we need to address. We are already seeing it. We have met with the NWT Association of Communities, and we will provide feedback by the end of this Assembly on how we are moving forward. In reality, Mr. Speaker, this is going to be something that is going to need to be addressed in the next government.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Well, this is not just something that Members are getting pressure from now. It's something that Members have advocated for for four years, since we got elected, and to hear that it's going to be the next government's problem is a naked example of passing the buck to our successors. What can be done in this sitting to address these issues?

---Laughter

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

We have a capital budget -- and the Ministers laugh at this request. This is a request that has been brought forward by the NWTAC. This is a request that has been brought forward by community leaders time and time again, and, to be met with laughter now? Mr. Speaker, we have an upcoming capital budget that includes funding for municipalities. Is there a way that this Minister will advocate for our communities, in consideration of that budget?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

I do apologize. You know, I did laugh, but, at the same time, it does not fall only on us as a territorial government. There has also got to be responsibility in terms of the priorities that our municipalities have in their communities. We made some big announcements today. We made some big announcements yesterday with the federal government, and we are addressing some of these issues, and they are big issues. In terms of the funding gap from our territorial government, we will continue to work with our partner, which is the NWT Association of Communities. You know, like I said, I do apologize that I did laugh, but we are doing things, we are working, we are investing, and, as Members know, as all leadership know, we are in a four-year cycle, and, at some points, it doesn't always fall on the same timeline, but we all have to work together to address the needs. In some cases, these needs were not addressed in the past, but we are working with our mayors, or leadership, and we all have to work together to see where our priorities are, and we will continue to do that.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

The federal government comes through with the gas tax funding; it comes through with additional money. This is not a federal issue. This is our issue. We created this formula, and we are not funding it. That is the issue here. This gap is entirely the responsibility of this government, no other government. I am sure the municipal governments respect what the Minister is bringing forward in support to get those federal dollars, but it's not enough. We need to plug it here, so has the Minister met with the newly elected mayor in council since the last election, and the NWTAC, and heard from them on this issue, and what have they told him?

Question 806-18(3): Municipal Funding Gap
Oral Questions

August 14th, 2019

Page 6007

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Yes, I have met up with the NWTAC executive on numerous occasions since I have been elected, and I did let them know that the funding that we provide through our capital planning programs is for priorities in the communities. I did let them know that we also need to lobby the federal government and that we continue to need to work together to address the funding gap issue. It's something that's not going to be easily fixed, and I think everybody in this room knows that it's not going to be easily fixed. We need to work together to see how we can find a solution, but it's going to be something that this government within the two weeks we have left is not going to be addressing. I will let the Member know that I have met with them on numerous occasions, the executive, and we did have this discussion.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister keeps talking about priority projects and prioritizing municipal infrastructure needs, and that sounds like a different process than what this funding is. Can he just clarify if the municipal funding gap is somehow conditional on municipal priorities or if it's funding that is flowed through to the municipalities? Because the issue I am talking about is funding that flows through as a transfer to our community governments that they can then use. The Minister is talking about working on priorities, which are, you know, a completely different ball game, so can he clarify what he is talking about? Thank you.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Yes. You know, you have got to look at the priorities for each community. Do you want sewage and water, or do you want a nice gym? You know, we are all elected leaders here across the Northwest Territories. Do you want safe water, or do you want a nice swimming pool? If I can put it in that context, then I will. You know, do you want a nice track and field, or do you want people provided with the essentials? You know, we talked about housing earlier today, and we just want people to have a roof over their heads, but, when we have municipalities that are asking for above and beyond what the essential needs are for our people just to have a normal type of life, I mean, those are the decisions that we have to make. As elected officials in territorial government, as elected officials throughout the municipalities and the hamlets, those are the discussions that we need to have, and we all have a responsibility to address that.

Moving forward, we will continue to have those discussions. We are not passing the buck, Mr. Speaker. If we had an endless credit card, sure, yes, but right now, we don't. It is not just the territorial government. It is right across Canada and globally, and really affects how we do our business in the North.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member or Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister responsible for the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Link. In my statement, I recounted how this was justified to this House as a means of connecting our communities to faster Internet services. All of the references portray the project as delivering high-speed fibre optic services in the communities. Can the Minister explain why the promised improvements to Internet service in the communities on the fibre link have not happened? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Mackenzie Valley fibre optic line is a backbone transport link to GNWT asset. Linking this backbone to the community is what's called the "last mile." This service is provided by the local service provider as GNWT is not in the business of providing local Internet service. Building this backbone significantly improved the telecommunications infrastructure in the Mackenzie Valley, replacing the aging and costly microwave system. It isn't accurate to say that there haven't been improvement or promises made. The only promises I make are to my grandchildren. We have seen new service providers enter the market in Inuvik and Norman Wells, and I have seen an increase in speeds in communities that was only made possible by the construction of the Mackenzie Valley fibre optic lines. It was officially opened, I think, in June of 2017, and we have seen improvements, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.