This is page numbers 39 - 60 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd 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

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Another area is the red tape. I think that contractors find that the amount of paper that is required to be filled out for payments, and for other areas, as well, is starting to increase to the point where they actually have to hire somebody to manage that. Yet, there is no opportunity to recoup that.

I would ask the Minister if her departments are looking at the paperwork and requirements they put out to contractors and whether there is something that they can do to reduce that amount of paper requirement. Thank you.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

As the Members are probably aware, one of the reasons that I ran for office was my own frustrations with some of the red tape and inefficiencies that I saw in the Government of the Northwest Territories. Now, sitting on this side of the table, I can appreciate that it is a lot larger vehicle to steer and change course on.

I do acknowledge that there are issues generally throughout the entire Government of the Northwest Territories with red tape. It has been a conversation that we have all been having as a larger group, as well as within Cabinet. All I can say is that it is one of the commitments of our 19th Assembly to streamline our processes, to get more efficient, and one of the ways that we will be doing that is to be looking for stakeholder feedback and then putting those messages into our processes going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Question 24-19(2): Electrical Service in Deh Cho
Oral Questions

February 7th, 2020

Page 44

Ronald Bonnetrouge

Ronald Bonnetrouge Deh Cho

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister of Infrastructure is aware from my opening statement regarding the transmission line from the Taltson Hydro to my community of Fort Providence, I just wanted to raise a fact that I just looked at.

The cost of transmission power in Fort Smith is currently at 23 cents a kilowatt hour. When I was there in 2006, it was 17 cents a kilowatt hour, and they were able to put electrical baseboard heaters in units without having to deal with diesel appliances, the furnaces, and stuff. In my community of Fort Providence, we're on diesel. We are on a diesel plant, and before the territorial subsidy rate, which is about half, covers it, the rate in Fort Providence is 84 cents a kilowatt hour.

There is a significant difference there before the government rebates come on. We are paying pretty high, and the government is on the hook for paying all of that, too, because they are subsidizing the whole territory for power. Like I alluded to, there's no watchdog. There is nobody actually talking to our own power corporation, the NTPC, either, about what they're doing to help the territory save on power. That's my concern there.

Anyway, getting back to the transmission line to Fort Providence, can the Minister provide an update on the initiative to run the line into Kakisa and Fort Providence? Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Can the Member please direct -- you mentioned Infrastructure, but it sounds like Public Utilities Board? Minister of Infrastructure.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You're correct. Some of this does lie in other Ministers' departments. However, I can provide the Member with an update on the Kakisa transmission line, Fort Providence to Kakisa. It is a key initiative of our 2030 Energy Strategy. It roughly represents about 15 percent of our total reduction target for electricity generation. The proposed $52-million project involves the construction of the 170-kilometre line from Taltson to Fort Providence, Kakisa, and Dory Point. The extent of the project is to use the surplus hydroelectric power from the Taltson system, the existing system, to virtually eliminate the use for diesel generation in the communities. There will be still emergency backup that would be diesel-generated.

The delivery of hydro power to the customers in these communities should eliminate about one million litres of diesel consumption each year and will help us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. This project is one of the best projects that we have under the 2030 Energy Strategy in terms of greenhouse gas reductions, and without it, the Northwest Territories cannot meet its commitments that we have made.

The Government of the Northwest Territories has already set aside its 25-percent share towards the funding of the project, and we will be seeking 75-percent funding through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program this year. There are over $250 million in federal funding allocated to energy projects in the Northwest Territories over the next 10 years under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. The Government of the Northwest Territories must apply separately for federal approval for each individual project. The proposed routing for the transmission line is to follow the highway from Hay River to Fort Providence, with an extension into Kakisa and the Dory Point area. The Government of the Northwest Territories will be initiating appropriate engagement and consultation activities on this project in early 2020. Once consultation has been initiated, the Government of the Northwest Territories will apply for federal funding under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, we will undertake the environmental baseline work, and we will undertake the detailed engineering design and costing.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Colleagues, just a reminder, we are halfway through, so please keep your preamble and questions or answers a little shorter, to the point. Thank you. Member for Deh Cho.

Ronald Bonnetrouge

Ronald Bonnetrouge Deh Cho

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for the update on the initiatives. It's much appreciated. I am wondering if the Minister can provide the report or the update to the Hamlet of Fort Providence on the initiatives and their strategy to get it going, because nobody in our community actually knows what is happening. I can't find any reports anywhere, and I am just hoping that the Minister can provide some written record for our community, and also for myself.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Yes, I will commit to the Department of Infrastructure providing a report to the hamlet on where the project is sitting at, and I will apologize to the Member that the communication has not been maybe what the hamlet was expecting and for yourself, so we will correct that, and we will do better in the future.

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. My questions are for the Minister of Justice. There do not appear to be any standards or processes for developing regulations that include public consultation or even co-drafting with Indigenous governments, so can the Minister tell us if there is a process and/or standards for making regulations in the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Justice.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Regulations cover a wide breadth and variety of different types of topics. There is a variety that range from items that are fairly technical, some that are community-specific; in some cases, consultation is built into the legislation itself, so, no, there is not a single set standard at present in terms of how regulations are drafted in the Northwest Territories.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I want to thank the Minister for that, and I will just give her an example. In the federal government, they have a gazetting process that does allow for a 60- or 90-day period of public comment. We have nothing here, apparently, or a patchwork. I want to ask the Minister whether Cabinet has a position or has taken a position on public consultation during development of regulations, particularly the regulations on post-devolution resource management.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

This topic has certainly come up in front of Cabinet, and it is one that has already come up in terms of the Department of Justice taking a lead and being aware that this is something where we can do better. As far as what that will look like, at the present time I can't say, but it is our intention that we can have a better system in place to determine, as I said earlier, which regulations should be subject to public consultation, what that process would look like. It is our intention to build that in so that it's more clear, so that the public knows, so that this House will know, which regulations would be subject to a consultation and then what that will look like for those particular regulations.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I want to thank the Minister for that response. We have something bubbling away maybe on public consultation with regard to development of regulations, but can the Minister tell us whether Cabinet is committed to a co-drafting process for the development of resource management regulations?

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Again, that has also come up at Cabinet, that has also come up in the Department of Justice, and, similarly, there are obligations within the devolution process to the intergovernmental council to ensure that, in some circumstances, there will be a process that engages those partners. That protocol is also being worked on, and so, again, I am in the same situation of, while I do not have a specific that I can provide to the Member, I can assure the Member that that is in progress and it is actively being worked on right now to develop some things so we have some standards in place and so there is not this uncertainty around which ones are subject to a more consultative type of drafting process and which ones are not. That kind of uncertainty should be eliminated.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that response. Clearly, we need to clarify, or the Minister needs to clarify, what the process is going to be moving forward with development of regulations in terms of public consultation, co-drafting with Indigenous governments. I am glad to hear that there is something bubbling away, that it's on their radar, but can the Minister tell us very specifically: is she going to work with and consult with the appropriate standing committees before final decisions are made by Cabinet on this?

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

It certainly is the desire of Cabinet, as I hope the Members are seeing, to be more consultative in our approach. There are two different streams we have spoken about; firstly, more public consultation and developing that process for all regulations generally to determine which ones go through that process and which ones don't, as well as items that go through the intergovernmental council, and that may be subject to somewhat different processes. Certainly, once there is a stage for which regulations should receive general public consultation, I would commit to taking that through to committee and ensuring that they have an opportunity before a final decision is made to see what the approach, what the protocol, might look like. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I said before, my questions are for the Minister of Education. What is the plan of the department to ensure that we are preserving our languages, especially in my region, the Gwich'in and Inuvialuit languages, before they are gone and we have no one to learn from? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke to this the other day. This is not an easy task. We have to combat 150 years of degradation of Indigenous languages in the territory, and it's tough, especially when the numbers of speakers are dwindling. You know, we have a division within the department that is focusing on this. They are very passionate about it, and they have been making strides to work with Indigenous governments and work within schools by helping to develop curriculum, which we are rolling out across the territory in the next couple of years, and it will be fully implemented. The action plan that is being developed in response to the OAG's report as well as our own internal findings will address these and flesh these out a bit more. We are going to be looking to renegotiate or negotiate a new agreement with the federal government regarding money for languages. However, we can't do this alone. The government can't solve all problems, especially when it comes to something as close to people and as vital to culture as language, so partnerships are going to be key.