This is page numbers 3035 - 3094 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 know.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to continue some of the discussion on the importance of small communities that we had yesterday in the House. And I think first to -- I got lost in the data from Bureau of Labor Statistics and it's not really clear to me whether jobs are increasing or decreasing in small communities. So that's my first question for the Minister responsible for ECE. Are we actually increasing the number of jobs in small communities.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So 2020 is a bit of an outlier in every single way so let me go back to 2016.

So in 2016, there were 9300 jobs in communities outside of Yellowknife. There was about 4600 in the small communities, so excluding Yellowknife, Hay River, Inuvik and Fort Smith.

In 2017, we introduced the Small Community Support program, and that's $4.2 million a year the communities can use to develop or support jobs. Fast forward to 2019, there were 5072 jobs in the smallest of communities. So from 4600 to almost 5100. And if you look at all the communities outside of Yellowknife, there was an increase of around 1300 jobs. So, yes, the number of jobs in small communities are increasing. There's obviously a blip in 2020. But we're back on track. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we're all happy to hear that, and I'm happy to hear that some of the work in the small community employment strategy has been seeing actual jobs and on-the-ground increases. I know we're four out of six years into that strategy of that. Can the Minister just give the House an update of what we can see in the remaining two years of that strategy. Thank you.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I should have mentioned that with that small community funding, employment funding, there were 670 jobs in 2018-2019 that were directly funded. 750 the next year. And then of course 2020, we saw a decline to 430. But it is obviously producing jobs.

So what this strategy is about, a lot of it is about ensuring that we have the right information so we can provide the right training. So in the next two years, we're going to continue to support communities to develop their labor market plans. Often there's a community that wants to do something or there's a project that comes up and they don't have the workforce to take advantage of those jobs, so by creating these plans and looking forward, we can have training in place so when a job project comes up there are local people trained for that.

There was a review of the Small Community Employment Support program a couple years ago and there are a number of changes that came out of that. So how we make the decisions about where funding goes, that was moved to a regional level.

There are additional labor market information -- there's a labor market communication strategy to increase the awareness of the different programs in communities, so that's going to be rolling out. Because often -- I know personally, I look at what's happening in government in the territorial government and the federal government, and it's really hard to wrap your head around all the different programs and where to find them and what they do. And so we're making that information more accessible.

We're also introducing multi-year funding agreements. So right now, the funding rolls out year to year, and it's hard to create an economy with year to year funding so we're introducing multi-year funding, establishing formal regional labor market training partnerships so not just at a local community level but in a region we will know better what information, or what labor market needs are and then we can combine forces and ensure that the appropriate training is in place.

So that's a bit of what's happening. And I also want to take a moment, because these are questions I was hoping to answer yesterday. And so I had a lot of time to think about it so I want to say some other things.

This strategy, it has a few pillars but really when we talk about creating employment in small communities, it goes beyond the strategy. It is something I think about when I'm making decisions, any decision. The Ministers of Infrastructure and Housing who really play a role in that as well, we also have discussions about how we can increase employment in small communities. The Premier talked about working together as departments and it takes work to do that. You have to make a point to get out of your silo and go have those conversations, and we make sure that we do that. And so it's always on our mind. It's more than just what's in this strategy here.

In the coming years, we are going to be increasing employment in small communities as we roll out, as we move towards universal child care. We have been focusing our efforts on increasing infrastructure for child care in small communities because they don't have that infrastructure, and with that infrastructure comes more jobs.

We're expanding the Aurora College community learning centres so that there is going to be access in every community. So every individual in the territory will be able to get a foot in the door and get the type of training they need.

We heard yesterday a statement about the procurement review. There's a clear recognition that we need to keep more money in the territory and keep money in small communities.

And I'll say as well, Mr. Speaker, if you look at what happened the last couple years, we've kept a lot of money in the territory. And in my community, you can't find anyone to work. In the outlying communities people are coming to get jobs because we're keeping jobs in the community. And so those are some of the things that the Member can expect. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you for the report, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm almost afraid to ask the Minister another question here. I've read the review of the Small Community Employment Fund and I think there's somewhat of a debate about whether we will just need to continue to subsidize jobs in the small communities going forward and, you know what, I'm fine with that. But I would like to hear after that review whether this $4.2 million was actually creating lasting employment or if we remove that funding tomorrow, would all the jobs just disappear with it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If we remove that money, I expect that the $4.2 million worth of jobs would probably disappear, because that is money that is specifically earmarked for new jobs. So it's not to fund jobs in existing communities. So that's $4.2 million worth of new jobs that wouldn't exist.

But I will say that to build an economy, you need a workforce. And you can have all the natural resources, you can have everything else in place but if there's no workforce, you can't have an economy. You can't build businesses.

And so what this program that has been successful in doing, and this is stated in the report, is giving people opportunities. So in the smallest communities, where there might be no work, this money is giving people the chance to get their foot in the door, to get those soft skills that you need to actually to get into the job market.

In communities there is often a few people you go to if you know you need someone for a job. Well this allows employers to take chances on other people in the community. You know, they've already got those few people employed now, maybe they'll give someone else a chance. So those are the types of things that are happening. We're giving people the skills they need to become qualified and trained employees, and that's how you build an economy.

You can start a business if you actually have people to work. If you have no staff, it's very difficult to do that. So if we take the money away, those jobs will disappear. We are slowly but surely building a workforce for the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is part of that kind of building a future workforce is our Skills 4 Success program. We just this summer saw the Well to herd // Report.

My question for the Minister is when will we see the action plan for Skills for Success. And when reviewing the small community employment strategy, it really lacks some of those hard targets and measurable outcomes. Will the Minister ensure that when that action plan comes out it quantitative, measurable jobs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Member is right, that Small Community Employment strategy is pretty light on specific details and actions. And as a regular Member especially, I struggled with the value in those. Now being in this position I realize they are valuable. They do help guide decision-making and point you in the right direction. But I can assure the Member that the action plan, which he as a committee member will likely see in the coming weeks, and the public will see probably sometime in the new year, maybe March, will have actions, they will be measurable, some you can start measuring day one, others they will take a bit more time, we can measure them at the conclusion of the action plan which will be for a four-year period.

Along with that, we're going to be introducing more labor market information, so we're updating our labor market forecast.

We also have reports on emerging economies in the territories, so what are the labor needs for tourism, what are the labor needs for those types of emerging economies.

We're also having more of a focus on regional economic profiles so we can, again, get the information in place so that we can get the training in place.

We're also focusing on ensuring that we fill a lot of those little gaps that exist right now. I know right now, if you want to become an apprentice you might not have someone to apprentice under. So we are looking at how can we address that gap right now. And I think there's some interesting ways that we're going to be doing that, so that's definitely going to help small community employment because that's where we're lacking journey persons and lacking opportunities. I'll leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

[Translation] mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation Ends] to assist community government of Behchoko in the planning and development of a new subdivision in the community. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, municipal governments are responsible for community plans but if they need support from Municipal and Community Affairs and our staff, we're more than willing to have our staff reach -- or get them to reach out and our staff will try to help them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you. Thank you, Minister. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to look to review the existing budget and seek additional funding to support this innovative.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, way back when I used to work for the department, the government used to be able to give the capital plan, we go through it, we make decisions. And municipal governments said hey, whoa, time out, we need to do it ourselves. We need to work with -- we need to make our own decisions, not the Government of the Northwest Territories. So the new deal came out. So we see CIT which is for the community of Behchoko, they got $250 million to do capital. So this year, they did five projects and so that's what they were able do.

And part of one of the projects, they put 3.6 point -- or $3.65 million into the new subdivision roads in Rae. So they were able do this. That was their decision and that is the budget that they are able to do.

So I'm asking to develop a more of a budget. There is a process and we have a formula, and we're following that formula. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you. This is a question for the Minister of Housing. Will the Minister of Housing commit to a consultative capital planning process to ensuring the housing design, build, location, and programming is well received in the community.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Member for Monfwi, you cannot ask another Minister the question during.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

[Inaudible]

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Well that's two separate topics. So if you have any further questions for the Minister of MACA.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

It's okay, I'll leave it at that.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Yeah, thank you very much and I had the opportunity to speak to the Member about it. And I'm more than willing to work with my colleague from Housing and the community as part of the land use plan and how we can work on things, what our needs are. So be respectful for the Member, we will work with her and just get her staff to reach out to our staff and Minister Chinna's staff and more than willing to work with her. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Colleagues, our time for oral questions has expired. Written questions. Returns to written questions. Replies to Commissioner's address. Petitions. Reports of committees under on the review of bills. Reports of standing and special committees. Tabling of documents. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.