This is page numbers 3165 - 3220 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 indigenous.

Topics

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, the first point of contact for all employees is their direct supervisor. We've certainly have employees working with their supervisors throughout the pandemic to ensure that folks who may be immune compromised, for instance, can have access to -- to that -- to additional information so that their workplace remains a safe place for them. We've worked -- the Department of Finance has worked with the WSCC and Occupational Health and Safety. Again, throughout the pandemic, including on the current policy. Always, of course, is mindful not only of the provisions that -- I know the Member mentioned earlier, but other provisions in the work -- Workers Safety and Compensation Act. For instance, the ensuring of having an exposure control plan. So vaccines certainly as I think -- has been mentioned not only by this government, not only by our Chief public health officer, but across the country and the world, vaccines are your best form of protection, but they are not the only form of protection.

We really want to of course ensure that our workplaces are using every possible means of protection. So you have enhanced masking for those folks who are not providing proof of vaccine, still other masking orders still in place, other various exposure controls are in place. So we are trying to adapt the workplaces to a pandemic in the context of, of course, changing knowledge and information about that pandemic and as risks may continue to evolve and to vary, we are going to continue to do so. But if someone does have concerns, again, please have them speak to their supervisor so that their individual circumstances can be accommodated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to review the document titled Confirmation of Compliance with the GNWT COVID-19 Vaccine Policy for Contractors, and discussed it with a number of contractors.

Mr. Speaker, would the Minister confirm how this information is being relayed to contractors and how or will it be monitored to ensure compliance? It appears to be a document based more on the honour system. Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our approach in terms of dealing with contractors is quite similar to the federal model and they too are applying their own policies more expansively and to include contractors. The goal, again, is to ensure that all of the public that's being served on behalf of the GNWT has the benefits of this policy and the benefits that we believe it brings as far as providing all the different tools to prevent transmission and exposure to COVID-19.

I suppose it's an honor system in the sense that we are requiring at this point contractors who have existing contracts to sign to say they are adhering to the policy. I suppose that's an honor system or, really, it's a system that says "you now need to adhere and you need to tell us you're going to do so."

Going forward, contract templates are being modified so that it will actually then be built into the contract itself, that they will comply with the policy. And certainly where there's concern that contractors not adhering to the policies, they are saying that they are or that they will be contracted to do, there certainly are tools that the GNWT can have to deal with that.

I'm hoping, Mr. Speaker, that we don't get to that. I'm hoping again that contractors are just as keen to ensure that they're using all the tools available to keep their employees safe as we are. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Oral Question 833-19(2): Airport Service Reductions
Oral Questions

November 30th, 2021

Page 3185

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the other day the Infrastructure Minister was unable to answer a couple of my questions. So I'm going to try asking them again today.

Can the Minister tell us which other NWT airports, by name, were affected by similar actions experienced at the Fort Smith airport runway? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the recent lighting projects involving James Gruben airport in Tuktoyaktuk and YZF in Yellowknife, the Aerodrome Standards and Guidelines were considered. The Tuktoyaktuk project saw changes to the physical characteristics and the lighting infrastructure. And the Yellowknife project saw changes to the lighting infrastructure to meet the current standards as well as aircraft currently serving the airport. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, in the Infrastructure budget that we looked at the other day, Fort Simpson is replacing the lighting on their airport runway just like what happened to Fort Smith's runway changes. Can the Minister tell us if the width or length of the Fort Simpson airport's runway was altered in any way? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Fort Simpson airport will see changes to the lighting infrastructure as a result of the new lighting project so it can meet the Aerodrome Standards and Guidelines, but there will be no changes to the physical characteristics because the aircraft-- because of the aircraft serving this airport.

The aircraft serving Fort Simpson, to meet the current and future needs, is the ATR turbo prop. This aircraft is part of a larger aircraft group number, than the aircraft serving Fort Smith. As with the Fort Smith airport, the level of service will not change at this airport and will still continue to meet federal regulations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell us if there are any plans to reduce the width of any other NWT airport runways? If so, can the Minister specify which airports those are. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was two questions, and I'll answer them both. No, there are no plans at this time as there are no projects in the planning and design stage. During the plan and design process for all airport projects, the Aerodrome Standards and Guidelines are taken into consideration, along with the aircraft serving the community and the physical characteristics of that airport. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Thebacha.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the government to continue to defend a poor decision to shorten the width of a major regional airport is not okay. I don't want Fort Smith's decision to set a bad precedent for other communities to lose or lessen vital infrastructure. Would the Minister seriously reconsider correcting this direction by the Government of the Northwest Territories and reinstate the wishes of 550 people along with the entire Fort Smith leadership who signed the runway petition? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To be clear, narrowing the width of the runway has not changed the level of service of the airport. The runway meets current federal regulations and future needs.

When the Fort Smith airport was built in 1957, 60 meters was a common width for a paved runway across Canada. At the time, it was predicted that future aircraft would be bigger and would require larger runways. The evolution of aircraft technology disproved this prediction. Newer and more modern aircraft have improved performance when compared to aircraft from the 1950s and 1960s and wider runways are not necessary.

Mr. Speaker, in addition, I would also note that the federal regulations have recently changed and a 60-meter wide runway is no longer required, even for the largest aircraft in the world.

Finally, I want to make it clear that Department of Infrastructure did consult with the airport users and the town prior to commencing the work on the new runway lighting and reduce the runway width in 2018, and no objections were noted or brought forward at that time. Ongoing engagement with aircraft operators during construction led to the addition of turn pads at both ends of the runway to be able to allow for safe operations of 737s and A320 aircrafts.

The expenditure of over 11 million in public funds to revisit the work completed in 2019 and return the runway to its former width is unnecessary, and the Department of Infrastructure doesn't have the necessary funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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 statement dealt with the often-promised federal territorial agreement to bring affordable child care to all parents in the NWT. The ECE Minister is quoted in the media as saying-- in some media saying "we'll have this agreement by the end of the calendar year."

But I'd like the Minister to tell us the number of child care spaces the agreement will support and at what cost per day. Merci, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member stated, I've already said publicly we should have this agreement finalized by the end of the year, in the coming weeks, in the coming week. It's very close. That being said, it's not finalized and so I can't say how many spaces, what costs, etcetera.

If you look at every other deal that's been made, though, there is some indications that there's a reduction in fees at the end of 2022 by a certain amount, and after five years there's a desire to get to around $10 a day average. So there are some things that have appeared in every other agreement. But I can't say what we are going to see in this agreement until we sign something. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that sneak preview. The Minister has also been quoted as saying that the lack of physical spaces will challenge universal affordable child care in the NWT. How is the Minister going to ensure that there are safe and appropriate places to put the new child care spaces in all NWT communities? Merci, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So ECE currently has funding for startup, new child care space startup to help programs get off the ground. Of course, we have the $1 million child care infrastructure fund that we're a few years into now. As well, we have been prioritizing the communities who have no child care services for that fund. While negotiating the terms of the new agreement, the Canada-wide agreement that we hope to sign here in the very near future, we've been considering how we can utilize that agreement as well as some of the existing funding that we already have to construct new spaces. I noted earlier that we have reviewed the current funding programs and given that we're on the cusp of a new agreement, perhaps some of those funding programs can be adjusted to help get new infrastructure spaces off the ground as well as has been discussed in this House, ECE's capital standards for schools now allows for child care space to be built in new school facilities as well. So there's a number of ways that we are working on the infrastructure issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. The August renewal of the Canada-NWT Early Learning and Child Care Agreement provided a onetime earmarked $2.5 million to support development of our early child care work force, childhood care work force. I want to ask the Minister whether he can tell us if that money's actually rolling out now and how many child care workers have been trained or have their skills upgraded? Merci, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the money is rolling out. It is supporting a number of initiatives. Of course, we have the early learning child care diploma program at Aurora College that this money's helping fund. For the first time now that-- there is a distance-based early learning child care certificate, that people don't have to come to the campus to take. They can take it in their home communities. There's work on dual credit courses for interested secondary-- senior secondary school students. As well, we are supporting college Nordique to deliver post-secondary programming in French for early learning child care providers. We have 30 scholarships of $5,000 for students pursuing further education in early learning and child care. So we have a number of different initiatives.

There are approximately 300 childhood educators who are benefitting from some of the additional training that is being offered as well beyond those college courses. So there's a number of different initiatives that are available to prospective early learning and child care educators as well as current ones. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. It would be great to get further updates on that money being spent.

So planning for universal child care in the NWT, it's not new ground. There was the 2015 feasibility study of universal affordable daycare in the Northwest Territories, and the department has some of its own action plans. But how is the Minister building upon this work to finally develop a comprehensive plan for universal child care across the NWT, and how will a new agreement with the federal government make this happen? Merci, Mr. Speaker.