This is page numbers 3603 - 3664 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

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the difficulty here is that the FASD -- the adult FASD clinic was launched in 2020 which was not a year in which there was a lot of travelling around. That said, last year the program was able to visit Behchoko and Fort Providence, and I think that generally they committed to travelling to four different locations a year.

So based on what's happened to date, 25 people have been to the adult FASD diagnostic clinic, and 133 children and youth went to the FASD diagnostic and support program. So we would want to see those numbers as good or better in the year to come if the COVID restrictions remain the way they are; that is to say, it's much easier to travel. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final short supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if Health and Social Services will commit to establishing navigator or case worker positions within the adult diagnostic clinic to provide that individualized personal and centered supports that their clients need? Thank you.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you. I was under the impression that that was in fact being done now by people who work at the FASD clinic, who provide services to people who have a confirmed diagnosis, that there was some pathway navigation going on in that situation. But I can certainly confirm that and provide the Member with that detail. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the Minister of Health and Social Services Minister's statement today, she mentioned that the gap between what we pay our nurses and what other jurisdiction are paying is closing, and we are one of the only jurisdictions in Canada that, during COVID-19, did not give recruitment and retention bonuses. But one line jumped out at me is that we -- she went to FMB and got approval to give those bonuses and then in consultation with the union there was not agreement to provide that money.

My question is for the Minister of Finance, who is responsible for that relationship, can I just get an explanation of what is going on here; why we can't pay our nurses more money? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Finance.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So Mr. Speaker, the labour market supplement was something that we didn't have before. It does provide a tool. Given that the collective agreement is the bargaining document on which all of the salaries are based, all the recruitment -- any recruitment bonuses would be based, the total package of salary is based. So to go outside of that to offer something extra, we had to create this labour market supplement that would give us that proper tool or that basis on which to do that. In that policy, it does state that, of course, still the UNW remains the representative for all of our employees. And so before going ahead and doing something such as a labour market supplement, we would consult with them. The policy itself speaks quite clearly to the conditions under which one group of employees would be offered an enhancement to their salary. There's some fairly specific parameters that it's for certain conditions, particularly when there are shortages, particularly when there's great need. For instance, also that it would be the kind of a position that goes to health and safety of the people of the Northwest Territories. So when we apply that policy and we get to a certain point, we then go to the UNW and unfortunately we weren't able to come to an agreement. They took a different view as to what might be appropriate or needed in the circumstances. And again, you know, Mr. Speaker, they're there to represent their people and we are doing our best to maintain that relationship. We'll continue to do so. And as the Minister of Health detailed today, there are many other avenues by which we are going to continue to pursue an improvement for the morale of the staff over in the Department of Health. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recognize that the Minister, you know, probably there was some negotiations maybe going on, or still ongoing in this matter, but I am still looking for a bit of an explanation of how this did not happen.

I hear that we got a labour market supplement. Somehow we got money out of cabinet, never an easy task, and we wanted to pay nurses more money and the union said we will not let our members have more money, is what I am hearing. Can I just get a clarification from the Minister as to why they said that? Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Mr. Speaker, I am not here to speak on behalf of the union. That would not be appropriate. It's a relationship that I have a great deal of respect for. So I'm not going to combat out and detail what their own reasons would be and be certainly seen to be speaking on their behalf.

Mr. Speaker, we are in a situation where in the course of a pandemic, we have held firm on not having cutbacks to our services and not having cuts to the public service. But to do that, we are running a lean operation. And so to be able to be offering any kind of additional bonuses and salary on top of the existing collective agreement, which does have increases in it unlike some jurisdictions during the last pandemic -- during this pandemic, in order to do that we're running a lean operation, Mr. Speaker, and there's only so much we can do and it's going to have to be narrow and targeted, and that was the position we were attempting to take here. As I said again, Mr. Speaker, we're not done looking for ways to continue to improve the system for nursing staff but we're just going to have to do that in a different way. 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 questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment, who seems to have the lead on the management of the Cantung and Mactung properties.

When I look at the list of creditors, I see that GNWT's owed $5.528 million from this operation. Can the Minister tell us how much North American Tungsten actually owes us, for what, and when we expect to recover that money? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism, and Investment.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can go and look into the specific number the Member is quoting. My understanding is that when the GNWT purchased the Mactung asset, we did so and that became our asset. Canada, of course, owns the Cantung property. And at this point, the two parties tother are agreeing to market those assets as one and as such, as we go forward, there's nothing more owed to the GNWT by North American Tungsten. So again, I'll double check to confirm if there's some misunderstanding on what's on there, Mr. Speaker. At this point, we're proceeding with a process that's well underway and, in fact fairly advanced, in order to see that the Mactung and Cantung properties are sold and benefits are accrued to the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'll be happy to send her the list of creditors from the court-appointed receivers website, so.

But as I understand it, GNWT has decided to try to market the Mactung property and the Cantung mine site with the feds but there has been little to no interest over seven years. Can the Minister explain what is going on with proposed sale of the Mactung property and when the taxpayers of the NWT can expect to recover their so-called "investment"? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, these two properties were, of course, jointly owned previously by North American Tungsten. So not particularly unusual that we'd be looking to have them sold together now. What made it a bit more unusual is that you're involving multiple layers of governments. We've got the Government of Canada and the GNWT and even the Yukon government's involved to a certain degree in terms of this being -- the Cantung property being in the Yukon. All three, we're all coming together. There's governments in the region have come together. Much discussion has taken place.

I'm pleased to say, Mr. Speaker, there's been an RFP out to some shortlisted proponents as of March of 2021. It closed only just last month. And we are right now actually in the midst of reviewing those bids. A due diligence process needs to take place. But, Mr. Speaker, you might note that there's a bit of a delay between those two dates but that was entirely for the purpose of engaging further with some of the Indigenous governments in that region, and I'm very hopeful that we'll be in a position to report back positively in short order. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister again for that.

The Mactung-Cantung properties are 140 kilometres away from each other by air, 700 kilometres by road. It's unlikely that some buyer's going to take these on as some sort of viable mining operation without significant concessions and subsidies.

Can the minister explain why GNWT's attempting to sell these properties together and whether we will offer further concessions and subsidies? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my last answer, Mr. Speaker, these two properties were jointly owned previously so having them as one unit under one owner is not particularly unusual. They are both highgrade Tungsten properties. Tungsten, of course, is one of the 31 critical minerals and metals on Canada's critical metals list, and under current geopolitical circumstances that may well help make these properties particularly in greater value and incentivize a private owner.

Mr. Speaker, again, we are working with Canada on this; Canada having the ownership of Cantung and us having Mactung. So we're working together to see that the two properties are sold together. And to do so, Mr. Speaker, there's no intention to start offering subsidies. That's not generally been the way that things happen in the Northwest Territories. We do have incentive programs, such as the mining incentive program, and that might help leverage some investment on the Mactung property in particular, which is an exploration property. 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 again for her response.

The Cantung and Mactung saga is another example of post-devolution mismanagement of our resources. Can the Minister explain what lessons have been learned from our mismanagement of the Cantung and Mactung properties? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure I would accept or agree with the characterization of "mismanagement" on this. I think the story has yet to be finished and is yet to be written. Indeed, as I've said, staff from the Department of ITI are quite active right now in terms of doing their due diligence and hoping for a positive outcome on the sale. In fact, if anything, Mr. Speaker, this has been an example where although at the time of the sale there was some disagreements perhaps between Canada and the GNWT about how to proceed, we were able to set aside what differences there were, sign an MOU, and are working together to market the properties and share in the costs of doing so and now work together with the Indigenous governments of the region as we proceed to a point where there is hopefully a final and solid proponent who could take over and move this forward.

So again, there's no doubt going to be some lessons to learn but it may well be that they're all positive outcomes in the end, and I'm sure we will be able to -- once I'll be able to share that, have more dialogue in the House about that process. 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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How many Housing Corporation staff have completed the Living Well Together training that supports cultural awareness and sensitivity among GNWT employees? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Housing.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With our staff and our client service staff at the local housing authority and within the corporation itself, it is important that we improve our services as well and looking at the Living Well Together and providing those numbers, I don't have that on hand with me right now. But government employees and specifically for the housing -- the Department of the Housing Corporation, they are supposed to be completing this program and really emphasizing on working in Indigenous communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.