Is the director -- executive director a technical person; does that person have a scientific background to understand this? Thank you.
Debates of March 3rd, 2022
This is page numbers 3711 - 3754 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
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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R.J. Simpson Hay River North
Thank you. So there was a budget that was created for this -- this regulator. The budget was created out of thin air with no concept of how much work would actually be needed and what position would be required. There was a review undertaken to look at what work has been done, what work will need to happen going forward, and a decision was made based on that review. If there is a need in the future for additional money for this, then I personally don't think that we have much of a say because as a regulator, they need -- they have a job to do, and we would fund them according to the job they need to do. According to the job they need to do now, this is the funding that is required according to a third party review. Thank you.
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3749
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Katrina Nokleby Great Slave
So will the Minister, then, commit that when they come back needing more money as projects ramp up in the Beaufort Delta that he'll find that money within the Department of Justice and not come back and take it from our social programs or housing? Thank you.
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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R.J. Simpson Hay River North
Thank you. So I don't want to open up a can of worms about where money comes from for regulators, but wherever it comes from it's the coffers of the GNWT is where it comes from. Thank you.
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Katrina Nokleby Great Slave
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I would like to request that the Minister work with his colleague in ITI and provide us with a forecast of what is happening in the area of oil and gas such that we can evaluate properly before we get to the point where we need more money and more resources and can't hire those people for the Northwest Territories, that we have some idea of where this is going so we're not playing catchup and reaction yet again. Thank you.
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3749
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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R.J. Simpson Hay River North
Thank you, Madam Chair. So I'm pretty hands off with this regulator, because it is arm's length. I think ITI probably would have that information. So I can talk to the Minister to see what's going on but I don't -- I don't get too deep into the business of oil and gas. That is the Minister of ITI. Thank you.
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3749
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Katrina Nokleby Great Slave
Yeah, I have concern with that answer as well, just in the sense of like, well, then if you have nothing to do with it, why is it in your department? I get that it's Justice. Then I would say perhaps it fits better with the Minister of ITI but then I know we would have everybody saying there's a conflict there as the Minister responsible for Industry. So I will just take that as I'm going to continue to harass the Minister about this department -- or this regulator and hope that, you know, we will see business ramping up in the Beaufort Delta and therefore we will have need for regulators of oil and gas. Thank you.
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3750
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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R.J. Simpson Hay River North
Thank you. And this did used to be with Minister of ITI in the previous Assembly, and it came to Justice so that the Minister would have no skin in the game essentially.
But I have started the conversation with my Cabinet colleagues about, you know, these arm's length regulators and how we structure them and what departments they sit in because it is rather ad hoc, so. Maybe somewhere down the line, we can figure this out and have a unified approach. Thank you.
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you. Are there any further questions to the Office of the Regulator of the Oil and Gas Operations?
Seeing none. Justice, office of the regulator of oil and gas operation, operations expenditure summary, 2022-2023 Main Estimates, $1,230,000. Does committee agree?
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you. We will now go to page 296, justice policing service. Questions? Member for Yellowknife North.
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North
Thank you, Madam Chair. Can the Minister just enlighten me a little about how our police contract works with requests from the RCMP for more staff? We are padding another $2 million to the policing budget. It's been on a bit of an upward trend. As the Minister noted, we've added officers to another community -- number of communities. I'm just -- does the Minister have to agree to these? Is there some sort of arbitration when the RCMP say they need more resources? I'm just kind of curious how we negotiate with the RCMP the appropriate level of resourcing. Thank you.
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3750
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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R.J. Simpson Hay River North
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, there is a significant amount of collaboration between the Department of Justice and the RCMP before we see a final product and before it makes it to the Assembly. Mr. Bancroft can provide some detail on that. Thank you.
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3750
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3750
Bancroft
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the analysis that's generally undertaken is called a GDPRM, which is a general duty policing resource model review. It's initiated from the RCMP side, but within collaboration with the Department of Justice, we meet semi-annually on business cases, stressors in -- under the TPSA as far as policing operations go throughout the territory. We look at things like, you know, key indicators like overtime costs, operational readiness, occurrences, instances. They are all driving forces towards determining how many police members are required in the community. We take all that information, we track it, as well as the RCMP tracks it, to come with the true need of a detachment, and that's how we determine the requirement for additional officers. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3750
Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3750
Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North
Thank you, Madam Chair. Can the -- there's a number here, other adjustments including $1.8 million, mainly for collective agreement increases. Can the Minister just provide how much the RCMP's collective agreement increases were specifically?