I'll turn to the deputy minister for that deep dive.
Debates of Feb. 28th, 2023
This is page numbers 5441 - 5516 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
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Gareau
Thank you, Madam Chair. It's a very good point, and it's one of the issues we did encounter when we did the 2014 municipal review. Things like -- there's two or three classes of infrastructure, things like underground pipe, roads, and there's a third that I don't remember. We did have -- you know, we worked with communities to get the information they had but we did have to use approximations to value the costs of those assets. So, you know, and this was, you know, widely communicated when we were doing the 2014 work that for these -- for some of these pieces of infrastructure, the cost -- the replacement costs we were using were just an approximation based on the best data that us and community governments had at the time. You know, we have refined our -- some of our estimates, us and community governments have refined some of our estimates around those pieces of infrastructure and we have better data and we have third party data from academics and research institutions and places like that. So we do have -- and there's also the data that we obtained from the NWT's insurance program on the replacement value of their assets. So I'm sorry, I've also gone on a deep dive on that topic. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Shane Thompson Nahendeh
Yes, so we also partner with NWTAC and LGANT. So the information we try to work with is just not going to communities, but it's working with our partners as well. Thank you.
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Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thanks, Madam Chair. I'm not sure I'm treading water or sinking, but. Okay, I just can't stress enough if we don't have community asset plans, we can't even calculate a municipal funding gap. But anyways, I'm going to move on to one other thing because I know I don't have much time left.
What are we doing to help communities divert hazardous waste from their landfills? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Gareau
Thank you, Madam Chair. So we are working with community governments on a project to remove hazardous waste from their solid waste sites. There's us, ENR, and community governments are working on a project. We've taken a regional approach. So there's work underway with external contractors to remove hazardous waste out of community governments' sites. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Frieda Martselos Thebacha
Thank you, Madam Chair. Community operations is just one percent of the entire budget of $185 million, and it is equal to $2 million. You know, when we talk about MACA and the regional centres and small communities, one percent of the overall budget of $185 million is not very much. And yet we have the regional offices doing an amazing job, and we have staff within those offices that do an amazing job for the communities and the regional centre. I'm just wondering if the Minister will be able to answer if he thinks that's a fair allocation for community operations at one percent in an overall budget of $185 million and the communities and regional centres get $2 million of that budget that's actually allocated for the regional centres and communities? Is that a fair -- is that a fair percentage; would he consider that a fair percentage? Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Shane Thompson Nahendeh
Thank you. So that's the headquarters technical part of it. If you look at the budget, and I think it is regional operations, 54 percent of the money that's in there. So community operations is our technical aspect of it and headquarters operations. Thank you.
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Frieda Martselos Thebacha
54 percent of the $2 million is what I think it is. It's all broken down into different areas. You know, community operations is, like, that's one percent of the entire budget. Sports and youth and recreation is only five percent. So I'm just wondering, you know -- I think I'm being very clear that community operations is one percent of an $185 million budget. I don't think that is a correct assessment for the communities and regional centres. I'd like to know if he thinks that's a fair allocation for communities and regional centres. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Gareau
Thank you, Madam Chair. So, yes, the chart on page 330 does show that community operations is -- the budget is one percent of MACA's total proposed budget. Generally how we're structured is our technical staff are in headquarters and our regional staff are in our regional operations. And regional operations is also where all of the larger budgets are that are allocated to community governments. So our O and M monies, sport, rec and youth funding, like a lot of our bigger funding programs are in the regional operations area, which is where our regionals -- because our regional staff are the program -- they're the ones working closely with community governments to deliver those programs directly to residents. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Frieda Martselos Thebacha
So, Madam Chair, do you think that -- we have two out of three MACA's 109 positions that are in Yellowknife -- are located in Yellowknife. If you count Yellowknife at 62 percent and North Slave at five percent, that's 67 percent of the personnel are located here in the capital. The regions, including Tlicho, which is at three percent, South Slave at eight percent, Deh Cho at seven percent, Sahtu at seven percent, and the Beaufort Delta at eight percent is 33 percent. So when I look at these figures, there's a lot of micromanagement of the regional centres. You know, so you have a budget, and when you have that many two to one or three to whatever out of Yellowknife, the micromanagement that is happening to these eight staff in each region must be incredible. And you know, it's -- we're not being accountable and upfront sometimes. You know, and I support the staff at the regional centre. The staff -- there's very little staff and they're expected to do all these jobs but were micromanaged from here. Building an empire, again, at this level. And I want to know if the Minister agrees with that statement. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Shane Thompson Nahendeh
No, I don't agree with that statement. I spent 23 years in the sport and rec world in a regional office. So I knew -- the experts in the region are our superintendents and our staff there. They're the ones that give advice and recommendations to headquarters on how programs are dealt with through that there and how we can better improve it. So that there is very much -- our experts, our superintendents, and our staff work with each division within the department there. So I do not agree with the Member's statement there. Thank you.