EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Yes thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Like I said, we’re trying to do our best to get a remand centre or a room.
If we try to do them all at once then it side tracks us from the important thing that we are trying to do.
There is no facility for the women at this time that are on remand and we have to take them to other locations.
What we are trying to do is concentrate on what we’re doing right now before we make a commitment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairperson (interpretation): Corrections and Community Justice.
Detail of Capital, Total Headquarters, 100 thousand.
Total Qikiqtaaluk Region, Mr. Iqaqrialu.
Mr. Iqaqrialu (interpretation): I’m not saying that I don’t like this but it says Qikiqtaaluk Region, Iqaluit and the Baffin Correctional Centre’s snow machines and all the other stuff.
I just wondered whether that is going to be all for Iqaluit under Qikiqtaaluk Region?
Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
These are for the Baffin Correctional Centre, the boats, the snowmobiles, the outboard motors, generators, new contracts, those are for not for Iqaluit but that’s for the outside of Iqaluit.
I was just going to hold the budget for that here in Iqaluit.
Yes I thank the Minister for the information he gave us.
For the boats, snowmobiles, outboard motors and generators, new contracts and stuff like that, will the communities be able to request or put a proposal in to do an outpost camp?
This is for the Outpost Camps for correctional purposes in the communities.
Chairman (interpretation): Ms. Williams.
The Baffin Correctional Centre and Y.O. Program Planning, I’m not sure what that is.
Maybe the Minister could elaborate on that.
Baffin Correctional Centre workshop expansion, 120 thousand dollars, within the last 3 – 4 years there’s been a workshop beside the Baffin Correctional Centre, there’s this small building for a workshop and there they added two trailers that used to belong to the RCMP, they put them together there.
Maybe, I was thinking that the 120 thousand dollars, you got 220 thousand there you already have; 220 thousand to renovate a building that could house women.
And you already have a program area, maybe it’s not big enough and you already have a workshop there but you’re expanding that for 120 thousand.
I’m just trying to say let us have a bit of priority planning.
This is basically just creating a program space, not tied into anything.
At this time we’re just going to open up an area so that additional programs can be made available at this time.
Can the Minister elaborate a little bit on the BCC and YO programming area? Are they going to build because the two buildings are separate, so are they going to join them together?
What are they going to do or what are they planning for the 100 thousand dollars?
Under the Program Centre, it is currently renovating the facility to make it more conducive to programming.
The workshop is available for inmates to use.
I think that this is what I am talking about.
The priority issues need to be shifted to the real needs.
They already have a space in there.
If we build a Regional Correctional Facility, some of the inmates that are in BCC will probably be in this new facility, whether it be I don’t know where.
We are making more program areas but we have nothing for women.
I need to make that comment to make sure that the Minister hears and the department knows the need for the Women’s Facility whether it be a remand unit, or a facility for them to serve time in Nunavut at home, where they could be closer to their families and their children and the rest of the family.
They have needs as much as the men do.
I agree with the Member and that is what we are trying to do in planning for a facility so that all of our needs could be met to our utmost abilities.
I would love to wave a magic wand and solve everybody’s problems at the same time.
That is what we are trying to do through the planning and the work that we are doing through the current exercise.
I would like to see a women’s facility unit somewhere in the paper here.
Maybe he could take his magic wand, take off the money for programming areas and expansion, and renovate a building for women for 220 thousand dollars.
He could do that with his magic wand.
Chairperson (interpretation): Maybe you shouldn’t talk about the magic wand.
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Qujannamiik, Itsivautaq.
That is what we are trying to do; trying to meet everybody’s needs at the same time and in due course we will have a facility for women, along with meeting the needs that we have right now in corrections.
Corrections are in much need of an improvement and that is what we are planning for.
How many correctional camps do we have in Nunavut?
Chairperson (interpretation): Premier.
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Qujannamiik, Itsivautaq. I believe that I was asked that question the other day and there are four that I know of. Qujannamiik, Itsivautaq.
Are they considered successful by the department?
Yes, and we would love to see more.
As I stated when I appeared before you last year, we want to have a dedicated person and a PY to manage outpost camps and we are hoping to hire one soon so that we could manage this better and have more outpost camps, hopefully throughout the territory.
Are these outpost camp inmates, I don’t know the term you use.
Are they usually less dangerous prisoners that are being sent to outpost camps?
Each inmate is assessed and each inmate also is asked if they are willing to go to an outpost camp.
Mr. Arvaluk: Why do you think there are only four outpost camps taking in the inmates? Why do you think that other people or other outpost camps are not offering their services?
I wish I knew the answer to that one, but what we have tried to do since we formed our government is to try and provide support to be helpful to those camps so we can see more developed. We offer training programs to the operators and as you can see by the budget, we also provide some capital assistance to these outpost camps. So if you can help us in opening some up in your communities that would be much appreciated.
Since he said that he has a dedicated PY assisting these outpost camps, will he be able to give us an answer as to why it is not attracting more applicants from different communities by O&M budget in March.
What I know is that there are not a lot of outpost camps these days. But the camps that we use at the moment are more traditional camps, the families that have chosen to remain in outpost camps.
So that is probably one of the reasons why we don’t see a lot right now.
But I think by providing additional support to these camps there may be additional camps I hope, that will be opened up.
Would you consider maybe studying to see if outposts dedicated to correctional facilities can be established, understanding that it’s a healthier atmosphere that may have more positive effects on the inmates that otherwise would serve in a correctional centre and not getting much out of the service because it’s not a traditional setting.
Would you considering reviewing to see if that may be your option, rather than giving an inmate an option if he wants to go there or not?
I think we would love to see more camps so that perhaps each inmate depending on where they grew up could go back to some of their roots.
If they could have more outpost camps available near their traditional homes, I think that would make it a lot easier for both the operators and the inmates. Because the operators would have to know the lay of the land, the traditions, and the customs associated with the land surrounding their camps.
Chairperson (interpretation): Anything else? Any other questions?
Baffin Region, 300 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): Total Tangible Assets, 410 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): We’ll go back to 5-4.
Justice Department Summary, Details of Expenditures.
Total Capital Expenditures, 1 million 560 thousand.
This amount we are to agree to, this 1 million 560 thousand for the region and there is also this 1 million 150 thousand for the headquarters region.
So there is only an additional 10 thousand within the details of the expenditures?
I just wanted to know if the mathematics is accurate.
Chairperson (interpretation): It is 1 million 160 thousand and the last one that we have come back to is 1 million 560 thousand.
There were no errors.
Total Capital Expenditures, 1 million, 560 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): Do we agree that the review of the Capital Estimates of the Department of Justice are completed?
Mr. Okalik do you have any closing comments?
I would like to thank my officials and my elected colleagues.
The Department of Justice has many responsibilities and there are a lot of needs out there in Nunavut.
I do want to have a close working relationship with all of you in the upcoming year.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you for being able to be in front of the Committee of the Whole.
The committee would like to proceed with the Department of Public Works.
We have the Minister of Public Works and Services.
Do you have any opening comments?
I am very pleased that we have been given an opportunity to present the 2003-2004 Capital Estimates for the Department of Public Works and Services.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Public Works and Services has an assigned target of 10.68 million dollars for 2003-2004.
With this funding we are proposing a variety of major expansions of bulk fuel storage facilities.
Mr. Chairman, 9.68 million of the 2003-2004 target budget will help the Petroleum Products Division (PPD) take an aggressive approach to completing projects requiring immediate attention.
These projects include increasing capacity code compliance at tank farms in a number of Nunavut communities.
The remaining 1 million dollars will fund a variety of projects within the Department of Public Works and Services.
Mr. Chairman, with the growth of this government comes the growing need for infrastructure and infrastructure improvement.
We are working within our means to accomplish a range of capital projects that will benefit all Nunavummiut.
Mr. Chairman, as we move towards our 2003-2004 capital plans I would like to acknowledge the role that Nunavummiut played in identifying needs and helping us to prioritize the projects identified.
In closing, I would like to thank you and the members for the opportunity to comment on our 2003/2004 capital budget.
I look forward to hearing your questions and in providing more detailed information on our capital plans.
As Chairman of the Standing Committee on Community Empowerment and Sustainable Development, I am pleased to be able to provide opening comments as we begin the review of the 2003-2004 capital estimates for the Department of Public Works and Services.
Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee had the opportunity in September to meet with the Minister of Public Works and Services to review the draft 2003-2004 capital estimates.
Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee noted that tank farms across Nunavut are in varying stages of disrepair.
The Minister indicated that an exhaustive study of tank farms, their capacity and their maintenance had been completed this summer.
The Standing Committee would wish to review the results of this study.
Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee is concerned that every effort be made to limit future environmental damage by making necessary repairs in a timely fashion.
The Committee is also concerned that remediation occurs on sites where eroding tanks and pipes have resulted in site contamination.
Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee noted with interest the recent announcement regarding implementation of the Ikuma II report.
The Standing Committee will be following this issue closely as it develops.
The Committee is uncertain of what the process will be in future years with respect to the approval of petroleum product related capital expenditures.
The Standing Committee is concerned that any restructuring ensures that the almost ten million in capital spending currently undertaken by the petroleum products division be as transparent in future years as it is today.
Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee wishes to see environmental remediation projects continue to proceed.
However, the Committee noted that the Cape Christian project has been placed on the capital plan for 2003-04, despite the fact that information was provided to the Committee during last year’s review which indicated that such projects would be funded through O&M.
The Standing Committee would request clarification on the Government of Nunavut’s policy for funding such projects, as well as a timetable for future projects.
That concludes my opening comments. Other Members may wish to ask questions on an individual basis.
Before we go to general comments, we’ll take a 15 minute break and when we return the Minister of Public Works and Services can go up to the witness table and than we’ll proceed with the 10 minute general comments.
We’ll take a 15 minute break.
>>Committee recessed at 16.58 p.m. and resumed at 17.22 p.m.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you very much for coming back.
Will the Minister be inviting some officials?
Sergeant-At-Arms, I don’t think he can hear me.
Sergeant-At-Arms, please escort the officials.
Thank you, please introduce your officials.
We have on my right, our Deputy Minister Ross Mrazek and on my left we have the financial management expert, Patrick Galbraith.
The Committee members may begin with their general comments.
You each have up to10 minutes.
Very briefly in regards to the wording of the contract for the Department of Transportation with Petroleum Products; I’m very disappointed in the entire process and I want my displeasure noted.
And in your opening comments, in your notes, you stated that you will be increasing regulatory compliance of tank farms and doing work on the facilities.
This is hard to imagine, as there are some tanks that are not full and it’s very likely in Clyde River that we’ll be running out of fuel in April or May, at least that is what we suspect.
I was thinking about the comments from the committee that there is lots of erosion in the tank farms around Nunavut and I was wondering whether this is because they’re not at full capacity, especially when the Minister making his opening comments earlier about renovation and upgrades to the tune of 9 million.
In regards to Petroleum Products and Public Works and Services, I’m even thinking that the people of Nunavut are very disappointed, perhaps even frustrated and fed up with the services provided by your department.
To me, it seems that they have been testing the patience and limits of Nunavummiut with one problem after another.
They have not met the needs or the desires of the people of Nunavut.
And because of that continual lack of commitment to this service, the people of Nunavut are disappointed and so am I. It should not be happening like that.
You are working to provide services for the people of Nunavut and I think that it is essential for you to listen to the concerns and the needs of the people of Nunavut.
You have to be proud of the people of Nunavut because of course you are the service providers and I think that it is up to your Department to make a change and address the needs of the people.
It is something that is very important to us as we want to become more self-sufficient.
That is the reason why we created our own Nunavut Government.
After creation of Nunavut there were more and more job opportunities coming out through the creation of the government.
And it is something that the Members of the Legislative Assembly are keeping a close eye on.
In regards to the Bathurst Mandate, it was agreed to by the Members and we are not even meeting that mandate.
As that is the case we have to correct our mistakes in the future.
We have to work together instead of being opposed to one another if we are going to meet that goal.
It is something that I have come to realize since we started to work together with different governments and when there are new programs coming, it does not meet the needs of the people of Nunavut.
Tomorrow I will be reading a document on petroleum products and the concerns that were voiced by the people of Clyde River.
Public housing and their consumption of fuel will probably be increased at the same time because there is a possibility of an increase in price, we will have to deal with it.
If there is an increase in the fuel prices, then of course the Government will be affected by it and we will have to allocate a larger budget.
There have been supplementaries every year and if that is going to be the case, but we haven’t seen the numbers yet.
I feel that we are going to see an increase in the fuel prices.
The 19 million dollars, if we are going to be going over budget, we are going to be in a precarious situation.
That is what we foresee as long-term residents of Nunavut; the contractors, if they don’t meet their goals or if they don’t make a profit of a certain percentage, then they increase their prices, and therefore increase the expenditures of the government.
If that is going to be the case then we will be seeing less programs and services provided by the Government.
If we are going to be awarding contracts outside of Nunavut, then it will be a slower pace, becoming self-sufficient.
We can see that through employment, through the generation of revenue and through economic development.
We have to do the best that we can to respect the people of Nunavut and meet their desires.
It is something that is very important to us.
We know as the people of Nunavut, that we have experienced changes in our traditional lifestyle and we now want to have the same economic opportunities as the rest of Canada.
We have to participate in economic development either through direct involvement or the drafting of policies to facilitate opportunities for our people.
That’s all I wanted to say.
Please let me know if I’m going off topic.
Petroleum products are very important to the people of Nunavut and we are all consumers one way or another.
All the people of Nunavut are consumers.
The airplanes use aviation fuel, we use it for our hunting equipment and also as homeowners and public tenants, we consume heating fuel and I know that in Kugaaruk, usually what happens in the water tanks is that the bottom fills with water and it helps corrode the metal.
I think that it would be a good idea to check the tank farms and make sure that they don’t have water at the lowest level.
And there’s also the aviation fuel that’s filled with water.
We have to make sure that there’s no water in the tank farms and in the barrels.
It could become a safety issue if the aviation fuel is mixed with water and I think it is very important to check the barrels especially in the communities which do not have a dedicated fuel storage unit for aviation fuel.
It would be a lot easier on the airplanes and easier on our safety concerns.
These issues have to be dealt with in all of our communities to ensure that we do not add to the problems of air travel.
That’s the comment that I wanted to make.
I was just sitting here listening to the other members and their comments.
On the capital side, we’ve spent into the millions and millions of dollars on tank farm expansions in Nunavut every year in this.
The communities are growing every year.
They’re growing more houses, more cars and trucks, more snow machines, the demand is growing and growing and it’s not going to slow down.
If it wasn’t for the capitalization of these tank farms in the capital plan, the prices for fuel in Nunavut for gasoline and home heating would probably be up around the $2 mark.
If we were taking this 10 million every year or 5 million every year and combining that to what it costs us to run the PPD it would be horrendous.
None of us would be able to afford to heat our homes or to drive our snow machines and trucks.
The true cost, what it would cost to deliver and administer fuel in Nunavut would just be horrendous.
Our friends in Nunavik are paying $1.30 a litre for gasoline and $1.20 a litre for home heating oil because they put all of the costs together.
And I think it’s coming down the road this way, that’s one of the things that I think we’re going to see in the future is that the capital cost of these tank farms may be worked into the true cost of the fuel and it’s going to cost us a lot of money.
But the point I’m getting to here and I’m trying to be a little bit farsighted and look down the road to the future in Nunavut, is if this jurisdiction weren’t totally dependant on fossil fuel, totally.
The mandate of the Power Corporation is now to look at alternate means of producing power and I was told out of the 35 million litres of fuel a year that is consumed in Nunavut, diesel, 12 million is consumed up at this power plant, so they’re spewing out12 million litres of diesel and oil into the air around Iqaluit every year from the power plant and it’s going to increase.
This town doubles in size in the next ten years that could be 24 million litres, so we’re polluting the environment as much as anybody else.
But what I’m saying is that we have to look at the energy needs and I’m getting off track there but we can build tank farms every year, we can do this and that.
And the government is now experimenting with wind generators; they are putting one here and one there. But my comments, it’s just a general comment that the minister should look at with the Minister of Energy and the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation to look at long-term strategies on developing hydroelectric power, which is not so damaging to the environment as what we are doing now.
I think what we are doing now is damaging the environment by having these diesel plants everywhere in Nunavut; it’s just a general comment, and it’s nothing to do with the capital plan but what it does.
If we look at what we are spending on expanding tank farms every year, than maybe it’s time to look at wind generation for some of these communities. You know, it’s 10 million dollars for a tank farm, 5 million dollars there and 5 million dollars there, the government could probably put in enough wind generation in a smaller community to show how it could be really effective in Nunavut.
And I encourage the minister to talk with Mr. Energy, to see if you can get him going on producing more hydro electric power and wind generation down the road.
That’s all the comments that I have.
Chairperson (interpretation): Anything else? That’s it.
We’ll go to page 6-5 and 6-6.
Questions, if there are no questions.
Technical services 6-5. Baffin Region.
Tangible Assets.
Qikiqtaaluk Region, 205 thousand.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): Baffin, Various Minor capital projects, 135 thousand, could you elaborate further on what this 135 thousand will be used for?
This 135 thousand will be used for government staff houses or government housing that need renovations or maintenance because of course sometimes we don’t have enough for O and M and these minor capital projects will be used for specifically government buildings.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): If it’s for various government buildings, how many are you going to be allocating to each of the communities?
This is just specific to the Baffin region.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): If it’s for the Baffin area, we have 13 communities or 12 I’m not sure, so does that mean we’ll have equal allocations to each of the communities or how is going to work.
Hon. Peter Kattuk (interpretation): It doesn’t specify but we will work on the government buildings in the Baffin region.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): It does not specify what it is going to be used for, whether it is for renovation or upgrades and according to the response of the Minister, it is not an emergency issue.
So this is just sort of like insurance in case our government buildings have to be renovated or maintained.
Is my assumption correct?
Hon. Peter Kattuk (interpretation): This 135 thousand will be used for any type of government building according to the needs of that building, and it does not specify any amounts to any particular community, but it targets only government buildings.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): So it is just set aside as reparation money?
Hon. Peter Kattuk (interpretation): I did not understand your question.