EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I often get questioned about how much it’s costing all the various agencies, organizations and individuals involved, and what the true cost is of a search and rescue in Nunavut.
I think it’s a figure that we should have and then we can maybe put more of those funds into education and training and providing equipment for people to use when they’re going out on the land if there are emergencies.
So I hope the minister can get that information.
I noticed in your 2007-08 priorities, there’s a Nunavut Search and Rescue Society that has been approved.
Can you give us an update on the status of that society and what work they will be doing in the current fiscal year and in the next fiscal year?
There is a body that was formed and it’s called Qiniqtiit Nunavumit Tunngavinga. That was formed in December of 2007 and they’re very new.
I think their duties are to collaborate with the search and rescue representatives from each community, along with a representative from the RCMP Joint Task Force North and Community and Government Services.
They have met here in Iqaluit and the board of directors is made up of seven search and rescue volunteers that have been elected, and the board of directors consists of a president and two directors from each region.
The community search and rescue representatives also voted on a different title for their association which I just mentioned. In December 2007, $95,000 out of the fiscal year 2007-08 funds was allocated for the enhancement of community search and rescue volunteers.
It was spent to have community search and rescue volunteer fellows to meet in Iqaluit.
The terms of reference is being developed by them since they were just elected.
I thank Ms. Brown for that answer.
It mentions in your business plan that a new funding policy is to be approved by the board.
Is it the plan or the intention of the Department of Community and Government Services to provide them with annual funding to carry out their operations?
Hon. Levinia Brown: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank you for that question.
Mr. Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank Ms. Brown for that answer.
Can the minister indicate the level of annual funding she intends to provide to the Search and Rescue Society?
Now that the society has been formed, it is recommended that $300,000 to $350,000 will be a contribution for the society to manage.
I thank Ms. Brown for that information.
Can the minister tell us how the Search and Rescue Society would integrate into the roles, responsibilities, and functions of the community search and rescue and the government search and rescue obligations?
Hon. Levinia Brown: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the member for that question.
Mr. Akeeagok (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) The new society is elected by all the search and rescue organizations from each community and their function is to sort of take it to the next level where there is stronger coordination between communities and with the territorial government, along with some sort of integration with the federal government as to what sort of resources are available.
They are voted on from the communities, so there’s that interaction with it.
Coming from this department, we are providing an administrative role to the society.
The integration between the government and the community would be, if they would like certain training to be offered for the communities or any preventative measures for searching resources in terms of equipment either for the search and rescue or for the public at large, that body would assist the department in getting some of that direction. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I alluded to this during my opening comments and it’s in regard to emergency measures because communities need emergency response plans which are required under our new legislation.
Although the Emergency Measures Act was passed last fall, it became evident that it won’t be the same across the communities.
How do you advise the other departments of this legislation and whether they are required to have emergency preparedness plans?
If that’s not the case, the minister perhaps can advise the other departments of the plans required under the Emergency Measures Act, especially with regards to utility and power.
We had no emergency power system available at all.
I would like to get the minister’s view because I believe that it became evident that the departments need to have emergency response plans. (interpretation ends) Thank you.
I thank the member for asking the question with regards to this issue.
Yes, it’s evident now and we know for sure that we need to have an emergency response plan under the legislation and I know that we will be working diligently on making the plans.
We still have discussions with various agencies and departments. The deputy ministers from various departments, such as Health and Social Services, Education and Environment, as well as our staff who would meet together, have acknowledged the fact that they need to have emergency response plans.
Since you have been conducting reviews to find out what needs to be amended and because there was no backup generator, have you identified the fact that those are needed?
We will be reviewing all aspects of what happened during the state of emergency in Rankin Inlet. We will have to make a report so that we can find out what needs to be dealt with. We found out that we need an emergency response plan and we will be working on that.
My other question I would like to pose is with regards to the Minister of Finance’s recent announcement in his Budget Address that volunteer firefighters in Nunavut will be receiving a tax credit of $500 per year. Did your department provide any form of support or assistance?
Who would qualify under that program and what’s the eligibility requirement for the tax credit on fire prevention?
I’ll have our director, Mr. Rafter, respond to that question.
The program is oriented toward volunteers and of course, the department is very supportive of tax benefits of this nature to encourage volunteers within the fire departments. It was not an initiative of the department but the department is supportive of it.
Just before we go to Mr. Curley, we don’t have a quorum.
So the department has no involvement as to who qualifies.
I’m just curious; I would have thought they would ask you because individuals may have to some kind of ideal or some kind of certification, I’m not sure. If the information is required from you guys, I’m sure that you guys would be willing to help out and inform the local municipalities with what’s happening with this.
I’m sure that the program aspects of it will have to be worked out somewhere along the road but I’m not sure if the Department of Finance has people who do that. (interpretation) My question is: what exactly will be the plans? I would like to understand that as I’m sure the public will have questions on how that’s set up.
The Department of CGS could assist the communities to identify those who are eligible.
Protection Service.
Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $5,394,000.
In the last year, we have heard of many capital projects being delayed due to cost overruns and the inability to interest contractors and developers to bid on contracts, and if they do bid, the costs are too high or there are delays. There are all kinds of issues that are surrounding management of the contracts.
The department has indicated in their business plan on page J-21, “Improve capacity to manage all of the capital projects including the incremental programming associated with existing and emerging third party infrastructure agreements and emerging third party agreements.”
I’m wondering if the minister and her officials can give us an overview of the work they have undertaken to date to improve the capacity of the department to deliver on schedule and on time, on cost, capital projects across Nunavut.
I would like to ask the chair and the members if Mr. Boddy could come and join us here at the witness table and his role is the Assistant Deputy Minister.
Does the committee agree that the minister bring one of her staff?
Chairman: Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witness.
Minister Brown, can you please, for the record, introduce your witness.
Mr. Boddy has just joined us at the witness table and he’s the Assistant Deputy Minister. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman: Welcome, Mr. Boddy.
The question to Mr. Peterson, Minister Brown.
Mr. Boddy will take that question.
Mr. Boddy.
Mr. Boddy: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
In response to the member’s question, we have increased our capacity in project management over the past year.
We have brought on four new positions of project officers - one in each region and another one at headquarters. We also have a position for a quantity surveyor.
Of the project officers, two are already hired, two are in the process of being hired, and the quantity surveyors are in the final stages of that competition. This has come at quite a good time.
There is certainly a lot of work out there with the existing and ongoing projects.
I would say, as far as capacity goes, for the first time ever we now have complete staff in the Pond Inlet office, which was a newly created office through decentralization.
We now have that completely staffed up, so we are improving our capacity there.
We have taken on a number of initiatives in order to train our staff. We’ve had several in-services, we have met with contractors, and we have also met with our consultants to look at ways that we can do business in a more efficient manner. We do recognize that there are some serious challenges when it comes to the amount of companies that are available to bid on the larger projects.
This is a problem that’s being felt right across the country and we are looking at many different ways of addressing that.
I hope that this answers the question.
Mr. Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the minister and Mr. Boddy.
It partially answers my question. I think there’s some hope there; you have hired some project officers and a quantity surveyor. With this Building Canada program and reconfiguring the 2008-09 capital plan, there are some carryover projects that we’re still working on, so it’s critical to have qualified staff that can oversee project management.
You mentioned some other initiatives that you have underway or that you’re reviewing. Could you explain in a bit more detail what those internal initiatives are that would help more effectively deliver the capital plan for Nunavut?
I will have Mr. Boddy respond to that question.
Yes, we have done a number of things that are ongoing.
First off, I’ll touch a bit on P3. We are working with the Department of Finance on that policy.
We’ve had two staff go out, myself included, on seminars and conferences on P3.
The last one took place actually last week where we had our director go out and the Department of Finance also sent people down to Edmonton on that conference.
This is something that’s being worked on and we, of course, want to see a policy in place. We’ve had discussions with the industry in Nunavut about some P3 approaches.
This is all preliminary though, we haven’t gone in any firm direction until we have that policy in place.
We have also looked at the way we deliver our projects. We have been looking at re-bundling, in some cases, where we break the projects down into smaller contracts. We have looked at design-build and this is where you combine the design of the infrastructure with the construction.
Traditionally, we do two separate contracts - an RFP for a design and then another tender for the actual construction. We have looked at, in some cases, where combining the two had some merit.
We have been looking at different types of construction techniques. We have examined the modular buildings to see how they could apply in our situation in the north. We have even looked so far as to perhaps undertaking some design in-house and that would not be for the complex projects, so that would be for the basic, simpler projects.
We have also worked at listening to our contractors and consultants. We’re trying to take a more integrated approach with project delivery where all stakeholders get together and have a firm vision of what they want.
We’re trying to increase and improve the communication for all those involved because there are many entities involved in delivering a capital project; you have your client department, you have the consultants, you have the contractors, you have the subcontractors, and you have technical services and the project managers. We’re trying to get a more unified approach in regard to delivering those projects with not everyone stovepiped and learn about their own specific area.
A lot of this I see as a positive move in the right direction.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker… Mr. Chairman.
For a moment there I thought you were receiving a promotion. I would like to thank the minister and Mr. Boddy for that answer. It certainly sounds promising.
Is there an individual or a committee that’s been assigned this overall responsibility to coordinate with all the entities you have mentioned, all the departments, and you also talked about the private sector and contractors.
Is there some mechanism within the government to bring it all together so that everybody knows how the government wants to see effective and efficient delivery of the capital projects?
I will have Mr. Boddy respond to that.
The coordination aspect of that rests with Technical Services here in Iqaluit at headquarters and there’s a director that reports directly to me.
This is an ongoing process; there’s not just one person who is responsible for it.
One thing we did over the last year is we had roundtable meetings with all of our consultants and our contractors. We intend to have another one this year so that we can further develop the progress we have made. We have tried to listen at these meetings.
For instance, at the last meeting, there was a concern brought up by the contractors and consultants about how long it takes to get paid through the mail.
We worked with the Department of Finance on that and now we’re implementing direct payments for the contractors and consultants into their bank accounts.
This also helps a lot for the smaller contractors that work in communities that don’t have banking services.
I thank Mr. Boddy.
With all this work that you’re doing and all the initiatives you have reviewed and studied, you have attended the P3 meetings, do you see the possibility of immediate improvements to the capital planning process so that we can have a more effective delivery currently in the new fiscal year when these new projects kick off?
I will have Mr. Boddy respond because he answers questions very well.
I have always stressed that I want to see progress and I think we’re seeing it already.
One area that has been an area of concern has been the capital carryovers. When we viewed the third quarter variance, we noticed a 30 percent drop.
So I would take that as an indicator and hopefully we can report further after the end of the fiscal year. But I do think there will be progress and measurable progress on this issue.
Mr. Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank Mr. Boddy for that answer.
That was going to be my next question: the indicators of the success or how you had measured it. Obviously, you have thought about it.
Can you give us some idea what kind of indicators you look at so you can measure the success?
I know you talked about the capital carryovers, but there are probably other areas that you have also looked at where you can measure the progress, or the success, or the delays that are occurring in the capital planning process.
I will have Mr. Boddy respond.
Yes, there certainly are other indicators as well. Another initiative we’re undertaking that came out of those roundtable meetings was that our consultants and contractors all would like to see the contracts go out earlier in the tendering season.
I think this is very measurable; anyone who is looking at the papers is noticing, ‘Here we are in early March and a lot of tenders are already starting to roll out.’ This is something that I think will have a positive impact.
Also, I guess the real acid test will come about when we start closing tenders and seeing how close we are on budget.
The only cautionary thing I would like to say is that we’re dealing with extremely rising construction costs right across the country and that it is a moving target. I will just say that in Alberta, over the last two years, they’ve had 17 and 18 percent increase in their construction costs. So we will have some challenges there.
I’m a realist. I don’t expect perfection but I think we certainly will be able to see if we’re getting closer to the mark. Some of these things like the quantity surveyor, I mean, it’s going to take a while before we will see the effect of that person’s role.
Everyone is aware of the situation and trying to do their best in dealing with the present economic environment.
Mr. Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank Mr. Boddy for that.
That’s good to know and I’m encouraged to hear that you’re making some progress. We look forward to see the results and any successfully completed capital projects in the next fiscal year.
In the Capital Planning and Technical Services Division, there are 114 PYs for 2009-2010. That’s a couple of extra to result and they’re probably the four project officers.
Out of the 114 PYs, do you have an idea of how many would be vacant?
I will have Mr. Rafter respond.
Yes, we just completed a review of vacant positions within the department and we do have a detailed listing of which positions are vacant. Unfortunately, I don’t have it here with me today. We do know that approximately 30 percent of the positions in the department are vacant, or 105 of the 345 positions are vacant today.
Mr. Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the minister and Mr. Rafter.
That’s a very high number. Can the minister explain why there are 105 vacancies?
The turnover has been relatively high in the past number of years. It has become difficult to recruit and retain individuals in certain employment categories.
A lot of this is said to be attributable to some of the major economic booms that are happening in Western Canada. We experience very similar situations in construction projects with technical and professional positions within the department.
Because of the high vacancy rate in your department, does that vacancy rate have any impact on delivery of capital projects by your department?
I’ll have Mr. Boddy respond to that question.
Yes, the vacancy rates certainly create challenges and I would say, from our side, the most obvious challenge is we do require project officers to work extra hours. There’s overtime involved, especially during the peak seasons like when the tenders are rolling out.
I’m really proud to say that we have a highly dedicated bunch and we have been very lucky at recruiting what I consider high calibre individuals for those positions in project delivery. So, yes, there is the extra workload.
There’s always been a turnover with project officers since I have been aware of anyhow, so this is not something totally new and it’s something we have learned to manage.
I do think it’s very timely that we do get those extra positions though as it does put us in a better position this year because we’ve got extra seats to be filled. It is challenging but it is manageable.
What activities or initiatives do you have underway within the department to try and reduce the vacancy rate within the department?
I’ll have Mr. Boddy respond.
Aside from the normal recruiting process, which we do rely on very heavily through advertisements and that sort of thing, we have gone beyond just advertising in the north; we have advertised in the south on some competitions.
We have actively tried to network and find people that are interested in coming to the north. Some of this is just done on an informal basis but it’s surprising really how many people we have attracted through word of mouth, talking to other people and finding those who are interested in living in the north because, to be quite honest, the most success we’ve had in recruitment has been when we have brought in people that actually want to come to the north and be in a northern environment.
We’ve had some success in our Inuit Employment Plan in training people or incumbents that we have in our organization that show the interest in going into the project management field. We have a fully qualified project officer in the Cambridge Bay office who is a beneficiary, we also have one who is working in the Iqaluit office, and there is a second one actually starting out at the junior level in Cambridge Bay.
So we’re trying to get beneficiaries interested; we’re going to career fairs in the schools and we’re trying to get people in Nunavut interested in going into a career in any of the building/science fields. It is something that is a priority and we’re trying to pursue it.
I have some questions with respect to energy efficient maintenance work that has been carried out by the department. I noticed on your business plan on J-21 that the department is coordinating with regional offices to collect energy status stuff.
It also says here that “MOU has been drafted and will be implemented prior to the end of the fiscal year.”
Can the minister explain to us exactly what the MOU, which I understand is between the departmental agencies as well, attempts to accomplish?
The MOU was drafted and essentially, it was a document that was to be signed off by all the deputy heads.
In it, it has appendices, such as the Good Building Practices Guidelines, which has all of our energy standards for buildings; it also has office space standards to show the size of offices for all government workers.
Since the drafting of that document, we have actually been directed to take this to policy level, so we’re no longer going to leave this as an MOU. We’re going to work on a policy basically to get buy-in from all departments to make sure that they are in agreement to have our buildings designed as energy efficiently as possible.
That appears to be a very interesting project to update all buildings and so on, and it’s probably a good lesson even for the private sector, although it will have an impact with the private sector where the government has the lease on facilities in place.
I also have a question with respect to the status of the ongoing Energy Retrofit Contract work required. Apparently, the documents, as you say on this page, have been completed.
Has the department got an estimate or a figure as to how much it will cost to do energy retrofits annually, or are you costing them out over a number of years?
Hon. Levinia Brown (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is new and it’s being worked on. I’ll ask Mr. Boddy to respond to the question since he was a part of it.
There are a number of things we are doing when it comes to the retrofit.
First of all, there’s the low cost, which is ongoing and it’s doing a lot of those things that can be done quite quickly, such as changing light bulbs. We are targeting all government buildings owned and leased in Nunavut, and this is something that can be done quite easily and quite inexpensively and savings are achieved.
We are also working with NAM; we’re trying to get the information about the low-cost initiative so that we can pass that onto the municipalities so that they can achieve savings as well.
However, in addition to that, we’re doing a rather comprehensive contract for a major retrofit of a number of the buildings here in Iqaluit and this is a pilot project where the proponent will be doing the retrofit, we will be paying for the energy retrofit, and we will be paying the proponent back through achieved utility savings. In other words, after they do the work, when our utilities budgets go down, that’s how we pay for the work.
So this is a pilot project and we’re hoping to expand it out to the rest of Nunavut.
Chairman (Mr. Barnabas)(interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Boddy.
These are very interesting set of projects that are going on.