EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
After saying that Mr. Speaker, at this time there is no impact on the delivery of Health & Social Services, anywhere in Nunavut and there is no anticipation of lay offs and indeed, each health centre and the hospital here in Iqaluit and in the health centres in the other communities, we continue to be open and so on.
So the pressure right now is a deficit on the book balances, it is a cause for concern, the government is aggressively looking at it and hopefully over the next couple of weeks we will have a decision on where to go from this point.
Question 139 - 1(3): Nunavut Representation on Canada Post Board
Mr. Speaker my question is directed to Premier Okalik.
Since the decision, I am wondering if Nunavut has a representative on the Board of Directors of Canada Post.
I am not aware of any representation on the Board of Directors of Canada Post, but I will check into it and take it as notice.
Oral questions. Mr. McLean.
Question 140 - 1(3): Task Force on Housing Consultation with the Smaller Communities
The minister that I wanted to ask this question to is out of the House, but I still have to ask the question, so maybe somebody else can reply to it.
Mr. Speaker, over the last couple of months we have all been discussing the serious lack of housing in Nunavut.
Social housing, elders housing and staff housing.
We know there is a task force of regular MLA’s plus some government and private people addressing the situation.
Mr. Speaker my question to the minister is, will the minister commit that when this task force is addressing the needs of Nunavut, that they will consult with the smaller communities.
When I say the smaller communities, Mr. Speaker, we seem to forget them sometimes, like the Grise Fiords, the Resolute Bays, the Arctic Bays and Clyde Rivers and Kimmiruts and things like that.
Will the minister commit to doing community consultations on the task force with these smaller communities.
I would like to caution the members and ask them not to mention that the ministers are not here.
Ministers do have other responsibilities throughout Nunavut, so if you are going to ask a question please do not say the minister is not here, that is against our rules.
Mr. Deputy Premier, Mr. Ng.
We will convey the comments of the honourable member to the responsible minister.
I would take it that she would want the task force to take in as much public input as possible, now whether or not that means direct community consultations and face to face meetings or some other avenues that would solicit that input, I don’t know what exactly is in the works.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Ng. Oral Questions.
Mr. McLean: Thank you. Mr. Speaker, in my preamble I forgot to mention that even in the larger communities, like Iqaluit, I was out getting a cup of coffee the other day and I saw a sign up in a coffee shop, saying house for rent 26 hundred dollars per month plus utilities.
Mr. Speaker, we all know that if we had to go out, the regular members had to go out and rent a house, there is no way that we could afford that.
So it distresses me to see that the rents in a community like Iqaluit, and I don’t know about other communities, is at that kind of rate, of 26 hundred dollars a month.
Is there any plan by this government to have some kind of rental cap, or rental ombudsman to monitor that excessive rents are not being charged, or the people being gouged.
Deputy Premier, Mr. Ng.
Mr. Speaker, I understand that we do have a rental officer in place.
I am not sure about the specific powers that the individual has but I will commit to finding out and advising the members on that.
Question 141 - 1(3): Information from Task Force on Housing
Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Deputy Premier and it fall along the same lines as that fellow from Baker Lake.
Mr. Speaker if the task force on housing was anticipating visiting many of the smaller communities in Nunavut, my concern is if this information is going to be put together and packaged so that we can debate this and review it prior to the budget process.
Mr. Deputy Premier.
Hon. Kelvin Ng: Yes, Mr. Speaker, it is really hard for me to comment.
I don’t know what the task force work plan is and what their consultation schedules are, what their consultation packages entail right now.
So I would make a commitment that I would speak to the minister responsible on that and supply that information in as timely a fashion as possible to all members.
Mr. Speaker, following along the same line of questioning, this may be a difficult question for the Deputy Premier to answer but he may have the information.
Do you know at this point in time what the terms of reference are for this task force given the fact that the minister indicated that she would have a report ready for December 1st and given the fact that this is the first week in November?
Hon. Kelvin Ng: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, I don't know.
I hate to say that.
Usually I have a feel of what is happening but in this particular circumstance I understood that the task force itself was going to develop the terms of reference but I'm not exactly sure as to the status of that.
Oral questions. (interpretation) Oral questions. Oral questions.
Question 142 - 1(3): Policy for Medical Escorts
My question is to the Minster responsible for Health.
Can the minister tell the house if there is a policy for escorts as they relate to accompanying patients down to the south and if there is a policy, what is the policy.
Mr. Speaker, first of all we should clarify that escorts are not used only for patients going to the south, they are also used to escort people here in Nunavut.
For example, if you're living in the high arctic and you're going to the hospital here in Iqaluit, you're not going to the south, you're going to here in Nunavut and there would be an escort provided.
In most cases Mr. Speaker, where the person may be a teenager or a younger person and there would be travelling outside their home community for medical travel an escort is provided.
Mr. Speaker, if we have an elderly person or a unilingual person who has to travel outside their home community for medical travel an escort is provided.
Mr. Speaker, many times members have complaints from their constituents about their escorts not being permitted to travel with the family member for various reasons.
My question to the minister is who makes that final call as to whether or not a patient will have an escort.
Mr. Speaker, I just gave two instances where escorts would be used.
A third instance where an escort would be used is if in the opinion of the attending medical person, it could be the nurse or it could be the doctor who has referred the patient to another institution or outside their community, that person may say at that time that this person needs an escort because of the whatever the infirmity is at that time.
So that's another way that an escort would be used.
Final supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.
Mr. Speaker, I'm not quite sure if the minister answered my question but in reference to escorts, I was of the impression that the final decision may be made by the health board.
Is the minister saying that the nurse in charge would have the final say as to who's received or whether an escort would be required or not?
Mr. Speaker, we've already given three different instances where escorts could be used.
In the case that there was a discrepancy if there was a complaint or a concern brought forward by the patient, then Mr. Speaker, based on the policy that is in place, there's an escort policy with all three health boards at the present time in Nunavut, then with that understanding, a decision would be made for the escort.
Question 143 - 1(3): Economic Agreements with Echo Bay Mines
Mr. Tootoo: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister responsible for Sustainable Development.
This morning I heard on the radio Mr. Speaker, that the Echo Bay Mine is going to be reopening.
Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the minister is there's any agreements or arrangements made with the operators of the mine to ensure that there is economic and employment benefits going to be retained in Nunavut.
Hon. Peter Kilabuk (interpretation): With the recent news that the mine will be reopened just before lunch on Tuesday, they immediately consulted with the organizations that will be impacted the most, NTI and Nunavut Government.
At this moment they are reviewing this and they're looking at the same level of employment as when they were open last time.
The communities that will be impacted, the adjacent communities usually are very much involved with the process.
Mr. Speaker, the reason I asked is that I also heard on the radio that representative from the mine was saying that they had 1000 applications from all over Canada and that they would not have any preference as to hiring individuals from Nunavut.
I'd just like to hope that that not be the case.
Just to elaborate further, right now they're working on the procedure.
Before they closed the mine, right now when they reopen it, the number of staff will be 80 less than previously.
At this point from 1993 when it was first in the developing stages, there was an agreement that the number of staff working the mine were already included and that they have stated they will hire from the communities adjacent to that mine.
I don't know how many applicants there were from Nunavut because we have not worked on that but usually the administration staff work on this issue.
Third supplementary, Mr. Tootoo.
Mr. Speaker, I remember when it closed down and they were talking about the impact of closing and they were doing it out of Edmonton but it was a disappointment to see all the resources, revenues and benefits impact Alberta more than NWT and now Nunavut.
I'd like to ask the minister if he knows if the people that will be working at the mine from outside of Nunavut, will we see a portion of their personal income tax be paid to the Nunavut Government.
As I have stated before, they will be hiring from the communities that are adjacent to the mine.
I did not say that they will not hire from outside of Nunavut.
Perhaps, I would like to take your question as notice to find out what kind of impact it will have on Nunavut.
Speaker: Taken as notice.
Question 144 - 1(3): Purchase of Government Vehicles
It's not very often I stand and have a positive thing to say about my colleagues across the floor but sometimes we have to recognize that yes, as a new cabinet we are showing fiscal responsibility at this point in our short mandate.
So far, we're not projecting a deficit in our first year unlike our colleagues over in the west that are looking something like 50 –75 million dollars.
As we all know we're living in small communities, they're compacted and they're not spread out like larger communities and what I've noticed over the last five or six years is that there was an abundance of government vehicles purchased by the government used for staff, cabinet ministers, maybe the odd MLA.
Could the minister commit to this government that he'll scrutinise any purchases of government vehicles and to really scrutinise it hard.
Hon. Kelvin Ng: Sorry Mr. Speaker.
I guess I have to answer that.
I think all members of this house get an opportunity to scrutinise through the budget appropriations all government expenditures.
So that is the final scrutiny in respect of our spending authority so if there's question that arises as a result of those reviews then we would make the necessary amendments based on what members of this House say.
Mr. McLean: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So what I'm hearing from the minister and I don't want to put words in his mouth, that the purchase of vehicles for government use, that are not essential, will be a very low priority of this government.
Thank you.  Speaker: Ma' na Mr. McLean.
Minister of Finance, Mr. Ng.  Hon. Kelvin Ng: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would concur with that statement, in fact I would suggest that before any government department brought forward requests for vehicles that I would expect that the minister's themselves would probably scrutinise it even before it got to the financial management board level prior to coming to this House.
Question 145 - 1(3): Distance Between Public Housing Units
I have been wanting to ask this question.
I will direct this question to the Minister responsible for Housing.
Usually public houses are too close to each other.
I was wondering if they could build houses further away from each other so we can build our shacks.
Hon. Kelvin Ng: Mr. Speaker, I will take the question as notice on behalf of the minister for housing.
Speaker: Thank you Mr. Ng. (interpretation) Taken as notice Mr. Iqaqrialu.
Question 146 - 1(3): Premier’s Ability to Build Igloo
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): My question is directed to the Premier.
I was wondering if he can build a snow house.
Igloo.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, can you elaborate your question and give your preamble.
Mr. Nutarak, give your preamble please.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): In Pond Inlet, we have an elder who recently died.
He said that if you cannot build a snow house by yourself, you are not fit to have a spouse.
So that is what I was asking the Premier because it falls along with his responsibilities because we have to utilize the request and the needs of the elders.
I know my question may sound a bit senseless.
I wanted to ask the question of whether he is capable of building a snow house.
Because I am an Inuk, I figured automatically he could build a snow house but an elder had stated to me that you cannot have a spouse if you cannot build a snow house meaning that if I go out hunting I cannot leave my spouse without shelter.
I know it doesn't really sound sensible.
Speaker: Mr. Nutarak, Thank you.
This is question is a personal question but it's up to Mr. Premier if he would like to respond.
Question 147 - 1(3): Manitoba / Keewatin Road Link
Mr. Speaker, when we were all elected and sworn in a number of months ago, the Premier made some commitments and some encouraging comments in reference to supporting and pursuing the road link from Churchill, Manitoba to the Keewatin area and also a power grid.
My question to the Premier is, we're approximately 7-8 months into our mandate.
We've had a preliminary report on a road link.
We've made some recommendations as to where we should go from here and my question to the Premier is where are going from here and what is his next move on this particular project that he has supported and we're very encouraged to hear his support on this particular issue.
We've received support from all the Premiers in Canada when we attended the Annual Premiers’ Conference at the end of the summer and I have been hoping to meet with the Manitoba Government to do a joint study.
As everyone knows, there was an election in Manitoba and there's a new government in place and I'll be going down to Manitoba to meet with the Premier on the week of the 28th of November to explore the opportunities.
Oral questions. (interpretation) Thank you.
Item 7: Written questions
Written Question 1 – 1 (3): Requests for Proposals and Tenders
Mr. Speaker, I have a written question containing 13 items.
The written question is directed to the Minister responsible for Public Works.
The topic is on requests for proposals, tender procedures and Nunavut Government contracts.
What specific differences, if any, now exist between the requests for proposals, RFPs, the process used in the GNWT and the process used in the Nunavut Government.
What specific differences, if any, now exist between the tender process used in the GNWT and the process used in the Nunavut Government.
What written guidelines are currently in effect for use by the Nunavut Government employees in deciding to use a tender process or a RFPs for projects.
What specific criteria would permit the Government of Nunavut Department to switch from a request for proposals to a tender process after initiating the RFP process or vice versa.
Are these guidelines applicable to all government departments.
How many contracts awarded by the Government of Nunavut to departments through either the RFP or the tender process valued at over 5 thousand dollars had been awarded since April 1, 1999.
Of these contracts, how many have been awarded to Inuit owned firms.
Of these contracts, how many were awarded to non Nunavut firms.
What specific criteria exists with respect to renewal of existing contracts.
What criteria apply to a department in deciding whether to renew an existing contract or exercise notice and put the contract up for an RFP or tender process.
How many departments are involved in accessing these criteria and the contract.
How many current contracts with the Nunavut Government have automatic renewal clauses if the government does not give notice of termination.
How many current contracts of the Government of Nunavut are contracts which came to it under the former GNWT at March 31, 1999 and were continued unchanged under the Nunavut Government.
Speaker: Thank you Mr. Tootoo. (interpretation) Written questions. (interpretation ends) Written questions.
Point of Privilege
Mr. Speaker, point of privilege.
Speaker: Point of Privilege has been called.
Mr. Picco, what is the point of privilege.
Mr. Speaker, I don't, I received a note and I want to make this perfectly clear.
I'm going to read you the note and I want to say something about it and that is the point of privilege Mr. Speaker.
The note says, Mr. Speaker, that “ The people of Iqaluit are unhappy with the elected officials of Iqaluit because they are not listening to their constituents.
In the next election they will not want to vote again for Ed Picco, because he's thinking the Qallunaat way.”
Mr. Speaker, the note is not even signed.
Now let's make a couple of points here.
Mr. Speaker, just for the record.
The note is unsigned, unsolicited, unfair and it's untrue.
As a member of Cabinet, I have to respect the decisions of the government.
If I don't like the decision of the cabinet, then the option is up to me to resign.
Am I going to resign over one issue.
I've worked hard over the last four years Mr. Speaker to represent everyone in Iqaluit equally.
On the election date of February 15th, Mr. Speaker, I was returned with the biggest majority, polarity of votes in this Nunavut Territory.
I've had many calls from constituents on this issue and I've spoken to Elders on it, French speaking people, English speaking people, young speaking people.
Mr. Speaker, some people are in favour of the time zone issue.
Some people don't like it.
Some people don't care about it.
Mr. Speaker, I would say to you, Mr. Speaker, that I resent an unsigned note being passed to me and I would request that the author of the note have the courage and the guts to sign it next time.
If they want to debate with me Mr. Speaker, bring it forward to me, let them show their face right now.
Mr. Picco, we will review the passing of notes and we will get back to you.
Because there's some notes being passed from outside of the house too, so we will review the note passing and good point of privilege.
Item 10, petitions.
Item 11, reports of standing and special committees.
Standing Committee on Culture, Education and Health –Report on 1999/2000 Six Month Departmental Progress Update
I am pleased to table a report on Culture, Education and Health for 1999/2000.
Six month departmental progress updates.
Standing Committee on Culture, Education and Health, report on Six Month Departmental Progress Update.
Few departments seemed able or willing to provide materials in advance of Ministerial presentations.
The Standing Committee again recommends that departmental materials be provided to Members in sufficient advance of appearances to allow for adequate preparation; and that all materials be fully translated.
Generally speaking, the Standing Committee on Culture, Education and Health was pleased with the progress to date made by the three departments under its oversight mandate. This report will serve to highlight the Standing Committee's main observations and concerns.
Mr. Speaker, our report will be read by the other members of the Legislative Assembly.
Mr. Puqiqnak will be reading the report after me.
I will be reading the Standing Committee on Culture, Education and Health report.
The Honourable Donald Havioyak, Minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth appeared before the Standing Committee on October 14, 1999.
Mid-Year Fiscal Position
The Standing Committee was disappointed that no documents detailing the mid-year financial status of the Department were provided.
New Organizational Chart
The Standing Committee noted recent changes in several of the key staff positions during the summer, but also observed that a lot had been accomplished in the last few months.
The Committee is concerned that the Department is only 25% staffed, with 12 positions trying to accomplish a very broad mandate.
The Committee is pleased to hear that a new Senior Finance person assisted in the development of the new organizational chart, which was being presented to Cabinet for final approval.
In terms of decentralization, the Minister advised that part of the Language division was being moved from Cambridge Bay to Kugluktuk.
The Minister advised that staff in Cambridge Bay had been given notice of relocation and that the 9 positions allocated to Kugluktuk now have housing and office space available to them.
The Standing Committee encourages the Department to fill its outstanding positions as quickly as possible.
Preservation, Revitalization and Provision of Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun Language
In its May report, the Standing Committee had urged the creation of language policies to outline how language services are to be accessed, as well as other matters.
The Standing Committee is concerned that no update was provided and observed that difficulties seem to be encountered in providing effective and timely translation services from Igloolik.
The Minister apologized for not having Inuktitut translations of his opening remarks, due to technical difficulties in sending the completed translations to Iqaluit, exacerbated by a shortage of computers in Igloolik with e-mail capabilities.
The Standing Committee is sympathetic and understands that more Interpreter/Translators will be put into place.
The Standing Committee recommends that enough staff and enough computers with capacity for electronic communication with the Government of Nunavut be put in place in Igloolik immediately, in order for the Language bureau to be of timely service to the other departments.
It is clear that the Language division put a lot of effort into ensuring that the other departmental presentations were translated, and much of this work had to be done at the last minute.
However, it points to the need for required timelines for other Departments to provide original material to be translated, which would be part of a language policy.
This policy should reinforce the needs of the Standing Committees to ultimately receive materials well in advance of the hearing dates, as discussed above.
The Standing Committee reiterates its recommendations at page 20 in its May 1999 Report:
That, as a first priority, the Government of Nunavut develop a language policy which clearly states which government information will be translated or interpreted and how these translation and interpretation services are co-ordinated and accessed;
That CLEY develop a clear plan of action to implement this policy;
That in consultation with NSDC and other organizations interested in these issues, the Government of Nunavut develop a broad language policy discussion paper to consult with the people of Nunavut to reach consensus on how the Government of Nunavut should deal with issues such as the different dialects, spelling protocols, key government terms and how future decisions should be made on these issues; and
The Standing Committee was pleased to hear that an Inuktitut language program was being made available to non-Inuktitut speaking Government of Nunavut staff in Iqaluit this fall and that there are plans for carrying out the program in other communities, as well as delivering an advanced Inuktitut training program in the future.