EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Mr. Speaker, could the minister assure the House that senior government officials will be instructed to cooperate fully with all elected officials to continue to develop an open, transparent, and accountable government that we and future generations can all be proud of.
I think we all have to work with our colleagues to get the information out on a regular basis, and I will convey that concern of members to senior officials, that they work in a timely and a cooperative fashion to provide that information to us, for us to provide to the members here.
It is very important that senior officials recognize that the information that’s being requested is very important, and we will do our best to ensure that the information is conveyed to every department’s officials.
Question 046 – 2(2): Qulliq Energy Corporation Appointment of Position
Last Friday there was a shuffling of chief executive officers; I wonder why the president of the Qulliq Energy Corporation was shuffled.
There was a shuffle, the same as with the Government of the Northwest Territories.
(interpretation ends) Each appointment varies.
I speak with the ministers involved and also the boards involved, so each process varies on the process for appointment.
The decision usually rests with me; it’s my decision, after talking with ministers and a lot of deputy ministers and chief executive officers.
I know the members are all aware that the Auditor General was quite concerned with respect to the qualifications of people who work in those particular Crown corporations.
In view of that, the Crown corporation is now normally subject to review by most of the committees of the legislatures, including Ottawa as well as some provinces.
Why isn’t the Premier prepared to seek the advice of the appropriate committees when appointing senior executive officers, instead of appointing someone that is close to him?
As I said, I work with my colleagues.
I’ve never heard of a deputy minister being appointed by committee.
That job rests with me as an accountable elected official.
So, I will continue to exercise my authority and work with my colleagues, as they have to work with those individuals on a day-to-day basis.
Mr. Curley: Mr. Speaker, my question really is in respect to the Crown corporation Qulliq Energy Corporation.
To be exact, the Nunavut Power Corporation.
A recent announcement was made by the Premier, I know the legislation is quite clear that the minister responsible would make the announcement.
I would ask that he tell not only that.
My supplementary question is this: what criteria, exactly, were used to appoint a particular CEO or president of the Qulliq Energy Corporation, Nunavut Power Corporation, and why wasn’t the position put out to competition?
Well, the decision rests with me and in talking with the board, the chair of the board, and in talking with the minister involved.
So, I try and make sure that their concerns are addressed, as they have to work with the individual on a day-to-day basis.
I will not appoint people that will not be able to perform those functions.
I have to get to know them.
At the same time, we’ve gone through advertising for deputy heads in the past, when we can, but due to the time constraints involved, we could not go through that process.
We’ve gone through the competition process before for that particular position; we’ve got the resumes and we have looked at those past resumes, and we felt that at this time the individual that we appointed is the most capable.
Speaker (interpretation): You last supplementary, Mr. Curley.
My last point is clear now that government is not interested in developing a policy or criteria for appointing senior executive officers, particularly related to Crown corporations.
Will the government consider establishing criteria and policy rather than continuing to appoint people that are close to the Premier and thereby subject to the appearance of a patronage appointment?
We live in a very small territory.
Unfortunately, I know a lot of people and I have to work with a lot of people.
I have to make sure that they can do the job.
I am not going to smear these good people that are trying to make a difference for this great territory of ours.
I take offence to the issue of making patronage appointments to particular individuals because I consult with my ministers and ask their opinion and see who they will be comfortable working with.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Oral questions, Mr. Kattuk.
Question 047 – 2(2): Power Bill Payment Agency
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Energy.
Although I don’t want to ask him everyday, we have been informed in our constituencies of some information.
They are complaining about the paying of their power, because it varies.
Sometimes we use the Co-op as our payment agent for our power bill.
At times it gets confusing when the Co-op is your payment agent and you are paying your power bill there; the Co-op has to send out the payment information to the regional office or headquarters.
The payment receipts are sometimes lost and can’t be found.
After two weeks they have still not input the data.
That is why some clients’ power gets cut off, because the receipt of the payment has not been put into the databank.
I believe in closing either the regional office or the headquarters and just giving the payment agency to each community rather than having to transfer the payments.
There are a lot of Inuit people in the community who are very capable of running payment agencies.
Although this is my preamble, I would like to ask the minister if he is willing to consider my suggestion that the communities take care of receiving payment of bills.
Perhaps close the headquarters or the regional office so that the community can take on the payment agency, rather than having the payments go through the stores, so that Inuit will be more comfortable in paying their bills.
Speaker (interpretation): The Minister of Energy, Mr. Picco.
I just want to very quickly mention to the member that he and I were caribou hunting two years ago, and I was in the area this summer but I didn’t find his knife.
But I did find a case, so I’m going to give it to him; maybe his knife was in there.
Mr. Speaker, on the power bills, very quickly, when a person pays their bill, they can go to either the Northern or the Co-op, for example.
I know what the member is saying: that there is a feeling in some communities that the recording structure by the Northern or the Co-op store, when they pay their power bill in the community, is not fast enough.
We had, in the past, had the power employees from each community, for example, the person who keeps the plant going, be a payment agent.
There was a lot of pressure on that agent to collect money, remit the money and make changes, and so on.
So the power corporation, a few years ago, decided that they would contract different organizations within the community, commercial organizations like Northern, like the Co-Op, and that is the situation that we have in place.
I would be very pleased to speak with the board of governors of the corporation and senior management to see if that process is still working and indeed, look at if there is another way of making an opportunity for people to pay their bills.
We have had this concern since this summer in Nunavut communities.
Perhaps it could be a good economic opportunity if you opened a payment agency in each community and have it be responsible for the payment agency.
Although the Co-Op or the Northern stores are the payment agency, they just send the receipts.
The money is being used by commercial companies.
These clients, when their power is going to be cut off, they have to go somewhere else and they give them the runaround.
When they try to call the payment agencies, they refer them to different numbers.
This individual who was referred to did not speak English well, so he wanted to speak to an Inuktitut-speaking representative, and there was no one available in that office.
So, this has been experienced by the communities.
I would urge the minister to get a payment agency in each community that the energy corporation is responsible for.
Perhaps I could have a discussion with the minister, to come up with ideas so that we could have another avenue of paying our power bills.
There are some issues around the payment.
Right now, for example, when I go in to pay my bill, whether it’s in Clyde River or Sanikiluaq or anywhere else in Nunavut, or if it’s at the Northern or at the Co-Op, there is a receipt book there, and I pay the account; I get a copy of the receipt, the store has a copy of the receipt, and in some cases, they are duplicate and triplicate copies.
If in two or three weeks I receive my bill and it hasn’t been credited, I have the opportunity of phoning Baker Lake, to the Qulliq Power Corporation, where the majority of our workers, I believe at the last count it was about 80 percent, are Inuk and can answer the question.
I can say, “here is my receipt, I paid it, how come it is not credited?”
So, there is that opportunity.
To go out and try to set up a whole system of power corporation-driven account payment agencies in communities would be an extra expense, when in most cases it has been covered off by the commercial agencies, whether it would be the Co-Op or whether it would be the Northern.
Some communities like Iqaluit have their own payment agency because of the size of the community.
So, I would be prepared, with the member, to have a look at some of the opportunities around making sure that when the payments are made, they are expediently addressed on each client’s bill.
I don’t think the minister can agree with me.
So therefore I am just going to ask him again.
The power bills have no Inuktitut syllabics on them.
For example, my father does not read and write English, even today.
And there are still no translations done in Inuktitut on the power bills.
What is the minister’s response?
Is he going to have the power bills translated into Inuktitut?
I want to take this opportunity to thank Minister Simailak, as this question came up last spring in the House, and Minister Simailak, at that time, told the members of the House that indeed, Nunavut Power Corporation bills would be translated and indeed, that is the case.
The member may not have received his recent bill, for November.
Since October, Mr. Speaker, there is Inuktitut on the bills that does an explanation of the bill.
I think that’s something that we should be very pleased about.
It’s been a long time coming, but now there it is in place and indeed the bills are in Inuktitut and English.
The last power bill that I received had no Inuktitut translation on it, and that is why I had asked this question.
We have not seen any Inuktitut translations on power bills.
So I will look into the minister’s response to make sure it’s true, to make sure that the power bills are translated into Inuktitut.
Question 048 – 2(2): Amount of Funding to the Nunavut Power Corporation
I understand he’s been recently nicknamed The Energizer Bunny by some people around town.
I know that the minister will more than likely have this information on hand, as the Minister of Finance committed him to provide this information yesterday.
I would like to ask the minister how much we are looking at for bail-out funding going to the Nunavut Power Corporation for this year and next year.
I believe the Minister of Finance said yesterday that she can’t see what will happen in the future; she is not Nostradamus.
So very quickly, there are two associated debts with the power corporation.
On April 1,1999 when the territory of Nunavut was set up, we had an agreement in place, signed off by the interim commissioner for Nunavut, Mr. Jack Anawak.
It allocated, through the transition agreement, the deficit and the debt by the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, and that was split between the Northwest Territories Power Corporation and the Nunavut Power Corporation.
That was done in our transition agreement and that debt is on the books of the Nunavut Power Corporation, like it’s on the books of the Nunavut Housing Corporation, when we split both of them up.
That is part of the accumulated debt.
Then the other part of the debt is the current year debt, and that is the $5 million loss in year one and the $7 million loss in year two.
We haven’t got the audited financial statements for this year, and that has been the whole issue around the Power Corporation, as the Auditor General for Canada has said.
The income coming from them, on the statements and so on, are so late.
A good example was in the first year when we didn’t receive the income statements and the financial statements and the audited statements until December of 2002, almost 16 months after the corporation began.
So, it’s my understanding that the minister will make all known in February when we return back to the House, when we actually have the third financial statements of the power corporation and can ascertain at that time what the real financial situation of the corporation is.
I’m really surprised they’ve given the attention that the lack of accurate financial information coming from the power corporation over the last two years... .
That the minister responsible is indicating that he really doesn’t have a clue as to what their debt is planning to be.
Does he not have a ballpark figure, an estimate of what they are looking at for debt for this year and for next year?
I’ll try to remain serious.
The member can read a financial statement like everyone else in the House, I’m sure.
If he can’t, he has staff that can help him with it.
Mr. Speaker, we have two financial statements that indicate the debt; for me to stand up here and take a guess and say it’s going to be this or that for the third year, not only would it be inappropriate, Mr. Speaker, it would not be serving any good deal for the people of Nunavut.
So, there are two financial statements that are available that the Auditor General for Canada talked about, and the member can read them and he can come back and tell me how he feels about it.
We’ll leave it at that.
I’ll try to be serious too.
The government operates projects.
The Minister of Finance indicated in her address that they’re going to be putting money forward in there for that.
The Minister of Finance also said that the Minister of Energy would be better to answer that question on how much.
They must have an idea of what they’re looking at.
They have projections.
They say they don’t have any projections at all; they haven’t got a clue.
This government doesn’t have a clue what kinds of losses their corporation is going to operating on.
If that is the case, how the heck do they come up with a general rate application to offset those costs if they don’t even know what they’re going to be.
So, I would like to ask the minister if they have any projections as to what the debt of the corporation is, based on the current rates that are out there, that this government is going to have to pay for over the next few years.
First, I believe there is some miscommunication on what the Minister of Finance said yesterday and what the member is alluding to.
I can tell you honestly in the House that the accumulated deficit and the debt of the corporation was based on the two financial statements that are available.
I said in an earlier response to Mr. Tootoo’s questions that we would have the audited financial statements signed off by the Auditor General of Canada for the third year of operations, again, 14 or 15 months late.
That’s an issue and the member is correct on that.
I will have those in a couple of weeks.
The Minister of Finance will see them.
Then, we will be able to see what we need to come up with in February.
That’s why the minister, the government, the members of the House know we’re going to have to look at those amounts.
I can’t say how much they are, and I don’t feel confident in projecting what the estimates are.
I think the Minister of Finance, rightfully so, said in her statements yesterday that we know this is coming.
We’re trying to allocate money for it, and this is what it is.
The deficit that the member is talking about, the general rate application, are new rates that kick in on April 1, 2005, and those rates are supposed to be in place to make the corporation solvent.
It is not to deal with debt before that.
It is to deal with making the corporation solvent so that the corporation, in the GRA application, and it’s a huge binder, it has made a proposal to the URRC based on what their best projections are to be solvent.
That’s what has occurred.
Those rate increases, as the Premier has said, will not be on the backs of homeowners, as members have said in the House and so on; 80 percent of all revenue generated by the power corporation comes directly from the Government of Nunavut.
That is important to point out and at the end of the day and at the end of the next couple of weeks, when those statements are arrived at, they are tabled. All the members can see them, the people of Nunavut can see them, and then the Minister of Finance in February will be in a position, after we receive the URCC recommendations to cabinet, to the minister responsible for it, myself, to see what the recommendations are.
Then, the Minister of Finance will have an opportunity, based on that, to look at what needs to be brought forward in February, as she has already said.
So, I hope, Mr. Speaker, that helps clarify the issue.
Speaker (interpretation): Point of Order.
I believe it’s a point of order and I’m sure that he’ll correct me if I’m incorrect.
I think the minister had given some false information to the House; he has indicated that it was the URCC that the Crown corporation presented the report to. I want to correct the minister.
It is not the URCC, it’s the URRC.
Hopefully, the minister can get the right information for us, so he knows.
He is sending it to the wrong council.
So I just wanted to clarify that.
Speaker (interpretation): That was just to make sure that it was not URCC, but that it is the URRC.
It is Friday and we try to have a little levity.
I appreciate the member’s comments earlier about the energizer bunny.
Maybe I am speaking a little bit fast and I am sure if the audio tapes were heard, that would probably say URRC.
So, for the record, and I know that the member and everyone working for the URRC will feel very happy and content, and the people of Nunavut will be very excited and exalted, now that Mr. Tootoo has corrected the record.
So, for the record, I agree with Mr. Tootoo that everything is going to the URRC, and I could use a few more adjectives.
Written Question 013 – 2(2): Status of Nanisivik File
Mr. Barnabas (interpretation): I will direct this to the Department of Transportation. (interpretation ends) Can the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation update us on the status of the Nanisivik file:
What specific actions have been taken in the past six months?
What specific decisions have been taken with respect to the mine site?
When will the managers/coordinators start working?
When will the ministers responsible for Nanisivik file come to Arctic Bay to address concerns?
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Written questions.
Written Question 014 – 2(2): Human Resources Statistics
This written questions is for the Minister of Human Resources and it deals with human resources statistics.
I understand that Human Resources now has personality; I think that’s what they call their payroll tracking system.
So, I would like to get some information from “personality.”
How does the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Human Resources calculate the absenteeism rate of employees of the Government of Nunavut and its Crown corporations?
Broken down by department and Crown corporation, what was the absenteeism rate for the following fiscal years:
2002-2003;
2003-2004; and
2004-2005 (April 1, 2004 - September 30, 2004)?
Within the meaning of sections 32 and 33 of the Public Service Act, broken down by department and Crown corporation, how many employees were suspended and-or dismissed during each of the following fiscal years:
If you are going to be tabling written questions, please hand them over to the Clerk.
Tabled Document 016 – 2(2): Nunavut Housing Corporation Request For Proposals
I’d like to table a copy of an RFP that was put in Nunatsiaq News in June.
The RFP is calling for remedial work for a 16-plex and a 7-plex here in Iqaluit.
That’s the condominium units on the Road to Nowhere subdivision, for remedial work, and that was put out by the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
I would just like to table that.
Tabled Document 017 – 2(2): Concern on Public Housing
Mr. Kattuk (interpretation): I would like to table a document that was sent to the Minister of Nunavut Housing Corporation and copied to me from Mr. Arragutainaq, Chairman of the Qammaq Housing Association in Sanikiluaq.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Arragutainaq requests the minister to visit Sanikiluaq to see first hand the conditions of the older houses and the shortage of housing in Sanikiluaq.
Tabled Document 018 – 2(2): Nunatsiaq News Article, “Gossip Leads to Firing of GN Worker”
I would like to table another document, a copy of an article out of Nunatsiaq News on November 5 entitled, “Gossip Leads to Firing of Government of Nunavut Worker”.
Motion 1-2 (2) Acceptance of the Report and Recommendations of the Integrity Commissioner of Nunavut-Notice
I give notice that on November 22, 2004 I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the Hon. Member for Rankin Inlet South-Whale Cove, that the report and the recommendations of the Integrity Commissioner of Nunavut regarding the conduct of the Hon. Olayuk Akesuk be accepted.
Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will be seeking consent to deal with that motion today.
Item 15, Notices of motions for first reading of bills.
Bill 5 – An Act to Amend the Legal Profession Act – Notice
I give notice that on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 that Bill 5 – An Act to Amend the Legal Profession Act be read for the first time. Mr. Speaker, I will seek consent to deal with this motion today.
Bill 6 – Electronic Commerce Act – Notice
Further, I give notice that on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 that Bill 6 – Electronic Commerce Act be read for the first time.
Mr. Speaker, I will seek consent to deal my motion today.
Bill 7 – An Act to Amend the Evidence Act – Notice
Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 that Bill 7 – An Act to Amend the Electronic Evidence Act be read for the first time. I will seek consent to deal with my motion today.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Item 15.
Just before we go to item 16, we will take a break for lunch for an hour.
When we come back, we will resume with item 16 in the orders of the day.
>>House recessed at 12:16 and resumed at 13:19
I would just like to start off by thanking you for a lovely lunch.
Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to seek unanimous consent to deal with my motion today.
The member is seeking unanimous consent to deal with his motion.
Motion 001 – 2(2): Acceptance of the Report and Recommendations of the Integrity Commissioner of Nunavut
My motion is on the acceptance of the report on recommendations of the Integrity Commissioner of Nunavut.
Whereas the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly has tabled the report of the Integrity Commissioner of Nunavut regarding the conduct of the Hon. Olayuk Akesuk, and whereas the Integrity Act requires that the Legislative Assembly shall consider a report laid before the Legislative Assembly within 10 sitting days after the report is laid before the Legislative Assembly, and shall respond to the report before the end of the session in which the report is laid before it, and whereas the Integrity Commissioner has made certain recommendations, and whereas the Legislative Assembly may either accept or reject all of the Integrity Commissioner’s recommendations, now, therefore I move, seconded by the Hon. Member for Rankin Inlet South-Whale Cove, that the report and recommendations of the Integrity Commissioner be accepted.
I would like to speak to the motion. I apologize to the people of Nunavut and to the members of the legislature for not reporting what I was supposed to report to the integrity commissioner.