EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Can the minister indicate to me what plans he has for using this $1 million that was agreed to in 2008-09 that we have allocated? If the federal government doesn’t provide funding, how are you going to allocate this funding?
In regard to the member’s question, this funding would be inadequate to be used for small craft harbours in the seven communities.
This funding is to be used for planning purposes, as I have stated before, for small craft harbours but this funding is also used to maintain the small craft harbours that already exist in the communities.
Question 376 – 2(4): Apology to the NEU Regarding Member’s Statement (Curley)
Yesterday, it was quite embarrassing in the House. We have to be dignified here but it seems like there is no dignity in the House. All Nunavummiut and all of our employees didn’t approve of the comments he was making with respect to where NEU holds their meetings, which seemed like it was a confrontational statement.
That was very irrespective.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to say that the public servants within the government are working extremely hard.
We are experiencing shortage of staff in some areas. So therefore, they need a good leader and they need more support.
The Nunavut Employees Union has been elected democratically. For that reason, we were not proud of the Premier when he was belittling them because Nunavut employees need a good leader. So, Mr. Premier, could you tell us that you regret what you said?
Speaker (interpretation): I’m sorry, your time ran out.
Mr. Curley, are you done asking your question?
I made that statement as an elected official.
I made my Member’s Statement because I do not like to see that kind of situation; it’s embarrassing to see that.
They said that we do not have adequate accommodation here, so they need to go to a meeting outside of Nunavut.
We lose money that way and it doesn’t look good for Nunavummiut, so that’s why I made that statement.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Although you stated that, it was clear, Mr. Speaker, and Nunavummiut were also listening, that the message they got was that they shouldn’t be making decisions on where to hold meetings, but instead, hold them all in one location.
It’s up to them as to where they want to hold their meetings because there are no laws stating otherwise.
There should be a better partnership because there shouldn’t be any fighting or disagreements within this House. So I think it would only be fair if you make an apology, and if not, why don’t you want to make that apology?
I’m going to leave it up to the Premier because he made that statement under Members’ Statements.
As a Nunavut resident, I made that Member’s Statement. I am not going to apologize.
I will continually try to support the Nunavummiut because that money could have been used in Baker Lake rather than going to Winnipeg, Manitoba. So I do not like to see that occur.
Mr. Curley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation) The Member for Iqaluit West, as a Premier, it’s evident that that’s what the message that the residents of Nunavut got from the Premier.
The statement he made was inadequate and it’s evident now that the other people who listened to your Member’s Statement felt put down.
Although they know and we know that you’re an MLA and the Premier, you cannot separate your position as a Premier and your membership in the Legislative Assembly. This Legislative Assembly has to be dignified. Perhaps, you can make a statement more on the side of supporting the NEU, and if you didn’t want to support them yesterday and if you don’t apologize to them, then members of the public will have a misunderstanding. (interpretation ends) Thank you.
I did not even point out or mention anything to put any staff down; I was talking more on the line of the management and senior levels.
I’m not going to apologize. I appreciate the staff and I’m very appreciative of the fact that they have worked very hard.
However, the union representatives seem like they don’t represent Nunavummiut.
So if they’re going to represent Nunavummiut, they should be more supportive of Nunavummiut and spend their money in Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, the Premier has no control over that funding and the majority of your funding that you have a jurisdiction over gets lost by spending it on consultants.
Yesterday, when you mentioned the Nunavut Employees Union, you should have just mentioned the president rather than the NEU, because when you mention NEU, you talked about all of the Members of the NEU.
So I believe you should apologize, and if you don’t want to, why don’t you want to apologize?
I am not going to apologize one bit and I’m not going to mention one bit of it because the union represents all of the people who work at the NEU and it seems like the NEU is using the staff.
If they go to a different province, the money is going to be lost.
As I stated that if we’re going to hold a meeting outside of the territory’s jurisdiction, the public out there would not like to see that.
If we see things like that, we should mention it. We don’t want to and we should not see that money being spent outside of Nunavut.
Question 377 – 2(4): Emergency Management Plans (Barnabas)
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Community and Government Services, Ms. Brown.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday during Members’ Statements, when I made my Member’s Statement, there was a 112 mph wind in Grise Fiord at that time.
Last year, the Legislative Assembly passed Bill 12, Nunavut’s new Emergency Measures Act.
This new legislation requires all municipalities to prepare an Emergency Management Plan and submit the plan to the minister.
Can the minister tell me today how her department is working with the communities of Grise Fiord, Resolute Bay, and Arctic Bay to make them aware of this requirement and assist them in preparing their Emergency Management Plans?
Yes, this was approved and it applies to all of the communities.
If it’s not already being used, then we want to treat the communities the same and they might have to make their own bylaws within their communities.
They make a plan within their communities in case there is an emergency where they can congregate; the usual location is the schools.
Back to the question from my colleague, we have heard how it was in Grise Fiord when the strong winds came and we were advised that there was a lot of damage to some equipment.
The staff of CGS worked together and communicated with the community.
Our staff have indicated that if they want assistance from us, they should just let us know.
We have not been approached by them but we are available if they want our assistance.
Earlier this month and yesterday, a major blizzard struck Grise Fiord, and as the minister mentioned, it caused considerable damage and disruption.
At this time, they’re trying to fix the communication lines with the radio. (interpretation ends) Can the minister indicate to me whether her department has been able to assist the municipality in its clean-up efforts?
Hon. Levinia Brown (interpretation): I will respond in English.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) The damages to some parts of the community’s properties are known to the department. Damages to the communication systems, like the CBC satellite, and the Qiniq satellite, are being repaired by companies who are responsible for that service.
We are also aware that there were personal damages, but to date, no one has asked for assistance yet and we’ll be waiting to assist them.
A few years ago, Sanikiluaq experienced a disaster when its power plant was destroyed by fire. This week, a state of emergency has been declared in Rankin Inlet.
Can the minister indicate to me how her department is working with the Qulliq Energy Corporation to develop contingency plans to deal with the possible destruction of the power plants in Arctic Bay, Resolute Bay, and Grise Fiord?
We do have an Emergency Preparedness Plan that is being introduced to all communities and we’re trying to be very effective on that.  We have an emergency measures office here in Iqaluit; they are on the lookout and are always ready whenever emergencies are reported.
Also, there are federally assisted programs that are available in the event of a natural disaster. The department had notified the Government of Canada that there may be requests coming from the member’s community for some assistance.
If there are natural disasters taking place in any community, I continue to encourage the communities to declare a state of local emergency. This helps governments to provide assistance during the time of need and makes it easier for follow-ups.
Member for High Arctic, your final supplementary, Mr. Barnabas.
In January of this year, our minister represented Nunavut at a meeting of Federal/Provincial/Territorial Ministers responsible for Emergency Management.
The official news release from this meeting indicates that “ministers discussed the importance of ongoing work on pandemic planning, best practices, and aboriginal emergency management.”
Can the minister indicate to this House today what plans she has for the coming year in these areas?
The department, with the emergency office, they continue to send messages out to all hamlets of the procedure and ensure their emergency plans are in place.
Also, our department is working with the Health Department since pandemic was mentioned and that is for the Health Department to identify because in our department, we don’t do diagnoses of illnesses, but the pandemic, I hear, could strike anywhere. I believe it touches health too, so that’s why different departments have to work together – my department, Education, the Heath Department, and the other departments. It’s important to collaborate together because it can be a major effect when it strikes or when it happens.
The communities in Nunavut are being prepared for that, and I know in hamlets, they have their own procedure of how they respond to an emergency; for example, we have a state of emergency declared in Rankin Inlet and everybody is collaborating together to work well for that state of emergency; similar to that. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Members, very briefly, I would just like to welcome you, sitting behind the Premier is from Pangnirtung, 82 year old Siloa Metuq and her daughter, Lucie Young.
Please welcome them to the Assembly.
Question 378 – 2(4): Impact of Budget Measures on GN Staff Housing (Tootoo)
I, too, would like to join my colleague from Rankin Inlet in saying it was a little embarrassing yesterday listening to the comments made by the Member from Iqaluit West and his Cabinet colleagues.
Mr. Speaker, in my Members’ Statement today, I noted the challenges facing our constituents in the area of affordable housing.
I would like to take this opportunity to ask the Minister of Finance some questions concerning yesterday’s budget speech.
In his first budget speech, the minister announced that on April 1, 2008, the government will roll back staff housing rents to January 2007 levels.
Can the minister clarify for the House today whether this is a permanent freeze on rents, or just a one-time, non taxable benefit, election year measure that will be followed by a resumption of rent increases next year?
In regards to his question with respect to the housing rents, that they will be retroactive to January 1, 2007, we feel that this will be ongoing with this present government and it will probably be reviewed again at the next government.
The minister’s budget speech also indicated that the GN will provide a housing allowance of $400 a month per household to employees who own their own homes or rent accommodations on the private market, which is a taxable benefit. Can the minister indicate to the House today approximately how many households will be eligible for this benefit and what the cost will be to the government?
I think it would be more appropriate if it’s responded to by the Minister of the Housing Corporation.
I didn’t quite get what you said. Are you just indicating or do you want the Minister of Housing Corporation to respond?
Mr. Tootoo, can you elaborate more on your question and who you’re directing it to?
It was to the Minister of Finance, and surely, they had some numbers to look at when they were doing this. So I’m just wondering if he has an idea of how many households and what amount they have budgeted, or what that cost will be for implementing that policy on the government.
I hope that the Minister of Finance would have that information.
In reviewing how much the subsidies will cost, we are relying on these following numbers: 530 government employees would be affected and we would be able to provide funding of $2.5 million for the whole year.
I believe that was his question.
Those are the figures that I can provide to him at this time.
The $2.5 million that the minister indicated, is that in the budget that’s before us right now? Also, does he have an idea of how much it’s going to cost the government for the rollbacks in the rents and are both those amounts included in the budget put before the House yesterday?
I don’t have the figures in front of me, but we will be able to provide that information once we go through the budget. I cannot respond to his question at this time.
With good news stories like that, you would think you would have all of the numbers handy.
Mr. Speaker, I guess when it comes to collective bargaining with our unions, the buck stops with the Minister of Finance, who is also the Minister of Human Resources.
I’m just wondering if he can indicate to the House today whether he consulted with the union on the staff housing measures and the benefits that were announced here in the House yesterday.
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): We haven’t had discussions and the union president was going to check into this.
We are working on this and we want to have a good working relationship with them while they’re negotiating an agreement with the government.
Member for... my apologies. Oral Questions.
Question 379 – 2(4): Poor Air Conditions at Sanikiluaq’s Nuiyak School (Kattuk)
Mr. Speaker, I recently tabled a motion from the Hamlet of Sanikiluaq requesting the government to address the ventilation problem at the school. There is a foul odour that has caused them to close the school down for long periods of time.
Can the minister provide an update on what has been done to date to address the air problem at Sanikiluaq’s Nuiyak School?
I want to begin by apologizing to the people of Sanikiluaq for the continuing problems we’ve had with the school in Sanikiluaq and there have been a lot of issues there.
Very quickly, we’ve had a team in the community, as late as a week and a half ago, to look at the whole area around what’s causing the ventilation problems.
Very quickly, Mr. Speaker, what occurred was that the school is heated through the reheat program from the power plant in Sanikiluaq, there was a problem with the reheat and that meant the boilers of the school had to come on. And, when those new boilers came on, because they hadn’t been operating for a long time, there were fumes that went through the school, and that was an issue for a few days.
Also, we found out, Mr. Speaker, that depending on what direction the wind was going during this period of time, exhaust from the power plant was actually going into the ventilation system of the school and that was causing issues. We also discovered, Mr. Speaker, that when the sewage truck and other vehicles were going to the school, and indeed, they were parked underneath the ventilation area of the school, and exhaust from the trucks actually went into the school.
So we’ve been working along the lines of different ways of combating these issues. One was to actually look at the boiler system and get that working, clean it up and so on; two, to have the reheat system fixed; and three, to inform the hamlet of the issue around parking the trucks near the ventilation system.
There have been some studies in the school and there was also a team that came up to the community from down south.
However, their stories are not alike, or they’re not meeting what needs to be done. So my next question is: can the minister clarify exactly what steps will be taken to fix the ventilation problem at the Nuiyak School?
The member is correct; we did have some air quality experts in to test the quality of air in the school and they consulted with the DEA.
I guess the first area of concern was to fix the reheat program out at the power plant so that, indeed, you wouldn’t have to use the boilers in the school.
Secondary to that was to ensure that the boilers themselves were up to standard and that, indeed, they were clean so that when they did come on, there wasn’t a fume problem. The third part was to make sure and let the hamlet know that when they’re doing the sewage pump outs and water fill-ups and so on that the trucks are not left idling near the ventilation system so that the exhaust can get into the school.
Further, Mr. Speaker, when it warms up later on in the spring, there will be some work being carried our through the auspices of CGS, which does the maintenance on the schools, to ensure that we negate and mitigate the issue with the exhaust in the school.
My last question for the minister: it is very disrupting to our children’s education to be sent home because of long-term problems that could and should have been dealt with as soon as possible.
Can the minister confirm that the problem will be addressed at the earliest opportunity?
We have been working with Minister Brown’s Office and I can assure the member that we have a plan in place to try to rectify those issues that have arisen on the issue with the poor quality of air in the school of Sanikiluaq.
Some of them can be fixed locally, like I said earlier, making sure that, for example, the sewage truck and the water truck are not actually parking near the ventilation so that the exhaust is going into the school. Some of the other ones will take a longer term fix, when the weather is warmer and when we can actually dig up the lines, for example, on the reheat with the Power Corporation.
Cleaning of the boilers in the school has occurred and that will continue, again, when the weather is warmer. I want to ensure the member that I know that CGS, the department, and all staff are diligently trying to fix that problem and rectify the issues at the school in Sanikiluaq.
The good news, Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, is that there is now an announcement on a brand new school in Sanikiluaq yesterday.
Question 380 – 2(4): Nunavut Arctic College Campus at Cambridge Bay (Peterson)
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Finance’s budget speech stated, “We are examining our existing capital plan to determine how to best reconfigure current approved capital projects to maximize the Building Canada Fund monies. This reconfiguration could allow us flexibility to move up timelines of capital projects that are priorities to the Legislative Assembly.”
Mr. Speaker, I was disappointed to note that a new Kitikmeot Nunavut Arctic College Campus was not on this list of capital projects. I have raised this issue in the House many times and in correspondence with the minister.
I would like to ask the minister if he could tell the House what his department is doing to ensure that a new Nunavut Arctic College Campus for the Kitikmeot becomes a priority for the Government of Nunavut.
The reconfiguration of the capital plan entailed, under the Canadian Building Infrastructure Program, was looking at projects that we could fund out of those monies and the monies that we have already identified in our budget that we would be able to shift those monies to a different capital year, and that’s what we mean by reconfiguration.
For example, if there’s a water sewage project budgeted at $3 million in a given community, we would be able to take those monies that are on water and sewage and be able to convert them to other capital needs.
In this case, the member brings up the campus in Cambridge Bay and I am in agreement with him.
I think everyone realizes that we have six or seven buildings on the ground in Cambridge Bay and it’s the only major community in Nunavut where we actually don’t have a campus. With the mining training going on, we want to put a campus in there.
So that’s one of our priorities. Another example is the school in Coral Harbour. We need to be able to bring that project up into the capital budget.
So over the next couple of months, Mr. Speaker, we will have an opportunity, as the Premier indicated, with the members to look at priority programs within that framework and timeframe and to be able to see what we can bring up in the capital budget of necessity for the people of Nunavut.
And, that way we would be able to advance the project.
I don’t think I heard the minister tell me how he’s making it a priority. He wasn’t clear; he said we need a campus, but I wish he would come clear with how he’s going to make it a priority.
I think it should be a priority and I think everybody in the Kitikmeot thinks it should be a priority.
So my question for the minister: is he going to make the Kitikmeot Nunavut Arctic College Campus for the Kitikmeot region a priority for the Five-Year Capital Plan?
I think I have demonstrated over the last few years that we do see education as a priority in the government itself.
Part of that priority is to deliver infrastructure, and as I said earlier, we are being able to deliver now new schools in Qikiqtarjuaq and move them up; move up the program in Sanikiluaq; we are trying to look at Coral Harbour, and I said to the member that that’s something that we need to do but we need to sit down with all of the Members in the House.
We have been able to look at the airport, for example, as one of the major areas of concern for Cambridge Bay and bring that forward. Hopefully, we can do the same thing with the campus in Cambridge Bay. It is a priority of this ministry to be able to move that project forward.
Mr. Speaker, also in the budget speech yesterday, the Minister of Finance told us that mining is going to be important for Nunavut.
The Kitikmeot is a hotbed of mining; we need trained people to take advantage of the opportunities that come up from mining, including employment and career opportunities.
Without a modern facility, I think a lot of those opportunities are going to be lost to southerners and I think it should be an immediate priority of this government to ensure that a new campus is constructed in the Kitikmeot.
With that in mind, I would like to ask the minister, and he’s known about this for several years: can he tell me what stage the consultation plan and design is at in terms of preparing for a new campus be included in the capital planning process?
I think the Premier has been very strong in demonstrating the commitment of this government to try to move forward on the vocational training programs around the mining industry. That’s why we’ve committed and that’s why we said again in the budget yesterday that the new trade school in Rankin Inlet would start in 2008. As part of that funding arrangement, the Members of the House agreed; we actually voted that money to move forward with the auxiliary campus in Cambridge Bay.
We hope to be in the position to be able to deliver that Millwright Program so that training for mines, and mine jobs specifically, can occur.
Again, over the next several weeks, while we have an opportunity to review the Five-Year Capital Plan and see what monies we can move around, we’ll be able to look at the projects like the Coral Harbour school and the campus in Cambridge Bay.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the budget speech, the Minister of Finance was using terminology like “announce that these projects will commence this year,” and commit for “the much needed new and expanded airport,” using all kinds of terminology that clearly indicated that certain projects were going to proceed this year and that they were priorities for the Government of Nunavut.
So with that in mind, Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the minister: as he said that this Arctic College Campus is a priority for the Government of Nunavut, can he commit that the project will commence this year?