EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
We’ll have to look at various aspects of the costs. We would have to set aside some funds for it to be reviewed further.
Mr. Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Premier for that information or answer.
I’m not sure about costs. I’m not sure about how complex a system we want, but I think, and many of my colleagues think that there is a definite need for a registry.
So can the Premier indicate: does he support a system to formally regulate and register the activities of paid lobbyists who are acting on behalf of companies or other private interests that want to do business in some way with the Government of Nunavut?
I’m not opposed to a registry; it’s just a matter of the numbers and how much it would cost.
It would have to be administered, so we’d have to look at it carefully before making a decision on the matter.
The Premier says he hasn’t seen many lobbyists, but that’s just him.
There are eight minister, eight deputy ministers, and numerous assistant deputy ministers. So we don’t know who is talking to whom, but you see them in the stores, in the restaurants, and around Iqaluit when we are here.
My final question for the Premier: what guidelines does the Premier put in place when it comes to the ministers and their departments dealing with paid lobbyists who are acting on behalf of private companies?
What we do as a government is we look at each situation and look at the benefits for the people of Nunavut.
So that’s our number one issue: how is this going to benefit our constituents and what will be the cost, and can we afford it?
Those things we’ve always looked at through our deliberations.
Anything before Cabinet is analyzed to see what benefit will flow to our constituents and to our communities.
So those, I must say, are the primary reasons before we make any decisions as a Cabinet and Financial Management Board.
Question 258 – 2(3): Medical Transportation Office in Iqaluit (Arreak)
I would like to direct my question to the Minister responsible for Health, the Hiccup Minister.
I’ve asked her before quite a while back.
I’m sure we’re more mature now, but as to what my colleague was posing questions on, and then the answer he received; Mr. Barnabas; when he asked, the response he got in regard to that was there was a transportation office here.
The patients who are traveling from here, to my community, sometimes they have to wait a day or two, up to a week.
I’m pretty sure that’s not the only community who is seeing that effect.
Who is the person who is working here in Iqaluit, who is he and where is his office?
Speaker (interpretation): There were two questions.
I mentioned earlier when I responded to Mr. Barnabas’ question that there is a transportation office in Iqaluit for transportation assistance and travel arrangements from Iqaluit to Ottawa return, and the services for any other community are handled out of the Pangnirtung office.
The individual that carries out that work, I don’t have the name of that person. I provided the contact number in the House this week and this change has been in effect since February 16.
I’m not just asking about the patients having to go down to Ottawa because what we are seeing is that the patients who have seen physicians, who are stuck in Iqaluit.
You gave us the contact numbers if we get stuck or if we want to go back home. This was running very smoothly before and it had to be changed. So that’s how it should be.
What the minister mentioned, it’s not true that there is an office here and also staff in Iqaluit who are handling medical travels to the communities.
The information that I tabled in terms of the contact number, I tabled that information based on a request that was made in the House. That same information sheet is given to every patient that is traveling for medical to Iqaluit.
There is an office in the hospital for transportation; there is also an office in Pangnirtung.
The office for transportation coordination at the hospital here is to provide services to the patients at the Baffin hospital who are traveling from Iqaluit to Ottawa and return.
The other service is provided, again, by the Pangnirtung office and part of the reason why we transferred that function is to keep in line with the decentralization plan.
The services provided by the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services, one of those services is to provide travel coordination for Baffin patients.
The same thing would be for Kivalliq.
Rankin Inlet handles all the travel for the patients traveling throughout Kivalliq out of the Rankin Inlet office.
For Kitikmeot, that travel arrangement is done by the Regional Office of the Health and Social Services in Cambridge Bay. In the Baffin, it’s no different. That service is now being provided by the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Office located in Pangnirtung.
This has been in place for the last two and a half weeks.
We are ironing out the situations and if there are people that are staying here longer than normal; I want to hear about those. Provide me the names and I will follow up. We have no way of knowing right now, based on the comments, of whether the individuals are staying in Iqaluit longer than normal because of weather or whatnot.
If it is something that we can improve internally for coordinating, I will also look into that, but I would like specific individuals’ names and I will ensure I follow up with my staff and to try and work out the glitches in the system.
I appreciate the members raising the concerns and I will continue to try and address them, but I would prefer to have individual names, specific names so that I can follow up with those cases and find out exactly why there was a delay, if there was a delay whether it was because of our staff or because of weather.
I thank the minister for her response, for giving me free information, and if I go to Rankin I will know.
There must be problems that are arising. That is why we are hearing these complaints because before it was transferred, we never heard any complaints before.
So what I would like to ask the minister is that for her to write to all the communities to inform the communities, all the communities to get more information if there was any delays in their travels and the names and if it was because of the staff or from the weather, because if they can’t write to her, then I am urging all the communities to write letters to me or to their MLAs about their problems.
The member’s question was to address individuals that are being left behind and so on. I asked the member to provide me with the information so that I can follow up on those individuals.
I am aware of a couple that we have dealt with a week and a half ago and we addressed those situations.
Since that time, if there are more, if the member can give me names, then I can look into that.
If he gives me specific individuals, his constituents, and so on, I will follow up to see what the reasons were, as committed to, and I can provide that information to the member.
Okay, I will do that and I will write letters to the communities as to who was left behind because I am pretty sure it was not just in our community.
Yes, I approve of what I will be doing.
I thank the member for agreeing to do that.
I will look into it. I will ask my staff again to see how we are doing and whether there have been any more concerns raised by patients in the boarding homes and report back if the member asks us.
I would like to go back to Item 5. I am requesting consent from my colleagues.
Speaker (interpretation): The member wishes to return to Item 5, Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery.
Proceed, Hon. Patterk Netser.
It gets stressful sometimes when we are sitting in the House. We need all kinds of support and I would like to welcome my wife and our children who are here with her.
To go back to the Orders of the Day.
Tabled Document 098 – 2(3): F/P/T Joint Ministers’ Meeting – Ministers Responsible for Forests, Wildlife, Endangered Species, Fisheries and Aquaculture – October 2005 (Akesuk)
I wish to table the following document: Federal/Provincial/Territorial Joint Ministers Meeting - Ministers Responsible for Forest, Wildlife, Endangered Species, and Fisheries and Aquaculture - October 2005.
I request consent of this Assembly to waive the two-day notice requirement to allow for first reading of Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act.
Speaker (interpretation): The minister is requesting to waive Rule 62(2) for Bill 15 to be read for the first time.
Bill 15 – An Act to Amend the Senior Citizens & Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act – First Reading
Hon. David Simailak: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and my colleagues.
I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Iqaluit West, that Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act, be read for the first time.
Speaker (interpretation): The Motion is in order.
Opposed. Motion is carried.
Bill 15 has had its first reading.
Hon David Simailak: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I request consent of this Assembly to waive the one-day notice requirement to allow for second reading of Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act.
Speaker (interpretation): The minister is requesting to waive Rule 62(2) to have Bill 15 be read for the second time. Are there any nays?
Bill 15 – An Act to Amend the Senior Citizens & Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act – Second Reading
I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Iqaluit East, that Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act, be read for the second time.
This bill amends the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act to increase the taxes that may be exempted by a municipal taxing authority and to clarify how exemptions are to be made under the Act. The bill also changes the reference from the NWT to Nunavut.
Question is being called. All those in favour.
Bills 15 has had its second reading and is referred to Standing Committee.
Bill 5, Bill 6, Bill 9, Bill 12, Bill 13, and Bill 14 with Mr. Kilabuk in the Chair.
We will go until 12:00. We will take a break at 12:00.
I forgot something to read.
I would like unanimous consent to return to Members’ Statements, I think it is item number three on the order paper.
Speaker (interpretation): The Member for Iqaluit East would like to return to Item 3, are there any nays?
Mr. Kilabuk (interpretation): Mr. Speaker, you asked whether there were any nays, I said no.
Speaker (interpretation): There’s one nay. I’m sorry, we can’t return back to Item 3; there’s a nay.
Going back to the Orders of the Day. Item 19.
We will continue on our session until noon hour.
Chairman (Mr. Kilabuk)(interpretation): Thank you.
In Committee of the Whole, we will be dealing with...I’m sorry. (interpretation ends) Order, please.
In Committee of the Whole, we have the following items to deal with: Bill 5, Bill 6, Bill 9, Bill 12, Bill 13, and Bill 14.
I must comment on your attire today. It looks very nice.
Mr. Chairman, we wish to continue with the review of Bill 12 and continue with the Department of Community and Government Services, followed by the Department of Economic Development and Transportation and the Nunavut Housing Corporation as time permits.
Bill 12 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance), Act 2006-07 – Review in Committee – Community and Government Services
Minister Brown, do you have witnesses you would like to bring to the table?
Sergeant-At-Arms, can you please escort the witnesses in.
On my immediate left is Deputy Minister Tom Rich, and on my immediate right is Mike Rafter, Director of Finance.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister. Members, we are dealing with Community and Government Services.
J-12, which includes J-13.
Before I recognize our first member, I want to remind members of the following; according to Rule 77(1) you have ten minutes to speak.
Or rather, excuse me, where is that other one? My apologies, members, I believe most members got to ask their questions on this page yesterday, however, I remind you that members are permitted to ask more questions at the discretion of the Chair.
So, members.
Minister, please feel welcome.
Under J-13, Protection Services, are the only ones that are eligible to apply for this funding have to be registered as a society?
Hon. Levinia Brown (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is exactly true, my colleague what has just been stated.
Mr. Arreak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Ms. Minister.
When funds are just going to be used to have meetings transportation, as well as the accommodations will have to be paid for. Are there going to be meetings held for the rescue organizations?
I would like my Deputy Minister to answer, Mr. Tom Rich.
We have had so far one meeting, which happened in December, which was a territorial meeting. For that meeting, the transportation and accommodations were paid for one representative from each community.
The plans are to have regional meetings in the coming year, and if that’s done, the same process would be followed for providing for transportation and accommodation to come to regional meetings.
For going to meetings, I know they are beneficial to the organizations.
Can we clarify as to what they will be doing? Will that be a workshop or will that be a working meeting?
Looking at the $500,000 for search and rescue organizations, I think this should be used more in the communities, not so much on the administration part.
Yes, the question of my colleague is for workshops in preparation for and having exercises and in regard to the funding that was used to have this meeting it was used also for capital projects also, $325,000 has been under 2005-06 are also included.
I would like to know how much it costs to have the actual meeting and how much each community applied for, for funding from the organizations. How many people participated?
Hon. Levinia Brown (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There were participants in December 2005 in Iqaluit; each of the 25 or 26 communities had participants.
One participant each, but one could not make it from Broughton Island.
I was not asking who attended, but how much money did they spend to go to this meeting, and how much money was used to be spent for equipment, the actual amount for search and rescue in the communities?
The delegates to Iqaluit used $120,000 for the workshop and $320,000 was used for capital funding.
Each community was given a certain amount for capital projects.
Mr. Arreak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Minister.
They acquired some capital funding for each of the communities, that’s good to see.
If it is just going to be used for meetings, that means that they have used all that money for so much.
The amount of money that was used for meetings is quite a lot.
Is that going to be done annually to go to a large conference like that?
They will be having an annual meeting only in the regions, the Baffin region, as well as the Kitikmeot by themselves, as well as the Kivalliq by themselves. And there will be funding for their annual meeting, approximately $2,500, when they have established society status.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Mr. Arreak.
Next we go to Mr. Peterson.
I thank the minister and her officials for coming in this morning.
My question is on page J-28 of the business plan under Priorities for 2006-07.
One of the priorities is a revised Nunavut Emergency Preparedness Plan will be developed and implemented.
I wonder if the minister could provide a brief overview to the House on what they are doing with respect to preparing the plan.
Hon. Levinia Brown (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would also like to thank the member.
In regard to your question, the government, we work with the federal government, and we’re looking at getting the emergency preparedness ready. We also have meetings with the FPT, and that’s in regard to public safety.
We deal with that as a territorial government.
As the Department of Community and Government Services, we also try and work with different entities in the private sector, and corporate sectors.
(interpretation ends) The Government of Nunavut is committed to ensuring that residents are educated and trained to know and understand the types of emergencies they may face and to the extent practicable to be prepared to meet them.
Minister, in this plan, will it include emergency procedures for dealing with pandemics such as influenzas, avian bird flu?
The committee is presently working with the Department of Health towards ensuring a coordinated territorial response to a potential pandemic flu.
Can the minister clarify for me: in the event of a pandemic, which department would take the lead in dealing with it?
Would it be your department or the Department of Health and Social Services?
I feel and I understand that it would be a combined effort between the Department of Health and our department, Community and Government Services.
On page J-27 of the business plan is the Fire Marshall’s Office. Can the minister clarify for me what the relation is between the territorial Fire Marshall’s Office and the fire chiefs in the various Nunavut communities?
Yes, I thank the member for that question.
Yes, the fire chiefs are independent and I would like to inform that.
Could the minister clarify for me the relationship of fire chiefs to the hamlet councils?
May I have the deputy minister to respond to that please?
Chairman: Most definitely, Minister. Mr. Rich.
In circumstances where there are employed fire chiefs by councils, which is, in some cases, true in some of the communities, they are direct employees of the council, the same with other employees. In other cases where there are volunteer fire chief situations, the council designates them officially.
So in either case, they report directly to the council in communities.
I thank the minister and Mr. Rich.
Could the minister or Mr. Rich clarify for me who would conduct inspections of buildings and any other facilities in a community where you have a fire chief in a fire department and you have an assistant regional fire marshal or fire marshal?
Who would take the lead in doing those inspections?
Normally, the fire chief can inspect as a local assistant in the communities.
As the minister is well aware, earlier this week, there was a news story in News North called, ‘Fire Feud.’
We have a fire department there where they are all volunteers, the fire chief is appointed by the hamlet council and the gist of the story is that the fire chief had asked the hamlet council to correct a number of deficiencies in buildings, fuel tanks, and other things around the community.
He alleges that the hamlet didn’t do that and that it’s not a part of a recent issue, it’s something that he says that has been going on for three to four to five years and even longer.
I’m wondering if the fire chief, and I’m not saying he’s right or wrong, or if the hamlet is right or wrong, I’m just trying to clarify it in my mind for the interest of viewers and readers of Hansard. When a fire department or the fire chief inspects hamlet facilities and finds the deficiency and he or she writes a letter to the hamlet council or the senior administrative officer, the fact that he or she still works with the hamlet or reports to the hamlet, do the fire regulations take precedent over the relationship between the fire department and the hamlet council in these matters?
Thank you, for the member.
The Fire Marshal’s Office normally inspects each community a minimum of twice a year of facilities. Deficiencies’ reports are sent to responsible agencies and a follow-up is conducted during subsequent visits.
Where there are cases where actions have not been taken, a fire marshal’s order is issued to correct the deficiencies.
Yes, they take precedent.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister. Before we proceed, we find you in this predicament a number of times, Mr. Peterson. However, because of lunch break and the time you have left to your 10 minutes, we will break for 45 minutes and be back at 12:45.
>>Committee recessed at 11:59 and resumed at 13:02
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you members for coming back to our meeting.
On page J-12. $5,433,000. Total Operations and Maintenance.
Just to remind the members we are on page J-12 and J-13.
I would like to remind the members that I will give the members an opportunity to make a comment after everyone has had a turn.
We went for lunch.
Mr. Peterson: I welcome the minister and officials back from lunch.
I had a line of questions regarding the relationship between the fire department, fire chief, the fire marshal, and the Hamlet of Cambridge Bay.
The headlines in News North, in Cambridge Bay, the fire chief accuses the hamlet of negligence.
I do not know how true that is, but I wanted to know, in terms of the authority, if the fire chief reports to the hamlet, he also works for the fire marshal, and he has a duty under the Fire Prevention Act to inform the individual organization of infractions under the Fire Prevention Act and has the duty to follow-up and correct them.
So if he works as the volunteer fire chief and he works for the hamlet, and he gives them notice and the hamlet does not comply, what are the options available to the fire chief?
They can be anywhere in Nunavut, and not just Cambridge Bay.
The Office of the Fire Marshall is investigating the comments made by the Cambridge Bay Fire Chief and the print media regarding neglected fire safety concerns within the community.
The fire chief is a local assistant under the Fire Prevention Act and he is under the provisions of the Act and municipality under the direction of the fire marshal.
Also, he can inspect buildings and can issue orders under the direction of the fire marshal, but cannot simply issue orders on his own.
He may not have training and knowledge of codes.
I suppose the minister can appreciate it is a concern to myself and to the hamlet council when you have a fire chief who takes it upon himself to approach a newspaper and make these allegations and he does say that he went to the hamlet council several times over the years.
The minister said before lunch that copies of all of the fire chief’s reports are filed with the Fire Marshal’s Office. She also mentioned that he inspects buildings and communities twice a year.
There should be checks and balances and all that somewhere.
I am wondering if the fire chief is correct with his allegations.
Is there a check and balance somewhere in the Fire Marshall’s Office?
Can he come along and follow-up on the letters the fire chief sends to people who may be violating or are in violation of the Fire Prevention Act?
I would like Mr. Rich to respond to that because it is a little bit technical for me.
Just to clarify one thing, the minister, when she talks about reports, was not referring directly to each Fire Chief’s Report being filed with the Office of the Fire Marshal.
I think it is too broad to say that. We don’t have that sort of a formal reporting structure.
If they issue or if they feel it’s important that an order be issued, then they in fact have to communicate with the fire marshal’s office through the assistant fire marshal.
There is no particular obligation, for instance an Annual Fire Chief’s Report, let’s say that way, to be done.
We are in the process of checking this in the same way that others were caught a bit by surprise by the allegations that were in the newspaper. They caught us a bit by surprise too. There are from time to time in many hamlets issues with whether it be lights in buildings or whatever that are corrected through the normal course of time.
So what we did is instruct our regional office to immediately consult with the hamlet, which they are in the process of doing to find out, first of all, whether or not there had been directions given by the fire chief that we were not aware of; to make sure that every safety provision was in place in public buildings, particularly because there were allegations about schools and other public buildings.