EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Your department’s business plan indicates that it is developing amendments to regulations made under the Technical Standards and Safety Act. What changes does the department plan to make with the regulations and what has transpired to date?
I’ll have my deputy respond.
Mr. Arreak... Mr. Akeeagok.
The Technical Standards and Regulations Act is currently being written and we’re expecting, hopefully this spring, the amendments to the regulations will be made.
We’re currently working with the Department of Justice and making changes to the bill. Prior to it becoming regulations, we will make it available to the public, to the contractors and all other firms and individuals affected by the legislation. This is for the people impacted by the provisions of the Technical Standards and Safety Act and we are expecting the final version this spring.
The person responsible for this reported that it should come out fairly soon.
I apologize for making a mistake with your name.
I want to ask the minister and her officials. One of their priorities for 2007-08 was to “Complete amendments to the Local Authorities Election Act...” Can the minister provide us with an update on how that initiative is proceeding?
The amendment to the Local Authorities Election Act fell on the Order Papers during the fall of 2007’s Legislative Assembly. The department continues to use the existing Local Authorities Election Act.
I thank the minister for the update.
As I recall, there was some concern by the standing committee that that Local Authorities Election Act was inherited from the Government of the Northwest Territories and that the proposed amendments were not adequately addressing the Nunavut situation, so the standing committee was asking for more of a made-in-Nunavut Elections Act.
I’m wondering if the minister could give us some indication of whether her department is doing any research or consultations into developing a made-in-Nunavut Elections Act.
The department will be working with Elections Nunavut to consider a new Local Authorities Election Act, and of course, this will require more time and therefore, the department has not set a new timeline yet.
Can the minister indicate if the department is working on an overall consultation plan on how they will consult with the mayors and councils, the Nunavut Association Municipalities, and other organizations that have an important interest in a new Elections Act?
Hon. Levinia Brown: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, it’s very important to be consulting with the communities.
So this spring, NAM is having a meeting and through there, we hope to have a discussion with them and their meeting should happen in the spring.
Chairman: We will go to page J-5.
I would like to ask a couple of questions under J-5, Community Support.
In 2008-09, the government will be allocated $4,187,000 for Grants and Contributions.
It’s written in there and that amount is quite high, especially if they will be providing it to the hamlet. What responsibilities or what other tasks are the hamlets going to be responsible for? Will their responsibilities be increased?
They seem to be working on the same thing, so I wonder if you are giving them new programs or services. Is that why it’s higher?
I will have our Director of Finance, Mr. Rafter, respond to that question.
There is no new programming for this current fiscal year. If we look at page J-11 of the main estimates, it does provide a detailed breakdown of the programming that is planned and it’s largely the same as last year with some minor increases. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
For the benefit of the public, I wonder if the minister could direct her officials to elaborate a bit more on what those funds are geared towards.
Yes, Mr. Rafter can elaborate further.
I would just ask if the member can ask the question again; I wasn’t certain if he was referring to the $48,178,000 figure, which is a consolidated number of about 15 grants and contributions.
Mr. Alagalak, please rephrase your question.
I was questioning the minister if their department is budgeting $4,187,000 that’s a new kind of initiative that we see in their business plan.
I was asking in an open comment from you: what new responsibilities are being transferred from the GN to municipalities under this program?
He is asking a question under J-11. (interpretation ends) Transfers from Other Government Departments. (interpretation) I think he is referring to that amount of $4,187,000.
I would like Mr. Alagalak to confirm if I’m correct.
Mr. Alagalak: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation) Yes, I am referring to that amount.
Again, I will have Mr. Rafter respond to that.
Mr. Rafter: Thank you for the clarification.
The program doesn’t have any additional tasks or responsibilities being developed in municipalities. There is a cost of living adjustment to the existing program for municipalities.
Mr. Alagalak: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the answer.
The next question I have is your department’s proposed budget for core funding to municipalities under the Municipal Funding Program is projected remaining at $34,381,000 until 2010-11.
(interpretation) With our population expanding greatly in Nunavut and expected to further increase in the coming years, at the same time, it seems that prices are rising for commodities. Items such as fuel and gasoline, including diesel for trucks, along with the increased demand for water by the bigger population, including the corresponding sewage services, are impacting the hamlets in Nunavut.
The maintenance of roads is also becoming a bigger expense as we now require full-time snow removal positions.
With my fellow members also identifying shortfalls in funding and resources for communities and with resources stretched to the breaking point, there are hamlets that now are required to keep staff working until the wee hours in order to keep up with the demand for services.
The costs of these services are not decreasing and in fact, I believe that there are upwards of seven communities that have difficulty operating within their budgets due to these factors.
As well, the residents who are being serviced by the local government tend to complain frequently and often these days. The residents want better and bigger services but at the same time, almost every community is undergoing the same type of increased demands from their residents.
However, the funding levels for the hamlets have not increased in the last few years and it seems that it will not climb anytime soon.
In regard to the increasing costs of servicing our people and the forced growth factors impacting our communities, although it is a common concern, it seems that the government is not overly worried about these matters. Why is it that the government is not seemingly concerned with these issues?
We did increase the budget by 30 percent since 2002 for hamlet services and we continue to support our hamlets with their programs.
It was due to these common concerns that led to this 30 percent increase since 2002.
However, I will ask Mr. Rafter to provide more details in regard to these questions.
Most of the increases that have occurred since 2002 are related to bringing the base level of operating funding up to a reasonable level for municipalities. There have been a number of adjustments for utility rate increases and fuel rate increases over that period of time. In addition to that, we have increased our monitoring of communities over the past number of years and have provided more training opportunities and training for municipal employees.
So all of this working together, if we look at page J-7 in the business plan, we see a trend of improving financial performance overall, although, from time to time, we do experience issues at the municipal level with performance.
That may be so. It was in 2002 that funding was instituted for its operation. In our communities, people are paying user fees to do the services in the hamlets.
I was part of that as a mayor in Arviat and that assisted us greatly for capital expenditures, such as for trucks and services in the community; we were able to go on with it.
However, when we have to pay for many things in the communities for services, it’s getting difficult to keep up. They would like to save money toward these services in the communities as a local government, but we are forced to keep up with the growth of the population.
It’s getting really hard to keep up because communities are growing in population, more people are getting older, and it is extremely difficult to provide all the services to our residents. On top of that, there are others coming into the communities to work. We would like to welcome them and have them feel at home in our community, and find jobs in our communities within government departments, but that increases our population.
Also, children that are growing up in the communities will need to be looked after down the road. Looking at the budgets of hamlets, it will not increase for eight years.
We are at a standstill and yet, we have to pay for the services provided by the hamlet. Some people can’t keep up with all of the expenses. We have had to add more people to the assistance lists.
How are we going to keep up with the payments for the people that don’t have the money?
I don’t think we need to be in this situation.
It seems to me that the hamlets are scaring the people. Hamlet councils and SAOs started out working really well at the beginning but due to a lack of funding, they have given up their services to the communities by the local governments.
There are even communities that don’t have SAOs in their community.
What improvements are you planning to make so that this could be better in the future?
I thank my colleague for his comments.
We know that the hamlets are undergoing financial hardships and we are striving hard to work towards the budgets of the hamlets in the communities.
Community and Government Services works with all hamlets when there are emergencies in the communities.
Like you said, we have a shortage of SAOs in some of the communities at the hamlet offices and our staff usually works with the hamlets to resolve their issues. We are reviewing that to see how we can fill SAO positions and this includes when you’re trying to get them to Nunavut.
The hamlets themselves should be looking for SAOs, it’s their responsibility.
SAOs are lacking in many communities and there’s also a shortage of SAOs in western Canada, so we’re trying to build capacity in the communities to let them grow.
We are trying to review this through the MTO, but to date, Community and Government Services is trying support the hamlets in the communities when we’re reviewing their services. We’re collaborating with the hamlets on resolving their many challenges and we usually review the issues related to their difficulties.
Further, if we are required to assist the hamlets financially, we do so and we also offer support and recommendations every year to various hamlets.
I think Mr. Rafter would like to supplement my response, so I will hand the mic over to him.
In addition to the increases of about 30 percent over the past number of years, there’s also been an increase during the past year to the water/sewer program, which is a major municipal program that has caused impacts for most local residents.
I want to add to my earlier statements and I’m in support of the comments made by the MLA for Arviat.
The government increased their finances and budgets by 43 percent since 2004.
I would like to ask the minister: since 2004, by what percentage has the hamlet councils’ budgets increased?
I won’t ask that question now but I’ll write it in a letter form.
When we were dealing with the supplementary bills in our standing committee, when we asked the minister, “Why did you increase (interpretation ends) only halfway through the year?”
(interpretation) We are told that the departments and their officials said that they are following the forced growth amounts when they’re increasing their budgets. Yet, they don’t explain why they increased it and they just go forward with their forced growth amounts.
I think this is happening with the municipal government services in the communities and they’re being dumped with a lot of services and more responsibilities without being given extra funds.
I think it is imperative that you review it quickly before they get into further debts and problems. Many hamlets are working really hard to try and meet the demands of their residents.
My question is in regard to what the minister mentioned earlier. Even though there are only two employees in the Consumer Protection Division, using your authority, I think you can direct them to write letters to the retail stores concerning the consumer rights of people.
I don’t think they’re complying with consumer rights legislation, so I think they need to be reminded of that.
I’ll just say that the retail stores, it could be any type of store, for instance, the Northern Store or the Co-op, they use every strategy available to try to get you to spend your money at their stores, (interpretation ends) they want all of your money if you can give it to them. (interpretation) They must follow laws and regulations, such as the Consumer Protection Act, which some retailers don’t even follow, so it’s getting a little frightening.
We hear through the local radios and TV that the trucks and cars are being recalled because they are unsafe to operate, but as long as you’re in Nunavut, that doesn’t apply.
It’s the responsibility of the government to look after the consumers.
We would like to get some of the stores that are selling trucks and cars to have licenses. If you’re going to sell things, it’s not hard to get a licence.
I can say that without anything to give and if I was to sell something, then I would go get a licence.
It’s very easy for me to get a licence in the community but I believe that we need to tighten our regulations.
As I said earlier, the Northern Stores are starting to sell used trucks in the communities.
Some of them are broken and not running properly, so I think they are stealing money from Nunavummiut when they’re selling such things.
Therefore, we must ensure that we revise our regulations to better protect our consumers and to make certain that there are no fraudulent occurrences.
I think that this is an urgent issue.
Perhaps the minister can identify some of the warranty services as some of the consumers do fill out their warranties.
We should thank them because they’re diligent in their practices, for example, here in Iqaluit, there are businesses that honour the warranties of their products. Take snowmobiles for example; they are usually covered by warranty. Some of the bigger products do not seem to be under warranty and perhaps this is something that the minister can look into and deal with. (interpretation ends) Thank you.
Before I acknowledge Minister Brown, we were directed by the Speaker not to point at members or to state their names. This is just to remind members.
We have another official who is responsible for Consumer Affairs, Mr. Silas Angna’naaq. Please stand so the members can see you. He is sitting in the Gallery and he works out of the Baker Lake GN offices.
As I stated before, we are now working on this quite busily. Excuse me, let me put on my glasses because I cannot see too well.
With regards to the question that was just posed, yes, we will be dealing with those issues. We have a toll-free number and I will ask my officials to advertise that toll-free number more frequently.
This is a number you can call if you have concerns with respect to consumer protection. For example, if you purchase second-hand vehicles, such as automobiles, snowmobiles and ATVs, the number is 1-866-223-8139.
I would like Nunavummiut to know that it’s a toll-free number and if you encounter any problems or if there are any complaints, you may call that phone number.
We were tasked to tighten up the regulations, so we will do that along with our officials.
Welcome, Silas Angna’naaq.
He was also a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Northwest Territories.
Minister, last year, the standing committee recommended to your department to review the issue of whether the quality and safety of drinking water in all Nunavut communities meets the national Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality.
We also recommended that your 2008-09 business plan address the issue of training and certification requirements for persons working in water treatment plants in Nunavut. My question for you: what actions has your department taken in response to the standing committee’s concerns and recommendations?
I guess the MTO has been very good to the department and to all of Nunavummiut. The MTO and CGS have developed an orientation course for water, wastewater and solid waste operations for all of the municipal foremen. That’s a step that has been taken.
Also, the MTO and CGS are currently in discussions with the Environmental Operators Certification Program in British Columbia to have the EOCP certify trained operators from Nunavut. The EOCP certification will result in Nunavut operators having nationally recognized certification.
I wonder, Mr. Chairman, just for the record, if the minister could clarify, for when people read the Hansard, what MTO is and the other acronyms. It would make it much easier for people to understand the answers.
I’m sorry and pardon me for that; we have so many abbreviations.
The MTO stands for the Municipal Training Organization, which is applied to all Nunavut communities and participation is from any organization throughout Nunavut, say for example, from housing, hamlets, or other organizations throughout Nunavut, to assist them so that they could go into training.
The other one that I used, EOCP, is the Environmental Operators Certification Program.
Mr. Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the minister for clarifying those acronyms.
I have often cracked jokes in the House that it’s like learning a new language with all of the acronyms that are tossed around in the Legislative Assembly and in the different levels of government, so it’s very difficult to follow them all.
Can the minister explain to us what the current process is for communities to test for water quality?
I’ll have my deputy minister respond to that question.
Mr. Akeeagok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) I don’t have the actual procedure here with me but there are daily checks done by our municipalities on the water quality for the chlorine and the additives to ensure that it’s acceptable.
The health centres, through the Department of Health, do monthly water checks on every other water tank, the delivery, and on annual basis, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs send their water quality inspectors into the community to ensure that the water coming from the source and the water itself that we drink meet acceptable national standards.
So there are checks and balances in each case. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the minister and deputy minister for that information.
Can the minister or deputy minister outline the procedures that hamlets follow when the tests show that the water quality is less than the acceptable standards?
Mr. Akeeagok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) There is a manual and a procedure that hamlet water operators use.
This is done through the daily sampling and they do check on the chlorine. If the level of chlorine is too high or low, then they have to adjust it, or if there are any other issues with it, then they adjust the water sample.
If there are any immediate concerns, then the ultimate thing is to either call a Boil Water Advisory, and also, in order to do that, the hamlets report to the Department of Health, which then takes appropriate further testing and then determines what to do in the next steps, which could be various things, either boil water, shut it down, or deem it safe.
Mr. Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the minister and the deputy minister for explaining that.
Can the minister or deputy minister clarify now, you mentioned manuals and training, are you 100 percent certain that all hamlets in Nunavut are up to current standards and practices with respect to testing the water quality as set out by your department or the Department of Health?
I will have my deputy to respond to that.
At this time, I can’t necessarily confirm that but if I could allow time for that, we do work with our regional offices on this. In addition, in the last session, our minister did commit to providing and tabling the certification program for the water.
We are hoping that our water quality report will be completed by mid July, and at that particular report, we hope all of the questions that the member just asked will be included in there.
I thank the deputy minister for that answer.
I certainly do look forward to receiving that information.
Can the minister or deputy minister indicate if they’re aware of any reported incidences in the last two to three fiscal years of where people have come in contact with water in the hamlet and become sick?
I have not seen anyone getting ill from the water in the past two years.
I remember, I think it was last year or the year before, that there was a Boil Water Advisory in Rankin Inlet. After the water was analyzed quite a few times, it was deemed safe.
We’re very appreciative of the fact that the Department of Health and Social Services have been very supportive of us. It seems like they can find out right away if the water quality is good enough to drink and they deal with that all the time.
That’s the only time I remember of a Boil Water Advisory and that might have been last year.
On page J-14 of your business plan, one of your priorities for 2007-08 was a “Continuation of Water and Sewage Pilot Project roll out to additional participating communities,” but you state in your business plan that “The Water and Sewage Pilot Project will continue for established participating communities to be fully evaluated.”
Can the minister update the House on the current status of that Water and Sewage Pilot Project?
I will have our Director of Finance respond to that question.
Three communities participated in the pilot project or the testing project during last fiscal year. It was determined at the end of the fiscal year that there were some uncertainties about how well the program was progressing.
It appeared, in many respects, to be better meeting municipal needs, better meeting needs of government, but because it was a relatively narrow pilot project, they wanted to get some additional time and monitoring of the program before it was rolled out to additional communities to look at the pros and cons and benefits across the board.
Can the minister, for the record, tell us which three communities were involved in this pilot project?
Hon. Levinia Brown (interpretation): The three communities were Kugaaruk, Chesterfield Inlet, and Pangnirtung.
Just to confirm, did Mr. Rafter say that the department is adding additional communities because it says here that we may see additional municipalities.
Can you just confirm that for the record?
Are planning to add or have you added additional communities?
No, at this time, we’re not adding any communities.
Can the minister indicate why they don’t want to add additional communities for that project?
The project was well received by all three communities and it seems like we should be looking at adding more pilot projects since it was so successful. However, it’s kind of premature right now to say if we will be adding any more in the near future. That’s all I can say for now.
Mr. Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank Minister Brown.
Can the minister tell us when they expect to have a final report or an interim report, if that’s available, to table in the House to provide to the standing committee?
The report is done; it’s just a matter of time now for tabling it in this House.
Can the minister tell us: are you going to table it this week or are you going to table it in the spring session?
My mistake, I meant the interim report. We will commit to tabling it in the spring session, in May.