EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
We are already expecting and everyone across northern Canada has already stated their concerns about the huge impact it is going to have. The number of people who will be incarcerated will rise and that seems to be the goal of that bill.
Can the Minister of Justice inform this House what work is being done on this issue?
In regard to Bill C-10, I’ve had many communications with both the federal Minister of Justice and the federal Minister of Public Safety in Prince Edward Island.
We had meetings a few weeks ago. I have also gone in front of the Parliament Senate Committee on Legislation on Bill C-10.
In both cases, I expressed the views of Nunavut on how Bill C-10 will affect us as a territory.
That is, with mandatory minimum sentencing, we will incarcerate more people and we need facilities and infrastructure to do that.
I also expressed concerns that we are taking away our flexibility in sentencing people.
I also expressed our concerns about the funding resources we need to help us with crime prevention, rehabilitation, and support for victims.
Mr. Oshutapik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the minister for his response on how they’re preparing for this bill.
I don’t have expectations because we are always supposed to be optimistic about our future. Based on their language, it seems obvious that it will definitely lead to an increase in the number of incarcerations. If you’re not from Canada, maybe it’s not a worry because it’s only for Canada.
While you’re making preparations, I would like to ask if Inuit societal values will be increasingly applied so that it will not impact inmates too harshly. After all, Inuit have a long history of dealing with offenders. I’m asking: will Inuit tradition be recognized in the justice system before this bill comes into force?
Again I thank the member for his question and concern.
The Department of Justice is always trying to incorporate Inuit societal values and justice in the system as it is.
Nunavut judges take that into consideration in the sentencing and procedures that take place right now, and we will continue to do that.
That is our view in relating our concerns in regard to Bill C-10, that that flexibility is taken away from our judges and our court system.
Moving forward in the future in any correctional facilities like the Rankin Inlet Healing Facility, there are many programs that incorporate Inuit values and culture in the rehabilitation in those types of facilities and we will continue to do that.
Question 300 – 3(3): Alternative Energy Source Policy (Curley)
I kind of alluded to it in my Member’s Statement, particularly about the rising cost of oil and the impacts on hunters and business.
With energy costs and the subsidies required to assist these important sectors of our economy rising, why isn’t that a priority of the Nunavut government?
All of Nunavut is dependent on fuel which pollutes our environment.
This is also considered very important by my cabinet colleagues, who can probably highlight the work they have done in exploring ways to lessen our dependence on fuel to generate power.
We have seen various studies done on alternative power generation methods, such as hydro power. They are exploring solar energy, wind, and other non-fuel based power generation methods because we want to lessen our dependence on fuel in the future.
At this time, we can compare ourselves to a person just on the starting blocks. We don’t even have hydro power, even though the plans have been developed for one. That is where we find ourselves at this point.
I made it quite clear why the government doesn’t treat the energy policy as a priority of this government.
That’s the point of my question. Mr. Speaker, when will the Premier announce that energy as well as energy subsidies or programs are the priority, if any?
When will the Premier or her ministers announce a policy?
This is a matter of high priority. Due to its importance, we have initiated a pilot project plan in Iqaluit for a future hydro generation plant. There is an intense hydro potential feasibility study being conducted by my executive colleagues as this is of extreme importance.
Once the study has been completed and debated, we will have to look at an energy policy, as per the Ikummatiit document statements which we have to try and implement, since this is very important to our government and we review this periodically.
The reason why I brought this question up is because these methods are called conventional energy, such as hydro that you mentioned, and some of these methods will not work in all areas of Nunavut.
I believe that this government has to take into consideration other means of power generation, primarily in step with the energy policy, which has to be carefully worded. I wonder when the Premier can announce a new energy policy in this House.
With respect to power generation, particularly now depending on diesel, it’s an issue that we’re really trying to research to see what the best methods of power generation we may be able to utilize here in the territory of Nunavut.
We’re basically at the initial research stages of exploring alternative energy. In English, we’re basically in the research and development phase with respect to power generation.
It’s becoming clear as we explore these options. However, if you were to look at all the other regions in Canada, Nunavut is the slowest when it comes to alternative energy.
We’re still one territory entirely dependent on fuel to generate power, but these research studies into power generation are ongoing.
I understand the comments the Premier just stated, but the residents of Nunavut have to hear about the type of policy that the government is developing. With respect to making government policy more specific on a Nunavut-wide basis, when can we expect to see energy and energy subsidy costs in the House?
This is something that is being actively worked on and we will table it once the details are worked out.
Question 301 – 3(3): Need for a New High School in Coral Harbour (Ningeongan)
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Education. With respect to the Member for Akulliq’s statement about the school in Repulse Bay, I have noticed in the last five-year capital plan that the plan for the new school in Coral Harbour was also deferred to the year 2014.
I would like to hear from the minister if that capital project will proceed as planned for 2014.
The Sakku School, which is for students from kindergarten to grade 12, is apparently in good condition, at least according to the rating expert. It was renovated just a few years ago.
However, we have to look at the caveat here, which is the number of students are also rising quite dramatically in that community. It is increasingly obvious that a new school will have to be constructed in the future.
The school is currently at 85 percent capacity. When you look at the number of students, it seems we will have to start planning for a new school or make an addition to the existing school.
Mr. Ningeongan (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the minister for her response, but I didn’t seem to hear a response to my question. The high school plans and design is supposed to start in 2014.
I would like to raise my question again. Is the planning and design still on for 2014?
The Department of Education, with the help of the Department of Community and Government Services, does assessments of the schools. They will work with the DEA in Coral Harbour and others to start the planning stage in the spring of 2014.
Mr. Ningeongan (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the minister for her response.
I believe she recalls when I was first elected to the House as a member that it had already been deferred within the five-year capital plan.
I do know that we have to defer capital projects and sometimes we don’t have alternatives but to defer projects due to fiscal restraints. However, in my estimation, if you keep deferring a project, you start to worry about whether or not the project will be met.
I noted and I have been informed that the school is at 85 percent capacity.
I believe that when you look at the classrooms for kindergarten and new classes, you have to start looking at those signs of growth.
You have to ensure that you start the planning and design so that everything is ready prior to the school becoming over capacity.
I believe I will be seeing the Premier later today. I invite the Premier to come to our community to tour the school.
Question 302 – 3(3): Local Housing Associations and the Nunavut Housing Corporation (Ningark)
I don’t think I have ever raised a question to the Minister of Housing, so I would like to direct my question to him.
Is the Minister responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corporation aware or has he heard about whether or not the recommendations expressed by the former Auditor General, Sheila Fraser, have been implemented?
The Auditor General’s report is a living document.
In one of her recommendations, she stated that there is a distinct lack of communication between the Nunavut Housing Corporation and local housing authorities in the communities.
Is the minister aware of this problem?
Minister responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corporation, Mr. Schell.
Hon. Fred Schell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank Mr. Ningark for that question.
Yes, we are aware of all the recommendations that the Auditor General has put in place and most of these have been corrected and some of them are ongoing.
I do agree with you that we have lot of issues with our LHOs. They need more support and we’re putting things in place, such as inventory, which is a big issue that she had and we’ve still got that issue.
Right now, we have about half of the LHOs that are actually complying with getting the inventories done by the end of March.
We’re working on the other half and hopefully within the next year, we will have them all complying with that.
My colleagues are all aware as I have discussed this issue with them outside of the sitting, which is the fact that certain communities are treated differently than others.
When we are trying to ensure Tamapta is our guiding principle, it would be like our spinal cord and if we believe in this mandate, we have to have some backbone.
There are quite a number of people who are still waiting for housing, some of whom have waited for a very long time.
At the same time, there are others who get new housing soon after moving in from another community.
With respect to this problem of equal treatment, can the minister direct the regional offices to work more cooperatively with the local housing organizations so that they are aware of all the problems they’re facing?
Hon. Fred Schell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the member for that question.
We are working with the LHOs and I know that is an issue in the allotment committee, where we have noticed that there are certain friends, the friends get housing units, and it depends on who is on the committee.
So we know the issue, we’re working with it, and we’re going to do an audit on all the LHOs to make sure that they’re following the rules.
Speaker: Thank you for clarifying that, Minister Schell.
You can tell it is Friday morning.
It is Friday morning.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters. Bills 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 34 with Mr. Enook in the Chair.
We will take a short 10-minute break before we go into Committee of the Whole with Mr. Enook in the Chair.
>>House recessed at 10:02 and Committee resumed at 10:17
Chairman (Mr. Enook)(interpretation): Good morning.
In Committee of the Whole, we have the following items to deal with: Bills 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 34.
Mr. Aupaluktuq (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) Today we wish to continue with the review of Bill 24 and commence with the review of the Department of Community and Government Services, followed by the Department of Economic Development and Transportation, and if time permits, the Nunavut Housing Corporation and the Department of Finance. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman (interpretation): Do members agree that we deal with the Department of Community and Government Services?
Bill 24 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2012-2013 – Community and Government Services – Consideration in Committee
At this time, I would like to ask the Minister of Community and Government Services to make his opening remarks. Mr. Kusugak.
I can start now?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to appear before the Committee of the Whole to review the 2012-13 main estimates and business plan for the Department of Community and Government Services.
I would first like to state that we appreciate the feedback we received from the standing committee review of the 2012-13 main estimates and business plan and look forward to hearing from you and your colleagues here today.
(interpretation ends) Mr. Chairman, the Department of Community and Government Services continues to manage programs and services for local government, government services, petroleum products, procurement, protection services, informatics, project and asset management.
Over the past fiscal year, my department has focused on Tamapta priorities. This includes the drafting of the legislative proposal for changes to the Consumer Protection Act and the introduction of the Building Code Act. Both Acts are to be introduced during this current session.
CGS continues to work with the GNWT and NEBS on a plan to introduce legislation to regulate the municipal employees’ pension plan.
The Nunavut Infrastructure Advisory Committee (NCIAC) has a balanced government and hamlet membership, and has just recently completed the development of the long-term integrated community sustainability plans, or ICSPs, for each community in Nunavut.
The completion of these plans will ensure that the future planning process takes into account environmental, cultural, social, and economic goals of the communities.
In addition, the ICSPs will provide both government departments and agencies and the community itself with a long-term vision for their infrastructure development.
Mr. Chairman, in consultation with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada and NAMA, CGS is working with municipalities to establish daily procedures to assist municipalities in complying with their water licence requirements.
Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada is assisting the working group to seek federal funding for training municipal operators to improve the management of their water and waste management programs.
In addition, we will continue to fund up to $200,000 annually to NAMIX and municipalities to provide ongoing risk management and loss prevention training.
Block funding for mobile equipment implemented two years ago was increased to $2.5 million last year and will continue at that level this year. Each hamlet now receives $104,000 annually to fund the purchase of their mobile equipment requirements.
It was the support of the standing committee, Executive Council, and regular members that made this increase possible and as a result, all communities have benefited.
During the past year, CGS has conducted a municipal funding review. The review is intended to ensure that hamlets are funded at adequate levels to meet their operational needs and at the same time, ensure that the funding calculation process is more transparent and equitable for all municipalities.
A draft of a new funding model is now under review by a committee made up of representatives from NAMA, NAM, and CGS. The working group is scheduled to finalize its review by mid-March. When that is complete, we will bring the review to the FMB and then the legislature.
In fiscal year 2011-12, we were successful in gaining the support of all members of the legislature to increase municipal core funding by $4 million.
This increase was provided to offset the inflationary pressures that our municipalities have experienced since 2006.
The municipalities have all expressed appreciation and have been busy putting that new funding to work in increased services to their communities.
As well, CGS continues to invest significant resources in training to ensure that we continue to improve services and programs to our client groups.
Our pending budget includes a modest net increase over last year’s main estimates. We have increased building maintenance budgets by almost $6 million in order to better focus our efforts in maintaining government assets and providing client service.
This will not only make our buildings healthier places to work but will also extend the life of the building and reduce the high cost of operations and energy usage in the longer term.
To strengthen the maintenance program, CGS has begun the process of completing condition assessments of all GN assets.
We will enter and manage this data in the real estate capital asset priority planning, also referred to as RECAPP, system to track service life and recommendations for life cycle renewal investments.
We continue to improve the GN’s procurement process and services and the reporting of this activity. The Office of the Auditor General has recently completed a review of procurement practices within CGS procurement. A report will be presented in the legislature in April.
The Petroleum Products Division continues to manage the fuel provision mandate for the GN. The global oil market and currency trends continue to be very unpredictable and we have seen both record high and low fuel prices over the past 18 to 24 months while the Canadian dollar is fluctuating against the US dollar and the Euro.
PPD has no control over these commodities, but the department is working to improve their procurement practices and moderate the cost impact to Nunavummiut. We try to capitalize on lower prices whenever they become available through the early purchase of fuel.
As a result of these efforts, we were able to reduce the cost of gasoline and diesel to all Nunavummiut for the third time in this government’s mandate.
Mr. Chairman, PPD will continue the early purchase program to try and maintain price stability following this year’s fuel resupply. PPD monitors the oil and currency markets daily and forecasts indicate fuel prices will again rise as we head into the spring and summer months.
While it is important to achieve the best price for fuel, it is equally important to take steps to reduce fuel consumption.
Our department continues to utilize and pursue substantial energy management initiatives to improve the energy efficiency of building designs, lighting and heating systems. We are continuing our work with an energy performance contract for GN building retrofits to improve lighting and HVAC systems for energy performance. This is funded through potential future energy savings calculations.
All of these efforts are aimed at reducing our consumption and the costs associated with utilities.
Mr. Chairman, with respect to protection services and Nunavut Emergency Management, the department has been working hard to improve the response programs available to the public for search and rescue.
We continue to train community search and rescue organizations, hamlets, and individuals in assisting the RCMP and military in responding to searches.
The number of search and rescue incidents is on the increase in Nunavut. In 2011, there were 163 searches for 281 individuals.
In response to these statistics, we are developing an education and messaging campaign with the search and rescue responders to ensure care is taken by Nunavummiut when planning a trip out on the land or water. We will continue our efforts to promote the use of SPOT devices and increase awareness of the value of being prepared when going out on the land or water.
The incidents of fire in Nunavut are also on the rise. We continue to focus prevention efforts on educating communities and youth.
CGS also continues to provide a substantial amount of training and equipment to local fire departments throughout Nunavut.
Our protection services staff facilitated the development of emergency response plans for each community. These plans have now been completed and are in the process of being adopted by communities through their by-laws.
This work will go a long way to prepare hamlets for responding to emergency events. The department will now facilitate the development of a territorial emergency response plan to build on the community plans.
Community and Government Services has, over this past fiscal year, advanced the upgrade of the wide area, local area, and municipal area networks, (WAN-LAN-MAN).
CGS successfully transitioned to the new network at the end of December 2011.
This government’s priority Tamapta Action Plan will be supported through these and other technology improvements. Improved communications with government is a priority for my department, working with EIA and communities.
Mr. Chairman, I hope my comments give an appreciation of the progress that my department is making in fostering partnerships and collaboration to meet the needs of government departments, communities, and the general needs of Nunavummiut.
I look forward to your questions, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation) Thank you.
Hon. Lorne Kusugak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman and my colleagues.
On my left is my Deputy Minister, Kathleen Lausman, and to my right is our Director of Finance for CGS, Ms. Alma Power.
Welcome, Ms. Lausman and Ms. Power.
Chairman: Please.
Good morning to the people of Nunavut and the people of Sanikiluaq.
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to provide opening comments on behalf of the Standing Committee on Community and Economic Development on its review of the 2012-13 main estimates and 2012-15 business plan of the Department of Community and Government Services.
The standing committee notes that the department’s proposed 2012-13 operations and maintenance budget of $188,127,000 has increased by approximately 2 percent since the introduction of the department’s 2011-12 main estimates.
The number of positions in the department is 344.
This is the same number of PYs as in its 2011-12 main estimates.
The department’s 2012-15 business plan indicates that the department is continuing to review the Fire Prevention Act.
Members were pleased to note that the department will bring forward amendments to the Consumer Protection Act during this winter sitting.
Members were also pleased to note that the department will bring forward a new Building Code Act during this winter sitting as well.
Members were pleased to note that the Government of Nunavut listened and acted on the concerns that we raised on the need to protect municipal employees and their pension plans.
Mr. Chairman, the standing committee notes an increase in funding allocated under the Municipal Funding Policy, which is used to assist municipalities to deliver programs and services.
The department’s draft 2012-15 business plan indicates that one of its 2012-13 priorities is to “Develop options and present recommendations for improved municipal funding.”
The department’s proposed 2012-13 main estimates include $2.5 million in funding for the Mobile Equipment Block Funding Program.
The standing committee is pleased to note that the funding has remained stable since the introduction of this program in the 2010-11 fiscal year and encourages the department to continually review this program to ensure that adequate funding is provided to communities for their mobile equipment needs.
Mr. Chairman, the department’s proposed 2012-13 main estimates include $850,000 in funding for the Municipal Insurance Exchange to “offset incremental costs associated with municipal insurance coverage and to implement loss control program initiatives with focus on such critical areas as fire training and fire prevention.”
Mr. Chairman, on June 2 of 2010, the Minister of Community and Government Services tabled the Considerations Regarding an Open Market System for Annual Sealift – Summary Report December 2009 in the Legislative Assembly.
It was concluded that “a continuation of the RFP process gave the best combination of achieving price and services benefits for Nunavummiut while at the same time offering the opportunity for competitive tendering of service to each region.”