EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Now, Bill 3, Appropriations (Maintenance) Act #2, 2005-06.
Page 4. Government of Nunavut.
Supplementary Appropriation (Operations and Maintenance) Act #2, 2005-06. Legislative Assembly.
Operations and Maintenance. Not previously authorized. Expenditures on Behalf of Members.
Not previously authorized. $200,000.
Chairman: Total Expenditures on Behalf of Members.
Chairman: Total Department.
Devolution. $661,000.
Chairman: Total Devolution. $661,000.
Chairman: Total Department. $661,000.
Chairman: Page 6.
Operations and Maintenance. Not previously authorized.
Directorate. $103,000.
Chairman: Total Directorate.
Not previously authorized. $103,000.
Chairman: Page 7.
Directorate. $5,000.
Chairman: Total Directorate. $5,000.
Some Members: Agreed.  Chairman: Staffing.
Total Staffing. -$1,500,000. Do you agree?
My question on this is the transfer from HR to health for relocation costs for nurses and urgent casual healthcare professionals. I am just wondering why that’s going to health. Isn’t that a function that is carried out on behalf of all government departments by the Department of Human Resources?
For those particular positions the hiring is done by the Department of Health. The budget was being allocated in the Department of Human Resources. So to improve accountability; the budget has been moved to the Department of Health, where the actual decisions are being made regarding those positions.
It says for the relocation costs for nurses and urgent healthcare professionals. I would assume urgent casual healthcare professionals are your agency nurses? I just want to get a confirmation on that.
The emergency healthcare positions, the agency nurses are covered through separate contractual arrangements and it’s not covered in this budget allocation.
I would just like to get an idea of the difference between a nurse and an urgent casual healthcare professional.
The department is in the process, as I mentioned some time ago in the House, in hiring international nurses; we are in the process of hiring 50. We have also made arrangements with the hiring company to have a pool of people from that recruitment process to hire when vacancies occur.
So, if there’s a vacancy in say Baker Lake, we would then use the pool of nurses that have already been hired to relocate. As much as possible, we are trying to get away from agency nurses because of the high cost associated with agency nurses. So, the pool that we would be using for this emergency would be to fill positions that become vacant in the communities from the international nurses pool.
For the relocation cost, if that’s for the international nurses, does that mean that we are paying to bring those nurses from wherever they come from?
We hired a firm to do all of the recruitment for us. When we have hired the international nurses, we relocate them to wherever they are placed.
In terms of how those actual dollars are set up between the firm that we have hired, I don’t have those details before me.
Just generally for nurses, do you relocate them...if you hire someone from somewhere else, are they treated the same as everyone else whether it be within Nunavut, within the north, within Canada, or within a different country, then for any purpose, whether it be a teacher or anyone else, is that a common practice that they would bring in whoever you are hiring from wherever in the world that they are from?
Hon. Leona Aglukkaq: Mr. Chairman, I said earlier, I don’t have the breakdown in terms of how the cost is arranged between the hiring company, the firm that we have hired to recruit the international nurses.
In terms of hiring any other professional, we hire them from Point A to where they are placed for the job, yes; we do cover their relocation costs.
The minister indicated that she didn’t have the information. Would she able to get and provide that breakdown of that information to the members?
If Phil is listening up there, if he can bring my binder down, then I can probably get that information before we finish today.
I don’t think it’s going to get down in time. I’m just recognizing the clock; I would like to move to report progress.
There’s a motion on the floor to report progress and the motion is not debatable. All those in favour, raise your hand please.
Opposed, raise your hand. (interpretation) Abstentions.
Again to the motion. All those in favour of the motion.
Motion is not carried, defeated.
Staffing. Not previously authorized. -$1,500,000.
Chairman: Total staffing.
Not previously authorized. -$1,500,000.
I still would like to see the breakdown of how much of that $1.5 million is for travel.
So here comes the binder I guess.
I’ll go through my binder and if I don’t have it I’ll find it tomorrow.
Mr. Tootoo: Do we want to take a break and look?
I thought we were supposed to recognize the clock at six. I just thought I was going to do you a favour there that’s all.
Yes, I could have done that but the motion didn’t go through, didn’t pass.
Mr. Chairman, the information on the international recruitment of nurses that I have here doesn’t provide the breakdown of how much relocation cost is. The budget that is transferred from Health and Social Services … or from Human Resources to Health and Social Services covers recruitment, relocation of all the nurses and professionals.
So if the Member wants a breakdown of the cost for just the international nurses I’ll have to provide that during the next sitting date. But the budget that is being transferred from Human Resources to Health and Social Services covers all costs of relocating those professionals.
I am wondering instead of waiting until next year for that information I wonder if the Minister could provide it through the clause of back door tabling, just providing it to the Clerk to be distributed to the Members. I’d like to see a breakdown of what all those positions were as well. Whether international nurses.
Urgent casual health care professionals that is pretty wide open eh. I’d just want to see that those are. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Madam Minister Aglukkaq.
Hon. Leona Aglukkaq: Mr. Chairman, I’ll write a letter to every Member.
We’re on Page 11. Staffing. Not previously authorized.
Total Staffing. -$1,500,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Not previously authorized. -$1,495,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Law Enforcement. $375,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Chairman: Total Law Enforcement. $375,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Chairman: Legal Services Board.
Not previously authorized. $160,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Chairman: Total Legal Services Board.
Not previously authorized. -$160,000.
Oh, not negative. I’m sorry.
I am sorry…Total Legal Services Board.
Chairman: Registries and Court Services.
Not previously authorized. $300,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Chairman: Total Registries and Court Services. $300,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Not previously authorized. -$75,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Chairman: Total Corrections and Community Justice. -$75,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Not previously authorized. $760,000.
Adult Learning and Post Secondary Services.
Under here, there is a little over $1.2 million dealing with an increase for Nunavut Arctic College.
I know last year, there was I think, I think the term was bridge financing, which is another word I think for bail out for the college. At that time, I’m just wondering if this is additional increases with that or is this just a transfer to take care of that bridge financing. Is it on top of that?
Are they going to get on top of that? Or, is it that bridge financing that was announced last year plus this amount?
Hon. David Simailak: I’m sorry Mr. Chairman.
That one time bridge financing that was announced last year was for 2004. This one is for the 2005-06 supplementary.
I’m pretty sure if memory serves me correct; I think the last one was about $2 million or so, around there, for the bridge financing.
If there is only an increase in funding of $1.2 million this year, are we going to be looking at having to do more bridge financing or bridge building in this fiscal year?
Also, is this a permanent increase to the base budget for the college?
Yes, for 2004 was one time bridge financing of $1.3 million.
And the feeling is that this $1.2 million for 2005-06 should be enough to cover the necessary increases.
Chairman: Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Tootoo.
It must have been in the Auditor General’s report or something where that $2 million figure came out that the College needed. They indicated that it was going to be their shortfall for their deficit.
And that $1.3 million, whatever it was, was just a portion of it.
That they were still going to end up in a deficit.
I am wondering again are we going to be looking at, are they going to eat that other, the Department of Education are they going to eat that other $800,000 if that projection of $2 million deficit continues.
Down to $800,000 I guess with this amount, and also again is this amount a permanent; will it mean a permanent increase to their base funding.
The Minister of Education will answer that.
Over the last few years the Nunavut Arctic College has dealt with some issues around a deficit. Some of those are the pension buy backs and unfunded liabilities of the College. The College is a corporation and as such receives this transfer of funds from Government of Nunavut.
The $1.3 million funding last year was able to help alleviate some of those extra costs and deficits.
The monies that we see here again are to cover the unbudgeted costs of the pension buyback and so on. At the same time, the deal with the issue the member is talking about, the college was asked to bring forward to the Financial Management Board a proposal on a new funding formula allocation to look at how its funding will be dealt with within that context.
That has been done and we hope to be in a position in the New Year to be able to look at that formula funding model to be able to alleviate some of the deficits and some of the issues around the areas that were raised by the member.
Is this going to be a permanent increase to college’s budget?
I guess that is the other thing I am sure the college is waiting to hear as well.
Hon. Ed. Picco: That is correct, Mr. Chairman.  Chairman: Mr. Tootoo.
I am sure there are some happy people at the college including the minister.
I congratulate him on getting that additional funding that they have been arguing for, for quite some time now.
Must be a good minister.
Mr. Chairman, the other question that I have on that section is just below that. There is $652,000 for Early Learning and Childcare initiatives. I am wondering if the minister knows what initiatives those are specific initiatives that the funding is going to be targeted for.
Mr. Chairman, that $652,000 is contingent on the ELC, the Early Learning Childcare agreement that we have had some discussion and the motion on in the House.
That $652,000 is put up by the federal government without strings attached before the agreement was signed. However, if we don’t use that money it will lapse. So as a government we have decided to draw down on that $652,000and be able to provide those monies to our member daycares.
As a good example of the $652,000, we could use Coral for example. We had two programs in Coral and these are all new monies. So as of, if this money is approved today, the daycare in Coral for example will receive an extra $16,000 which they didn’t even know about before, and the Head Start Program in Coral will receive $5,000.
In Iqaluit, Aakuluk Daycare would get $29,000. It depends on how many students, and so on, are enrolled in each member daycare.
So that $652,000 will be going directly out to our daycares in Nunavut.
So this is a really good news story for our member daycares.
Again, this is federal money, transferred to us and we’re sending right back out to the daycares.
The minister indicated going out there; I guess he said a per capita delivery to the daycares. Is that what he’s indicating that that funding will be distributed evenly, based on daycare spaces; I guess you could call it, I don’t want to use that per capita word there.
Will it be equally distributed to daycare spaces across the whole territory? Is there any specific purpose for what that funding will or could be used for?
I think he just mentioned it will be distributed out to the communities with daycares.
On November 30 the Minister of Finance wrote to the member, Mr. Evyagotailak, on the breakdown, and so on, I think that most of the members probably received a copy of that as the Chair of the Regular Caucus. It gives a breakdown and an explanation of the monies that will be spent. The majority of that money will be going to member daycares across the territory, and at the same time we have held back some of the money that will be used to develop a daycare manual for some of the daycares.
That’s something that has been asked for by the daycare groups.
I had a meeting with representatives from across Nunavut from different daycares on my Education Advisory Committee and that was one of the recommendations that they had made. The issue is not solely on per capita, meaning the number of students enrolled. There are some of the other issues.
For example, some daycares had issues with frozen pipes when there was no extra O&M. So those daycares might have received more money based on their specific needs, on top of the enrolment numbers, too.
Chairman: This is terrible. I’m almost starting to think like Mr. Picco.
Do you have any more questions, Mr. Tootoo? No more?
We are on Adult Learning and Post Secondary Services. $1,325,000.
There’s an item in the amount of $968,000 transferred from the Department of Health and Social Services for the nursing program at Nunavut Arctic College. Could the minister explain exactly how that amount was spent in a way, was it mainly overhead? Or salaries?
Or any going directly to student’s benefit?
Which one is going to respond?
In the past the monies for the nursing program were done through fees paid by the Department of Health to the college.
What we’ve done this time is actually a single transfer to the college to deliver the program.
That includes all the operational costs, instructor salaries, and so on, that is associated with running the nursing program.
I appreciate the minister responding to it.
That is an important program.
Is that an ongoing program?
If it is, how many are involved in the program right now? Students from Nunavut, in terms of regions, how many from the Baffin, Kivalliq, if any, as well as the Kitikmeot?
The member is correct; the nursing program is a Nunavut-wide program.
The number of students right now in the program is 26. They come from across Nunavut. I don’t have a regional breakdown with me right now.
As the member knows we’ve graduated four nurses in the program and right now, in the health access year of the program, we have six in year four. It looks like we have five, right now who may be in a position where they would graduate and that would be pretty good; almost double what we had last year. As the member has suggested, it has been a successful program for us.
I would appreciate it if the minister would provide an update to members, he doesn’t have to actually table it, but if you would maybe provide a letter to all of the MLAs so that we could understand a bit about it.
But my other question is: is it an ongoing program, if so how is it promoted to the communities or is it just a short-term affirmative action program?
This is an ongoing program in the college.
We started that program shortly after division and I can say with some authority that when we started the program, I actually went from the feds and said, look we are doing the first Inuk-specific nursing program in Canada, and when you graduate from this program, you will have your bachelors degree, your expert nurses certificate, and you can nurse anywhere in Canada. And our federal partner never came to the table.
So, the program had to be base funded to the college that we have just talked about, and it’s an ongoing program of the college. It’s not an affirmative action program; it’s one of the programs that we want something similar to the NTEP program.
Mr. Curley: It’s an important program I would say and I would really like to see, certainly myself, if there would be a little more promotion for the possible prospective students for the coming years because we do need nurses badly, particularly the bilingual nurses in Nunavut.
My next question to the Minister of Health, it was earlier indicated that the minister has an ongoing sort of a recruitment of mostly Asian nurses. Does the government have a direct policy in that they would go to the Asian market for nurses instead of, for instance, European or any other continent?
The international recruitment effort, in the past, has focused on different countries where there was interest in professions to come to certain countries.
One example is Australia. The past few years ago, there was a lot of effort put into recruiting nurses and doctors from Australia to come to Nunavut.
As it is right now, there is a worldwide shortage of nurses and we are dealing with shortages not only in Canada, but also in the States and all over the place.
One of the areas that we focused on was India as well as in the Asian countries.
We have been very successful in those recruitments in those countries to come to Canada.
A recruitment team went over and did extensive recruitments in the country to ensure that the people that are being hired into Canada met the Canadian standards. So, we have been successful there.
One of the things we also did was we are dealing with an international recruitment firm in deciding where best to market our strategies and our efforts.
It was chosen that the Philippines as well as in India that we would focus our recruitment efforts and we have been quite successful in that program.
I appreciate the response. I understand that the international recruitment centre, there should probably be private markets out there that they do understand certain shortage of nurses around the world.
But it’s probably really up to the Cabinet, through the policy, of where they want to recruit.
What guidelines do you actually give the international recruiting agents to give you a sort of a list of nurses available and are these criteria based on cost, the rate of compensation or experience or graduates of the schools that are providing surplus to their nation countries.
I assume the Cabinet gives certain guidelines that you not just buying the recruits from this nation that kind of thing from the international private search group.
So it would be helpful if you give the Committee and Nunavummiut a little more explanation the amount of money that you are asking right now.
The nursing program has been going on for some time and the funding in the past was with the Department of Health.
That funding is being transferred to the Department of Education but aside from that the department has a recruitment strategy in place for not only the nursing field but also in the areas of mental health, dentistry, and in the areas of translators, midwifery, and social work. There is a whole side in place that I will share with the members in the new year, which was approved by Cabinet a couple of weeks ago.
That is a whole Department of Health and Social Services recruitment strategy for a number of professionals in the department. Not only in the area of nurses but in the area of mental health and midwifery as an example and dentistry and I will be able to communicate that information with Members in the New Year. It was just recently approved.
One of the things that we’re trying to focus on is that the programs be designed in such a way so that a person taking, as an example nursing program, a three to four-year nursing program and decides that they are not able to complete the two to three years, then the first year can be transferred to, as an example, a midwifery program or the mental health program. So it is a going-up-the-ladder type of approach to recruitment and training.
That plan is now in place and I’ll be able to share with my colleagues in the New Year.
In terms of the strategy to recruit nurses.
First and foremost they have to be qualified practitioners and various experiences. Some experiences in hospitals, some experience in health centre type arrangements, perhaps homecare, perhaps midwifery. There are a number of skills that the individuals have to meet but in having said that, in order to practice nursing in Canada, all nurses have to pass the Canadian National exam to practise nursing in Canada and in Nunavut.
So we follow those same practices.
The recruitment efforts in place also focus on communications and information sessions with potential candidates so that they have a full understanding of the environment that they will be working in.
Are you done? Thank you.
Adult Learning and Post Secondary Services. $1,325,000.
Chairman: Thank you. Total Adult Learning and Post Secondary Services. $1,325,000 Do you agree?
Chairman: Thank you. Career and Early Childhood Services. -$116,000.
Chairman: Total Career and Early Childhood Services. -$116,000.
Chairman: Total Department. $209,000.
I would like to recognize the clock.
Chairman: Mr. Peterson, only the Chair can recognize the clock so you can’t report progress by recognizing the clock.
Health and Social Services. Operations and Maintenance.
Not previously authorized. Directorate. $532,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Chairman: Total Directorate. $532,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Chairman: Healthy Children, Families, and Communities. -$90,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
For the Healthy Children, Families, and Communities. -$90,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Chairman: Total Department. $442,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Community Support. $92,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Chairman: Thank you. Total Community Support. $92,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Chairman: Government Services. $1,509,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
(interpretation ends) Mr. Tootoo.
Mr. Tootoo: Are you in a rush, Mr. Chairman?
You are going so fast we can’t keep up to you.
Mr. Chairman, my question on this here is there is $125,000 for a transfer of a lease in the Parnaivik Building that was held by the Qulliq Energy Corporation and is now being held by the Department of Finance. Does this mean that the Qulliq Energy Corporation offices are relocating somewhere else and they are giving up that lease?
The Department of Finance had staff in Iqaluit in five different locations, including our Corporate Services Division, which was out at the Federal Building. There was space in the Parnaivik Building next to our Directorate that was underutilized by the Qulliq Energy Corporation and there was insufficient space for the Finance staff.
So, there was some movement of manpower from the Parnaivik to the Federal Building in the case of Qulliq Energy and Finance was able to consolidate at least one of those locations together in Parnaivik.
So, the Qulliq Energy Corporation is not looking at moving out of their lease, so they are going to build them a new building to move into.
I remember last year when you said...is that correct or are you just giving up some space that they were using? Is that it?
In this situation, it was moving of resources around Iqaluit to provide better operational efficiency that was not connected to any other capital projects that I am aware of.
Mr. Tootoo. $509,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Total Government Services. $1,509,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Mr. Tootoo: If we are going to approve something, do we need a quorum?
Chairman: I guess we do need a quorum. Thank you. We have a quorum.
Chairman: Thank you. Total Department.
Could the Minister of the Department of Economic Development provide more information to cover the cost of utilities?
I realize that it sounds reasonable with the increase in power rates effective April 1, 2005.
Could you actually provide that because I believe the rates of the electric or fuel in Iqaluit were not all that significant compared to increases that other communities have experienced?