Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And how we're doing that is in partnership. Once again, we were just down in Vancouver at the AME Roundup where I signed an MOU with the Yellowknives Dene and the Tlicho to advance the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor. Of course we have a Minister of Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains -- see, it's not that hard of a title -- to focus on this work with an associate Minister who -- and I have found that arrangement actually to be one of the most effective things that we do as government, to have an associate and a Minister focusing on these specific projects. It has really helped to move them along. We've travelled down to Ottawa many times, both as Council of Leaders -- or rather, with other Indigenous governments, to advocate for the economic security corridor. I've done this to the Prime Minister, to a number of Ministers, as has the Minister of infrastructure. We have a timeline that we're working through with the proponents, the Yellowknives Dene and the Tlicho, to advance this. We're in had regular contact with the leadership of those Indigenous governments. And so we're doing everything we can to move things forward here. We have a federal government that is receptive. The world has a focus on the Arctic and on critical minerals, and we are doing our best to take advantage of that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask questions of the Premier.
The Government of the Northwest Territories signed socio-economic agreements with each of the diamond mine operators as they were starting up operations. The one with Ekati was signed with BHP as far back as 1996. One was signed with Diavik in 1999 and then amended in 2015. And two have been signed with De Beers, in 2004 and 2013. So these commit the operators, amongst other things, to use certain levels of northern and Indigenous employees and contractors. They also commit the GNWT to certain actions like training and apprenticeship programs.
My first question: How is the GNWT enforcing these socio-economic agreements including, at this time as several mines are reducing their operations, how can we enforce their promises to prioritize reserving northern workers and northern contractors as they scale down? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so of course socio-economic agreements don't have enforcement clauses. There's not levers to enforce. There's not fines that can be levied on the mines for not meeting those targets. And so this is about building relationships and ensuring that we're staying on top of this. So I know the Minister of ITI has quarterly meetings with the mines where they go over these numbers, the employment numbers. When we learn about mines looking at changing their workforce, reducing the workforce, of course we ensure that they're going to follow the appropriate legislation. But we also do our best to ensure they keep as many northern staff as possible. And a lot of effort goes into that. That's always a live discussion at the Cabinet table whenever anything happens with any major industry or employer in the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So of course it's disappointing to hear that these much touted agreements with companies are actually not enforceable. How is the GNWT ensuring, then, that the diamond mine operators fulfill their commitments according to the agreements to work with the GNWT as operations are being scaled back or moving towards closure and, particularly, to retrain workers and ease their transition to new jobs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so when certain companies wind down, for example up at Diavik, for years they've had a my path program where they worked with the employees there to help them transition to whatever might be next. And so as I mentioned earlier, we have formed a partnership with Yellowknives Dene and the Tlicho to look at any training opportunities that might be available, trying to figure out where, you know, those individuals are working, how we can best support them. I want to also point out that there's already a lot of different programs available in the territory. There's different training programs that can be accessed. And not everybody needs those programs all the time. But when they do need them, they exist. And so in these situations, we don't need to always come up with a whole new suite of programs. We already have existing programs. That said, we do lobby the federal government to enhance the funding through -- that we get through some of these programs to address these issues when there's large closure or a large number of job losses. We want to ensure that both the federal and the territorial government are working together to maximize our resources and getting as much money into the territory and into the hands of the people who need it as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So given that mines such as Ekati have been sold over the years to new operators, if the socio-economic agreements have been assigned or transferred to the responsibility of the new owners, was there any assessment of whether the new owner or operators had the financial capacity or know-how to actually fulfill the obligations in these socio-economic agreements? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the department of ITI does review the socio-economic agreements when there is the sale of a mine, and those socio-economic agreements do transfer to the new owner. So, yes, we do review those. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh .
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Premier. Mr. Speaker, culturally safety training and medical travel modernization fall far short of the structured changes required to fulfill and realize the framework of UNDRIP, including Indigenous control over health services, ensuring Indigenous people have access to high quality of non-discriminative care. My question is the Premier.
Is the Premier satisfied with these shortcomings, and what will he do to ensure the Minister takes meaningful action to fully implement UNDRIP during the remaining of this term? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard the Member mention the Minister's priorities of medical travel and cultural safety. I am not sure if he mentioned the other priority of care in small communities, and so I think a focus on care in small communities, which are primarily Indigenous in the territory, is -- you know, is a direct -- you can directly point to that to say we are working to fulfill the treaties. But I will comment since I am on the subject there that we do fulfill the treaties, I would say more than any other jurisdiction in Canada. We put more effort into ensuring that we do fulfill the treaties. I am very confident in the Minister of health, and when I travel around the territory and I meet with different leaders, including Indigenous leaders from the Member's own riding, they go out of their way to tell me what a good job the Minister is doing and how much faith they have in her. So, Mr. Speaker, I am excited with the changes that are happening. I can see the -- you know, we -- I have access to more of what's going on, I would say, than obviously the general population, and there's a lot of stuff happening in the departments right from putting in a public administrator, to straighten things out, to ensuring that we are understanding what we're actually spending money on, to ensuring that the medical travel is being dealt with today. You know, we're not waiting until text term to start looking into this. So there's a lot of great things happening, and things do take time, but we're seeing those changes now. And I think that in the next few years, we're going to see a significant transformation of the healthcare system in the Northwest Territories for the better. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Premier believe the Minister of Health and Social Services is upholding the spirit of consensus government and the open collaborative approach required in her mandate letter when she refused to work with Regular Members on protecting treaty rights and improving quality of care of Indigenous people received through medical travel policies? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I don't accept the premise of the Member's question. We do uphold the spirit of consensus government. Ministers appear in front of committees. Committees give feedback to Ministers. Ministers go and give direction to departments informed by that feedback. Just because a Member is not getting everything they want or they make promises that the Minister can't deliver on for them, it doesn't mean that we're not fulfilling the promise of consensus government, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Meaningful progress is not being made by the Minister in advancing UNDRIP or upholding treaties, strengthening partnerships with First Nations as required in her mandate letter. What steps will the Premier take to ensure these commitments are fulfilled during the remaining of his term? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're going to stay the course because, again, I don't agree with the premise of the Member's question. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to return to the homeless encampments. To be clear, I didn't say unhoused - the homeless encampment.
Mr. Speaker, the one downtown and near Sir John and the one set up right underneath the transmission lines that come from Snare into the City of Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker -- those big lines, yes. Mr. Speaker, they continue to have fires there. They continue to have jerry cans there, and it continues to be a -- well, we'll say a mess. I think that's about the safest parliamentary word I will use today, Mr. Speaker. But the Minister knows what I am talking about.
So, Mr. Speaker, what is the Minister doing under her portfolio of homelessness to clean up that camp and let them move over to that huge investment they created by the golf club? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our homelessness department within Housing Northwest Territories works closely with encampment individuals, works closely with partners, with the City of Yellowknife, with the Salvation Army, with the YWCA. We do have a Yellowknife partnership committee that meets regularly, along with the NWT fire marshal, along with environment and climate change officials. So we do this constant communications and outreach including visits with the encampments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister dovetailed perfectly into my next question. I was driving by the museum the other day and saw the old stove type barrelling smoke, Mr. Speaker, unregulated I am sure, Mr. Speaker, and the Minister said fire marshal. Mr. Speaker, when has the fire marshal officially given their stamp of approval that these two encampments are safe? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since the NWT fire marshal doesn't report to me, I don't have that information at this time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Mr. Speaker, she is the one saying we're working together so there must be some information she can supply this House or this Member in particular. Mr. Speaker, I ask again, would the Minister prove that the fire marshal is comfortable and confident that those two locations are safe and Yellowknifers are -- and these individuals are not put at risk. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, working closely with Yellowknife partnership's committee and the homelessness division. I think that there's constant communication and outreach, and we can provide details to the Member with the question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is in Yellowknife, so you're not wrong.
Mr. Speaker, a number of my constituents have had very concerning power bills over the coldest months of the year with some of their -- some of their bills doubling, and it's very concerning. I've mentioned it before. We subsidize power rates. It's clear that the structural fixes are going to take far more time than we have to provide relief to Northerners who are struggling every day. Can the Minister of -- responsible for NTPC tell me how -- or what subsidies are available to shield Yellowknifers in my riding from the rising cost of power? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister responsible for NTPC.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a new cost of living subsidy that is being applied directly to all customer utility bills in the Northwest Territories meant to reflect the changes that came about following the general rate application last year. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the cost of -- I believe it was the cost of living subsidy. So will that directly impact the bills that my constituents are paying? Because that's what it -- because that's where the rubber meets the road. Are they going to see increasing costs, or are they going to see a stabilized cost going forward where they're not going to see these shocks month on month; that's what they want to know. And I am hoping the Minister can tell me. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, so at the conclusion of the general rate application process, there was increases that were instituted by the public utilities board to reflect a variety of increases in costs which they go through a public process of reviewing. At the conclusion of that process, they did determine that there would be increases to everyone's rates, and that is what people are seeing now, is the conclusion of that process. The GNWT doesn't completely cover all increases to all utilities costs but they have instituted the cost of living subsidy to mitigate those increases so they're not as great as they would otherwise have been. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for NTPC. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It seems like the majority of subsidies are going to diesel zones rather than hydro zones. So is the Minister willing to implement a new rate subsidy for customers in the capital? It's half the population. There's a lot of people paying higher bills. Will the Minister bring forward enhanced subsidies to lower the cost for my constituents? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's in fact the folks down in the Taltson zone who are seeing the largest rate impacts. They had been paying an amount that wasn't reflective of the impacts of having increased infrastructure in their region and as a result of that, Mr. Speaker, it's actually that area that's seeing the greatest increase, not folks who are in the northern zone on this particular occasion. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for NTPC. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have another set of questions for Minister of Health and Social Services.
So the ten-year contract for air ambulance services in NWT was signed last May with Access Air Ambulance, a joint venture between Air Tindi, several Indigenous development corporations, and Advanced Medical Solutions, which was bought a few days later by a non-northern company. The total value of the latest contract was $425 million, almost three times the value of the previous ten-year contract for air ambulances.
So my question, through the contract Access Air Ambulance has committed to achieving substantial levels of NWT content as per the Business Incentive Policy. Can the Minister tell us what does substantial levels of NWT content mean exactly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for -- or sorry, Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so according to the BIP online, substantial levels means the contractor must show meaningful, not token, use of northern capacity; for example, through NWT registered subcontractors, local staff, and services delivered from the Northwest Territories. The goal is to maximize economic benefit for the Northwest Territories residents, support local jobs and skills, and recognize the higher cost of doing business in the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell us what happens if HSS or the health authority or GNWT decides that the contractor has not achieved substantial levels of NWT content; what happens in that case for a ten-year contract such as this? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as this is an essential service to the residents of the Northwest Territories, it is where our most vulnerable are having to be moved from small communities to the regional centres, regional centres that need to have access in the capital, and to the southern -- to Alberta. Within this -- you know, I'd have to get back to the Member on how procurement is done. I am very familiar with a lot of the portfolios; however, procurement is not one of the things that I delve down into on a day-to-day basis. So I would have to get back to the back. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can certainly appreciate that so I appreciate the Minister getting back to us.
And so, finally, particularly given that the number of air ambulance rides that are required has actually been slightly decreasing over the last three years, can the Minister commit to providing detailed justification for why taxpayers are suddenly paying three times the amount for this contract? For example, what new services are going to be provided, why those new services are necessary. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
