Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on June 15th, 2010

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Do you want to add anything there, Mr. Robillard?

[Michel Robillard]

No. We'll come back.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thanks, Mr. Bevington.

I'm watching the time here. We do have two more people on the list: Monsieur Lévesque and Monsieur Bagnell.

Monsieur Lévesque.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

I will try to be brief, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Robillard, when the deputy minister last appeared before this committee, I think that your board had not yet been fully established and that you were having difficulty approving various individuals.

With regard to education—in order to train a skilled workforce—you lacked teaching staff and you were having difficulty finding people because you didn't have anywhere to house them. Is this still the case today?

[Michel Robillard]

Our management team is now trained and complete. We completed it over the last few months. With regard to our employees who work in various regional offices, as I mentioned earlier, we now have the office space we need in Whitehorse and Yellowknife. The staffing process is currently underway, including for the Northern Projects Management Office as well as for the regional economic development office. Staffing is underway and, to date, is working well.

In Iqaluit, we have a 20-month plan to fill positions and acquire the needed office space for a headquarters and a general office. So there are two aspects in Iqaluit: the regional office, which will serve Nunavut, and the headquarters, which is responsible for CanNor operations throughout the north. We only have a liaison office here in Ottawa, which will be staffed by 13 to 18 individuals, which includes support staff for our deputy minister.

With regard to Nunavut, we are currently working to obtain temporary office space. At the same time, we are working on obtaining permanent office space, because it takes a little longer, in Nunavut, because of the impact of the seasons on material delivery, etc. Various issues are more specific to Nunavut and must be integrated into our headquarters establishment plan. To date, the plan is going well. As I mentioned, it is a 20-month plan. There are issues, as is the case for all organizations operating in the north, but our plan is quite flexible in order to adjust to any problems. We always have a plan B and a plan C to deal with problems. So, setting up CanNor is going quite well.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Let us talk about education, in other words, staff training in the north. If I am not mistaken, this is part of your mandate. During our last meeting, you told us that there were companies wanting to undertake development in the north, but that there was a lack of skilled staff to train the workforce in the north. Is this still the case?

[Michel Robillard]

It is likely the case, but I will try to consult the transcripts of that discussion, because I cannot remember. I was not here in March, but I will be able to provide an answer to your question by consulting my colleagues. If you will allow me, I can ask our office staff to send you the answer to that question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Yes.

There are only five minutes remaining.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

I would like to ask Mr. Borbey to send it to me in writing.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Please be brief.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

A little earlier, he mentioned that they were also investing in Quebec through CanNor. The last time, I had asked a question about this. I thought that CanNor was no longer doing business with Quebec.

[Patrick Borbey]

No, I was talking about research infrastructure improvement projects. In Quebec, we have various projects, namely the Kuujjuaq Research Centre, which will soon open its doors. There is also the Northern Study Centre, which is a multi-faculty research centre for Laval University, and various facilities in northern Quebec.

I can send you the list of all the projects. I think that we have already sent it. It is called the Arctic Research Infrastructure Fund. I can certainly send it again.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

I was going to ask that anyway. You've committed to bring back written responses on any outstanding questions, and we'll bring them directly to the analysts to help inform the report.

Monsieur Robillard, you have another item to add.

[Michel Robillard]

Yes, it's in answer to the question about education from Mr. Lévesque.

As I mentioned, Mr. Lévesque, the question you are asking me should probably be addressed to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. In fact, it has specific programs, and my colleagues who work in that area would be able to also answer that question. I just wanted to mention that. We will do some research, but perhaps the question concerns them more than it does us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Okay.

Mr. Borbey, you are right that we got a list earlier, but we note that the number of projects has changed. So if you have an up-to-date list on the 202 projects that were mentioned in your report to the committee, that would be helpful for the report.

[Patrick Borbey]

It's a different list. It's not a CanNor list; it's INAC.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Okay.

[Patrick Borbey]

There are 20 projects under this fund, and we'll make sure you get the information.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The same would go for CanNor and Monsieur Robillard, an up-to-date list of the actual projects, what they consisted of. That would be helpful for the report. You listed, you think, 202 for $32 million.

As for the last question, I will give the floor to Mr. Bagnell, who has three minutes.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

I have just two short questions.

First, as you know, probably the two biggest potential economic development projects north of 60 are the Alaska Highway and the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. I'm just wondering what CanNor is doing to move those forward and what they're prepared to do.

Second, when the stimulus money runs out, our committee heard--and I'm sure they'll all agree--there still are a lot of requests for infrastructure in the north. What are the priority projects you see, or maybe one project for each territory? If you don't have that priority, how will you choose that for next year and the year after?

[Michel Robillard]

With respect to the Mackenzie gas project, the Major Projects Management Office is working right now with the different partners and stakeholders on this project. On May 3, CanNor launched the NPMO, Northern Project Management Office, and the role we're playing right now is to attend meetings with MPMO, because MPMO is responsible for the Mackenzie gas project, so they may be in a much better position than I am right now to answer that question. We have worked with them to include CanNor NPMO in their discussions.

[Patrick Borbey]

I can also add that the department in the past and now CanNor have funded the Aboriginal Pipeline Group in NWT, so certainly we've been supportive that way. In Yukon in the past we've worked with NRCan to have capacity-building workshops with all the first nations along the proposed or planned pipeline route. That's something we're prepared to continue working on as the project continues to evolve.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

My second question.

[Michel Robillard]

Yes, Mr. Bagnell.

I can speak for our priorities in the north, and right now one of them is diversification of the economy. That's why I've been emphasizing at the committee that CanNor is investing in different sectors of the economy, because one of our main goals is diversification, and the traditional economy as well as tourism and cultural industry. That's CanNor's priority. I can speak for the other partners because we have normal consultation with them. We have, under SINED, a clear investment plan over the next five years, and our role is to implement this investment plan.

Just one last clarification, Mr. Chair...?