Good morning, everyone. I would ask you all to rise and I would ask Mr. Beaulieu to lead us in prayer this morning.

---Prayer

Please be seated. Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. I would like to call the Territorial Leadership Committee back to order. The next item on our agenda is the election of our Premier. Our agreed upon procedure will see us call for nominations for the Premier’s position. This will be followed by speeches from the nominees and then a series of questions for the nominees. Let us proceed.

Are there any nominations for the position of Premier? The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I wish to nominate Mr. Floyd Roland, Member for Boot Lake, for the position of Premier. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Does the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake accept the nomination?

Thank you. Yes, I do.

The nomination has been accepted. Are there any other nominations for the position of Premier? The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mr. Chair, I wish to nominate Michael Miltenberger, the Member for Thebacha, for the position of Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Does the honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger, accept the nomination?

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.

The Member for Thebacha accepts the nomination. Are there any further nominations for the position of Premier? Final call for nominations for the position of Premier. Hearing none, nominations are closed and we will move to the next step on our agenda and we will call on the honourable Member for Thebacha to give a 20-minute speech.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First, I would like to thank my colleague for Tu Nedhe for nominating me. I would like to welcome everybody to the House. I would like to welcome everybody listening and watching on TV and radio to the House, the House of the people, the House that consensus government built, the type of government that has allowed us to do many of the things that we have accomplished over the last number of years with negotiations with aboriginal people, with the types of programs we have been able to bring to communities large and small. It’s the type of government that allows this debate that we are having today in the House where two friends can stand up and offer their services to the people of the North.

My colleague and I, Mr. Roland, came through this door 12 years ago together as new MLAs in the 13th Assembly. We

have worked together and been friends since that time and supported each other through the various highs and lows that have occurred as they are want to do in the legislative life. We have worked through the dark days of 1995, up through division and survived Y2K and a new century that we have been working on since then for the benefit of the people. So it’s clear to everybody here today and those missing, we are friends, we will be friends and I will support him as he will support me as long as we are in this Legislature and beyond.

Mr. Speaker, every Legislature builds on the work of those previous Legislatures and that’s our task here today. For me, my vision is a very basic one. If we want a sustainable society and a strong economy, it has to be built on two things: a healthy environment and healthy people. There are three major problems that are challenging us and the rest of the world as we try to achieve that vision.

The first one is the huge population that the world has got -- six billion people, soon to be nine billion over the next 20 or 25 years -- putting an incredible strain and demand on the resources and systems that we have in the world. There is the whole issue of global warming and what that is doing to our climate. We know that this is not just an abstract argument, but it’s real to all of us. We know there are resource companies and multinational companies lined up to come into the North to take advantage and extract and drill for and mine for every resource we have available, because there is a huge and growing demand in the world.

We know in our territory, the land, the water is changing and not necessarily for the better. We know that things outside our boundaries, in Alberta for example, are putting a dramatic impact and pressure on the Mackenzie River Basin and the whole Northwest Territories watershed down to the Arctic Ocean. There are things like invasive species, the pine beetle is on our borders, Tuk and Aklavik are facing erosion and water problems, fisheries are disappearing, water levels are

dropping, lakes are disappearing. I know this because in my own constituency, some lakes have disappeared. Some are so low that they become two. Last year, there was a 10-foot drop in the Slave River, so we know that there are significant problems facing us as we try to achieve the goal of a healthy environment and healthy people, which would give us our sustainable society.

We have tremendous opportunity. Canada is one of the best counties in the world and the Northwest Territories is by far, in my opinion, the best place to live; a magnificent country and splendid opportunities and tremendous resources both from the people and the land, but there are challenges. The question is, when you have the water, the land, the animals and the people, resource development, what is the balance? It’s a debate that we have yet to be had as northerners. It’s a debate that needs to be had. It’s a discussion that we have to have as northerners. What type of development, how fast, where is it, are we getting an acceptable return from the resources, wealth and riches that are being extracted from our land? Those are the questions. I think, as we proceed as the 16th Assembly, we

have to have that discussion. It is absolutely fundamental. These will lead to very, very fundamental policy decisions and direction for government not only for the life of the 16th Assembly, but for governments beyond, so we can’t start any sooner.

In order to answer that question, there are things we have to do. We have to come to grips with the whole issue of cumulative impact. We cannot just look at a project-by-project basis at development across the Northwest Territories or in the transboundary areas like northern Alberta. We can’t look at Giant Mine, the pipeline, individual diamond mines on their own merit. While they have their own merits and their own issues, we have to put them all together because the pressures on the land are going to be great and if we don’t know what the cumulative impact is, how do we know what type of development is in the best interest of northerners and in the best interest of future generations?

I point to the caribou. We know that there are things happening. The numbers are down. There are climate change issues, resource development issues, hunting issues. I understand the work done on the Beverly Qamanirjuaq only reinforces that downward trend in caribou numbers. That is but one critical example that has to be looked at when we talk about cumulative impact.

We have to support the whole process of land use planning that has been taking place in the Deh Cho or Gwich’in region and with the Sahtu. We have to encourage every region to do that and we have to be able to link that together so we have a territorial land use plan, so when we sit down as a Legislature and when we talk with the aboriginal governments and the other leaders, we have a sense of direction of what is acceptable to us and how do we proceed. This will allow us, as well, to build a much clearer frame around the Protected Areas Strategy.

I believe, as well, we clearly need, as part of that process, a specific water strategy for the Northwest Territories. We are the only jurisdiction in the country that has approved unanimously, in this House, a motion that has declared water a fundamental right. I think we should take full credit for that because that is, in fact, the case. I would hope that this Assembly would reaffirm that commitment and in all the policy decisions that we make on resource development and what’s happening, water has to be considered in that context.

We know that there is…(inaudible)…happening in Alberta, as well as across the world. You look at the news, the lakes are dropping. So water is going to be absolutely critical for us.

We have to bring ourselves together to discuss these issues. We need a strong northern voice; not just a strong northern voice in this Legislature, but a strong northern voice.

Beyond the money and resource sharing is the issue of devolution. This discussion is fundamental to those two initiatives that we have underway and it’s my belief the fact that there is so much fundamental concern for the land, the water and the animals is the one factor that will bring all the aboriginal governments and the territorial government into the same tent to finally nail down a devolution agreement. That is far more important, in my mind, than money for some short- term jobs and short-term resource development. I believe there is a page to be taken by this strong stand taken by Premier Williams in Newfoundland. There is nothing wrong standing up strong and tall as a northerner and saying things are not acceptable. We want a better deal for our people. In fact, we should be doing a resource royalty review. Alberta did it and they found they were getting shortchanged by $2 billion a year. The royalty regime in the Northwest Territories is by far worse. We are literally giving the resources away that our children, grandchildren and generations to come are going to be depending on.

So we have lots to do in that particular area, but as we focus on those fundamental issues, we have to keep in mind that we have a government to run and we have a $1.2 billion budget to administer and we have a tremendous list of demands by the people in our communities, large and small, that far exceeds the money available to complete it. The scan that we all had given to us earlier this week tell us that now 70 cents of every dollar is spent on social programs.

As I search back in my memory to the start of the 13th Assembly, if you check the numbers, that number at that time was probably about 60 cents. So we are in a battle and we can’t win if we just continue on the same track of trying to fix problems after they happen or cure people after they are sick. We are not only in this struggle; every jurisdiction in the country in North America and in the world, as a matter of fact, is fighting the same problem. There will never be enough money, even if they gave us every cent of royalties, to deal with all the problems that we have, if we don’t start making a difference in the health and social indicators like smoking, drinking, the suicide rates, the violent crimes, the housing statistics, the sexually transmitted infections. We have to not forget that the government can’t fix everything. We can help people. We are talking, for the most part, about some very fundamental issues when it comes to the health of our population. That is diet, exercise, smoking, the abuse of alcohol and drugs. Those contribute to the majority of our costs, and I can tell you, as Health Minister for five years, they are there. We have to work on the prevention side. We have to expand our commitment in the schools with recreation and phys. ed. We have to continue to work with other departments, MACA and the communities for active living and we have to continue to invest promotions like Don’t be a Butthead, because if we don’t make a dent and turn some of those trends around, we will never be successful and we will never have enough money.

As we look forward, we know that there is concern about the demands and the money that has to cause us to look at the government and how it’s structured and how it’s set up. I am suggesting that we should be looking, rather than growing government at this point, consolidating what we have and we

should be doing a zero-based budget review and program review that will tell us how effectively those programs are running, are they the right programs, should we even be doing those programs and if we aren’t, what programs should we be doing? That will also give us the opportunity to possibly reprofile money because rather than grow government, we know there are areas that are underfunded that are struggling to survive in the NGO sector, the volunteer sector, where they get by on a shoestring, where they are begging us every year for some extra funds so they can try to keep staff. We know that there are literacy issues, that the communities don’t have enough to pay their senior staff. So we have plenty of places within the courses that we currently run that we should be looking at before we want to expand the role of government.

There are also challenges for us. We have spent my life in this Legislature focussed in terms of transportation almost exclusively on Highway No. 3 and the Ingraham Trail. It had to be done; the road to the capital, the money was spent. But we have to try to turn our attention, in conjunction with the federal government, to other areas of the region in the Northwest Territories. We have heard talk from almost every community about the Dempster, the road to Tuk, access to gravel sources. In my region, the federal government is ready to put money on the table to chipseal, finally, after 12 years, the road through the park. We have to nail those agreements down. We have to get the money and we have to start looking at how we put those resources to work in some of the areas. I don’t want to forget the road through the Tlicho. I have been talking about that since I first got elected in 1995 and I still think it’s a good idea today.

We know that before us are going to be plenty of challenges, tremendous opportunities to do this, possibly better to improve on the lessons we have learned from the 14th Assembly. But

let there be no mistake; as we struggle and balance the money and demands, we are going to have to make choices. We are going to have to make good, solid, informed choices, but they aren’t going to be easy. Anybody that’s been here before, the longer you’ve been here, the more that you will know that we are in the business of having to make choices, the best decisions we can make for all our people, but we have to make them. That’s why we are here.

Mr. Chairman, as we look at all that’s before us, we are going to be engaging in a business planning budget process that is waiting for the culmination of this particular process that will allow us to roll up our sleeves and get ready to get to work for the people of the Northwest Territories. As we prepare to do that, we have to keep in mind we want to put to use all the talent we have around this table. Mr. Roland and I have a collective experience of 24 years in this Legislature and about 11 years between us in Cabinet with a whole range of major departments. Those skills and experiences have to be put to use and every one of us brings our own skills and experiences that have to be put to use. It’s going to recall the collective effort of all of us.

As we prepare to do that, I want to give you a number that will hopefully give you the sense of urgency of how fast time can move in this business. We have less in our mandate, as of today, 1,443 days to try to accomplish things of significance to the people of the Northwest Territories and the agenda we are going to be setting in the coming weeks. Clearly, we conclude this process, we get set up in our committee structures and we have to be prepared to get to work.

I look forward to working with all the Members in the restructured, hopefully, committee process and a strong

relationship between Cabinet and the committees. We have to, as we embark upon this, keep in mind that we are going to be gathering with the aboriginal governments and we have to gather with the people of the Northwest Territories to have this fundamental discussion about the development, about how we want to move forward in a very fundamental way as a territory, not forgetting that there is more to our economy than mega projects and mining and diamonds. In many of our communities, we struggle with the small business sector. Tourism has been undernourished for years and we have to pay attention to those areas because not every community has a diamond mine in their backyard or a pipeline running by their doorstep close enough where they can take direct benefit from that.

So there are many things for us to do and I really appreciate the opportunity to be able to stand here today in this House as a Member of Thebacha to offer my services as Premier for the people of the Northwest Territories and this Assembly. Thank you very much. Don’t forget, 1,443 days. The clock is ticking. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. I will now call upon the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we heard from Mr. Miltenberger about the collective experience we’ve had in this Legislative Assembly, there are a number of us Members who have returned for our fourth term here, so collectively we bring a lot of history through some difficult times and we’ve worked together to try to build and make the Northwest Territories a stronger place for our children so their future and foundation is solid.

I think our goal is to try to ensure that what we do here, and realizing the decisions we make, is going to have far reaching impacts on the lives of the people of the Northwest Territories.

As I thought about this and thought about what I might be able to offer to this Assembly and to the people of the Northwest Territories, I thought I might start with a little bit of personal history. I won’t go into a biography of day by day, once upon a time, a long, long time ago, but I will start laying down some of the context of who I am and the values that I hold and maybe why I have become the person I am.

Quite simply, I am an Inuvialuit, I am a northerner and I am a Canadian. I was born at the Inuvik General Hospital in 1961 and after being discharged, spent the first few days of my life in a tent on the shores of the east branch of the Mackenzie River with my birthmother and grandmother. I was adopted at five days old to David Roland. Excuse me. I will put the words in the matter…Excuse me…You can tell, this man, this family had had a huge impact on my life. With the strength of you, Dad, I will move forward. In his words, he would say to those listening, my wife went to Inuvik to get some supplies. When the bombardier returned that evening, he thought that he had better meet her just in case she had something heavy to carry home. When meeting her at the bombardier shack, she was indeed carrying a bundle and to his surprise, it was a little baby boy. Now I will save you the rest of the day by day biography and leave that best to another time, I believe.

See, I believe it is our past that helped to find what our present and, more importantly, what our future may hold. To move ahead, we must know where we have come from. We must build on the foundations that was laid by our parents and grandparents; the foundation which is all-encompassing. It was about the values of everyday life. There was an order or structure to life that we seemed to have from time to time lost. Let me put it this way: What do we want for our children and, more importantly, what tools are we ready to give them?

The man I call dad grew up in conditions that were much harsher than our generation has experienced. Whether it was building a snow house every evening for himself, his wife and his first child while travelling from the Sachs Harbour area to the Mackenzie Delta, or building his first house by hand out of green trees or pulling a tarp over himself on the tundra as he watched over the reindeer herd, it is the people of his generation that have seen the greatest transition. The leaders of his time looked to the future and recognized the challenging times and adapted.

As a young boy, I travelled on many hunting trips with my dad and his friends. In the spring, we trapped muskrats; in the summer, we went whaling and fishing. In the fall, we hunted caribou and geese and some of these trips meant missing a few days of school and I remember those days with great fondness; not only the missing school part, but on the land.

That is why I can recall that one fall day when he told me I could not go hunting with him. When I asked him why, he replied he wanted me to get a good education and that I should not miss any more school. When I was a young boy, I did not understand that nor did I want to, but I respected him enough to listen and obey his wishes. Yes, I may have grumbled and complained, but I listened to his wishes.

Today I can understand his position. Back then, he could see the changing times and he wanted to give me the right tools to proceed. Now I ask myself, what do I see as a future for my children? What tools will I provide for them? I look around today at what is happening in the North and across this country we call Canada. I ask myself is this what the people of that generation envisioned for us and our children? There are days when I know our mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers would have heavy hearts. As well, there are days when I know they would look at us and say they have found their way, our vision is becoming a reality.

What is our vision? How will we build on the foundation that has been laid before us? Let me give you some ideas of where I think we can go and this is about the tools we will need to do the job.

The opportunities before us are numerous. Like the start of a hunting season, there are animals in abundance. A successful hunt will depend on a skilful hunter using the right equipment at the right time and place. I am using a northern analogy. We have all heard about getting a piece of the pie or growing the pie bigger. Here is what I think about of a northern analogy with my past and upbringing. I will try to put this in a way that you will understand.

The federal government holds the rifle for the hunt. They hold most of the regulatory authority in the NWT. They gain most directly from the development of our resources. The GNWT has the ammunition for the gun. We have some regulatory authority and gain some benefits from development. Aboriginal groups and governments have traditional knowledge to bring the hunters to the animals. They have some authority as well within

their land claims and traditional areas and gain some benefits from development. Only by working together can we make the hunt successful. If there is only debate and discussion and disagreement, the people will go hungry. We will continue to rely on the monthly income support cheque that many talk about. I believe it is time to move ahead. Like our elders who prepared for the hunt, we cannot let ourselves continue with more talk. They knew that even if the weather was not the best, they had to begin to move or lose another opportunity to provide the people with good food. It is time to move ahead for the good of all northerners. I believe in people sharing the responsibility of building healthy families, communities and a strong territory. The social fabric of the Northwest Territories faces many challenges from the outside and some from within.

I have seen many attempts to make things better for people, whether it was a program run by government or NGOs. While many meet the needs of our people, many still fall short of the desired outcome. I believe to truly build strong families we need to start right at the family level. First, we need babies to be born healthy. Then we need to put the right supports in place in the first days of families to give families a fighting chance. What we should not be doing is taking the responsibility away from parents to be just that: parents. We need to give them the right tools to help build strong families. We need to take a step back and look at what we are doing. Is what we are doing making us stronger or weaker? I believe protecting the values and cultures of northern peoples will give us a strong northern voice and identity. Like our elders before us, we have to look past today and look at what the next season will bring and plan accordingly. This includes consideration on the environment and the decisions we make as part of a bigger picture.

When I ran a small tourism company, it gave me great joy to show people who travelled up to the Mackenzie Delta the land that is in our backyard and the abundance of animals that also use that land to live, to share the stories of my father and how he lived and survived in such a challenging environment. You see, to many of us that call this land home have a very personal attachment to it.

That’s not to say that we are not willing to see development happen. All one has to do is look at a number of the land claims that have been settled and look at the measures that have been put in place that protects the land while allowing development to proceed.

Building a balanced and strong economy which incorporates the values of the people who call this land home is not just a possibility, but it is a reality and becoming more so day by day, agreement by agreement.

What we want is an economy that benefits northerners, an economy that leaves behind lasting benefits. Aboriginal people are playing more and more in the NWT’s economy and this trend can, and should, continue. We have examples with agreements with the aboriginal groups and governments around the territory, for example, around the diamond mines with joint ventures. If the gas pipeline is to proceed, this can continue and should continue to be done through joint ventures such as the Aboriginal Pipeline Group. Northerners, aboriginal northerners, are becoming more than just labourers in the land today. All northerners can benefit from this if it is done properly and protects and leaves lasting benefits for the people of the North.

Infrastructure development, like the Mackenzie Valley highway, can bring direct financial benefits to our regions, can help

reduce the cost of living in communities and help our remote communities become more sustainable. I believe if we don’t move forward, we will see, as we have seen in other parts of Canada, smaller communities becoming less and less sustainable. The cost of living in our most remote communities that aren’t connected by main transportation systems continue to have difficulty bringing people in to help them deliver services day to day.

As young people from those communities see what the outside larger communities and the outside country provides, once they get their education, they are looking to better their lives and they are moving on. That is a fact of life.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that as well as government, we have to look at ourselves, the example we set. An efficient and effective government is critical. I believe it is healthy for a government to look within and re-evaluate what it’s doing and how it’s doing it. I believe we are doing that. As we start out as Members of the 16th Legislative Assembly, we set the direction,

we can set the course and we can ensure that it is implemented by working together.

Now, yesterday we heard from the Throne speech delivered in Ottawa. It once again mentioned the North prominently. We heard that message and what it had to offer and state about what the North may hold. I think we need to send our message back; one that says we are ready and we can do our part, not have someone make those decisions for us in Ottawa. We are willing, able and have the ability and people to make a difference in the North. We can help Canada build on Arctic sovereignty; we live here. We can help Canada become a stronger economy in the world by working with our people and the resources this land holds. We, as northerners, need to benefit.

So I say we can help Canada. This is the message I would send: Let us help you, Canada, in making our national anthem a reality, by making this land a true north strong and free.

As you can tell, I am passionate about the people I represent and the land they call home. My father, like his father, walked this land, harvested from this land and now rests in this land. They helped set the foundation. Now it is our turn to build a stronger foundation, a stronger North. I believe our future success depends on can we speak with one voice and be backed by the strength of many.

I look forward to the challenges because I believe challenges are opportunities. I look forward to working with Members of this Assembly in whatever role you see me fitting in. I believe we can build a stronger and prosperous Northwest Territories and move this great territory to where it should be. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Before we move on, colleagues, to the next order of business, I would like to just draw your attention to the fact that Mr. Jackson Lafferty is not present with us this morning, but it's certainly not that he's not interested in what's going on. He had a family emergency that he had to deal with this morning and he's hoping that he can joins us fairly quickly.

We'll now move on to the next order on the order of business and that is that Members are permitted to ask a maximum of two questions to each of the candidates. So I will now open the floor to questions to the candidates. Honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The one question I do have for the candidates right now is that the government often gets criticized for bureaucratic answers and not listening to the people, so I'm wondering how would the prospective Premiers address this question of having real answers for the people and the communities that want them there, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. I'm quite sure I heard you were addressing that question to both candidates, so I will go to Mr. Miltenberger first.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member well knows the processes we have in place to try to deal effectively with communities, questions raised by Members, questions raised by communities. We have staff on the ground; we have, hopefully, a strong, functioning committee system; and, yes, we always have to be concerned about giving clear, understandable answers to questions posed, recognizing that we want to work with the planning with the communities and within the funds that we have available to try to do that, which is why we have the capital planning process…(Microphone turned off)…is not muddy by lack of clarity. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. I will now go to Mr. Roland.

Thank you. I think that's a good question, because as we start out as Members of the 16th Assembly, as I

was stating earlier, we can set the foundation, we can build on the path of work we would like to see this territory go. I believe that in giving the message to the people, it has to be a real one and sometimes that means being tough with some of our own and accepting responsibility of the decisions we make and the role we all play in building the territory. More importantly, I think, at the same time, we have to look at what the values our people hold in this territory, and from the smallest community to the largest community, how do we make the programs work for them. That's where we have to look at the re-evaluation of who we are as a government and the programs we deliver. Do they make sense or should they be changed or altered? All within the fine context of the resources we have available to us, and I think that's where, as we were talking about earlier, the strength of who we are as a people will come to the forefront and to challenge the system to work for the people is going to be a difficult one. That's one of the things I was saddened or, I guess, felt somewhat disappointed with when I first became a Member in the 13th Assembly, was I had lots of ideas and I

thought we could make change immediately and found they happened slowly, because we work in an environment of laws and policies is one thing, but if a policy don't make sense and if a law is not working for the people, then we have the ability here to make that change. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Further question, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Another question I had is just that at the end of Mr. Roland's reply, he spoke about a policy not making sense. I think in the past, government does make mistakes and my concern is how well our Premiers look at any mistakes that are shown out there, how would they propose to correct a mistake in government. I know that often governments don't like to do it. In the public, we see that often government hates to admit to a mistake. But should we prove that there's a mistake being done, how do the

Premiers propose to correct a wrong or an injustice that has been done in the past? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. I'll go to Mr. Roland first.

Thank you. I think we can make a difference immediately. Again, as a 16th Assembly, if we see programs

that aren't working, as many of you have gone around to your communities door to door and heard about the programs that we deliver as the Government of the Northwest Territories, if they're not making sense and we have to re-evaluate and, again, that can be done by a program review.

At the same time, we must not continue to throw good money after bad, and that can be about a program, a policy, as well as another review. We've heard many times more reviews, another consultation group going out there. So we need to be focussed on what we do. Sometimes we do need to give time to see if a program will work and work properly, but if it's clearly not working right, then why should we continue to spend money after a program that is just not working and review that as a sense of taking a different stance, reverting back to what was delivered? I'm sure we can all find in the history of the Northwest Territories where one initiative was started a number of Assemblies ago has been brought back under another title but almost the same scenarios. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. I'll go to Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if there are specific instances where there is a wrong or things have not been working or there has been an injustice, then we have to look at what those are and remedy that situation, be it on a social side or some other business side, and those things happen. But we've also talked around this table in the previous Assembly and the current Members about the need for a program and zero-based budget review that would give us a look at programs, how well they're doing, are they doing the right things. We also know that we've been slow on some things and I'd like to point to two key pieces of legislation that have to get done, and those would be the Species at Risk and the Wildlife Act, because it's been pointed out to us for years that we haven't been doing that right, that it's a gap that has to be filled. Ten years of work, it's time to get those things done. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Chair will recognize the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre. No. No, I'm sorry. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the devolution and resource revenue sharing is an issue that's been discussed since the 1960s and it's something that seems to be discussed at the start of every Assembly and we seem to be making no progress. I'd like to ask the Premier candidates, where do you see us in four years with this issue? What are you going to do to get us there and would you be willing to take a heavy-handed approach with Ottawa? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. I'll go to Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this issue does have a long history in the Northwest Territories. As I indicated in my comments to this Assembly and to the people, it is my considered opinion, after all these

years, that the one way that we can get the leaders into the tent, the aboriginal leaders and the territorial government so that we can have one strong northern voice, is to come and bring our focus to bear on those very fundamental issues of the water, the land, the animals and the people, and how are we going to take the steps to protect them. Very clearly, the way you're going to do that is get the authority to make those decisions for those very, very critical pieces of land claim agreements and of just surviving as a territory, having those decisions being made in the North. I believe that's one way to do that.

I stood up in this last Assembly a number of times and I pointed to Premier Willliams' approach that there is a benefit to standing up strong and proud periodically to say that we have a northern voice and the way things are going aren't acceptable. How fast can we do that? Well, we've heard the predictions that we'll probably still be talking about this through the life of this Assembly. I believe if there is the political will and we can find the way through the environment piece, that we may be able to speed up that process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. I'll go to Mr. Roland.

Thank you. I think, right to the point on this, we've heard a bit about the authority we have. My analogy of the hunting trip and federal government, territorial government, northern aboriginal governments is something we have to look at, and the foundation that's been laid. There's been a lot of work done in that area, but I believe we, at this opportunity, can set the tone on how we deal with Ottawa, how we deal with industry and how we deal with our own people. At some point, we have to make a decision and move forward. We've all gone through the election process. It is the people of the Territories that have given this House the authority to work for their benefit, so it is time that we started working together to move forward. But I believe ultimately the will to push, and push hard, will come from all Members of this Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The Chair will recognize the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to pose my questions to both candidates for Premier. The first question is with regards to childcare. Childcare is very important for young families starting out at home and it allows young people to be able to work, and also to attend school if they choose to do so. I'd like to know what the candidates would do to improve childcare in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. We'll go to Mr. Roland first.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This area is one that is fundamental if we are going to build a strong territory. As I had stated earlier, it starts with strong families building strong communities and building a strong territory, and we have to put the tools in place to help families at the start. I think we've done it as a GNWT and the governments of the past have done piecemeal by piecemeal. If a building becomes empty and a day care organization wants to start up, we give them that space, free rent in a sense, but we don't have an organized program. We tend to try to get the people in communities to do it. It may work in larger centres, but it's more difficult in smaller centres. I think we do have to start incorporating it. As all information shows, if we're going to affect a child's life, we're going to affect a child's life in the first

five years. So we need to start putting…If it means taking the money we already put out there and putting it into those first early years, that's something I believe we have to look at doing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an issue that I think reflects back to the issue I raised in my comments about the need to consolidate government programs to take a look at what we're doing and how we're doing it to see how we can better fund existing programs, many of which are struggling by on a shoestring. So that is an issue I think that can be dealt with through this process. We also have to recognize the work that was done by the boards and agencies, the fact that NGOs struggle every year because multi-year funding still, even though it's possible, is not done as a matter of course. The other one is we have to be able to budget, through this upcoming business planning cycle, a way to give some increases on a regular basis to those groups that are providing services that if they didn't and the government had to, would cost us a tremendous amount more. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My second question is to both candidates. The Northwest Territories has had the strongest economy in Canada for several years now and there are lots of jobs and employment in the North. What concerns me is we have a lot of northern workers that are living in the South. I really believe that if you work in the North, you should live in the North. I'd like to know what both Premier candidates would do to make the North a more attractive place for these workers to live in. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. We'll go to Mr. Miltenberger first.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an issue that's been identified, clearly, of great concern with the leakage of hundreds of millions of dollars. So we have some options that we already have on the books that we can look at further; such things as a payroll tax. We know that we have to work with the federal government to increase the northern tax benefit that hasn't been increased for at least 20 years. I think that has to be part of our deliberations as we look at how do we adjust the money we do have and the structures we do have to stop losses such as this, which are actually a drain on our bottom line because it's not only the actual wages by not living here, we lost their 15 or 17 thousand a year per capita head that we get from the federal government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Thank you. I think there's a number of areas where, again, governments in the past have taken steps but it's been piecemeal and not very well coordinated. But I think we need to build on some of these areas; for example, our student financial assistance package and some of our training programs, some of the areas we've had most difficulty bringing people in the North and helping us deliver the programs and services day to day. We've put in place our college program, the Nurse Training Program, the Teacher Education Program, to get northerners from the communities to deliver those

programs and services. Part of what we do, as well, for those people who have student financial assistance -- and this is what I think we need to continue to build on -- is if they go to our communities, they get a higher rate of remuneration in the sense of payback on their student financial assistance loans, and we bring more of our people to those communities and stay in the communities. So I think that's something we need to build on.

We also have the payroll tax that's in place to try to keep some money in the North. Is that something we need to enhance? I think that's a discussion we need to have around this table, as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The Chair will recognize the honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to pose my questions, as well, to both candidates for Premier. First, I would like to thank them very much, both of them, for putting their names forward for this very important role. In a consensus style of government, Mr. Speaker, I believe that every Member elected to this House is a leader in their own right, and I would like to ask the prospective candidates for Premier how they would lead a Cabinet that would ensure that the respect is shown to the Members, to engage every Member who brings the collective voice of their constituents to this House in the decision-making process of this House. We all know there's been opportunities in the past or instances in the past, where we've been extremely frustrated as Members of the Legislative. Our government does go out, they consult, they hire studies, they go through very expensive processes and at the same time we are sitting here as a collective voice and I would like to know how you would lead a Cabinet that would show respect to what we have in this room around this table in terms of the Members here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. We'll go to Mr. Roland first.

Thank you. I believe that question is one that goes right back to what we are as a government, consensus government. The fact that, as 19 Members of the 16th Legislative Assembly, we have the authority as individuals to set direction in government, to set programs, policy, pass laws and give approvals for spending of monies. I think it is, and as I've told Members already, I'm consensus to the bone. I believe we need to work together and set direction together. Now, there are times that some directions will have to be taken and given in a short time frame, but I believe we have to strengthen that role we have from Regular Members to a Cabinet side, ensure that Ministers are connecting with committee members and Members in an appropriate time frame so that nobody is sitting out there and hearing a news broadcast go out there and sit in their chair at home and think where did that come from. That's something we have to continue to work on and that's why I fully respect the ability of each Member in this House to carry on their duties and carry their authority with the degree that is necessary to make this work and work properly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my first message to Cabinet would be the need for all Ministers to stay connected at the political level with the departments, but more importantly, with the committees that

are responsible for providing oversight to the ministerial mandates they may have. We have to work collectively about how do we improve our consensus process. I would fully support and suggest the changes to committee structure to make them more effective and better able to deal with Cabinet. After six years as a Regular Member on various committees, as chair and a Member, I know the frustrations that are there. We have to look at how committees work with government, and I'd use an example that I think was successful in the past and we might want to consider again, and that's going to be the joint committee we had to deal with the boards and agencies issues, where myself as Minister, and the chair of government operations at the time, and Social Programs worked together to do I think what was seen to be a quality piece of work. That brings together the collective energy and ability of the Legislature, through the Cabinet and committee process, and that will be I think a very valuable function as we try to deal with, I believe, the zero-based review of programs and budgets. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Question, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the same vein as consultation and dialogue, we have many people out there in the public service that are on the front lines working with the issues every day. Again, we do go to professionals from outside, we ask for reviews, we ask for expert opinions on things. I would like to know if either candidate has any innovative ideas in this kind of high-tech modern age of communication of how we could more effectively, as a government led by a Premier and a Cabinet, engage constituents in the Northwest Territories in the decision-making process that we are involved in here. Like I said, many times we’re making decisions here. We go out to the communities for public consultation on legislation, for example. People’s lives are busy; they’re out there trying to earn a living; the economy is hot. How do we engage people in the process and the decisions that are made within these walls? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. We’ll go to Mr. Miltenberger first.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a challenge that continues to be before us. I don’t have what the Member might consider an innovative idea, but I would say that it’s going to be hard work and I would be indicating to Ministers the expectation that over a two-year cycle that they would get to every community once in their term to see, to go first hand on the ground, to see what’s happening at the community level, to talk to people. We have to foster the relationships with the aboriginal governments and, of course, we have boards and agencies out there that deliver a significant portion of our budgets that we have to stay very closely connected with, because they are another way to tie us to what’s happening on the ground in the communities and in the regions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that’s another question that is something we can build on. Through the Northwest Territories, at one point in our history the only communication was by a mobile radio, and I recall going into -- when I worked for the Government of the Northwest Territories rebuilding equipment -- going into Colville Lake, for example, and the only source of communication they had was a phone they had at the Co-op store run by a single cylinder Onan

generator that ran their store and that’s how they charged the battery pack. We’ve come a long way in the Northwest Territories. We have, in almost every community, communication systems; our telehealth system improving our systems throughout the Territories.

I think we still have to recognize the fact that as the Northwest Territories, we’re a small jurisdiction and not many places you can go in any other part of the country where your Premier, your Finance Minister, your Health Minister, is in your community and you can call him by name, or her by name. I think that’s one thing we need to recognize, is that we have that almost immediate ability to have the face to face contact and we need to continue building on that. More importantly, I think there are some innovative ways of doing that and we’ve heard about websites and so on, but we could probably go one step further in doing some online forms that way to seek input from individuals. Most of our schools now have Internet capabilities. Some of them, the speed is not very fast, we recognize that, and we need to build on that. But it’s there; let’s start using it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The Chair will recognize the honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. I’ll go to Mr. Roland first.

MR. ROLAND: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that first and foremost, in whatever role we play, the responsibilities and the authority that we carry in our positions, we must treat all employees, it doesn’t matter what level, with respect as an individual and build on that as they work through our system of government and recognizing the commitment they make on behalf of us. At this table we have discussion, we may have heated discussion, and many folks talk about the hot air that rises from this place and maybe that’s all at times, but, more importantly, I think it’s the people out there, the frontline people who deliver the service to the community and we have to recognize that work and the effort they put in that. I think, as a government, we’ve tried to do that in the past and we need to build on that, but at the same time we need to work with them to get ideas from them if we’re going to make changes to the way we deliver programs, because it’s one thing to sit at this high level of government and talk about what works and doesn’t work in communities, but we need to talk to those at the front line to say what works for you in how you deliver your program. Because there are a lot of ideas out there that don’t get tapped into because we’re too busy at this level looking at reports and briefings developed by a consultant or high-level staff within the organization. We need to reach down and talk to those.

I can go back to my father, as well. For years when he went from reindeer herding to Inuvik to work for the SAM School, he worked as a custodian, but he had a lot of input right up the ladder as he talked to what he would say were his bosses. So we can go back to some of that and work with the people on the front line. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, firstly I think we have to be very aware of the impact of every word that’s spoken in this House and how it’s spoken. We all have lots of concerns about how programs may run and the work that is done in our communities, in Yellowknife and across the regions. We have to be careful to characterize it in a way where we do it in a proactive way so that we don’t make staff be of the opinion that their services aren’t valued when we know we’re desperate for the services that the staff provide, and that our government runs on the people that we have employed to deliver programs and services. We also know that we have a Collective Agreement that’s coming due and we’re going to have to sit down with the union to negotiate the benefits and pay, discuss issues that are outstanding with the union in terms of a proper package that will, hopefully, once again be a clear indication of the value we place on employees. We also want to keep working with them on areas that aren’t necessarily money related, that are value-added and make the employee feel that things are important. If we have proper action plans and implementation plans in terms of the vision of the departments and the work that’s going to be done and how it’s going to be done, then people can buy into that. If we don’t have that, then we tend to mill around as a government and we don’t provide the vision and direction that we’re talking about in this House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Chair will recognize the honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, would like to congratulate both Mr. Roland and Mr. Miltenberger for putting their names forward to be Premier of the Northwest Territories. It’s a big step to take and I respect both of them for that. My question for both Premier candidates: During the life of the last government we had much discussion about trying to build relationships with aboriginal governments across this territory so that we could move towards having a collective voice to negotiate with the federal government. I’d like to ask both candidates for Premier, if elected Premier, what steps would you take to improve the Government of the Northwest Territories' image amongst aboriginal groups and governments in the NWT? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. We’ll go to Mr. Miltenberger first.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my intention would be, as Premier, early in the life of this government, working with this Assembly and the Members, to convene two forums; one forum similar to the Caribou Summit where we would bring people from across the North to talk about the very fundamental issues that I referred to in my comments about the question of the water, the land, the animals, the people and resource development, and the balance, that fundamental discussion that has not yet taken place in the Northwest Territories. I firmly believe that the aboriginal governments, given all I’ve seen and heard with things like the water conference in Fort Smith and concerns raised with Keepers of the Water conference in the Deh Cho, that they will come to the table, because that is first and foremost what is most important to the people of the Northwest Territories and will allow us to build a basis to move forward and take us away from the haggling over the money and those other issues, while important, are not as fundamental to how the North is going to develop and how the North is going to

move forward. When we do that, then the logical next step is a resource revenue sharing agreement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Thank you. I think we have a lot of history of working together as people of the Northwest Territories. We’ve heard lots of comments, both pro government and not on government when it comes to the relationship we have with organizations out there. First and foremost I think we have to show them the respect that is due them. Number one is, for example, with the claims that have been settled and the self- government that is in place out there and others that are being negotiated, is to work with the agreements that are there and implement them. That means honouring the word that, whether it was a previous government, whether we agree with it or not, it is an agreement that is in place and we have to honour it. We are now the Government of the Northwest Territories so we have to honour that word. At the same time, we have to work within a mutually respectable framework. I would say one of the first things I would do if I was selected as your Premier would be to hold a meeting and build on previous steps that were taken to sit down with the regional leadership, once we’ve formulated where we think we should go as the 16th Assembly, and sit with them to discuss how we could work together. Ultimately, I believe it’s about people and community. We all want the same thing and if we can’t, as the Government of the Northwest Territories, deliver a program that is satisfactory in the community, when they draw it down through self-government agreements, they’re going to draw down a system that is not working appropriately. So we need to work together to make a difference for all people in the Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The Chair will recognize the honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. At this time I would like to commend both candidates for allowing their name to stand for Premier. I have one question for both candidates at this time. My question follows somewhat on the question from the Member for Kam Lake and has to do with governance. The establishment of some aboriginal self- governments are completed at this time and others are currently underway or in progress. When all regional self- governments are established, what role will the candidates consider that a territorial government or Legislative Assembly will play in the governing of the NWT and its peoples? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. We’ll go to Mr. Roland first.

Thank you. That is a solid question.

---Laughter

As governments before us have wrestled with what the Government of the Northwest Territories will be, let me start by this. It’s not been that long ago that aboriginal peoples in the Northwest Territories have even had the ability to vote. I remember talking to my father a number of years ago and asking him, as self-government became more and more of a topic in our communities, I asked him what he thought about self-government. He sat there quietly and he looked at me and he said, I have the right to vote now; I’m happy. That’s a very simple way of looking at it for the ability as a person in the

Northwest Territories to make decisions as who is your government and how will they do the work for your benefit. More importantly, coming back to today, I think, number one, we have to recognize there is going to be a role for a central government in the Northwest Territories. We cannot afford to divide up the pie that we operate with in the Northwest Territories so that all governments would fail. We need to build on that together and then structure how we’re going to go forward with that. The reality is there will be self-government in the Northwest Territories. We have the Tlicho Government that’s in place and protected under law; we have many discussions ongoing about other groups working on self- government packages. So what we need to do is to sit down with them and come up with a plan, if that means holding, for example, as we have in the past, a constitutional working group. When we did that back in the 13th Assembly, we did it

with an idea of what might be out there. We now have some parameters of what is out there. But I think, again, the simple fact is when we, as individuals, went to the electorate, there was no line for an aboriginal person, non-aboriginal person and someone that moved to the North and called it home; we all voted under the same premise about who are the people that will represent them. So there will be a need for a central government and how we work together with aboriginal organizations will continue to play a critical role in how we develop. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this issue for me is quite straightforward and it’s been one that I recollect raising numerous times in the 13th Assembly. Mr. Speaker, in my mind there has been, there is and there will continue to be, the need for a strong central government in the Northwest Territories to work closely with the aboriginal governments; to work closely with the 50 percent of the population that may not be covered by any particular land claim or self-government agreement; to be able to do fundamental things like pass territorial-wide legislation, redistribute wealth, negotiate with Ottawa on issues of concern to the whole Northwest Territories. This has to be done collaboratively. We’ve been talking around this table of how we better foster that relationship. I think that has to be part of this equation. However, very clearly there is a need for a strong central public government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Chair will recognize the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My thanks go out to both candidates. It’s a tough challenge stepping forward to be a Premier candidate, so my personal thoughts go to you. It’s a challenging endeavour and I wish you both well. You’re both doing fine, from my point of view. Mr. Chairman, drugs and alcohol continue to be a serious problem in our North. Our northern streets have been tackled by these rotting devices and they are taking over in some cases. This last Assembly passed a motion in recognition of the problem by saying they wanted a drug and alcohol treatment centre established in Inuvik and in Yellowknife. But highlighting the fact that drugs and alcohol are not a singular issue, that it takes a three- pronged approach, a balanced approach, Mr. Chairman, you have to deal with education so people understand and learn more and hopefully combat those enticing devices it may be for some; we need treatment programs that are effective and there for families, individuals and certainly our youth, that don’t all exist here in the Northwest Territories; and enforcement, Mr.

Chairman. So with those three things highlighted, how do both candidates see their leadership moving forward in the next four years on tackling the drug and alcohol problem we have here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. We’ll go to Mr. Miltenberger first.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ve spent a good deal of my public working life, as Minister, as MLA on social programs, working for the Department of Health and Social Services and as mayor, dealing with this issue. I consider, still, alcohol and the abuse of alcohol to be probably the single biggest social problem in the Northwest Territories. There has been extensive work done, plans laid out, significant investments made in trying to support the communities' ability to deal with the issue of alcohol and drugs. Now this Legislature has a chance, as we look at the vision and strategic direction over the next four years, to look at the work that was done by the 15th Assembly and if

there are adjustments that the Assembly wants to make, then the job of the government will be to adjust to those changes within the resources, as has been pointed out a number of times, that we have available and that we can possibly get from the federal government. Keeping in mind, as well, one issue that has not come up in the House yet, but is there hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles, is we have a significant number of sunsetted health programs like the Territorial Health Access Fund that brings millions and millions of dollars into our territory that are set to lapse unless we can negotiate an agreement with the federal government to have those built into our base; something that has yet to be done. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Thank you. That definitely is a challenge for us as Members of the 16th Legislative Assembly and how we

will deal with that. Every government has been tasked with that. We’ve heard many comments about where it’s gone, what’s not working and what needs to be done to make it work better. One is the recognition that one size doesn’t fit all. The idea of trying to keep people who are going through rehabilitation and who want rehabilitation, that a service is available to them. That’s one thing we have to first meet the need. That’s talking about the tools of giving our people here, is give them the tools when they’re ready to go for help, we’re there to help them. Is a building in a community and a sign out there as solid as actually meeting with people face to face? I think it’s the people side we have to focus on. I can speak from personal history. There are a lot of times we, as government, put programs in place and all we are doing is enabling people not to make a decision to make the right decisions in life, to strengthen where they are and be who they need to be for their family members. Sometimes we need to practice some tough love. That’s very difficult from a government perspective and I think, first and foremost, we need to set the example here and we need to send the message out to say how disruptive, destructive these things are going. For example, I’ll follow on the heels of the new Liquor Act that will come into effect soon, we’ll make it tougher for those who feed on those who are weak in our society and we need to take that approach more often and stronger. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The Chair will recognize the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have two questions to the Premier candidates. First question: What role do the Premier candidates see for the GNWT in exploration, non- renewable resource development, the environment, and land resource and self-government negotiations of aboriginal governments?

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Roland first.

Yes. There are a lot of issues there to look at. But I think again we have to build on the foundation that is before us. We have some areas with settled claims, we have acts that have been put in place to help with how aboriginal organizations and governments play and role in exploration in the Northwest Territories, and even development, and we have a role as the GNWT. Part of what we need to do is bring all of it together into the Northwest Territories. That's the difficulty we face right now, whether it's an aboriginal business, a non- aboriginal business, a small company or a large company. Coming into the Northwest Territories to do business can be fairly difficult, because they have to go to the door of the GNWT, to the door of the federal government and to the organizations that are responsible in their area. For the Inuvialuit, they have their land processes available. The Gwich'in have a structure set up through their process, renewable resource council. We have the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act. So all those pieces are being put in place and we need to build on them to make sure there's a clear understanding of what's expected by those coming into the North who want to do work in the North and the fact that nowadays, as I stated earlier, the peoples of the North are no longer just the labourers, they're the businesspeople and they have some interest in how this North develops. But as well, because we have a special interest in the Northwest Territories, we're going to watch how that development happens to ensure that our children have a place they still can call home, they can still go out and practice their traditional activities on the land. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on the fairly extensive areas touched on by the Member for Tu Nedhe, I would just say this: we have, in all those areas, moral and political authority to be involved. In some areas we have legal authority and ability to be involved and we should exercise that to the fullest. But in all those areas, we cannot wait or count on the federal government to protect our interests. We have to take charge, along with the aboriginal governments, on issues of the environment and resource development, all those very fundamental questions. We have to work together and exercise that political and moral authority to drive the process. If we do not, the federal government will do as it has done for the last number of decades. They'll give the resources away, they'll pretty well abrogate their responsibility in the area of water and all those other critical areas, and this is part of our devolution discussions. That is an authority that we have to get in the North and that is the one reason aboriginal governments will come to make a deal with the territorial government, is to have those authorities here in the Northwest Territories where they so rightly belong. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The health and well- being of our youth in our communities is very important. What role do the Premier candidates see in the imbalance in programs and services and infrastructure for the youth between large communities and the small communities?

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. I'll go to Mr. Miltenberger first.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an area that I've touched on while maybe not as directly as I could have in my comments, but as we commit and look at the need for a healthy population, clearly our children are very important and it starts with, as my colleague Mr. Roland indicated, babies being born healthy. But more importantly, we have to make a commitment across the board and a long-term budget commitment or program commitment to continue such things as the Get Active program, the prevention programs that are going to stress the need for healthy lifestyles. A big infrastructure commitment is that every school should have a gymnasium and a phys. ed. program that allows students to get some exercise every day that they're in school, keeping in mind that the investment now will save us at least $7 million downstream as the youth grow up and get older. We know that to be true, because we just have to look at our health costs right now with the issues of obesity and diabetes and the ravages of alcohol and smoking. So that's an investment that we have to make at the front end. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Thank you. I think that question goes almost right to the fundamental values we hold and how we develop as families. One thing that I've seen -- I mean I'll go right back to when I was a young boy growing up in Inuvik -- there were no facilities as that community holds today. In fact, when the school shut down -- and this is probably out of sanity reasons in our own home with such a large family -- when the school shut down because of cold weather in the winter, we stayed home and if we got too rambunctious in the house, my mother said go outside and play. So although the school said it's too cold to go to school, our parents knew that you needed to be active, get out. You couldn't live within the four walls of a house. I think that's one of the things we have to do, is get that message back out to our children. I even wrestle with it myself with my own children in this day and age of having everything at your fingertips, talking about Play Station 3 and Xbox LIVE, where everybody thinks that they get their stimulation and their health out of playing a game that they sit on their couch. We need to go back to where we were when we say to our children, you need to go outside and you need to play some road hockey or something. That's where it starts from. But more importantly, as a government program area, one of the things we started doing, for example -- and I'll use some of the work of the smaller communities -- as we establish budgets, we look at those budgets and we recognize the fact that some of the smaller communities have less ability to deal with some of the impacts they have, so we break out a portion of that budget. That gives more per capita to small communities than larger communities, and that's something we need to continue to work with. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The Chair will recognize the honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. To the candidates, first of all, thank you very much for running and

putting your names forward. I'm interested in hearing what programs you will promote that will contribute to the prevention of our social issues. In particular, I'm thinking of poverty, housing, crime, violence, substance abuse; these issues that we've heard so much about. What are the programs that you will be promoting that will really get at preventing those issues? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Chair will recognize Mr. Roland first.

Thank you. I think we need to start first and foremost, as was mentioned earlier, on the side of prevention. We need to get more information out there at an early age, and the families, to show the impacts some decisions are having on lives of individuals and families. I think we also need to recognize the fact that as a government, almost 70 percent of the budget is spent in those areas. I think we need to even go further back to say what was life like back 40 years ago when this government first came north from Ottawa, and what have we done. Can we build on that and strengthen it? But ultimately, I think again it's about the tools, having the tools for individuals to make decisions in their communities. But at the same time, we need to ensure that as they look at these things, that we are sending the message that we need to strengthen our position as a people, and by that we need healthy people. So when they're talking about social programs, housing programs, how our justice facilities are working, when we sit down as 16th Assembly Members and looking at our budgets,

that's when every Member around this table can have their own fingerprint on what programs or priorities as a government. That's where I would say, as Premier, I would work with the Members to see what are the areas we need to put priority on as we review the spending plans of any government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've spent 12 years in this House as a Minister and MLA, so I'd have to say to the Member for Weledeh that what the government is now doing, I've had a hand in pushing them to do, encouraging them to do. When I travelled around the communities, I always reiterated the message of the four points. If you want a healthy life and a good life, then don't smoke, don't drink or abuse drugs, watch your diet and get some exercise. Those are very simple but profound personal choice issues. The issue of the family responsibility is also a critical one that we cannot move away from, and we have to continue to push the value of education. We have to look at education, because studies show very clearly that the better educated people are, the better their choices tend to be, the better their quality of life tends to be. We have to work with the communities and look at that.

Specially, I'd just like to point to an issue that's going to get some discussion in this House over the next number of years. We focussed, as a government, on the volume of graduates by the Department of Education, especially out of the small communities where there is grade extensions. I think the issue and focus now that has come to light very clearly is not only the volume, but are, and how many of, those students coming out of grade extensions in the small communities are actually college and university ready. Do they have the proper programs in the communities? I would think, from what I've been hearing and seeing, that that is an issue where the people will be telling us that it's not working to that extent. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Candidates, on the issue of climate change. Climate change affects every aspect of our lives and it does today and it will even more in the future. We know it's primarily caused by combustion of fossil fuels. These fuels, of course, are big, both for our industry and even in our regular lives at home. I would like to ask you, how will you work to mitigate climate change and help our people adapt to the irreversible changes that are now predicted to occur? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Chair will recognize Mr. Miltenberger first.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a number of ways we do this. The conservation is one thing, the personal choices people make, the way their live their own particular lives, but as a territorial government, we made some commitment to having northern building standards that are going to be energy efficient in all the building that we do, and infrastructure that we do, to ensure that we minimize the cost and the consumption of petroleum- based products. We're working on pilot projects in the South Slave to put to use the surplus power from the Taltson, and I think we should be looking at doing that wherever possible. We have to as well, when we're doing resource development, we can no longer ignore the issue of offsets. If we're going to approve a resource development that is going to add 25 percent, or 50 or 100 like the pipeline is, to our greenhouse gas emissions, then we have to work with industry and the federal government to say what is the offset. We can no longer ignore that and at the same time talk about, in this House, climate change doing all these things to us a territory if we don't set that kind of example. We don't have the legal authority to do that right now, but, very clearly, this is an issue of political and moral authority that we have to be prepared to exercise. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think number one is again using the tools that we have available and building on those, and the groups that are out there already working to mitigate the impacts of human life in this area. But even further back, I recall, much before my time as a Member of this Assembly, that when the nuclear reactor, Chernobyl, went off and I didn't think it was possible, but being told later on that, in fact, some of the fallout had reached as far north as the Northwest Territories. In fact, if you look at the development in the U.S. and the rest of Canada and the standards they set are having a direct impact on us. We, number one, need to set our own standards in our own households to a certain degree. Number two, and more importantly, we need to get out there on the national stage to push for tougher standards that need to be met, because ultimately we could be living the cleanest lives in the Northwest Territories, but because of weather patterns and conditions in other parts of the country, we've believing and we're living with the results of other decisions being made around us. So we need to get out there and get our message out there, that we need to have a tougher stance that helps protect the regions such as the Northwest Territories. Again, I think there's examples of what we're doing on the larger front within the Territories. That's hydro development and trying to get rid of the greenhouse gasses through fossil fuels.

Ultimately, as I said, we need to work together. There's a number of organizations out there, for example the Arctic

Energy Alliance who is helping deliver programs in communities day by day, and we need to get that information out there for individuals to make some decisions on their own part. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The Chair will recognize the honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I have two questions for both candidates and the first one I'd like to deal with has to do with family violence and related issues in the North. Mr. Chairman, I know we have a lot to debate about the importance of renewable resources and non-renewable resources, but obviously the most important resources we have in the North are human resources. I think all Members in the House have heard from our community, that there are lots of people suffering in our communities from family violence which is often accompanied by sexual abuse and other abuse. While government can't do everything, there's a lot that government can do. So I'd like to ask both candidates what their plan of action is in terms of dealing with and advancing this issue forward. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The Chair will recognize Mr. Roland first.

Thank you. Family violence is something we've had to deal with as a Legislative Assembly and my role in the previous Assembly. I'm sure as we move forward, it will be a topic that we'll have to debate and we'll have to look at designing programs to try to deal with that issue. But I think we need to, as well, look back to where we've come from.

In my day growing up, for example, if one of the children in the family challenged our mother, we were in trouble. You did not challenge your parents as to what they were trying to do for you and give you advice and teach you. Today there are different standards.

I'll give you another example. Growing up and going to school in Inuvik, if I got in trouble at school, I was going to be in trouble when I got home. In my time as a Member of the Assembly, when I talked to counsellors in schools about the issues they deal with, I get comments back that, well, when we phone some parents, they tell us exactly where we can fly our kite.

Something has happened in the last 40 years and some of that we need to address. We have to send a message that starts from this level, that is it not acceptable to abuse those, anybody. It is not acceptable. If you're going to do the crime, you're going to do the time is something else that was said in the past. Yes, there are tools we need to give individuals in the Northwest Territories, but we need to take a tougher stance and to send the message out there, that anybody thinking they will get away with something or get a lenient sentence or get house arrest, that they better think twice, and we have to put the respect back in the family for our parents and so on. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, previous Assemblies passed the Family Violence Act; the last Assembly passed a plan to move forward with the implementation of the family violence recommendations with some dollar figures attached. I think as a 16th Assembly, we're

going to want to look at that. But I committed, during the election campaign, that I would support moving ahead with those. There's a dollar figure attached, but I don't recollect what that was. But this also falls completely within the scope of my earlier comments, of the need to consolidate what government is doing, to look at how we're spending our money, because there are some areas that are underfunded and rather than grow government, let's look at places like family violence shelters. We're very familiar with the news on McAteer House. It's been on the radio about their struggles, because there's no way for them to have any kind of surety that there's going to be any additional government dollars. But we also have to recognize that in the area of family violence, I think there's only five shelters and there's some significant gaps that we have to, as a collective Assembly, look at how we're going to address where those services are provided, and I speak specifically of the Sahtu and the Deh Cho. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Another question, Ms. Lee.

Mr. Chairman, my second question is on a different topic and it has to do with the demands that are being placed on our capital infrastructure dollars. In the last eight years that I've been in government in the Assembly, the capital budget in real money has not really gone up. It has stayed at about 70 to 80 million dollars a year, even though our entire budget has gone up from about 700 to 800 million eight years ago to about 1.2 now. With the labour shortage and material shortage and the booming economy in the South, all sorts of factors are attributing to us falling behind further and further in our infrastructure needs in all communities in all areas. So I'd like to ask both candidates as to what plans they have in terms of addressing this issue, and I guess I have to use the example of how are you going to divide the pie, but also how we could increase the pie to make sure that we meet those needs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The Chair will recognize Mr. Miltenberger first.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the one process that we control is how we do the capital planning process. I've stood up in the House in the previous Assembly and raised the issue that I believe that if we were able to in fact do our planning so that we had the planning done, the materials on the ground in the spring, the outside work, foundation work done, like any other normal residence owner or business would do, that we should be able to save 30 to 40 percent of our planning costs. We have developed a system that while we may say we can’t fix, we know that it can be. We heard discussion earlier of how communities that were given the capital planning authority were able to do projects in one year, on time and on budget. We’ve seen how Yellowknife has been able to negotiate and arrange agreements with industries like the diamond mines to deliver projects for them on time, on budget. We know that it can be done. We know that demands exceed the resources. However, the first thing we have to look at is how do we restructure our capital planning process so that we’re not wasting 30 to 40 percent of our dollars because we’re coming in in the wintertime, we’re doing winter construction, we’re doing everything about a year behind the curve when we know around the world this can be done. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Thank you. The area of capital infrastructure is one that indeed is a pressure point for the Government of the Northwest Territories. In fact, I recall back in the 13th Assembly, first becoming elected to the Legislature, the reductions that were made and some of the, as termed, easier cuts were in the capital program area because it didn’t affect people that day. It was said back at that time that this was not something that could be kept up, because at some point we’re going to hit the curve where our infrastructure is not going to hold up around us. Sadly we see some of that happening across the Territories and have had to take steps to try to mitigate that. So, yes, our capital planning process needs to be reviewed. In fact, I think that we can show that over the years, at one point the capital budget of the Government of the Northwest Territories was about 70 to 80 million annually. The last number of years it’s been over $100 million. In fact, we’ve also adapted a new way of business with communities where instead of the government departments taking care of it, we’ve given that to communities. However, we’ve done it at times in a heated economy, as the Member has stated, that although it looks like we should be able to do more, in fact, it seems like we’re doing less because of the cost of the materials, labour and the construction costs. So we need to review that. But at some time, I think, as Members sit around this table and we have that as we go through business planning exercises, we have to ask ourselves why do we keep adding more new to the list when we can’t build what we’re supposed to build and, in fact, should we be refocusing to say what we have we need to keep, number one, and then when we get caught up with that, look at then adding some new infrastructure? Because what’s the use of building something new when the building decided that is part of delivering a program collapses? So we need to take a very serious look at how we’re going to tackle this area. Thank you.