Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to make some general comments here tonight during this 13th Assembly, mid-term review.
Mr. Chairman, I approach this review as an opportunity to be accountable to the people of my constituency as an MLA for them, as well as to the Members. The honourable Members of this House as well as the people of the Northwest Territories whom, I serve as a Minister in this government.
In this consensus government I feel we have to be accountable for our actions and decisions, particularly when you are a Minister of a government of the Northwest Territories. This forum I believe is one of the opportunities to do just that.
Mr. Chairman, the last two years of this 13th Assembly, I had the honour of serving this government as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Minister of Transportation and for a short while, the beginning of this term, as a Minister of Safety and Public Service.
I had approached these responsibilities as a challenge and to put my skills and expertise that I have towards these responsibilities.
One of my original departments was Safety and Public Service. One of my early tasks was to dismantle this government in line with the government's plan to downsize so that we have a leaner government. This is one of the ways of trying to deal with the deficit we all agreed to try to deal with.
I must say that all the programs of the Safety and Public Services were transferred to other, more appropriate departments. I am satisfied this transition and change was accomplished. Like many changes there is always unforeseen problems. This transition and with the help of this assembly, we were able to accomplish this task although there were some problems that came up, but we were able to deal with that.
My other department was the Department of Transportation and, Mr. Chairman, today I am confident to say, we have a safe and reliable transportation system across the Northwest Territories. I am fully aware of the many outstanding demands for improvements to our transportation facilities in the north, and we are attempting to meet the priority needs. But, as we all know, over my tenure as Minister of Transportation, the budget of this department has been reduced quite drastically by 25 percent of its original budget and despite these funding constraints, the focus of this department has been on ensuring that our existing system continues to be as well maintained as possible, and that opportunities for improvements are actively pursued.
The demands for the services of this department is increasing at a time when financial resources are decreasing and at a time when government structures and roles are undergoing a lot of major changes. The department's strategies have been consistent with, and support the government's Agenda for Change. By maximizing as much as possible; northern employment on department projects, this hopefully increases jobs and incomes for a lot of citizens, and we attempted to do that. We have been promoting the development of a new transportation infrastructure to try to address the needs for resource development.
There has been an increase in training programs in capital projects, as well as the support for resource development activities. We tried to address the health and wellness of individuals by promoting small boat safety programs; helping awareness programs, such as Students Against Drunk Drivers, and so forth. The creation of two new territories, we have been trying to complete the establishment of two new department structures, one in Nunavut and the continuation of the department here in the Western Northwest Territories.
We have been able to complete the Highway 3 reconstruction all the way up to Rae-Edzo, almost. Like I said, we have about nine more kilometres to go that will be finished off next spring. We have completed the airport reconstruction in Pelly Bay, Deline, Fort Good Hope and Marine facilities in Coral Harbour, Pangnirtung and Iqaluit. We are doing a hydrographic survey of the marine access corridor to the Keewatin and Rankin Inlet Harbour. The surveys are on the way of approaches to other Keewatin communities and both projects jointly are funded by the federal government and the territorial government.
The department continues to aggressively assure that northerners benefit as much as possible from transportation programs. Our attempt is to try to maintain and achieve greater than 90 percent for local and northern companies who are awarded transportation contracts in the future.
Training projects have been incorporated into some of our programs. For example, in the Pelly Bay and Deline airports, Pangnirtung marine infrastructure, as well as Coral Harbour marine projects; we have been trying to help out. Three northern residents have successfully completed their Mineral Waters and Masters program and are captains on the ferries in our ferry system. We have been able to try, on a national level, to represent the Northwest Territories at ministerial meetings and one of the issues is a national highway policy. We have tried to lobby and be an advocate for the Northwest Territories, particularly in the Nav Canada fee increases. We were able to successfully lobby for a reduction in those fees and will continue to monitor that situation.
With the Ministry of Public Works and Services, we have been able to lobby the Canadian Coast Guard Service so that icebreaker services will continue in the western Arctic. That was last year. We have met with the Yukon Minister of Community Services and Transportation in dealing with the Dempster Highway situation, and we were able to, concerning budget reduction for the operation and maintenance of that vital link, to the Mackenzie Delta.
So, there are different things we are attempting to do in the future and continue to develop two new department structures for the two new territorial governments. We, hopefully, will complete a highway strategy for the Ministers we will be meeting with and this will increase employment through the projects. We will look at the Motor Vehicles Act to increase awareness of the impaired driving.
In the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, which is a small department but very key, we are involved in a lot of very interesting land claims, self-government and constitutional development work. Our attempt here, our goal, is to have an effective system of government that will be established in the western Northwest Territories which has the support of the citizens in the western Northwest Territories.
In trying to address the Agenda for Change in this area, generally speaking, political stability is very important. This will bring improvement, hopefully, to the social and economic well-being across the board in the western Northwest Territories. The government priorities of reducing dependency in the creation of two territories are directly supported by this department.
We have been engaged with the federal government, the aboriginal groups and the general public in talking about the constitution of the government and the discussion for the western Northwest Territories. We have worked with the federal government in conjunction with other departments, like the Financial Management Board Secretariat and the Department of Finance, on funding issues related to implementation of land claims, treaty entitlement and self-government agreements.
Mr. Chairman, one of my great interests in coming to Cabinet was to work with aboriginal people and northern people in the west on the development of the new constitution to serve our people in the future. Constitutional discussions attract both strong opinions and indifferences. I understand people want to focus on jobs and other pressing issues and, to a great deal, I agree. However, with the challenges of public government and aboriginal self-government before us, I feel no less strongly a commitment today to the constitutional process here in the west than during my first days as a Cabinet Member. Mr. Chairman, when I was elected by the people of tie Nahendeh to represent them, I tried to work as hard as I could to be honest and open with everybody. I think I have done that with the Members of the Legislative Assembly and with that I would like to thank you. Mahsi cho.
--Applause