Good morning. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Charles Dent will be absent from the House today to attend the Beaufort Delta Leaders Conference in Inuvik. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Miltenberger.

Members' statements. Mr. Rabesca.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to inform this House that despite the lack of support from this government the Dogrib Rae Band has continued the construction of the Rae-Edzo airport. Mr. Speaker, with very limited resources the Dogrib Rae Band is training 20 people in the use of heavy equipment operation. Aurora college and 20 other government agencies have refused to provide support for a project which is probably more successful in training operators than many courses offered by the college. These young people are being trained to work in the construction industry by working long hours, six days a week. I am very proud of the work that has been done by these trainees. Mr. Speaker, unless the airstrip is completed and employees working at the mines are flown directly to their home community of Rae-Edzo, it will continue to be difficult to retain all these people who have to travel through Yellowknife before they get home. Experience has shown that unless employees are flown directly to their home community, social problems will increase. Mr. Speaker, the airstrip being built in Rae-Edzo will bring business opportunities to the community. It is not the intent of this project to compete with the capital city, as honourable Members from Yellowknife have expressed. Rae-Edzo has an unemployment rate of approximately 43 percent and my constituents feel that the residents of Yellowknife will also benefit from the airstrip. Studies have shown that 80 percent of the incomes earned in Rae-Edzo are spent in Yellowknife.

Mr. Speaker, the work completed on this project has already

saved this government a significant amount of money. The Dogrib Rae Band is prepared to arrange the funding for this project if it can obtain a commitment from this government to include the airstrip in its capital plan. Mr. Speaker, unless funding can be found to stockpile material and complete the design work this winter, the project will be unable to continue next year. Will the Department of Transportation provide interim funding for this work? When will the project be included in this government's capital plan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause

Members' statements. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Steen alluded to the visit that the Infrastructure Committee made to his community of Tuktoyaktuk and I would like to talk about that today also, Mr. Speaker. On the weekend of September 25th, I was fortunate enough to travel with Mr. Steen and the Standing Committee on Infrastructure to Tuktoyaktuk. At this point, I would like to thank the Mayor of Tuktoyaktuk, Mr. Eddie Dillon, and the hamlet council and the MLA for Nunakput, Mr. Vince Steen, for the wonderful hospitality that was extended to our committee. We were given tours of the hamlet, opportunities to meet with local residents and attended a community feast and drum dance in honour of our visit. On the evening of September 25th, the standing committee met with the hamlet council and members of the public for close to four hours. During this time, we covered a variety of issues which included the erosion of the shoreline, the nursing shortage, funding for roads, community empowerment and regional self-government. The experience of the trip to Tuktoyaktuk was of immense value to the committee and certainly for myself.

In the past three years, the issue that has dominated the proceedings and plans of the 13th Assembly and the territorial government has been the need to manage the precarious financial situation that we as a government have found ourselves in. Austere measures have been implemented; in some situations, we had to do more with less. The austerity has affected the very essence of the Northwest Territories consensus style of government.

Mr. Speaker, for consensus government to operate properly, it is absolutely necessary for the Members of the Legislative Assembly to know what individuals in a riding 1000 miles away from our own are concerned with. What will be the ramifications of our decisions outside our own riding? It is imperative that those who are involved in making decisions travel to different communities, meet with people and understand the problems within that community. If we had not had the opportunity to see for ourselves, the problems that are faced in other communities it is easy to become focused upon those within our own riding. For consensus government to function properly, all MLAs must pursue the collective interest of northern residents. If Members do not look past the interests of their own ridings, we destroy the very foundation upon which consensus government operates. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

The Member for Yellowknife South is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Do we have any nays? Mr. Henry, you have unanimous consent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to my colleagues. Again, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk for the wonderful experience and also Mr. Steen for inviting the committee to experience the

hospitality of that community. I would like to also point out that hopefully next time my colleague, Mr. Ootes, and myself will be able to join in the drum dancing too with better skills. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Members' statements. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Iqaluit is experiencing very strong pressure with regard to the availability of housing. Social housing, as well as private family homes that are available for sale, are in short supply. The private marketplace is building new housing, but already much of this is spoken for. The local housing authority is also under pressure to supply homes that are not available. Mr. Speaker, proactive work and support of Mr. Arlooktoo, the Minister of Housing, has helped us replace our homeless shelter. The need for more housing will continue to grow as the community expands. Mr. Speaker, would extra funding for EDAP programs or other housing programs be available to help our situation? I have met several times now with our local housing association and our local Housing Corporation manager and believe that the new Nunavut government will have to address this serious concern very quickly in its mandate. Later today, I will have an opportunity to ask Mr. Arlooktoo some questions on the availability of EDAP programs for Iqaluit.

Members' statements. Mr. Krutko.

Members' statements. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Similar to Mr. Miltenberger, I had also written a letter to NorthwesTel concerning some complaints I had received. I received a letter indicating that basically there is nothing wrong. Mr. Speaker, there have been many occasions, and too many of those occasions for my wife, that when I have had to phone home from a community and when we were talking we could hear echoes and sounds like the ocean is in the background. One time she thought I was calling from Hawaii.

--Laughter

Also, Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of times when you phone information and you have to wait and wait and wait and wait, or you could phone the operator and you have to wait for an awful long time. These things, I think, are unacceptable when we are moving towards that area, a time, when we are going to open up this territory for competition. There are also other times when you are in the middle of a telephone conversation and you get disconnected. We should not have to deal with those types of things, Mr. Speaker. When we put in letters of complaint, we will expect that the company moves to try and rectify these problems. Thank you.

Members' statements. Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while my colleagues are talking about a communicating line problem in the territories, I want to talk about the same issue, which relates to the Kitikmeot region. Mr. Speaker, when I attended the Kitikmeot Leaders' Forum in Cambridge Bay, that took place from November 13 to 15, many issues I indicated yesterday were discussed. One of the important issues, I think, was the communication line in the Kitikmeot region. Mr. Speaker, communication is critical, especially in the smaller remote communities. The Kitikmeot Leaders' Forum recognizes, Mr. Speaker, the Kitikmeot region have continually experienced problems when attempting to call outside half the communities. Mr. Speaker, the isolated communities of the Kitikmeot region depend on a reliable communications system. Mr. Speaker, the Kitikmeot Leaders' Forum were looking for the alternative means of communication that can be accessed in emergency situations. Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will be asking the Minister of Health for alternative communication solutions in the event of a medical problem in

Members' statements. Mr. Steen.

The Member for Nunakput is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Do I have any nays? Mr. Steen, you have unanimous consent.