Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Good afternoon, everyone. Bonjour. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, later this afternoon, at the appropriate time, I intend to table a document entitled Investing in Roads for People and the Economy: A Highway Strategy for the Northwest Territories.

The Northwest Territories transportation system makes possible the movement of people and goods within the Northwest Territories as well as to and from our provincial and territorial neighbours. Transportation mobility is key to the health and well-being of our people and our economy.

The Department of Transportation has worked hard over the past decade to improve our transportation system. Since the department was formed in 1989, new airports, marine facilities, community access roads and extensive highway reconstruction have all been accomplished. These improvements were guided by the strategic objectives and priorities set out in the 1990 Transportation Strategy and the 1994 Transportation Strategy Update.

In 1998, the Department of Transportation began the highway strategy initiative. This initiative earmarked special funding for planning studies on roads in the Northwest Territories. Over the past two years, both technical studies and consultations with stakeholders have been undertaken. The results of this effort were first presented in the Summary Report of the Highway Strategy released in October 1999.

As we move into the 21st century, we must ensure that the transportation system continues to move forward. We must direct its expansion and enhancement so that it will contribute to a more prosperous and healthy northern population. Investing in Roads for People and the Economy: A Highway Strategy for the Northwest Territories is this direction. It presents a vision for roads in the Northwest Territories with a plan of action to achieve that vision.

Investing in Roads is shaped by and consistent with the broad vision for the Northwest Territories as outlined in the 14th Legislative Assembly's report Towards a Better Tomorrow, along with the Economic Strategy Panel's report Common

Ground, and the Government of the Northwest Territories' Non-Renewable Resource Development Strategy in which roads play a prominent role.

The Department of Transportation has taken steps to implement the plan of action proposed in Investing in Roads. With our existing resources, we are actively improving portions of Highway 3 between Rae and Yellowknife, Highway 7 south of Fort Liard, the Dempster Highway and the Ingraham Trail.

We have also begun several new initiatives including determining how to obtain greater control of the Lupin winter road, constructing a public winter road to Colville Lake and constructing bridges on the Mackenzie Valley winter road to extend the operating season. In addition, we have begun the search for new funding, including lobbying for an appropriate share of the federal $600 million allocated to the National Highway System.

Just as the 1990 Transportation Strategy served to focus the department's effort through the past decade, I expect that Investing in Roads will serve as an equally reliable guide for the opening years of the new century. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur Steen. Déclaration des ministres. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, as Members are aware, the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development is preparing a new Wildlife Act and species at risk legislation.

A Wildlife Aboriginal Advisory Group was recently established to encourage aboriginal participation in the development of this wildlife legislation and to ensure aboriginal viewpoints and priorities are reflected in it.

The advisory group includes representation from the:

• • Akaitcho Treaty 8 Council;
• • South Slave Métis Tribal Council;
• • Inuvialuit Game Council;
• • North Slave Métis Alliance;
• • Sahtu Renewable Resource Board;
• • Gwich'in Tribal Council; and,
• • Salt River First Nations.

The Dogrib Treaty 11 Council and the Deh Cho First Nations declined to attend the meetings given the status of their land claims negotiations.

The advisory group has held two meetings to review issues already identified through public consultation and to note any additional ones. Advisory group members will be consulting with the people in their communities this winter to determine options and recommendations to be included in discussion papers on the new Wildlife Act and species at risk legislation.

The discussion papers are expected to be completed this spring with another round of public consultations scheduled for the summer and fall of 2001. Aboriginal governments will also be conducting their own consultation on the discussion papers.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the aboriginal government representatives for working with us on this very important legislative endeavour. Wildlife is extremely important to all people of the Northwest Territories and it is essential that we all work together to develop the proper tools to manage that resource. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we hear a lot with regard to the oil and gas exploration and the possibility of a Mackenzie Valley pipeline. However, Mr. Speaker, the protection of the environment is not an option. It is a deal breaker. Northerners are welcome to develop the North, but the land and the resources and the sustainability of our non-renewable resources is important to many of the aboriginal communities and those who live and depend on the land for their lifestyle.

With regard to the resource opportunities, they come and go. The boom-bust scenario is something we have to realize. Also, we have to realize the long-term implications of these developments on the people that live here. Aboriginal people and Northerners have always taken the environment very seriously, through our land claim arrangements, the institutions that have been established and also with regard to establishing legislation to ensure, protect and preserve what makes us unique in northern Canada.

Again, I would ask, at what cost are we willing to sell our environment with regard to development? Mr. Speaker, it is essential that there is that balance. It is essential we work with our partners with regard to this development. Mr. Speaker, we have seen what can happen with regard to working relationships with industry and the aboriginal groups with BHP and also Diavik, where there are assessments in place that can deal with these incomes, but realizing we do have some serious challenges in front of us when it comes to developing the North.

With regard to what we have heard from comments made in this House by the Premier and also news articles and statements that we have seen in his address to the industry in Washington, Ottawa, Calgary and elsewhere in Canada, one thing we have heard very little about is the environment and how we, as a government, will also find a balance to take on that challenge. So with that, Mr. Speaker, I will be asking questions to the Premier on that matter.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Déclaration de députés. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for North Slave. Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Lafferty. Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members know, Students Against Drinking and Driving (SADD) are hosting a national conference. The 11th Annual Canadian Youth Against Impaired Driving are having a conference in Yellowknife in March of next year. We are going to see about 500 young people gathered from across Canada to focus on the issue of drinking and driving. The last time I spoke on this issue, Mr. Speaker, SADD had raised $70,000 toward this conference. They have now raised in excess of $100,000 through government, corporate and community support.

I would like acknowledge the commitment of our government through the Minister of Youth, the Honourable Roger Allen, and the Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Vince Steen, in particular for their efforts through their departmental initiatives and correspondence with federal and provincial counterparts in promoting this event. The Ministers of Health and Social Services, and Education have also shown great support for this event. I hope it will continue and I look forward to further updates on their progress in supporting this conference, Mr. Speaker.

I am informed that organizations are endeavouring to have community involvement across the Territories with at least two students, hopefully more, along with an adult advisor from each community in the Northwest Territories. Good progress is being made on participation from Hay River, Fort Smith, Rae-Edzo and Norman Wells. Information packages have been sent to each of the schools across the Territory and there is special travel support for the first six communities registered and in today's Yellowknifer, Mr. Speaker, there is further information.

We are all aware of the tragedy that can occur when alcohol and motor vehicles are mixed together. In the last ten years or so, drinking and driving has been a contributing factor in 60 percent of the fatal collisions in the Northwest Territories. People across the Northwest Territories are all too familiar with the personal tragedy resulting from drinking and driving. This is not a new message, Mr. Speaker, but it is well worth repeating.

I would ask each Member of the Assembly to encourage participation from their communities in this conference. Show your support. This is one event where youth can make a positive lifestyle change and show leadership where it really counts. Thanks, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, my comments will be about justice in the smaller communities in the North. Mr. Speaker, the Charter of Rights requires that legal counsel be provided to persons charged with committing a crime who cannot afford a lawyer or that representation by counsel is essential for the accused to receive a fair trial.

Mr. Speaker, in the Deh Cho region, adequate representation for those accused of serious crimes is simply not available. The court workers, when they are available and do attend court, do what they can for those accused of minor crimes and usually this is sufficient. However, those persons accused of more serous crimes in the Deh Cho, those crimes from which upon conviction a person faces significant jail time, their rights are not being met.

Mr. Speaker, I question how anyone can think that a legal aid lawyer can offer an accused person a quality defence based on a ten minute conversation that occurs half an hour before a trial. How can we justify this lack of pre-trial preparation and consultation between the client and lawyer? How can we justify an insufficient number of legal translators in the Deh Cho? I ask, are my constituents no longer entitled to a trial in their first language?

It is little wonder that the Northwest Territories has an inflated inmate population when compared to other Canadian jurisdictions. Mr. Speaker, when you combine the Northwest Territories' inflated inmate population with the fact that the majority of those inmates are of aboriginal descent, we begin to see the magnitude of this problem. How many of our residents are in jail because of inadequate or expedited defences? How many can say they have not received a fair trial and thus have had their constitutional rights ignored, because of the way that justice is delivered in the Northwest Territories? I am guessing, Mr. Speaker, that the number would shock you.

It seems to me, Mr. Speaker, that the lack of available fiscal resources has meant that we have had to concentrate the majority of funding for enforcement and incarceration. We do not have the money to put into crime prevention. We have to put some money into probation services by creating our own stand-alone probation services. This may help, but I do not see any of these probation officers living in my community.

Mr. Speaker, there are three RCMP officers in Fort Providence to enforce the law and protect the residents; we are grateful for that. However, Mr. Speaker, there must be a corresponding balance in the justice system by protecting the accused and ensuring that their rights under the Constitution and charter are upheld. Mr. Speaker, I intend to question the Minister responsible for Justice on the rights guaranteed to all Canadians via the Constitution. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Déclaration de députés. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my concern today that I will raise in my Member's statement is to do with the Midnight Sun Daycare. Mr. Speaker, this is an organization that has operated in the community of Inuvik for quite a number of years. They have recently run into some serious problems with funding and how that funding can be used. There are a number of pots they can access but there are stipulations to how the money can be used.

They contacted me in my last visit home and informed me that they were having some problems. There has been a fair bit of work that has been done working with them and I must acknowledge the work of the Midnight Sun Daycare Board as well as the regional staff from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. They have been working together and approaching the aboriginal organizations and any other organizations that might have some funding available to them. As of yet, we are not sure how it is going to go. They were on their last avenue to see where they could go and how the Midnight Sun Daycare can continue to function.

When I met with them, they figured they had two weeks left in their mandate in the sense of keeping the doors open. Mr. Speaker, they have in their care during the day-to-day process, up to 36 children. That is a large amount and that will probably grow as we see opportunities for employment grow in the community.

And this affects, Mr. Speaker, all walks of life in the community of Inuvik from single mothers to double income families to those in the Aurora Campus program. We need to try and do something to ensure that this facility and this program continue to operate. I know they have some initiatives to clear up and some work to be done that was pointed out by the regional staff to them, but I know they are working hard at it.

I have contacted the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment on this and asked for his assistance. Later on Mr. Speaker, I will be questioning him as to whether we have had any success in trying to garner his department's support. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Déclarations de députés. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, Mr. Speaker, I would like to break with tradition and delight this House with a good news story. Mr. Speaker, the good news I am referring to is the recent completion of the new West Channel Bridge in Hay River.

Mr. Speaker, this was an endeavour undertaken by the Department of Transportation. There was an official opening of the bridge on Saturday, August 12th in Hay River. I would like to thank the Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Vince Steen, for attending the bridge opening. It was an important and well attended event in Hay River.

Mr. Speaker, this was a very large undertaking by the Department of Transportation. The original West Channel Bridge was erected in 1963. The old bridge was not able to accommodate large loads as it had vertical and height restrictions. It also had no provision for pedestrians and cyclists and presented a large safety hazard for those people.

Mr. Speaker, the new bridge is approximately 120 metres long, and has two lanes for traffic, and a wide walk-way for pedestrian traffic. It can accommodate all loads as it has no height restrictions, due to the fact that it has an open deck. The new bridge is expected to accommodate 46 million vehicle trips over the next 50 years, and is a very welcome piece of infrastructure for Hay River, the transportation hub of the North.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out that several Hay River and northern contractors were utilized for this project. Some examples of these are: Stan Dean and Sons, Rowe's Construction, Northland Utilities and Rail Link Canada, all from Hay River; Nahanni Construction and Jivkov Engineering of Yellowknife, to name a few.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the staff of the Department of Transportation as the project was completed on schedule and well within the budget allotted. The entire bridge design and earth works were done in-house by the department personnel at a terrific cost savings to taxpayers.

Mr. Speaker, in these times of fiscal restraint, I would like to point out that this badly needed replacement of infrastructure in Hay River came in at $1.14 million under budget. It is unfortunate that these monies were transferred to a different region after the bridge was erected, but alas, I did say that this was a good news story. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Merci bien, Mr. Delorey. Déclarations de députés. Item 3, Member's statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

Mahsi, Mr. Nitah. Item 3, Member's statements. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we stand up in this House day after day raising issues to the government, to departments such as Education, trying to get programs, logical programs moved down to the community and regional level, trying to get clear answers for our constituents in what is often a very frustrating kind of process.

Mr. Speaker, tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians passed on from generation to generation says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.

-- Applause

Unfortunately, in modern education in government, a whole range of far more advanced strategies is often employed, such as:

• • buying a stronger whip;
• • changing the riders;
• • threatening the horse with termination;
• • appointing a committee to study the horse;
• • arranging to visit other countries to see how others ride dead horses;
• • lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included;
• • reclassifying the dead horses as living impaired;
• • hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse;

-- Laughter

• • harnessing several dead horses together to increase their speed;

-- Laughter

• • providing additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse's performance;
• • doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance;
• • declaring that dead horses do not have to be fed, are less costly, carry no overhead and therefore contribute substantially more to the bottom line of the economy, as do some other horses;
• • rewriting the expected performance requirements for all dead horses; or finally, Mr. Speaker
• • promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 3, Member's statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mademoiselle Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had a statement prepared to speak on another issue, but I am advised by more experienced Members here that I cannot make a statement on something that is already on the agenda later on.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about my other favourite issue, which has to do with Highway No. 3. Prior to our journey last Session in the summer time, I stated in this House that I was planning on driving a national highway from Toronto to Yellowknife myself so that I could tell first hand how our stretch of road from Rae to Yellowknife compares.

Mr. Speaker, I can report to you that I did indeed take that trip. I drove every kilometre of that 5,500 stretch with my mother next to me, and I must say it was a very great drive. I was very envious of the all the construction work that was happening in Ontario, especially northern Ontario, and I drove through the city of Kenora, which I believe is the riding of our Minister of DIAND. I noticed the freshly paved road coming out of his riding, and I wondered why he could not have put that sort of money into our part of the world.

Mr. Speaker, I must stay, driving through northern Saskatchewan was wonderful. The road was straight, even paved, and no one I do not think drove at the speed limit. I think that you could actually drive at a considerably faster speed than, I think, the speed limit of about 100 kilometres per hour.

Mr. Speaker, I could advise you that we did not know whether to cry or laugh when we hit the last 75 kilometres right after Rae. I think the stretch of the road from the border to Rae is so beautiful. It is straight, it is wide, it is even. You could see the trucks from hundreds of miles ahead of you because the road is so great. Seeing all the wildlife was just absolutely great.

My mom kept saying, "There is nothing wrong with this road. What are you talking about in the House?"

-- Laughter

Of course, until I hit the last 75 kilometres and I had to drive at about 50 kilometres to make sure that I did not endanger my life and my mother's. I thought that if I could only convince the Minister of Transportation of the federal government to drive that road, we would not have to make any more statements because he would be absolutely embarrassed that he actually has the last 75 kilometres of our national highway that is not fit to be a trail in anybody's book. That is my impromptu speech on Highway 3, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Allen.