Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Déclarations de ministre. The honourable Minister responsible for Youth, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the context of the document Towards a Better Tomorrow, the 14th Legislative Assembly will continue to support and work with all youth organizations to achieve their goals. Today, I am pleased to share with you a fine example of this ongoing work.

As the Minister responsible for Youth and a Member of the 14th Legislative Assembly, I wish to congratulate the new partnership forged between Canadian North and the Territorial Youth Association (formerly the Native Women's Youth Association). This new partnership will provide the youth of the Northwest Territories an outlet where they can access either complimentary airfare and/or discounted airfares, enabling youth to travel throughout the North for productive and beneficial events. Canadian North, a northern-owned and operated company, has agreed to enter into this two-year agreement with the Territorial Youth Association, which I truly believe will prove to be a worthy investment in the youth of the Northwest Territories. To further highlight this, I wish to quote Canadian North's mission statement:

"Our mission is to better meet the needs of northern travellers and the North by investing time, energy and resources to help develop the communities we serve."

The Youth Exploration Program is one way Canadian North is realizing their mission. Through this Youth Exploration Program, youth will be provided with support so that they can participate in addressing the following youth priorities identified by the Territorial Youth Association including: alcohol-drug abuse prevention, youth development and training, racism and cultural education, youth justice and crime prevention, and sports and recreation.

At the break, I wish to invite each of you to the Great Hall. Along with representatives from Canadian North and the Territorial Youth Association, I will be officially launching this special youth initiative. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Allen. Déclarations de ministre. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, seeing as it is Friday, I want to take this opportunity to write a good news Member's statement. Mr. Speaker, the good news I am referring to is recognition of some recent accomplishments by residents of Hay River.

First, Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize two pages from my riding who have been here all week. They are Stephanie Johnston and Nathan Taylor. These two young people are very fine individuals who I am sure will succeed in whatever paths they choose for the future. I would like to thank them for coming here this week.

In addition, Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize some Hay River residents who have been inducted to the 1999-2000 Northwest Territories Apprenticeship Honour Roll. These are Jason Coakwell, Bruce McCarthy, Earle Dumas, Kevin McLean, Travis Peterson, Michael Mahussier and Austin King. Mr. Speaker, special recognition should go to Michael Mahussier, who is the top graduating apprentice in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, from January 18th to January 21st, the Hay River Curling Club hosted the Northwest Territories Championships. It gives me great pleasure to announce that my son Darcy's team was one of the two teams representing the Northwest Territories at the NWT-Yukon playdowns held in Whitehorse. His team consisted of Mike Mageean, Bruce Hunt and Brian Lodge. I also had the pleasure of coaching Darcy's team.

Mr. Speaker, from February 2nd to February 14th, Hay River hosted the Territorial Figure Skating Championships. These championships attract the skaters from five northern communities. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that Heather Stevely of Hay River received three gold medals and Carisa Broadhead received two gold medals. There were a number of other skaters who received other medals too numerous to mention here.

Mr. Speaker, the territorial wrestling championships were held in Hay River from February 9th to the 11th. I am pleased to report that all of our Diamond Jenness High School wrestlers won medals.

Mr. Speaker, special recognition should go to the following Hay River wrestlers who were appointed to the Northwest Territories Canada Games Team as a result of good performance at the territorials. These wrestlers were Ricky Leonard, Danny Jackson and Shane Latimer.

Mr. Speaker, Jack Keefe, one of the Northwest Territories premier wrestling coaches, has been appointed the manager of the Canada Games Team. I know that...

Mr. Delorey, the time for your Member's statement has expired.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Member for Hay River North is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that Jack devotes a tremendous amount of his time to our wrestlers and he is to be commended for this. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize Kim Klassen, a Hay River teacher who was instrumental in organizing the Cager Basketball Tournament in Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. Déclarations de députés. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to take the opportunity to recognize two pages who are presently here from the Deh Cho. Mr. Speaker, I feel this is a great opportunity that we as a government can offer our youth. The experience of participating in the paging program is an important task for students to experience our legislation firsthand. The knowledge that we instill in our youth today will go a long ways. These students may someday likely become our future leaders.

The students we have with us are Rosalie Martel and Rosemary Buggins. Both of these students are from the Chief Sunrise Education Centre in the Hay River Reserve. I would like to thank them for their services in the House this week. Also, Mr. Speaker, next week, March 1st, is the opening day of the 18th K'amba Carnival. One of our pages, Rosemary Buggins, is a K'amba queen contestant. I would like to wish her much success.

I would also like to thank the principal, Brent Kaulbach, the teachers of the Chief Sunrise Centre, chaperone Ms. Kim Beaulieu, the Sergeant-at-Arms and the staff of the Legislative Assembly who assisted in bringing these students for this prestigious task. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Merci, Mr. McLeod. Déclarations de députés. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to address the issue of the road through Dogrib country that my colleague, Mr. Lafferty, has raised in this House. This issue was before the 13th Assembly as well and was raised repeatedly by Mr. Lafferty's predecessor. I thought it was a good idea then and I think it is an even better idea now. The circumstances have changed and improved the need for such a road.

We have three diamond mines. I understand there is also a mine being proposed at the old Rae Rock Mine. It is looking for a lot of power, eight megawatts of power. We have the potential for significant hydro development in the South Slave.

As we look at what to do with that power, the issue of coming north with a grid to hook into the Snare grid to feed the mines becomes, in my mind, very attractive and should be looked at. It is a natural extension of that kind of resource development when you look at the road.

Mr. Speaker, this road would benefit not only the industry, but if it were put through as proposed by my colleague, we would have the benefit, after the resource development is over, of permanent roads connecting the communities who are currently there and are land locked, except in the winter.

I would hope that the government and the Minister of Transportation would look at this issue once again. I think there is even greater impetus for this as the economics develop as they have with rising fuel prices. However, with the pressing resource development, I think it makes good sense.

Like my colleague for the North Slave, I would hope to see some recognition of the need for this road in the planning of the government in the months and years ahead. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Merci, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Constituents of Inuvik, my wife and children, today I rise to give notice that I will not be in the House on Monday, February 26, 2001, and will miss part of February 27, 2001, as I will be attending the official opening of the Swimming Point Camp Site, as well as touring the Akita's Equtak rig.

Mr. Speaker, it has been some time since the Beaufort Delta has seen the activity that is starting to increase again. I can recall as a child travelling down the east branch of the Mackenzie River many times, and going past the camps that were established and operating in those days, and Swimming Point that also used to have a camp. As things turned down in the Delta, those camps disappeared. For years, as we drive by to the summer camps, we would see an area that had been abandoned. You would see the gravel pad, there was nothing left besides a place where the barges used to go to shore.

Mr. Speaker, once again in the Delta, we see activity starting and growth happening. It has been a long time and at this time, Mr. Speaker, the people of the Delta are more than just workers and labourers. They are partners in businesses. They are taking advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead. This time, I think and I hope, that truly in the Northwest Territories we will see some growth, not just by jobs and pay cheques, but by true partnerships and by northern businesses. Thank you.

-- Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last Monday I questioned the Minister of Health and Social Services as to whether or not we have, as a government, contravened the conditions placed upon us by the Canada Health Act in the way we deliver health programs and services. The Minister replied that she felt that the department had lived up to the obligations under the Canada Health Act.

Mr. Speaker, the Canada Health Act requires the provinces and territories to fulfill certain criteria in order to qualify for full cash contributions. The criteria is in the areas of public administration, comprehensiveness, universality and portability and accessible programs.

Mr. Speaker, on Monday the Minister stated:

"Significant downsizing in the department over the past years by previous governments has eroded our capacity to monitor and enforce standards, and provide administrative and clinical leadership to oversight".

Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that we realize that we have in some ways by that statement, violated the Canada Health Act.

Mr. Speaker, time and time again, I have brought to the attention of this House certain concerns related to my constituents who have had problems accessing health care services until it was too late. There again, Mr. Speaker, I believe it is in contravention of the Canada Health Act with regard to the accessibility of programs and services.

Mr. Speaker, there have been numerous attempts to restructure and reorganize our health care system, but we must never lose sight of the fact that there are certain rules that we may follow. We have health boards who do not have a system in place for accountability, or ensuring public input to ensure that the boards have a process to evaluate the conditions of the programs they deliver, and I for one, Mr. Speaker, feel that the department has to seriously look at the federal obligations that we have under the Canada Health Act.

Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister questions on this matter today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I rise to speak about the recent Flight of Dreams fundraiser. Mr. Speaker, most children have all their lives to make wishes come true, but for those children who may never have a tomorrow, there is the Children's Wish Foundation of Canada. The goal of the foundation is to provide a once-in-a-lifetime experience for children suffering from high-risk, life-threatening illnesses. In order to qualify, a child must be between three and 18, and their wishes can be as simple as a visit to their grandparents or a tour of Disney World.

Last Saturday, Mr. Speaker, Yellowknife hosted its third annual Flight of Dreams, a fundraising gala event where all the proceeds go towards the Children's Wish Foundation, Alberta-NWT Chapter. Approximately 400 people gathered at the Great Slave Helicopters hangar at the airport dressed in formal attire. Guests were provided with an evening of exceptional food, socializing, dancing, along with opportunities to bid on a variety of items, all donated for a silent auction. The event raised $30,000, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the many volunteers and sponsors of this event, it has been an extremely successful endeavour. I am proud to say that the Northwest Territories has raised over $90,000 this far towards making wishes come true. In fact last year, the staff of Diavik Diamond Mines raised over $6,000 at their mine site and the RCMP contributed over $15,000 from their charity golf tournament.

On average, a child's wish works out to be approximately $6,000 or, to date, 15 wishes. In the first year of existence, our NWT chapter granted eight wishes. As the public became more aware of this foundation, so did the number of requests. It is pleasing to learn that not yet one child in the Northwest Territories has been turned away. Nationally, the Children's Wish Foundation has granted well over 5,000 wishes to Canadian children.

Mr. Speaker, the event was brought north by two residents of Yellowknife, Peter and Terry Arychuk, who have a son that was granted a wish in 1997. I am pleased to say that today he is a happy, healthy teenager, Mr. Speaker.

At the time of their son's illness, there was no coordinator for the Northwest Territories and Terry was asked if she would be interested in taking on this challenging position. Of course, she gracefully accepted.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of the volunteers and the Arychuks for bringing this worthwhile charity to the North. As Terry Arychuk has said, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing a child's face light up when they are granted their wish. Mr. Speaker, I ask my fellow colleagues to join me in...

Mr. Bell, your time for your statement has expired.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you, the honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There being no nays, you may conclude, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask my fellow Members to join me in taking this opportunity to publicly thank everyone involved who contributed to making this fundraising event such a huge success, and I suggest that you mark February 16th on your calendar for next year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.