Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Handley.
Debates of June 12th, 2001
This is page numbers 153 - 190 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 4th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.
Topics
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Joe Handley Weledeh
Mr. Chairman, I am not sure who installed the tanks or when they were installed, but we can get that information. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe
Thank you. It would be good to know. I am just wondering if this is a deficiency on the tanks or a deficiency in how it was installed? If that is the case, we should determine that. Who knows if the same organization, company or government department used the same method or same material in other areas in the Northwest Territories? The government has not gotten around to replacing these things. We might have an environmental catastrophe on our hands without knowing it.
The other area I wanted to speak on is why are we spending approximately $2.7 million when, according to the Minister, we are using Aurora College students to cleanup the site and excavation and so on?
Mr. Chairman, we had a Caucus meeting in Fort Smith about a month ago. The mayor of the community and the leaders of the community emphasized a need to create employment in that community. Why are we using students when there are people in that community who need employment? Since we are spending the money, we might as well employ people. This is a suggestion I would like the Minister to comment on. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Joe Handley Weledeh
Mr. Chairman, first of all, with regard to the tanks, as I said, we will determine when those tanks were put in and have a look at them, if we can. It may be very difficult six years after they were dug out to determine exactly what the cause was, unless somebody made notes at the time. It is very likely that it was just a matter of aging. We will find that out.
In terms of why use students for this, there are two reasons. One is that it is a heavy equipment operation that is required here. We have a heavy equipment operator training program, so rather than the students just moving dirt back and forth on the field, this is a good practical exercise that fits well with our training. The second reason is that by using students to do the work, we are saving ourselves an estimated $2.5 million. It is basically a good training opportunity. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On the first note that it may be difficult to determine when and who built those tanks, we should determine who built those tanks. If it is the same material that is used in other parts of the Territories, we have a reason to worry.
On the second part, students are students. They should not be used as free labourers. Train them, but there are people in that community who need jobs. If we do not give them jobs and we give them income support, it is going to cost this government money out the back door anyway. That was the suggestion. It is great that we can use the students as cheap labourers and they learn from it, but there are people in that community who need jobs. Why can we not give them jobs on the money we spent already instead of keeping them on income support? I understand the Minister's argument, but I have another argument, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Joe Handley Weledeh
Mr. Chairman, as I said, we will find out who installed the tanks, when they were installed and so on. With regard to the issue of using students, giving students good, practical training on real exercises, I guess we have different views on that. I think it is worth it to have the students working in real situations rather than just moving dirt back and forth on a field. The other thing I would point out is that this is heavy equipment work. It is not something you can just hire someone from down the street to do. There are good reasons to use the students and at the same time save ourselves some money that could be used for other training purposes. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe
Mr. Chairman, I guess we need to have some fuel spills in our communities so we can get students over there as well. There are people in the community of Fort Smith who could do with a little bit of training as well, and get the employment. Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to point that out. It is good training ground, but what happens once it is cleaned up? Back to pushing dirt around? I do not agree with that argument, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Joe Handley Weledeh
Mr. Chairman, the students at the college come from many different communities, but not all communities. It is not as if this was just for Fort Smith students. Secondly, we are always looking for good, practical, real exercises for the students. If there are not any available, then they do push dirt around in the field. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know this is a little off topic, but in Lutselk'e, they have been working on building a road from Lutselk'e to Austin Lake to open up the whole east side to tourism. The terrain is very similar to the tundra where the mine is. If the Minister wants to invest money in training, then build that road and train people from all over the North in real terms, using the same material as the materials used in most of our northern communities. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair Paul Delorey
That was a comment more than a question. We are on Education, Culture and Employment, operations expenditures, advanced education and careers, special warrants, $1,737,000.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Under not previously authorized, $1.6 million, we have some explanation here. It is broken down a little further. It says $500,000 for the development of an expanded northern Teacher Education Program in order to increase the number of available enrolments for the program to make it more accessible to NWT residents in all regions.
Mr. Chairman, I am aware that this has been an initiative that has been ongoing for a number of years. The Education Act was amended to ensure that teachers who went through TEP, the Teacher Education Program, were required to pursue a certificate or a degree after a number of years. That has been ongoing. Is this $500,000 that is identified in this area to address an increased enrolment or an increased demand on this sector? Can we have some information on that? Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This $500,000 is to ensure that we can offer the Teacher Education Program at all three campuses, the Aurora Campus, the Yellowknife Campus and the Thebacha Campus, with an intake every year at those particular campuses.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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