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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Just because the Department of Health and Social Services cannot staff medical positions throughout the Northwest Territories the cost of bringing residents to Yellowknife for treatment should not be on the backs of the residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regard to the issue that has been at hand all week, the Power Corporation, they exercised their authority to carry out their responsibilities as directors of a corporation. It is crucial that the independence is there of boards to set their goals and objectives, their business plans and following them. Also realizing that there is the independence between running a business and the politics of the day.

Mr. Speaker, under the existing rules and regulations that are in place, in accordance with the directorate, policy and guidelines of this government, from time to time we as government set policy direction. We have looked at energy strategies, non-renewable resource strategies, highway initiatives. Yet we as a Legislature are responsible for developing those policies, strategies and directives. I think also we have to look at what is best for the health and well-being of the Territory.

We have spent many dollars and resources with consultants, putting reports together, and a lot of those reports have never seen the light of day. We have been working with the aboriginal groups to look at different initiatives to try and find ways of dealing with our economy, we are talking about pipelines with mining developments, but we also have to realize that at the end of the day it is the cost of all these initiatives that have to be borne by ourselves as a government and the taxpayers to ensure that those expenditures are done right.

My concern, Mr. Speaker, is that as directors of corporations, regardless if the Business Development Corporation, the Power Corporation, or even our school boards, we have to allow them some autonomy to do their jobs. My concern with regard to the Power Corporation is that we have overstepped our bounds by disputing a notion or idea that we think may be right or wrong, but at the end of the day it is the consumer that has to pay.

I think when it comes to power and understanding the cost of power generation and the effect on people in our communities... Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, it is the consumer at the end of the day that has to pay for the power, the use of that power and if they can afford the use of that power. I think the one rate zone and the public hearing process would have allowed the public input in how fair and how well we are managing the power and how fair is the cost distribution in the Northwest Territories for communities on diesel generation, communities on hydro and also communities that are now on gas.

I think as a government that direction was basically hijacked by a decision of Cabinet to allow that process to move forward. With that, Mr. Speaker, I will be asking some questions in regard to what the responsibilities are of the boards we put in place and what we mean by carrying out the day-to-day operations and responsibilities, and the role of the Executive Council when those decisions are being carried out. Also how the interference in those decisions are being handled. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last week I held a constituency meeting for the residents of Frame Lake and earlier this week all the Members from Yellowknife held a joint constituency meeting for all of our constituents. One of the common themes that came out when we heard from all of our constituents at both of these meetings was the shortage of health care workers and the impact that shortage has on our access to health care services.

Mr. Speaker, I keep hearing that the problem is not about salaries. I hear that from the Minister and from officials. They have suggested in fact to the press, I know to Members we got a copy of the package, that a nurse only needs 7 percent more in salary to move from Calgary to Yellowknife to maintain the same standard of living. Apparently they used a computer program to prove this.

Mr. Speaker, as a business man I find this very hard to believe, no matter what a computer program says, that you can move to Yellowknife and have the same standard of living for only 7 percent more than in Calgary. I know that Stats Canada certainly says that our cost of living is way more than 7 percent higher than Edmonton or Calgary. In fact, it is close to three or four times the cost of living in Edmonton or Calgary.

Mr. Speaker, rather than campaigning to convince us that we pay nurses competitively already, I think we should look for ways to deal with the lack of money that we have to put into the health care system. I think money is really part of the problem. That is driven home when we see an article also in the paper that says we can find nurses to work here on contract and they get paid the same salary as the nurses who live here. Unlike the resident nurses, they get free accommodation. They get free travel, north and south.

You know, housing and travel are two of the most expensive components of the higher cost of living in the North. We have to get serious about dealing with this problem. We are going to have to find some more money. I want to hear that the Minister is working with his colleagues on Cabinet to identify new sources of money. We are going to have to have a discussion, if we have no new money, about reallocation perhaps. Where are we going to find that money from within? I do not think it is going to be in Health and Social Services, it is probably going to have to come from some other place. So let's start that discussion. Let's get it moving.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, honourable Members. Mr. Speaker, we need to look for ways to find new money. Let's also take a serious look at a separate bargaining unit for health care workers. It is something they have indicated that they feel is needed. Let's really take a look at it.

Mr. Speaker, let's get the recruitment and retention plan fast tracked. Let's get it moving. Get everything that needs to be approved through Cabinet so that this can be published next week and out for the public to see. Let's get serious about solving this problem as quickly as possible.

By the way, Mr. Speaker, I have a tip for the Minister. An article in yesterday's Ottawa Citizen noted that the Royal Ottawa Hospital is laying off 70 health care workers, many of whom are nurses. I would like to encourage the Minister to ensure that he has got a good recruitment and retention plan and a good salary in hand and to go down to Ottawa and see if we cannot scalp some of those nurses to come North now that they are available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday in this Assembly I read the text of one student's story to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, that tied for second place in a literacy contest. Today I will read from the text of the other student who tied for second place in this worthwhile contest. It reads:

Queen Elizabeth can come to the school.

I would let Queen Elizabeth come to our classroom and meet all the students in the school. I would let her meet my mom Jana and my sister Bobbi-jo. At Beluga Jamboree, I would show and tell her about all kinds of games, skidoo races, dog mushing and let her try a donut. I would tell her about our drum dancing and try to show her how to drum dance and try to let her sing the drum dance song. I would let my sister Bobbi-jo teach her how to play card games like zap and seven-up, as that is all she knows how to play.

-- Laughter

At the Northern Games I'd tell her all the games like canoe racing, goose plucking and tea boiling contests and let her try to drink some pop and let her have some chips. I'd show her how to play board games like Sorry, Trable and Checkers. I'd show her how to drive a ski-doo and maybe she might go really fast, or slow. She might be scared or brave on the ski-doo.

By Dana PanaktalokGrade 6Mangilaluk School, Tuktoyaktuk

Mr. Speaker, and honourable colleagues, I ask you to please join me in commending this student in her efforts to achieve literacy. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today, October 18th, is a significant day for women. The reason and the history is as follows. On October 18, 1929, the British Privy Council, which at the time could overrule the Supreme Court of Canada, declared the term "qualified persons" in section 24 of the BNA Act to include women. As a result women were therefore eligible for appointment to the Senate. This decision was rendered after a lengthy legal and political struggle known as the Persons Case. Each year the Governor General's awards in commemoration of the Persons Case are presented on or around this date. Some NWT women who have received this award include the late Agnes Semmler, Elizabeth MacKenzie of Rae and Bertha Allen of Inuvik.

I congratulate all women in their ongoing struggle for equality and particularly those who have dedicated their lives to this cause. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of important small businesses in the electoral district of Inuvik Twin Lakes which succeed based on hard work and dedication of their owners and of their employees. Today, Mr. Speaker, the first in a series of four, I would like to profile Arctic Tire (1980) Limited. Arctic Tire (1980) Limited started as a tire repair and sales company in 1980. With the increased activity and growth of its business, the company moved into road maintenance, oil field equipment, construction and contracting services, including a service station in the Inuvik industrial area.

Mr. Speaker, Arctic Tire is an integral part of the business community of Inuvik which at times employs between 15 and 120 employees based on the peak of their business.

The company continues to make valuable contributions not only in the employer-employee relations section, but is known to make contributions to charities and sports organizations in and around Inuvik.

It gives me great pleasure today to extend my congratulations to the owners of Arctic Tire (1980) Ltd for the contributions they have made in the past 22 years to the business community of Inuvik. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased today to stand and congratulate an exemplary Northerner whose good works have now been recognized nationally. Bishop John Sperry has received our nation's highest honour, the Order of Canada. Bishop Sperry is one of my constituents.

Mr. Speaker, the Order of Canada recognizes people who have made a difference to our country, and it can most certainly be said that Bishop Sperry did that. He came from England in 1950 to serve in the Anglican Mission in what was then called Coppermine, although no one who knows this Nunavut community now would recognize it as it was then. Most of the people of the region then lived on the land for most of the year and John Sperry traveled to where they were in order to live and learn with them. He did this by travelling the only way he could, by dog team in the winter and boat in the summertime.

A year after Sperry came to Coppermine his fiancée, Elizabeth McLaren, left England to go to Aklavik to work as a nurse. They married in 1952 in Kugluktuk and raised their children, Angela and John, there. Later they served in Fort Smith, Yellowknife and Iqaluit. John Sperry became Bishop of the Arctic in 1974 and retired in 1990.

Bishop Sperry did much more than one would expect from a person in such a position, Mr. Speaker. As well as ministering to his parishioners, John Sperry also learned the Inuinnaqtun language and then translated the Anglican Prayer Book and Hymnary, and the New Testament Gospels and Acts into this language. He served with many boards and organizations, including the Canadian Bible Society, the Boy Scouts of Canada, the Canadian Rangers and the Historical Advisory Council of the NWT.

Since his retirement in 1990, he has also written a wonderful book about his life in the North and the people he has worked with, which is called Igloo Dwellers Were My Church. He continues to be active in several ways, including being a chaplain in the Canadian Armed Forces and at Stanton Regional Hospital. Mr. Speaker, I can think of no person more deserving to receive the Order of Canada than Bishop John Sperry, and I ask the House to join me in offering our most sincere congratulations to him on this occasion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not often do I get a chance to stand up in this House and recognize somebody from my constituency. In fact, I was told I have to be clear on this one. I have my constituency assistant in the gallery down here catching up on the activities in the Legislative Assembly, but she made a point to tell people that she is originally from Sachs Harbour, but she is in Inuvik while her husband is getting an education working out of my office. Thank you.

-- Applause