This is page numbers 157 - 202 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 5th 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 communities.

Topics

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Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 200

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this department here, RWED, they are there to assist potential clients in looking at all types of funding opportunities that are there through RWED. There are funding opportunities there that exist for tourism and to look at product development. We are there to help develop business through loans and grants. There is training involved. We help out in training and we are also involved in marketing. Again, like product development, we provide that. There is management training, different level guiding of training, and again promotional costs and production of tourism materials. So there is a lot of assistance that this department could provide.

Again, in terms of restaurants and hotels, through the Northwest Territories Development Corporation, they have worked with community corporations in some instances to build hotels, coffee shops and so forth. The funding and the mechanism is there. We just have to find a way to work with the people in the communities if that is what they want to do. There is opportunity there to do it.

There are initiatives that this department has funded to finance the construction of community facilities and to provide the training. It is ongoing. There are joint ventures that NWT Development Corporation has done with some of the community corporations to have these facilities.

It is a matter of trying to find out if the community is interested. We have the different programs to do it. Thank you.

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Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 200

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Mr. Nitah.

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Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 200

Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Maybe the department should spend a percentage of the time they spend promoting the Northwest Territories and promoting the kinds of programs and services the department has available to communities. I am pretty sure most of these communities do not know anything about some of these programs.

Let's talk about Community Futures and the NWT business development centres. You have the Akaitcho Business Development Centre in which you have the city of Yellowknife, N'dilo and Detah. You have the Thebacha Business Development Centre, which has Fort Smith, Lutselk'e and Fort Resolution. I see Lutselk'e and Fort Resolution never had any money coming out of that development centre and that development centre is placed in Fort Smith I believe. They have not done anything to promote business development in the communities. Maybe they have done it in Fort Smith but certainly not in Fort Resolution or in Lutselk'e. If you do not have resources associated with these positions or these offices, or these offices are not known to the people they are supposed to serve, how are they supposed to do their jobs? Economic development officers in every community, paid sufficiently by the government as comparable to what they pay individuals working for the departments, would be excellent in these communities so that they can take advantage of business opportunities. There is a lot of potential out there but we are not utilizing it.

I think the Minister has the gist of my concern and my suggestions, so I would like to get into the area of environment, Mr. Chairman. The Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act is a creation of the federal government through their negotiations with land claims. In the Northwest Territories, you have the Deh Cho, the Dogrib region and the Akaitcho, who do not have agreements, and this Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act is enforced upon them. Specifically in the area of the Patterson sawmill application, the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Board used a site in northern Alberta to do an assessment in the Pine Point area. They used the environmental assessment done by the proponent, Mr. Patterson, to do the environmental assessment. Is that the practice of the Mackenzie Valley? Is that acceptable to RWED, Mr. Chairman? And when is RWED going to complete its environmental base line studies in the Slave Geological Province? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 200

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. I would like the Minister to answer your questions, but time is up. We will rise and report progress as it is 7:30. I would like to thank the Minister and his witnesses and you can answer the question when we resume tomorrow. I will rise and report progress.

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Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 200

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

The House will come back to order. Item 21, report of the committee of the whole. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole
Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole

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David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Bill 2, Motion 1-14(5), and Committee Report 2-14(5), and would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move the report of the committee of the whole be concurred with.

Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole
Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole

Page 200

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Do we have a seconder for the motion? The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Ootes, seconds the motion. We have a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. All those in favour? Thank you. All those opposed? Thank you. The motion is carried. Thank you, Members. Item 22, third reading of bills.

Before I call for orders of the day, I have a ruling on a point of order raised earlier today, Tuesday, February 26th, by the honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Speaker's Ruling

I would like to provide my ruling on the point of order that was raised by the Member for Thebacha earlier today. Mr. Miltenberger, in raising the point of order, felt that false or hidden motives were being imputed to him in remarks made by the Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko, during his Members Statement. The words in question are:

Yet, Mr. Speaker, through the new Minister of Health and Social Services, he seems to be taking this thing full speed ahead and no consultation whatsoever with our Metis locals and Metis organizations. Now there is talk that the Minister may be out taking advantage of his new portfolio and being the Member for Thebacha and who basically wants to -- and who, through his electorate who put him in office to deliver on some of those commitments, knowing this has a detrimental threat to the Metis Nations up and down the valley. These comments are contained in unedited Hansard from earlier this afternoon.

Members are required under the rules to conduct themselves within those rules. These rules prohibit making statements which impute false or hidden motives to another Member.

Rule 23 states:

In debate a Member will be called to order by the Speaker if the Member:

(h) makes allegations against another Member, a House officer or a witness;

(i) imputes false or hidden motives to another Member.

In my review of the unedited Hansard, the implication was clear in the words of the Member for Mackenzie Delta. These implications include:

- That the Member for Thebacha was using his ministerial portfolio to "deliver" on previous election commitments. The thrust of this statement is that the Member for Thebacha is taking advantage of his newly acquired status as a Minister to fulfil commitments made as a Member and to thereby advance his own interests through the use of his ministerial portfolio.

- That the Member is deliberately taking steps knowing that such steps would or will have a detrimental effect on some identified constituents - namely the "Metis Nations up and down the valley".Such imputations of motives are, in my view, unparliamentary and contravene the rules of this Assembly. So my ruling is that the Member for Thebacha does have a point of order and I am offering the Member for Mackenzie Delta the opportunity to retract and apologize for these statements. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole
Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole

Page 201

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I apologize.

-- Applause

Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole
Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole

Page 201

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Order, please, order. You have to retract as well, honourable Member. Retract those statements and apologize.

Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole
Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole

Page 201

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw the statement referring to the Minister and his election commitments, knowing that it made...

Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole
Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole

Page 201

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Short and simple, you will retract that statement and apologize. That is all you have to do, no explanation.

Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole
Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole

Page 201

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my statement and apologize.

-- Applause

Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole
Item 21: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole

Page 201

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you. The honourable Member has retracted those statements and has apologized to the honourable Member for Thebacha. Item 23, orders of the day. Mr. Clerk.

Item 23: Orders Of The Day
Item 23: Orders Of The Day

Page 201

Clerk Of The House Mr. David Hamilton

Mr. Speaker, meetings for tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight and Cabinet House Strategy; at 10:30 of the Special Committee on Self-Government and the Sunset Clause; and at noon, the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight.

Orders of the day for Wednesday, February 27, 2002:

  1. Prayer
  2. Ministers' Statements
  3. Members' Statements
  4. Returns to Oral Questions
  5. Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
  6. Oral Questions
  7. Written Questions
  8. Returns to Written Questions
  9. Replies to Opening Address
  10. Replies to Budget Address
  11. Petitions
  12. Reports of Standing and Special Committees
  13. Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills
  14. Tabling of Documents
  15. Notices of Motion
  16. Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills
  17. Motions
  18. First Reading of Bills

- Bill 5, An Act to Amend the Adoption Act and Family Law Act

- Bill 6, An Act to Amend the Financial Administration Act

  1. Second Reading of Bills
  2. Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

- Bill 2, Appropriation Act, 2002-2003

- Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act

- Committee Report 1-14(5), Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight Report on the Review of the 2002-2003 Main Estimates

- Committee Report 2-14(5), Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development Report on the Review of the 2002-2003 Main Estimates

- Committee Report 3-14(5), Standing Committee on Social Programs Report on the Review of the 2002-2003 Main Estimates

- Motion 1-14(5), Establishment of a Special Committee on Rural Community Affairs

  1. Report of Committee of the Whole
  2. Third Reading of Bills
  3. Orders of the Day

Item 23: Orders Of The Day
Item 23: Orders Of The Day

Page 202

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until Wednesday, February 27, 2002, at 1:30 p.m.

-- ADJOURNMENT

The House adjourned at 7:45 p.m.