Thank you, Ms. Lee. Please be seated. Good morning, colleagues. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Michael Miltenberger will be absent from the House today to attend to a personal matter in Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Antoine. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to provide Members with a report on work that was done earlier this week in Ottawa in support of the GNWT's Strategic Infrastructure Fund proposal.

On June 12th an NWT delegation, including the Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Charles Dent; the Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. David Krutko; Northwest Territories Chamber of Commerce president, Mr. Kelly Hayden; and myself briefed a number of federal Cabinet Ministers on "Corridors for Canada", the GNWT's Strategic Infrastructure Fund proposal.

Federal Ministers we briefed included: Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister, the Honourable John Manley; Intergovernmental Affairs Minister, the Honourable Stephane Dion; Environment Minister, the Honourable David Anderson; and Public Works Minister, the Honourable Ralph Goodale. I also had an opportunity to informally discuss our proposal with the Honourable Herb Dhaliwal, Minister of Natural Resources.

Mr. Speaker, since the start of the lobby in April to inform federal representatives of the Northwest Territories transportation needs and its proposal for federal investments under the Strategic Infrastructure program, the Prime Minister and 20 Cabinet Ministers, committee chairs and senior political officials have been briefed.

The reaction we received on June 12th was most encouraging.

Federal Ministers understand the linkage between Northwest Territories transportation infrastructure improvements and providing a more attractive investment and development climate for our gas and minerals.

We impressed upon Ministers the importance of transportation infrastructure to the quality of life for our residents, better access to services and opportunities, and controlled management of our environment.

We stressed that investments in our transportation infrastructure by Ottawa, industry and the GNWT will accelerate gas and mining developments, which in turn produce revenues for the federal government, jobs and business opportunities for NWT residents and all Canadians, and NWT aboriginal equity in NWT development projects.

Mr. Speaker, we were also encouraged that reports of a deal on project funding are premature and unfounded. The Honourable John Manley reported that the federal Cabinet has not yet made all of the necessary program mandate decisions and that federal officials have yet to begin work on assessing project submissions.

In closing, I want to thank Mr. Dent, Mr. Krutko and Mr. Hayden for their valuable support on this trip. As always, our Member of Parliament, the Honourable Ethel Blondin-Andrew, was there to provide strategic advice and support through the week at the meetings. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, I believe it is important to recognize NWT volunteers. For more than ten years MACA has sponsored the NWT Outstanding Volunteer Awards to honour our volunteers. This year we formed a partnership with the NWT Power Corporation to promote the awards program more widely. Earlier this year, we asked residents to nominate volunteers for the 2002 NWT Outstanding Volunteer Awards Program.

Mr. Speaker, we received over 70 nominations from all over the Territory. From those numbers, many were recognized as winners in their own regions, and six were chosen for territorial awards. I would like to take a moment to list the territorial award winners. These are:• Janet Wong for the High Five Youth Award;• Ed Jeske for the Respected Elder Award;• Dusty Miller for the Board Member Award• Dixie Penner for Outstanding Volunteer;• Lori Uhlenberg for the Good Neighbour Award; and• The Thrift Shop of Hay River for the Outstanding Community Organization Award.

A complete list of regional award winners and all nominated volunteers is available on the MACA website.

A ceremony to honour the six territorial winners will take place here in the Great Hall this afternoon at 2:30. I would like to invite all Members to meet these special people and help us recognize their contributions.

Mr. Speaker, volunteers are important to this government. We are committed to improving the quality of life in the Northwest Territories by providing meaningful activities and services. Volunteers play a large role in our ability to meet this objective. I am delighted to see them receiving this much attention, especially since they share so much of their own precious time with others.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to meeting these volunteers and shaking their hands. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Northerners have strong traditions of sharing and giving to others. These virtues are often expressed through volunteerism. Volunteering ranges from individual acts, like sharing food, to participating in community organizations and membership on volunteer boards. Active every day in our communities, volunteers not only help to build healthy and safe communities but promote personal well-being and enjoyment. The more people volunteer, the healthier NWT communities are likely to be.

Our many volunteer organizations make a major difference to the quality of life in the North, Mr. Speaker. By providing opportunities for volunteer service, they support northern people who are developing or enhancing their careers through volunteer activities. These activities are the perfect opportunity to develop the kinds of skills important to being contributing members of a community.

Mr. Speaker, the Departments of Education, Culture and Employment and Municipal and Community Affairs have worked together to produce two handbooks to assist and support volunteers, volunteer organizations and employers, which, through their work with volunteers, are supporting positive growth in Northwest Territories' communities. Looking In/Reaching Out is a practical guide for people who choose to volunteer and are developing their careers while providing service to their community. The second handbook, Looking In/Giving Back, provides help to volunteer organizations and employers in the recruitment, selection and ongoing support of volunteers.

Mr. Speaker, many non-government and community organizations rely on volunteers to help them realize their goals. Enthusiasm and time are the only real prerequisites of volunteering. However, the quality of the volunteer experience will be enhanced by the information in these two documents. The positive feelings that volunteering evokes will be increased when volunteers have been properly oriented and trained. Looking In/Giving Back will help to guide community organizations and employers in a way that maximizes the benefits of volunteerism for everyone.

Looking In/Reaching Out aims to encourage people to consider volunteering as a way to develop skills for work and personal success. Working as a volunteer provides an avenue through which individuals can express their care, concern and willingness to help. The helpful hints contained in this publication will help to ensure that your volunteer efforts will leave you with a good feeling for a job well done.

Mr. Speaker, volunteers provide services, solve problems, create new ways of doing things and start many activities that improve our lives. They deserve our support. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This week is Public Service Week. I would like to add my thanks to that expressed by Mr. Handley earlier this week to the many employees who work for the departments, boards and agencies of the Government of the Northwest Territories. It is their efforts that make a difference every day in our communities.

One of the priorities of this government has been to reduce our reliance in the public service on southern hiring and to increase the number of Northerners accessing northern jobs. I would like to talk about three programs that we hope will help us recruit and retain Northerners for careers in the public service.

The Student Summer Employment Program runs every year from April to August. The program allows students to register for summer employment. Any northern employer can access those applications and find students with the background needed for the job to be done. Internally, we also try to find work for about 300 northern post-secondary students. Approximately 250 of those positions have been filled to date. Some of those jobs are summer replacement work. As well, through our progressive experience program, about one third of the jobs provide students with experience that is directly relevant to the education they are pursuing in university or college. One of the goals of the program is to help students better understand the range and scope of GNWT jobs and to encourage them to consider the GNWT as their employer of choice after graduation.

Mr. Speaker, the Northern Graduate Employment Program is in its second year. The purpose of the program is to encourage northern post-secondary graduates to take their first jobs in the North. The results to date have been very positive. Through the Internship and Graduate Transition programs, 52 graduates were placed in one-year internships in government, the private sector or non-profit organizations in 2001-2002. This year, 52 graduates have been offered internships to date, with an additional 50 graduates still registered and looking for opportunities. In the first year, 10 percent of the positions were located outside Yellowknife. This year, over 40 percent of the internships are regional placements. As well, 18 northern teacher graduates and four social work graduates have found jobs over the past two years. Interns from the first year of the program are now starting to complete their internships and almost all have found continuing northern employment.

One of our challenges has been finding effective ways of developing GNWT staff for leadership and management positions. As we look down the road ten years, it is apparent that two thirds of our present management group will be eligible for retirement. We need to have Northerners ready to assume these senior positions. Later this year, we hope to introduce a program to help people gain the skills they need if they want to advance into and within GNWT management.

This Succession Planning Program will be open to any interested staff. Those who apply will be put through an assessment process to determine what their current skill levels are and then a series of training and development opportunities will be put in place to help them improve and enhance their knowledge. As people move through the program, it will greatly increase the pool of individuals ready and able to assume management positions.

Mr. Speaker, each of these programs will strengthen our public service and our ability to effectively serve the people of the Northwest Territories. I look forward to reporting further on the results of these programs in the months ahead. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I speak to you today about a remarkable achievement of a very special teacher at Range Lake North School, Ms. Gayla Meredith, affectionately known as Miss M, who has joined us in the gallery with her friends.

Mr. Speaker, those of us who know her and her work have known for a long time that she is a very special teacher. Now she has been recognized as such nationally by becoming a recipient of the 2001-2002 Prime Minister's Teaching Excellence Award. Miss M was chosen among 208 nominees nationwide for her innovative teaching methods and, more importantly, for her unflinching commitment and love for children.

Mr. Speaker, having job-shadowed her grade 3 class myself, I can attest to you that her classroom is a little learning paradise for children. One of her innovative methods being recognized by this award is the book publishing activity in her class. As an individual and as a group, her children are prolific in writing and illustrating stories into books. In this school year alone, her children have published 282 books on various topics and genres.

This is one of her many fantastic methods of encouraging children to read, write and learn and channel their creative energy flow into something very memorable, and at the same time, have so much fun doing it all the way through. The pride and sense of achievement visible on the bright faces of the children show us that this works tremendously well.

Miss M has been a teacher for nine years, all of them at Range Lake North School. She left her long and successful banking career to become a teacher because she wanted to make a difference in children's lives. This award makes it very clear that she has done just that and we are so very lucky that she has chosen this path up here in the North.

She is also a very active member of the NWT Teachers' Association, devoted to enhancing positive communication between home, school and community. Her achievement is a source of pride for her, her school and all of us in the Territories, and I invite you and my colleagues to join me in expressing our congratulations and sincere thanks for a job well done, and wishing her all our best this day forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before I start, I would like to thank the Premier for offering the opportunity to travel with him to Ottawa to meet the federal Ministers and talk about our infrastructure in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that we leave a living legacy from the Northwest Territories, the activities that are taking place today in regard to the oil and gas, talk about a pipeline, the mining sector in regard to the diamond developments that are taking place, but most importantly, Mr. Speaker, I think, as Northerners, we want to leave something behind by way of our infrastructure, which will long outlive the developments of oil and gas and mineral developments well into the future.

Mr. Speaker, our infrastructure is key. We have the Mackenzie Valley pipeline. We have the winter road systems. We have bridges and the demand for reconstruction on our highway systems, which are currently under great pressure with all the developments that are happening. It is important, Mr. Speaker, that we do develop that infrastructure by way of resources that are expended in this area.

Mr. Speaker, at the present time, the options or outlooks that we are receiving is that the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline could add as much as $57 billion into the Canadian gross domestic product and earn the federal government up to $24 billion in revenues and taxes and royalties. Mr. Speaker, all we are asking for from the federal government is to reinvest some of those dollars that will be flowing to the south from the north into infrastructure in the North.

Mr. Speaker, it is important that we establish an economic program that gives us long-term stability in our economy so that we can ensure that the infrastructure for the residents of the North is not beaten up to a point where it is costing this government more to maintain and upgrade our systems so that we can improve the lives of Northerners, but also improve the infrastructure for the rest of Canada.

Mr. Speaker, it is key that the aboriginal participation...benefits linked to improving our infrastructure is there and improving the quality of lives of the residents for the long-term is crucial.

Also, ensuring our winter road systems are upgraded to the point where we eventually have year-round access to our isolated communities by roads of some sort or another.

Mr. Krutko, your time is up. Mr. Krutko.

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

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his Member's statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays, Mr. Krutko, you may conclude.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, again, it is important that we improve the quality of life of residents throughout the whole Northwest Territories, not just those in the oil and gas or diamond sectors, but the residents who live in our communities, ensuring that the winter road access we do have will eventually come to an all-weather road system that will connect all of our communities in the rest of the Northwest Territories, and ensuring that we protect our environment through the staging of development, such as bridges, and expanding our system to eventually have hard surface.

Mr. Speaker, it is important that we protect our environment by way of what has happened through global warming and the problems we are seeing with our winter road systems.

Mr. Speaker, with that, I would like to thank the Premier again for this opportunity. Thank you.

-- Applause

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

Thank you and good morning, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to talk a bit about infrastructure, specifically to the highways in the South Slave area. I would like to focus on some of the discussion that has been going on of late, particularly that started by my colleague for North Slave, Mr. Leon Lafferty. I congratulate Mr. Lafferty for fighting his corner on behalf of his constituents in his arguments and his very persuasive discussion to look at the road network extending into the North Slave region. He is fighting on behalf of his constituents and I respect and admire that.

Sometimes, though, the arguments have been made that those kinds of projects should be done perhaps at the exclusion of another piece of road that is pretty important around here, and that is the Ingraham Trail. This is an important piece of road not only for residents of the community who live there but it is also one of the busiest highways in the NWT for recreational purposes. Ten thousand tourists a year rely on that road to take them out to the Aurora Adventure. It is the supply lifeline for the diamond mines in the region, so it is an important piece of road.

As anyone who has driven it lately can attest, it too is in pretty rough shape. I would like to relate a bit of a story that happened to me a couple of weeks ago. My daughter and I were returning from our cottage on Prosperous Lake and we were tailed for a couple of miles by an RCMP cruiser. Finally the lights went on and he pulled me over. The officer was very professional and very polite. After going through the formalities, he said "Well, Mr. Braden, the reason we pulled you over was that we did not know whether you were drunk or whether you were just dodging all the potholes."

I wanted to offer that as an illustration of just what condition that road is in.

-- Interjection

-- Laughter

I assured the officer I was quite in control and quite sober. I wanted to just give you that story, Mr. Speaker, as an illustration of the kinds of conditions we are facing here too. I would like to ask for unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you. The honourable Member's time is up but he is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You will not keep us in suspense any longer, Mr. Braden.