Thank you. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Mr. Antoine.

Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. The Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am told in Yellowknife today we have 22 very special visitors, joining eight of Yellowknife's most respected residents to take part in the 2003 Seniors' Forum. Many of these seniors are directors of the NWT Seniors' Society. Mr. Speaker, they're gathering for the next couple of days to talk about progress on the Seniors' Action Plan released last June. Seniors have built our communities and have made important contributions to where we are today, in social and economic development. Seniors are among the most experienced group of individuals from whom we can seek advice. I congratulate them on their continuing efforts to improve northern community life.

Mr. Speaker, the NWT Seniors' Society can celebrate many accomplishments since their establishment in 1983. Over the years, the society has worked in partnership with other seniors' societies and with government and related organizations to improve the independence and quality of life for seniors in the NWT. They have been working for more than 20 years with the Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens for Seniors and other agencies to improve care for seniors suffering from Alzheimer's and other related dementia. Mr. Speaker, seniors, those over 50, are the fastest growing segment in the NWT population. We number 6,000 of the NWT population of 43,000. Unfortunately, at least eight percent of us can expect to become afflicted with Alzheimer's.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health and Social Services has contributed $50,000 in planning funds towards the YACC's proposal for an Alzheimer's and related dementia care facility. The NWT Housing Corporation has offered a contribution of $1 million to provide additional housing, but this doesn't include operating funds.

Mr. Speaker, I have no doubt that we will continue to hear recommendations as that we develop a facility, or more likely several facilities throughout the Territories that deals with Alzheimer's and related dementia. Bringing seniors together to hear from them is a good start. Now we need to listen. Mr. Speaker, it's critical that the government plan to put real dollars towards the care of individuals who have been the cornerstone in the way this territory was developed. We owe them a reasonable level of care. Mr. Speaker, I would like to wish them success on their meetings in Yellowknife over the next couple of days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise to bring attention to an issue that is very frustrating to some Northerners and indeed myself. Mr. Speaker, with the advent of increased development in our territory, we need to ensure that we have an educated workforce that will be able to meet the demands of development. In addition, Mr. Speaker, there should be a strong commitment from our government to recruit and develop a northern workforce. Mr. Speaker, the government's maximizing northern employment program is a good initiative that goes a long way in addressing the needs of our northern workforce. However, it appears that there is more work to be done. Mr. Speaker, I am still hearing of instances of educated young Northerners who have attempted to return to the North and put their skills to use to no avail. I have read volumes of literature, Mr. Speaker, about our government seeking qualified nurses, teachers and other professionals.

Mr. Speaker, on the flip side, I am well aware of instances whereby a northern graduate teacher has done all the right things in applying to our district education council and our local schools for gainful employment. Mr. Speaker, these same northern graduates then wait patiently and they are not even favoured with a reply by the district education council that their resumes have been received, and that they have to find out through contacts in the school systems that teaching positions have been filled and they weren't even considered.

These graduate teachers that I speak of, Mr. Speaker, are born and raised in the North, yet they find themselves unable to return to the North and teach. I find this totally unacceptable, Mr. Speaker. We must, as a government, do everything in our power to encourage our young people to return to the North after graduation.

Mr. Speaker, I do believe it is high time that we ensure that our northern graduates are truly given priority in hiring. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Item 3, Members' Statements. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I rose on the issue of education and asked the Minister a few questions about the numbers we receive when it comes to the quality or grade our children are in. Mr. Speaker, I am still concerned with the lack of information. Again yesterday, I raised a question about children in Kindergarten to Grade 9. Is there any requirement to achieve a certain mark in that class before they go on? The Minister stated there was some testing done, but he wasn't too specific as to what areas that would be in.

Mr. Speaker, I raise this because as a parent -- and many parents probably find themselves in the same situation -- when we put our children in school, unless you receive a call from the school to say that your child is in trouble or has been in trouble with other students or a teacher in the school, you seem to think everything is going quite well. When the child comes home with a report card that says they are doing satisfactory, you think they are doing pretty good and achieving. It's not until later on in life when that child goes into, say, Grade 10, when marks start to count for something or when they are starting to prepare themselves for university or college, that we start to find out that they don't have the entry requirements for a college or university program because they have sailed along in the system with not too many worries. They are achieving according to the standards we put in place. Mr. Speaker, we need to look at what we have in place to see if our children are getting quality education and not just quantity. So I will have appropriate questions for the Minister later. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This week I was a bit taken aback to see some of the local media accounts of some of the consultation going on around the energy strategy. The media has portrayed some of that discussion in an article entitled A Tax in Strategy and it discusses higher fuel tax as part of energy strategy discussions. In fact, I think the special advisor on energy indicated the taxes in the NWT are among the lowest in the country. "We don't tax very high at all and we do have some opportunities to raise revenue."

I find this alarming, especially when dealt with in isolation, Mr. Speaker. I think we all know the cost of living in the North is already extremely high. The cost of operating a business, particularly a small business, is high. It's very marginal at times, Mr. Speaker. We have to keep in mind that small business still has to be competitive and it's very expensive to operate here and compete with southern businesses who have easy access to our markets. So I think that, for several reasons, a discussion leading down this path causes me some problems. We know that we simply can't talk about tax increases or propose these types of strategies as a means for paying for our energy strategy as if we are operating in a vacuum. That's the sense that I get here, Mr. Speaker.

It won't be long until we are reading headlines in the newspaper about "stagflation." You've just seen oil prices come in around the $40 a barrel mark and they've led to inflation. I think the Bank of Canada rate, today or yesterday, was raised just the other day after a report coming out on Tuesday that said we had a 12-year inflation high of 4.5 percent. I think the core rate was 3.3 percent, Mr. Speaker. Much of the inflation rate is being driven by higher energy prices and now we've seen a Bank of Canada interest rate raise.

That's going to mean, Mr. Speaker, it's going to be a tough time for investment. We are looking to see plant and equipment expansion. It's going to be more and more difficult with interest rates on the rise. If we expect to further compound the problem for our residents and for our businesses by raising taxes, it causes me some grave concern. I know this is a discussion paper at this point, but we simply can't be looking at these things in isolation as if we were in a vacuum. I would wonder, on behalf of this government, who is overseeing this energy strategy with a macroeconomic perspective? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in light of the success our Premier has had in Ottawa with respect to health care funding, it's an opportune time to discuss HIV and AIDS as it impacts northern residents. Mr. Speaker, nationally statistics confirm that HIV and AIDS affect aboriginal people more compared to other ethnic groups. The cause of this is said to result from aboriginal people being disproportionately affected by various social, economic and behavioural factors. These factors include poverty, substance abuse and limited access to health care services, all of which are real and exist in many of our communities.

This government, with an increased commitment in health care dollars, must now commit to providing resources required to raise awareness on the devastating effect this disease has on the lives of those who are affected by the disease. It is a disease that, due to this devastating effect, makes people from all walks of life, including government, take the approach of trying to ignore it and hoping it goes away.

We cannot take this approach anymore. It's time to pull our heads out of the sand and take up the challenge of educating ourselves and our residents. Mr. Speaker, resources are required to support the territorial, regional and community organizations willing to take on the challenge of providing awareness through education. However, this government cannot absolve itself from the responsibility of providing and promoting HIV and AIDS awareness by having others do it for them.

Mr. Speaker it's my understanding that the group AIDS Yellowknife was dissolved in 2002, an organization committed to providing education and support to those concerned with the disease and those living with it and those whose lives are touched by it. It is organizations such as this that require the support of this government. I would encourage this government to seriously assess the resources currently made available to promoting HIV and AIDS awareness among all residents of the NWT. Furthermore, I ask that this government, through the provision of appropriate funding, encourage all groups to continue with the valuable work that they do in providing information and support to those people touched in some way by this disease. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to speak about the inclusion of municipalities as public bodies under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. It's been pointed out by the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Commissioner in her last three annual reports that NWT communities currently have no legislation regulating the release of names, addresses or other private information on Web pages or other public documents. Apparently, municipal officials from both Yellowknife and Hay River see this as a serious concern.

Mr. Speaker, during the review of the commissioner's 1999-2000 report, this government committed to providing information and consulting with communities about the possibility of including them under the current NWT ATIPP act. Recent correspondence updating us on the status of this amendment show that there has been little or no action taken to address this issue.

Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight supported the commissioner's recommendation that municipalities be included under the territorial ATIPP law or that new legislation be drafted to deal with municipalities' use of public information. So, Mr. Speaker, later today I will have questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs as to the status of this concern in consultation with municipalities about it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to speak about an issue that has reached and stayed at a crisis proportion for the last few years in Yellowknife. It has to do with the lack of affordable housing and land for development. Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the media I heard in horror the confirmation of what many of us have suspected all along, which is that the price of an average home in the city has jumped by 40 percent over the last year, from $151,000 in January of 2002 to more than $212,000 in January of 2003. A number like this should not go unnoticed by this government, Mr. Speaker. People are suffering with prices like this in the city, whether they be seniors, low income people or everyday working people, Mr. Speaker. The people who talk to me are especially puzzled by the lack of action taken by this government to alleviate this glaring problem.

Mr. Speaker, to address this question, the idea of legislating rent control has been bandied about in and out of this House. I appreciate this speaks to the frustration of many who have had to face the skyrocketing rent increases, but I don't believe that enacting such legislation to apply to all of the NWT to address the needs of a few heated markets is desirable at this time. It was not too long ago, Mr. Speaker, although it's hard for us to believe now, that land owners in the city had to offer all kinds of incentives to attract and keep tenants in their rental property. Studies we have seen have shown that legislated rent control would have long-term consequences in stifling land and property development. That must be undertaken by private development.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that the government still has a duty to take action in order to mitigate the extreme ups and downs in a timely and effective manner. The latest changes to the NWT Housing Corporation's loan guarantee program is one step forward, but that's not enough, Mr. Speaker. What we desperately need is an urgently proactive action on the part of this government to work with the city to make more land available for houses and apartments to be built on. The market is ready to respond and there are developers ready and willing to invest. We need this government to work with the city to streamline the process for making land development available and make it easier and economical to develop the land. I ask the government to act on this now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mr. Antoine.

Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. At this time I would like to recognize the people in the gallery who haven't been recognized and would like to welcome you to the House.

---Applause