The Speaker Tony Whitford

Please be seated. Good afternoon. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Mahsi, Mr. Minister. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Steen.

Vince Steen Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the excellent work of the emergency personnel from the town of Hay River and the Hay River Reserve during the flood of the Hay River, which occurred in both communities beginning on April 30th.

I visited both communities on May 1st, where I met with evacuated residents and viewed the damage caused by flooding. Seeing the affected areas in the West Channel area on Vale Island and in the Old Village on the reserve, showed me the difficult situation emergency workers faced evacuating the affected residents when it was realized the area would flood.

Mr. Speaker, the town and the Hay River Reserve's emergency response teams are familiar with responding to flood emergencies during the spring breakup period. However, every emergency response requires coordinated and speedy action.

Both emergency teams worked effectively together monitoring the flood, responding to the flood and organizing and carrying out the evacuation. Each community's follow-up with the residents, while they were displaced from their homes, ensured all were provided adequate emergency food and shelter.

Both communities also worked hard to assist the evacuees to recover from the flood by restoring their property to a livable state. I greatly appreciate the hard work and the concern shown by the emergency teams for ensuring the safety and comfort of the evacuees.

Mr. Speaker, emergency response work is difficult and trying. Emergency officials and volunteers must act quickly to ensure an appropriate response is mounted against every threat or situation. The threat that was posed by the flood required fast action on the part of both emergency response teams to keep residents safe.

Mr. Speaker, I have written to Mayor McNeill and to Chief Fabian to personally acknowledge the good work of their community emergency response teams.

---Applause

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Ootes.

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as announced in the House last week, I attended a joint federal/provincial/territorial meeting of the Council of Ministers of Education and the Forum of Labour Market Ministers with the Honourable Jane Stewart, Minister of Human Resources Development Canada. Our meetings were held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where I was joined by my colleague, MLA Steven Nitah.

This was an especially timely meeting for our territory. The focus of discussions centered on how governments can strengthen their priorities and ensure that Canadians are well educated and prepared to take their place in the global economy.

Ministers recognized that while people are our greatest resource, we need to focus our efforts to strengthen post-secondary education and labour market training. To do this, Ministers discussed the need for a cooperative approach with the federal government to secure additional financial resources.

As Members are aware, my department has been working with the federal government to secure financial resources to expand human resource development in the NWT. Mr. Speaker, this need is not going unnoticed in other areas of the country. In fact, the Minister of Education in New Brunswick made the comment during last week's meeting that the territories must have a more supportive financial arrangement with the federal government. It appears our message is getting through.

In Halifax, Mr. Nitah and I had the opportunity to meet with Minister Stewart. During this meeting, we were able to discuss the proposals placed before her department on oil/gas and mining training human resource development. Members will recall that these two proposals, requesting a federal investment of some $25 million over five years, were developed and submitted in partnership with various agencies, industry and aboriginal governments.

Minister Stewart was very familiar with these proposals and the need for significant investment in the NWT. During our discussions, she identified the recent federal government commitment of $25 million over two years for aboriginal skills and employment programs. While the amount of $25 million is allotted for the entire country, it is not unreasonable, after our meeting with Minister Stewart, to assume the NWT will receive a portion of this funding.

Minister Stewart advised us that any projects approved for funding must be results oriented and targeted to those groups where the need is the greatest. This expectation is not a problem for us. We have a mine training committee in place that offers training for guaranteed job placements for successful participants. As well, we can demonstrate results in our oil and gas sector.

Mr. Speaker, in anticipation of this federal commitment, I have directed my deputy minister, Dr. Loretta Foley, to continue working with HRDC and the mine training committee to ensure success in these collaborative training initiatives.

While these developments are indeed good news, Mr. Speaker, I want to stress that this is not the end, but rather the beginning. As a Legislature, we must continue to press the federal government for continued, ongoing and multi-year investments in this extremely important area. I look forward to keeping the House informed of our progress, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

---Applause

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Mahsi, Mr. Minister. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Steen.

Vince Steen Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a result of the tragic events in Walkerton, Ontario and North Battleford, Saskatchewan, governments across the country have focused on reviewing and improving the systems they have in place to provide safe drinking water to their residents. This government is no different.

While the front line for provision of safe drinking water is the local community government, a number of territorial departments also play a part. Health and Social Services establishes the health standards and monitors the quality of drinking water. Municipal and Community Affairs provides financial resources for reconstruction and operation of community water systems and provides operator training through the School of Community Government.

Public Works and Services provides technical support for the construction and operation of water system infrastructure. Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development contributes to the protection of our water sources. Together, the departments developed and in June 2001, received Cabinet approval for the safe drinking water initiative.

Under this initiative, the departments have completed a review of the roles and responsibilities the various organizations and agencies involved in the NWT drinking water system. They have completed inspections and assessment of all water treatment facilities in all non-tax-based communities with the exception of those where facility upgrades are already underway. They are nearing completion of a good engineering practices manual to guide the design and construction of northern drinking water and sewer systems. They have created a data base of drinking water test results and made those results available online at the Public Works and Services web site.

Municipal and Community Affairs is providing five training and certification courses this year for community water system operators in the communities of Hay River, Fort Simpson, Norman Wells, Fort Smith and Yellowknife. Public Works and Services is providing onsite training and technical support to communities delivering water services. Health and Social Services is monitoring community drinking water quality test results to identify and address potential problems. Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development is working with the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment in updating and developing national water quality guidelines to protect the sources of our drinking water.

Pilot testing of membrane filtration technology has been undertaken to develop cost-effective treatment methods for water plants. Projects are currently in the planning and design stage for Rae-Edzo, Tsiigehtchic, Colville Lake and Fort Good Hope. All these efforts are enforcing a water supply system that is blessed with good quality water sources and a lack of agriculture pressure such as those that contribute to the problems in Ontario and Saskatchewan.

Recent media reports might lead you to believe there are problems with the NWT drinking water. This is not the case. The system is working. However, we cannot take the safety of our drinking water for granted. We all have a role to play, whether it is to protect the community water sources from contamination, providing effective treatment processes, or as local building owners who have a responsibility to clean their water storage tanks.

Significant improvements have been made to the NWT water system over the past few years and it is working effectively to provide safe drinking water to residents. Health and Social Services, MACA, Public Works and Services and RWED are continuing to look at the structure of the NWT drinking water system to identify areas that can be further strengthened. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Any further Minister's statements? Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

The Speaker Tony Whitford

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